FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2003
Contact:  Marie DesOrmeaux
(202) 225-3772
 
President Bush Invites Ross to Help Push Healthy Forests Initiative
 
(Washington, D.C.) Fourth District Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) today joined President Bush at the White House to help gather support for the bipartisan Healthy Forests Restoration Act, H.R. 1904.  As a member of the House Committee on Agriculture with national forests in his district, Ross has taken a lead role in crafting the bill, which ensures more effective and timely implementations of forest health projects. 

“I am pleased to be a part of this bipartisan effort to protect one of our nation’s greatest treasures; our forests,” Ross said.  “We have all seen the devastating effects of such threats as wildfires and insect infestation.  Tens of millions of acres of public and private forests throughout the South and the Midwest face catastrophic damage from a host of pests, like the Southern Pine Beetle, Red and White Oak borers, and others –and Arkansas is no exception.  This initiative will provide us with the resources we need to curb the risk of these dangers from occurring in our own national forests.  In Arkansas, almost one out of every three acres of forest will be eligible for the expedited procedures authorized by this bill. 

“We have environmentalists and then we have extremists. True environmentalists like myself believe we must properly manage our national forests in order to protect and preserve them.  Trees are a crop and a lack of forest management has resulted in trees being eaten up by insects and lost to forest fires.  The timber industry creates many economic opportunities and jobs for working families in Arkansas.  Yet our sawmills are not at full production while trees are simply dying due to insect infestation.  We must manage the timber in national forests to save it for future generations while allowing the forest management to result in new jobs for our people.

“I was pleased that President Bush invited me to be a part of promoting this initiative to actively manage our forests, and I am looking forward to quick action on this common sense legislation so we may protect our forests and continue to enjoy them.”

Ross is a cosponsor of H.R.1904.  The bill is under consideration by the House of Representatives and is expected to be voted on Tuesday.


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