Oversight Hearing | Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee
Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans
2025-05-15
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Source: Congress.gov
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Committee on Natural Resources
C
Committee on Natural Resources
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Committee on Natural Resources
investigations will now come to order without objections the chair is authorized to declare recess to the subcommittee at any time the subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on fix our force how improved land management can protect communities in the wildland urban interface under committee rule 4f any oral opening statement at the hearing are limited to the chairman and the ranking member I therefore ask unanimously that all the other members' statements be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted in accordance with Committee Rule 3-0. Without objection, so ordered.
I ask unanimously that the following members be allowed to sit and participate in today's hearing. The gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Tiffany. The gentleman from Idaho, Mr. Fulcher. The gentleman from Wyoming, Ms. Haggum. The gentleman from Utah, Mr. Kennedy. The gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Crane. The gentleman from California, Mr. Fong. Gentlewoman from California, Ms. Kim. The gentleman from California, Mr. Calvert. Without objection, so ordered. I recognize the full committee. Is Bruce going to speak? Okay, I'll get here. Okay. I'll now recognize myself for my opening statement. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for our witnesses who came today to testify on this important issue on Fix Our Forest. how improved land management can protect communities in the wildland-urban interface. The Committee on Natural Resources and I have worked tirelessly to emphasize and combat the catastrophic wildfire crisis in the United States. I have long advocated for implementing sound science-backed forest management policies, putting people back to work in our national forests, encouraging coordination between federal, state, and private entities related to managing our forest. and to improve public safety, especially in the wildland urban interface. I will never forget the Yarnell Hill fire, which tragically took the lives of 19 Granite Mountain hotshot firefighters and remains Arizona's deadliest wildfire. The Yarnell fire ignited on federal BLM before burning more than 8,300 acres and destroying almost 100 homes in nearby neighborhoods. The public memorial I hosted brought together more than 1,200 members of the community, and the sacrifice each firefighter who was taken from us all too soon has undoubtedly stayed with all of us. We must not allow these tragedies that wildfires bring to wildland urban interface communities to continue. The relationship between forest management and the wildfire crisis is clear.
Across the U.S., more than one billion acres of land are at risk of being consumed by wildfire. Of those, approximately 117 million acres owned by the federal government has been identified as high or very high risk of burning. And over the last 20 years, wildfires in the United States have burned an average of 7 million acres per year. In 2024, almost 9 million acres burned. These numbers have multiplied significantly, even those from seen as recently as the early 2000s. And the reason why is not difficult to understand. Across the country, our nation's forests are loaded with dangerous dry fuels and have been not managed through the thinning, prescribed burns, and mechanized treatments. Hundreds of years ago, forests in the United States held about 64 acres per tree or per acre. Now in many places, those same forests hold upwards of 300 trees per acre, allowing extreme environments to lock up our forests and make forests less resilient by increasing competition among trees and other vegetation for water, minerals, and sunlight crucial to sustained forest health. To be clear, the catastrophic wildfire crisis does not only impact our forests. This crisis poses perhaps the most significant threat to communities situated in the wildland-urban interface. Wildfires cost between $394 billion and $893 billion every year. These costs include property damage, lost income, contamination of water resources, timber loss, and more. Worse yet, these impacted home and business owners face significant challenge getting and keeping property insurance that covers losses due to wildfire. We'll talk about that today. As costs for both property owners and insurance carriers balloon, some carriers cannot insure high risk communities or properties. And those people who cannot obtain or can obtain insurance find their rates are astronomically increased. So they are under insured when they are unfortunately must file a claim after experiencing a wildfire loss.
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