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Congress Approves Farm Bill Without Controversial National Forest Loopholes
By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 19th, 2018
Early Versions of the Bill Would Have Expanded Commercial Logging in Los Padres National Forest and Other Public Lands
Submitted by Rebecca August, Public Lands Advocate, Los Padres ForestWatch After months of contention over conservation, food assistance, and forestry provisions, Congress yesterday passed a final version of the Farm Bill. Several loopholes that appeared in early versions of the bill would have facilitated massive commercial logging across national forests with minimal environmental review and public input. Typically reauthorized every four to five years, the Farm Bill directs agricultural programs like subsidies to farmers, food stamps, rural development, and research and marketing. Other programs managed by the Department of Agriculture, such as National Forests, are also included in the bill. Tucked away in the House version of the Farm Bill, passed in June of this year, were multiple provisions that would have fast-tracked logging and other development in forests throughout the country, including Los Padres National Forest. The Senate passed their own version of the bill containing none of these provisions. The House bill’s hidden riders would have fast-tracked landscape-scale logging projects up to 10 square miles in size, enabling tens of thousands of acres National Forests to be logged. The bill would have permitted bulldozing new roads up to three miles long in pristine roadless areas, removed restrictions on aerial spraying of herbicides that could pollute waterways and harm pollinators, and encouraged the Forest Service to ignore federal wildlife experts, disregarding decades of established development procedure. The forestry provisions became a major point of disagreement as the two versions of the legislation were reconciled in conference committee, aggravated by White House tweets about forest management and raking. Ultimately, the House riders that would have affected the Los Padres National Forest — where the Trump Administration is currently fast-tracking two large commercial logging projects — were left out of the final 807-page bill after intense public pressure brought on by conservation organizations such as Los Padres ForestWatch. Hundreds of residents throughout the central coast region wrote their members of Congress to demand that the forest loopholes be removed from the Farm Bill. “This year, the House launched an unprecedented effort to undermine bedrock environmental laws that have been on the books for decades to protect our forests and encourage robust public input,” said Los Padres ForestWatch Public Lands Advocate Rebecca August. “We will continue to monitor new legislation that could negatively impact local public lands, and work with local congressional representatives to protect the Los Padres National Forest.” All four Congressmembers whose districts cover the Los Padres National Forest voted in favor of the final version of the Farm Bill. Congressmembers Salud Carbajal (D-24), Julia Brownley (D-26), and Jimmy Panetta (D-20), voted against the House version’s forestry loopholes. Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-23) voted in favor of the logging provisions. About Los Padres ForestWatch |
