Greg Walden Talks Wildfires, Forest Management

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Greg Walden (R-OR) recently joined Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) on his podcast, “Hold These Truths.” During the podcast, Walden discussed the catastrophic wildfires in Oregon and called for improved federal forest management.

Walden started by acknowledging that fire is a part of nature.

"As a life-long Oregonian I love our forests, love our clean water, and then you see it go up in smoke. And look, fire is part of nature, right? You’re going to get fire."

Walden went on to discuss how the lack of forest management over the last 50 years has led to overstocked forests and more dangerous wildfires. 

"About 50 years ago, federal policy and court decisions really moved us in a direction where we still put out fires but stopped managing forests. So, if you think about never mowing your lawn, never thinning your garden, never pruning your trees, forests are not static. They continue to grow dynamically and then die. And so, the fuel loads are enormous and completely out of balance. We’ve got researchers from Oregon State University School of Forestry who will tell you there are in some plots in my district [with]1,000 trees per acre where there should be about ten."
 
He then discussed with Rep. Crenshaw the falsehood behind the argument that the best thing you can do for the environment is leave forests alone and lock them up. Walden said we do that already in land designated as wilderness areas.

"A high propensity of our fires often start and rumble around in wilderness areas because federal law basically says leave them alone and let them burn. And they do [let them burn] in many cases. Unfortunately, it comes roaring out of the wilderness area and then devours the communities and forests."

During the interview, Walden also discussed how wildfires emit a lot of carbon into the atmosphere.

"In 2018, the California wildfires emitted 68 million tons of CO2. That’s the equivalent of a year’s worth of electricity from California…If you care about emissions, you should care more about these fires that burn unnaturally hot."

Walden continued stating that, “according to the Chief of the Forest Service, nationally there are 63 million acres of our federal forest lands that are at risk of uncharacteristically severe wildfire and are in need of treatment such as thinning or actually prescribed fires, and 7.2 million of that is in Oregon. And you have to know they only treat four to six million acres a year, and that’s actually a 25 percent increase from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration."

Walden noted that scientists estimate 70 percent of carbon emissions occur after a wildfire, as the burned, dead debris decays.

"We should be getting in there and cleaning out, where appropriate, get the burned, dead trees out when they still have value… And because the federal system is so litigious, and takes years to do the planning, get it through, and by then the trees have no value. They’re bug-infested and rotted, and dangerous frankly, and ready for fuel for another fire. The other thing we don’t do is come in after the fires and plant a new healthy green forest. Everybody else does, but not the federal government. We are a slum lord when it comes to managing our forests."

He went on to suggest that using wood products helps sequester carbon, and further more making the products creates jobs. Walden said that the legislation he has worked on with Representative Bruce Westerman would help instill these ideas and improve forest management.

"I’ve helped lead that fight over the years successfully to give us more tools for our scientists to manage our forests better, and we’ve made some progress, but holy smokes we’ve got a long way to go."

To listen to the entire podcast, click here.

To learn more about Walden’s efforts on forest management, click here.

To find helpful wildfire resources and information, click here.