1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

The Fix Our Forests Act, H.R. 471, fails to invest in proven community protection measures against wildfires like defensible space, emergency planning, and home hardening. Instead, it prioritizes opening federal lands to logging interests without adequate scientific review or public input. This could lead to the removal of large, old-growth trees that play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by storing high amounts of carbon. Furthermore, the increased road density facilitated by this bill would fragment forest habitats, harm water quality, and paradoxically increase the risk of human-caused fires. Alarmingly, it also undermines key provisions of the Endangered Species Act, putting ecosystems and endangered species at greater risk. For these reasons, I urge you to reject this misguided legislation that threatens our public lands and environmental safeguards under the guise of wildfire management.