The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing to discuss potential reforms to the nation’s forestry management practices this week. Representatives of the logging industry discussed the need to increase the amount of timber cut on national forests. The Obama Administration did not disagree with this statement, but noted that U.S. Forest Service (USFS) resources are increasingly being diverted to fight wildfires in the West, and urged the Committee to address the funding structure issue as a means to allow for additional forest management work to be done.
