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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESFifty-sixth Legislature First Regular Session |
House: LARA DP 5-4-0-0 | 3rd Read 34-26-0-0
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HCM2004: urging Congress; national forest health
Sponsor: Representative Griffin, LD 19
Transmitted to the Secretary of State
Overview
Requests that Congress enact legislation to support multiple-use forest management policies to improve the nation's forest health.
History
Multiple Use and Sustained Yield in National Forests
President Theodore Roosevelt gave the Department of Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service responsibility for managing forest reserves, and later national forests, in 1905. The management of these forests' renewable resources has been the subject of frequent legislation:
1) The Multiple Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to develop the renewable surface resources of the nation's 154 national forests for multiple use and sustained yield of the products and services obtained from them (Public Law 86-517). This provision was intended to ensure these resources are used in a manner that best meets the needs of the American people and allows for a high level of output;
2) The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare a renewable resource assessment that enabled long-term planning of renewable resources in national forests, discussed opportunities for improving the yield of tangible and intangible goods and services from these resources, and reviewed programs, laws and policies that influence the management of forest lands. The Secretary of Agriculture was also required to develop a Renewable Resource Program based on the principles of multiple use and sustained yield (Public Law 93-378);
3) The National Forest Management Act of 1976 required that any land and resource management plans for national forest units be developed in accordance with the principles of multiple use and sustained yield. It also generally limited timber sales from each national forest to the amount of timber that could be removed annually on a sustained yield basis (Public Law 94-588).
There are six national forests comprising about 40 percent of total forest lands in Arizona: Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino, Coronado, Kaibab, Prescott and Tonto.
Hazards to National Forests
According to the U.S. Forest Service, outbreaks of bark beetles have increased pine tree mortality in the Coconino National Forest and other locations in Arizona where the beetles can infest drought-afflicted low vigor trees and spread quickly in densely forested areas. Foliar disease that causes a loss of leaves and reduction in overall growth is also common in aspen, Arizona sycamore, cottonwood and willow trees. For example, in 1999, mortality reduced gross tree growth in Arizona's forests by almost 20 percent.
In 2020, over 2,500 wildfires burned nearly 980,000 acres of state, federal and tribal land in Arizona. The U.S. Forest Service has cited past fire exclusion, accumulating fuels, prolonged drought and expanding development as contributors to the growing size and severity of wildfires in western states. Of the U.S. Forest Service's $7.4 billion budget in FY 2021, $3.9 billion was allocated to wildland fire management and wildfire adjustment (Congressional Research Service).
Provisions
1.
States that the Arizona House of
Representatives urges Congress to enact legislation that supports multiple-use
forest management policies that will improve the nation's forest health.
2. Directs the Arizona Secretary of State to transmit the memorial to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each member of Congress from the state of Arizona.
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6. HCM 2004
7. Initials PAB/AH Page 0 Transmitted
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