Bob Berwyn:
"SUMMIT COUNTY — Intertwined concerns about overall forest health, bark beetles, climate change and wildfires took center state Tuesday at a full hearing of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle questioned Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell about his agency’s ability to meet its obligations to address the multiple challenges.
U.S. Senator Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, said its critical to engage the private sector and encourage the use of beetle kill products by expanding markets for forest products. That requires streamlining contracting procedures and giving incentives to companies that use beetle-killed wood for construction, as well as wood pellets and biomass for energy production.
“The private sector is key to dealing with this epidemic,” Udall said. “In a state like Colorado, where there is a large need for forest treatments but few forest-management businesses, the Forest Service should tailor timber sales and stewardship contracts to fit this industry, and work to try to move at the pace of industry as much as possible,” Udall said after the hearing. See a video of the exchange at Udall’s website...."
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