A tale of two farm bills: House & Senate produce wildly different vision for national forests
Olympic National Forest, WA
Mason Cummings, The Wilderness Society
Senate version reflects views of Americans who value wildlife, clean water, outdoor recreation
Today, the Senate Agriculture Committee released their version of the ‘farm bill’. The House version of the bill was overloaded with anti-environmental provisions and failed to pass the House floor in May.
The Wilderness Society released the following statement from National Forest Defense Campaign Manager Megan Birzell:
“We applaud Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow for crafting a bipartisan farm bill. The forestry title builds on the bipartisan fire funding fix enacted earlier this year and largely rejects attacks on bedrock environmental laws like the Roadless Rule.
“In stark contrast with the House effort, the Senate farm bill is much more in step with the majority of Americans who value clean water, abundant wildlife, and exceptional outdoor recreation on our public lands.
“We also commend the Senate for including wilderness designations for public lands in Tennessee and Virginia. At just over 25,000 acres combined these wildlands east of the Mississippi are important additions to our National Wilderness Preservation System.
“We hope the Chairman, Ranking Member and other Senators continue working toward a bipartisan bill by opposing any controversial forestry amendments.”
CONTACT:
- Chelsi Moy, Communications Manager, The Wilderness Society, 406-556-7134, chelsi_moy@tws.org
The Wilderness Society, founded in 1935, is the leading conservation organization working to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. With more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect 109 million acres of wilderness and to ensure sound management of our shared national lands. www.wilderness.org
