To the editor: This front-page article highlights the bipartisan movement in Congress to pass the Fix Our Forests Act, or FOFA, in order to address the ever-increasing risk of wildfires ( “With support from loggers and (some) environmentalists, Congress unites on major wildfire bill,” Sept. 10). Over the last decade, rising temperatures, extended droughts and ineffective forest management practices have led to large increases in the annual acreage affected by U.S. wildfires, including multiple “megafires” in California and other Western states.
FOFA would offer proactive forest management to address wildfire risk by removing regulatory barriers to expedite critical forest projects while preserving core environmental safeguards. The bill implements forest thinning and removal of dead and diseased trees to reduce fire intensity, invests in new wildfire prevention technologies and improves reforestation steps after fires occur.
Our changing climate and the increasing wildfire risk demand new, more effective forest management practices. It is heartening to see Democrats and Republicans coming together to move forward this important legislation.
Chad Edwards, Altadena
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To the editor: The debate over the Fix Our Forests Act is not a choice between managing our forests and leaving them alone.
The Sierra Club supports active, science-based forest management, including prescribed fire, ecological restoration and carefully designed thinning where appropriate. We also recognize that climate change is making wildfires more destructive and that we urgently need to do more to protect communities and ecosystems.
Our concern with the Fix Our Forests Act is not that it promotes active management. It is that the legislation would weaken environmental review and public oversight for projects that can cover thousands of acres. Those safeguards help ensure that forest management is based on sound science and ecological needs rather than simply accelerating commercial logging, particularly under an administration that has made a clear decision to prioritize timber harvest over all other values for our national forests.
We can move faster to restore forests, use prescribed fire and reduce wildfire risks without treating environmental protections as the obstacle. The question isn’t whether we manage our forests. It’s how we manage them — and whether we do it responsibly.
Anna Medema, Washington, D.C.
This writer is deputy legislative director, forests and public lands, of environmental advocacy organization the Sierra Club.
