HR 3188, the Rim Fire Emergency Salvage Act, will provide for the expediated salvage of timber killed by the Yosemite Rim Fire in the summer of 2013. 

Upon passage of the bill in the House Natural Resources Committee on November 13th, 2013 Congressman McClintock remarked:  “I am pleased the Rim Fire Emergency Salvage Act was approved today by the House Natural Resources Committee and will now go to the House floor, where I expect the measure to be approved.  The focus will then be on the Senate, which must take quick action and join the House in enacting legislation that will protect the forest and the environment and help prevent future cataclysmic fires.”

H.R. 3188 Information:

McClatchy newspaper correction request:

The Sacramento Bee on January 12th, 2014 published an editorial and also a column that contained a number of factual inaccuracies about HR 3188.  A request for correction has been submitted and can be viewed here and at the link above.

The Fresno Bee, Modesto Bee and Merced Sun-Star also ran different versions of the editorial.  Correction requests specific to the editorials published in those papers can be viewed by clicking the paper name.

McClatchy letter to the editor from Congressman McClintock regarding the January 2014 editorials:

The Bee published a column and an editorial in opposition to my HR 3188, which seeks to expedite salvage of timber killed by the Yosemite Rim Fire last summer.  

Salvage is an urgent matter, because within a year the trees lose much of their value and soon thereafter become worthless.  Private landowner SPI has already salvaged 60 percent of its holdings, while the public’s timber rots in place.

The current bureaucratic review process takes a year to complete, and litigation then runs out the clock on what value remains of this perishable resource.  This is the process the Bee defends, at the cost of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars that could be devoted to forest restoration.

HR 3188, modeled on successful bi-partisan legislation, vests federal forest managers with full authority to enforce well established procedures for environmental protection, while protecting our economy from the high cost of delay.   

Congressman Tom McClintock
4th Congressional District

Floor Remarks on H.R. 3188 by Congressman McClintock:

"Time is Running Out for the Sierra" -- The Congressman discussed HR 3188 in November 2013 in remarks titled:  "Time is Running out for the Sierra."