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Tag: Wildfire

Helena Independent Record: Daines pushing for disaster funding for wildfires

April 11, 2015

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said he is looking to add certainty to federal fire managers’ budgets by reforming the way the worst wildfires receive federal funding. Daines was in Clancy on Friday discussing the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2015 with a roundtable of state and federal forest managers, conservation and forest dependent business interests. Daines signed onto the act as a senator in January, which would likely end the practice of “fire borrowing” when suppression funding runs out and must be pulled in from other programs. “The agencies have this cloud hanging over them,” said Richard Stem, retired deputy

U.S. Forest Service Chief: 300 million board feet per year in MT is a ‘very reasonable’ goal

March 18, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell asserted that increasing timber harvests on Montana National Forests to 300 million board feet per year is a “very reasonable” goal. During today’s Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee hearing on the U.S. Forest Service budget request for Fiscal Year 2016, Senator Steve Daines pressed Tidwell on the Forest Service’s goals for future timber harvests. In Montana’s National Forests, timber production in FY 2014 was 113 million board feet per year, only half of which were saw logs. Daines asked Tidwell if increasing timber harvest goals on Montana’s National Forests “between 200 and 300 million

Daines Presses Forest Service Chief on Forest Reforms

February 26, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Steve Daines today called on the U.S. Forest Service to work together with Congress to move forward common sense forest management reforms to responsibly increase timber harvests, create good-paying jobs and improve forest health across Montana. During today’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the U.S. Forest Service budget request for Fiscal Year 2016, Daines pressed Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell on the effect of litigation on Montana National Forest timber output, the need for effective implementation of the Farm Bill’s forest management provisions, and ongoing efforts to grow timber jobs for hardworking Montanans. “Montana

Daines Works to Protect Montana From Catastrophic Wildfire

January 23, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Steve Daines is working to ensure Montana has the resources needed to combat wildfires and invest in much-need fire prevention efforts. Daines joined Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) to introduce the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, which overhauls federal wildfire policy, increases funding for prevention and ensures large forest fires are treated and funded as true natural disasters. “Montanans know firsthand the economic and physical damage caused by catastrophic wildfire – yet year after year, the federal government falls short in providing the funds needed to both treat and prevent these devastating fires,” Daines