The House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation held an oversight hearing on wildfire and forest management on July 11, 2013. The hearing focused on the need for active forest management, which includes both timber sales and prescribed burns, to reduce the fuel available to wildfires.

Two committee members have introduced bills to decrease wildfire risk by reducing the barriers to fuels reduction in federal forests. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) highlighted his proposed legislation, the Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act (H.R. 1345), while Scott Tipton (R-CO) touted his Healthy Forest Management and Wildfire Prevention Act (H.R. 818).

Committee members and witnesses also profiled existing successful collaborations. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) described the Four Forest Restoration Initiative in Arizona as an example of a highly effective collaboration between federal, state, and local governments, environmental groups, industry representatives, and other stakeholders. Christopher Topik of The Nature Conservancy described the successes of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and the Fire Adapted Communities Coalition, which work to mitigate communities’ wildfire risk.

Opening statements, witness testimonies, and an archived webcast of the hearing can be found on the committee’s website.