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Wyden’s bill to create Prineville forest health research
center garners Administration, local support in U.S. Senate hearing
Prineville facility would assess Western
forest health, help reduce fire risk
February 12, 2004
Washington, D.C. – U.S.
Senator Ron Wyden’s bill (S. 1910) to create a forest health
research center at the headquarters of the Ochoco National Forest
in Prineville had its first U.S. Senate hearing today. The Prineville
facility would be charged with carrying out a major requirement
of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act: to inventory and assess
forest stands on federal forest land and, with the consent of
owners, private forest land.
The objectives of the inventory
and 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
Prineville center would work to make sure data is as accurate
as possible in order to improve forest management, especially
in Western softwood forests.
At today’s hearing of
the Public Lands and Forests subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources, Wyden submitted written testimony
on behalf of local proponents, including Scott Cooper, Judge for
Crook County, and the Prineville-Crook County Chamber of Commerce.
Of the Prineville center, Cooper
wrote, “The proposed forest research center can help right
the balance. Not only will it ensure efficient and effective coordination
and allocation of scarce federal resources (apparently growing
scarcer by the day) but it will also bring much needed federal
employment opportunities to a community which has been economically
damaged by federal forest-management policy of the last 25 years.
In addition, by attaching the center to the Ochoco National Forest
in Prineville, Congress can help assure the existence of critical
mass needed to preserve the Ochoco…”
“The research center would
be a boost to Crook County’s economy,” wrote Diane
Bohle, Executive Director of the Prineville-Crook County Chamber
of Commerce. “The center would blend our roots with research
and provide the diversification our economy has so desperately
needed.”
During last November’s
debates over a forest health bill, Wyden, while leading efforts
in the U.S. Senate to pass a balanced wildfire bill, was able
to attach his Prineville provision to the Healthy Forests Restoration
Act. During final negotiations on the bill, all projects were
stripped out despite a coordinated effort by Wyden and U.S. Representative
Greg Walden to preserve the Prineville center language in the
final wildfire bill. Wyden and Walden then each introduced stand-alone
legislation, in their respective chambers, to create the Prineville
center.
“Creating a forest health
research center in Prineville would give the Central Oregon economy
a shot in the arm and help reduce the risk of wildfires throughout
the West,” Wyden said. “Locating this facility in
Prineville will also help ensure that the partnership between
the Forest Service and Crook County continues well into the future.”
At today’s hearing, the
Administration also voiced its support for the bill in written
testimony, stating, “The Department of Agriculture supports
S. 1910.” The statement went on to say that, “S.1910
is important because it recognizes the critical need to help identify
priorities and monitor progress as implementation of the National
Fire Plan, the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative and
the Healthy Forest Restoration Act proceeds.”
A committee markup of the bill
could take place as soon as March.
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