“The Fix is In!”

Those of us who are blessed to live and work in the woods know something is very wrong.

Millions of acres of America’s forests burn in wildfires every year. Along with the forests, towns

and homes burn, ecosystems are severely damaged, and watersheds are turned into mudflows and landslides. While the toll on the environment is great, more sobering is the loss of human lives and the long-ranging health impacts. Wildfire smoke offsets years of anti-pollution efforts and is finally receiving the scientific study needed to evaluate the adverse effects on human health.

Lately, I find myself in daily conversations with folks who ask, “What’s going on with all these

fires?” I had a meeting one afternoon with one of our county supervisors because he wants a clearer view of what’s wrong in our forests and how to fix it. To answer him, and you readers, I’m going to relay the history of the Tecuya Ridge Thinning Project, a clear example of “what’s wrong.”

The Tecuya Project is located in Southern California, home to the notorious Santa Ana winds that have driven wildfire catastrophes throughout history. The project was originally envisioned by the Mount Pinos community, located between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, as a shaded fuelbreak that would help protect the area from wildfire.

The Kern County Fire Department became a strong advocate for the Tecuya Project and

collaborated with the local community to move the project forward. The locals developed the

Mount Pinos Community Wildfire Protection Plan. That plan, coupled with the Los Padres

National Forest Strategic Fuelbreak Assessment, gave the Tecuya Ridge Thinning Project the

traction it needed.

In March 2018, the community and the Forest Service proposed the project: 1,626 acres of strategic fuelbreaks designed to protect the forest ecosystem and the watershed, along with

3,800 homes with “high risk” designation, in the event of a wildfire. The proposal triggered one

year of project “scoping” where anyone could ask questions or provide comments about the

fuelbreak. At the end of the year, in April of 2019, the submitted questions had been answered

and concerns addressed by the Forest Service, and the decision memo to proceed with the project was signed.

This process was working just as it should work, right? The local community works with local agencies to identify a problem and after presenting it to the public for questions and input,

moves forward on a solution. Wrong!

In stepped the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental organization based in Tucson, Arizona, backed with a $45 million balance sheet and a reported 40 attorneys on staff, who sued to stop the project. They claimed it endangered the California condor and violated the Forest Service roadless rules. Were condors present anywhere around the project? No. Were new roads proposed for this project? No.

Final outcome . . . the Tecuya Project went to the US District Court where it was approved in

December 2022. Good to go? Nope – the appellants took it to the Ninth Circuit Court, where it

was finally cleared to proceed on March 1 st , 2024, 6 years after it was initially proposed.

I have worked in the forest for over 50 years. During that time, stories just like the Tecuya

Fuelbreak story have played out repeatedly in forests all over the country. The results in

California: in the 1980’s, there were approximately 150 sawmills producing wood products from

California’s forests. Today the number of sawmills is down to 27, and even though our state is

one-third forested, it imports over 80% of its wood products. Montana’s story is similar: a

University of Montana study states that over two-thirds of Montana’s timber industry has been

shuttered since the 1980’s.

Today, the United States of America, with almost 800 million acres of forest, is the #1

IMPORTER of lumber in the world. What’s wrong? Four decades of stories similar to the

Tecuya fuelbreak recurring again and again across our National Forests.

After living through the past 4 years of presidential and Congressional forestry dysfunction that

included a proposal to close off another 100 million acres of “maturing” and old growth forests

from management, help has arrived. The problem has a “fix,” and it is Congressman Bruce Westerman’s (R-Ark.) and Scott Peters’ (D-Calif.) bill, aptly named the “Fix Our Forests Act” (FOFA). The American Loggers Council has been a strong supporter of this legislation since its introduction, meeting with Congressman Westerman and attending his subcommittee hearing on the bill in April 2024.

Our support, along with the support of our partner timber associations, has been instrumental in promoting the FOFA right up to the finish line: the House overwhelmingly passed the bill with 64 Democrats joining all the House Republicans in approving this legislation. The FOFA is designed to do the following:

1. Incentivize large-scale (10,000 acre) forest management projects to increase the pace and scale of active forest management

2. Simplify and expedite the environmental review process on timber management projects.

3. Limit litigation (aka Tecuya Fuelbreak) involving fireshed management projects

Moving the Fix Our Forests Act across the finish line now lies in the hands of the Senate, where the chance for approval is excellent. After Congressional approval, moving the FOFA from legislation to action will take, in my opinion, one more important step. Every timbered county in America will need to become aware of and embrace this legislation. That will be more likely to occur at the county supervisor or commissioner level if those representatives hear from the “local folks” – you and me.

At last count, 85 environmental groups had mobilized to oppose the Fix Our Forests Act. The best way to make this “fix” a reality is to beat the folks against it to the punch, and here’s your punch line:

·    American is one-third forested (approximately 800 million acres).

·    Our forests are overgrown with 5 times too many trees per acre (500 instead of 100).

·    Wildfire is destroying or damaging approximately 7 million acres of forests each year.

·    Along with those fires, lives, communities, and homes are lost.

·    Wildfire, plant, insect and ecosystem losses on those 7 million acres are incalculable and often go unmentioned.

·    The United States is now the #1 IMPORTER of lumber in the world, and we are rapidly losing our timber industry and critical infrastructure.

·    As a result, according to Wood Central, Russian plywood imports to America have jumped 53% just in recent months.

The American public has voted in an administration that can help right the ship, but they will not succeed without our help. Our local voices can stand up and prevail against those who seek to obstruct science-based forest management and the wise use of our forest resources. Weneed to show up . . . and get there first.

Mike Albrecht, President

American Loggers Council

Mike Albrecht has a master’s degree in forestry from Duke University, is a Registered Professional Forester in

California, and has worked for 50 years in forest management and the forest products industry.

Mike currently serves as president of the American Loggers Council and is a past president of

Associated California Loggers and the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference.