Wyden-brokered Wildfire Bill Will Bring
Forest Research Center to Central Oregon

October 30, 2003

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden announced that the bipartisan compromise on healthy forests legislation passed by the U.S. Senate tonight will bring a forest health research center to the headquarters of the Ochoco National Forest at Prineville, Oregon.

“Over time, the work done at the Prineville forest health research center will help reduce fire risks throughout the West,” Wyden said. “The center will also provide a much-needed boost for the local economy and further cement the relationship between Crook County and the Forest Service.”

The Prineville facility will be charged with carrying out a major requirement of the wildfire legislation: to inventory and assess forest stands on federal forest land and, with the consent of owners, private forest land. The objectives of the assessment are to evaluate forest health conditions now and in the future, and to consider the ecological impacts of insect, disease, invasive species, fire and weather-related events. The center will work to make sure data is as accurate as possible in order to improve forest management.

In recent months, Wyden has helped lead the negotiations to create a balanced, bipartisan compromise on healthy forests legislation. The Senate bill passed today will streamline restorative forestry in at-risk and unhealthy forests while preserving public input, protecting old growth, and reining in provisions of wildfire legislation approved earlier by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Senate-approved legislation must now be reconciled with forest legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives before moving to the President’s desk for his signature. The House bill would locate only one forest research center in Mississippi.

# # #