[MCN] USDA Wildfire/Climate Strategy

[John Meyer]

Missoula,

The USDA is looking for public comments on how it should address wildfire/climate change. Here's the intro paragraph to the Executive Order:

On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. This Executive Order laid out a series of actions for Federal Agencies to take regarding climate change mitigation and resilience, including directing the Secretary of Agriculture to collect stakeholder input on a climate-smart agriculture and forestry strategy. As part of this process, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking input from the public to ensure that relevant information is considered. USDA is interested in your comments in response to the topics, categories and questions shown in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

Here are some of the issues that the Feds are seeking comments on:

A. How should USDA utilize programs, funding and financing capacities, and other authorities to decrease wildfire risk fueled by climate change?

B. How can the various USDA agencies work more cohesively across programs to advance climate-smart forestry practices and reduce the risk of wildfire on all lands?

C. What additional data, tools and research are needed for USDA to effectively reduce wildfire risk and manage Federal lands for carbon?

D. What role should partners and stakeholders play, including State, local and Tribal governments, related to addressing wildfires? 
Here is the link to comment <https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/16/2021-05287/notice-of-request-for-public-comment-on-the-executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home#open-comment>. The comment deadline is April 29, 2021. 
This is an important opportunity to educate the Biden Administration/Forest Service.  We cannot fight wildfire by logging our National Forests. The Forest Service and National Academy of Sciences have published articles that state:

• Roughly 1% of Forest Service treatments experience wildfire each year, on average. Most fuels treatments have little influence on wildfire. 

• When thinning is combined with expected warming, unintended consequences may ensue, such as forested areas converting to nonforest. 

• Home loss to wildfire is dependent upon what a home is made of and the area 40 meters around the home. Logging national forests is not necessary to protect homes in the Wildland Urban Interface. 

• The U.S. Government Accountability Office has questioned the U.S. Forest Service’s prioritizing protection of WUI communities that lie under private and state jurisdictions and has argued for increased financial responsibility for WUI wildfire risk by state and local governments. 

The U.S. Forest Service can save taxpayer money by working with local governments and private homeowners to ensure homes are protected before fires start, instead of spending astronomical amounts of money trying to protect private structures after a fire has started. 

We’ll provide the science referenced above in follow ups emails. 

Have a great week. 

John



-- 
John Meyer
Executive Director & General Counsel 
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center
P.O. Box 412 Bozeman, MT 59771
John at Cottonwoodlaw.org <mailto:John at Cottonwoodlaw.org>
(406) 546-0149

Lawsuits get things done. Click here <https://www.cottonwoodlaw.org/> to support our legal work. 




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