Forest Management Act has Positive Implications for Colorado River, Agriculture
When Pat O’Toole looks across the national forests on the Wyoming-Colorado border, where his family grazes sheep and cattle on both private and public lands, he sees a difficult situation — hundreds of thousands of acres of overcrowded and dead, downed trees.
“A forest like this does not generate water,” Mr. O’Toole, a Solutions from the Land board member, told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources during a Sept. 29 hearing to discuss pending legislation, including the Promoting Effective Forest Management Act of 2022, which was introduced by U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) on Sept. 22.
This legislation seeks to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and improve forest health with provisions that direct the Forestry Service and Bureau of Land Management to prioritize accomplishments over rhetoric. The legislation would also require agencies to use at least one existing streamlined authority for environmental review on a forest management project within the next three years and to incentivize employees to become more engrained in their communities.
It also promotes the use of grazing as a tool for preventing wildfire.
”This bill is about implementation,” Mr. O’Toole says. “That’s why it is so critically important. I am encouraged that it reflects the concerns of the men and women on the ground regarding the urgency of implementing forest restoration and management.”
CLICK HERE to read the excellent blog posted earlier today by our friends at Solutions from the Land on the hearing and Mr. O’Toole’s testimony.
More on The Senate ENR Hearing and the Alliance Farmer Lobbyist Trip to D.C.
Mr. O’Toole’s appearance before the Senate ENR Committee occurred the same week he and over two dozen other Family Farm Alliance member farmers, ranchers and water managers from a total of six states were in Washington, D.C., meeting with officials about industry concerns during the association’s Farmer Lobbyist Trip. CLICK HERE for the article the Irrigation Association wrote in the October 18 edition of “Irrigation Today”.
Summer Campaign Takes the Water Shortage and Food Security Message to the Public
In a campaign aimed at publicizing the threat to the nation’s food supply, the California Farm Water Coalition (CFWC) partnered with the Family Farm Alliance and Klamath Project irrigators to show consumers how water policies are contributing to food shortages and rising prices.
Beginning April 2 with a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, the campaign progressed over the summer with paid social media posts aimed at consumers aged 18 to 44. Ads were written to inform readers that food supplies are at risk and that prices are expected to rise, which they did- to record levels.
 Readers were also encouraged to click a link to learn more at a special landing page on the CFWC web site with information on the connection between water and food security. Here is the full link: https://www.farmwater.org/food-security-and-water/.
To date, the campaign has generated over 7 million impressions with almost 210,000 people clicking the link to visit the web site where major points with supporting information.
Family Farm Alliance Executive Director Dan Keppen delivered the keynote address yesterday at the Upper Missouri Water Association conference in Deadwood (SOUTH DAKOTA): “A Perfect Storm: Western Drought, Inflation, Ukraine and Global Food Insecurity”.
Mr. Keppen delivered a similar keynote address last month at the Arizona Agri-business and Water Council water conference in Phoenix, and will also speak to the North Dakota Water Users Association in Bismarck on this topic in December.
CLICK HERE to download the complete CFWC post. |
