WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD-TV) — With limited time remaining on the congressional calendar, agricultural groups are pushing lawmakers to advance legislation before the end of the year.
Shelby Hagenauer with the American Farm Bureau Federation joined us on Thursday’s Market Day Report to discuss the Fix Our Forests Act, which aims to improve forest management and reduce wildfire risks.
In her conversation with RFD-TV, Hagenauer discussed the bill’s progress through Congress and why the Farm Bureau hopes to see it reach the president’s desk.
“It’s a bipartisan effort to speed up the work of thinning our overgrown forests and clearing out dead fuel before a fire starts, not after, which benefits rural communities and, frankly, everybody. So now, the House and the Senate need to reconcile those two versions of the bill and send it on to the president. It includes livestock grazing and ranchers as part of the solution on public lands, both before and after wildfire, to reduce those fuels on the landscape that can really fuel the fire. It reduces unnecessary delays for projects that address wildfire risk, hazardous fuels, insects, and disease, and it really improves programs that help protect watersheds.”
The Farm Bureau is encouraging farmers and ranchers to contact their senators and urge passage of the legislation. Hagenauer says she remains hopeful Congress will take action.
