Walden talks forest management in Sunriver

This past Oregon wildfire season was very mild, compared with recent years — but Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, said Monday in Sunriver there’s still much work to be done with our forests, to make them more resilient to wildfire and clear burned stands that can fuel future blazes.

Walden was in Sunriver Monday morning to talk with the Oregon Forest and Industries Council about managing Oregon’s forests. He talked about the Resilient Forestry Act, which would allow for burned trees on federal land to be repurposed.

Walden said most of the carbon emissions from wildfires happen after the fire, as those dead trees decay.

“We need to pass additional legislation that sets up an expedited process to come in after the fires on federal ground, and remove the burned dead trees where they still have value and where appropriate,” Walden said. “You’re not going to do it everywhere. We need to get back to that, so we can fund a replanting of the forests.”

But Walden acknowledged it’ll be a challenge getting the Resilient Forestry Act passed in Congress. He heads back to Capitol Hill Tuesday.

Read more about the bill, introduced earlier this year, here: https://walden.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/greg-walden-introduces-bill-improve-forest-management-reduce-wildfire

KTVZ 2019