‘Fix Our Forests Act’ puts Southern forests at risk 

WASHINGTON – This week, the misnamed “Fix Our Forests Act” was reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The bill would be a step backwards for our managed forests and public lands, especially in the South. The Southern Environmental Law Center is opposed to this bill unless significant changes are made. 

The bill promotes more logging across millions of acres of forests while limiting public engagement, the use of science in decision making, and the ability to hold the Forest Service accountable in court.  

“The Forest Service is way off the rails. It’s essential that Congress assert itself to rein the agency in. Instead, this bill would give it a longer leash and block the public’s path to hold them accountable through the courts,” SELC Forest Program Leader Sam Evans said. 

“The so-called Fix Our Forests Act claims to prevent wildfires, but in reality it just makes it easier for the Forest Service to continue exploiting our least fire-prone forests for timber production, including those in the Southeast.”  

National forests are home to some of the South’s most special places. It’s crucial to protect these public lands to preserve the opportunity for clean water, outdoor recreation, hunting, and fishing, and the economic benefits to nearby communities for generations to come.  

Some provisions in the bill like expanding authority to Tribes are a positive step, but the bill also: 

• Blocks litigation: This bill would make it more difficult to challenge Forest Service decisions in designated areas, giving them the authority to shortcut environmental reviews and public engagement with few legal remedies. According to Evans, “if this were really about using good science to solve problems, there would be no need to cut local experts out of the process.”  

• Expands logging in Southern forests in the name of fire prevention: This bill would expand the area for logging allowed in Southern Appalachian national forests by designating them as high-risk firesheds, even though those “firesheds” include some of the wettest places in the country. Timber sales throughout this region would escape any meaningful environmental review.  

• Expands loopholes for review of logging projects: The bill would expand the size of “categorical exclusions” for logging projects from 3,000 to 10,000 acres—nearly 16 square miles, or the size of Washington D.C. –. This change would exempt projects from scientific review or public input. 

• Creates more risk for endangered species: This bill would remove the requirement that the Forest Service check in with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when animals or plants are newly listed as threatened or endangered, or when new information shows that forestry practices are harming those species more than previously anticipated.