House Natural Resources Committee Holds Hearing on Huffman’s Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act

July 10, 2019

Washington, D.C.- Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) today joined a subcommittee hearing on the Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forest Act, his legislation to guard communities against wildfires, provide local jobs, restore lands impaired by illegal marijuana growing operations, expand recreational opportunities, and permanently protect many of northwest California’s spectacular wild places and pristine streams.

The hearing was held in the Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on National Forests, Parks, and Public Lands, which heard testimony from Kent Collard, the Director of Bar 717 Ranch in Trinity County, and from Trinity County Supervisor Keith Groves, along with executive branch witnesses. Trinity County Supervisor Jeremy Brown was also in attendance at the hearing.

“My district includes some of the most majestic landscapes and biodiverse ecosystems in California. It’s home to the only major undammed river in the state, the Smith. It’s home to old-growth forests like our ancient redwoods, unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities like hiking, fishing, biking, paddling, and climbing,” said Rep. Huffman in today’s hearing. “It’s critical to take care of these places and to ensure a future for the communities and economies that rely on them. It’s exactly what my bill would do. This bill reflects input from diverse stakeholders over many years of hard work. It would protect important wild places on federal lands, also restore forests and fish habitat, benefit local economies and wildlife, increase recreational opportunities and spur tourism, and protect communities by increasing fire resilience.”

“I appreciate the chance to appear before you today, my one voice in place of the many who support this bill, knowing the benefits it will bring to forests, wildlife, people, and the communities of Northwestern California,” said Kent Collard, Director, Bar 717 Ranch, Camp Trinity. “Like many other businesses in this area, ours is fueled by people seeking to experience the wild beauty of Trinity County.  Our business is recreation, and recreation is a growing industry in California as the population increases and urbanizes.  H.R. 2250 recognizes and promotes the economic opportunities that recreation presents to our rural communities.”

Read more about the Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act here.

You can watch Rep. Huffman’s statement here and the text can be found below.

Thank you Madam Chair for including my bill, the Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act in today’s hearing.

My district includes some of the most majestic landscapes and biodiverse ecosystems in California. It’s home to the only major undammed river in the state, the Smith. It’s home to old-growth forests like our ancient redwoods, unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities like hiking, fishing, biking, paddling, and climbing. And being active in the outdoors, experiencing these wild places and connecting to a healthy environment is the way of life for my constituents. It is sought after also by many visitors to the second district. It’s critical to take care of these places and to ensure a future for the communities and economies that rely on them.

It’s exactly what my bill would do. This bill reflects input from diverse stakeholders over many years of hard work. It would protect important wild places on federal lands, also restore forests and fish habitat, benefit local economies and wildlife, increase recreational opportunities and spur tourism, and protect communities by increasing fire resilience.

Here are a few of the priorities in the bill that I would like to specifically point out: the bill designates a 730,000 acre special restoration area in the South Fork, Trinity River, Mad River, and North Fork Eel River watersheds. Restoration in these watersheds would include an extensive network of shaded fuel breaks along roads where fire ignitions are most likely to happen, and would improve the ecological health of forests through careful, individual tree removal- particularly in plantations that were re-planted as homogenous stands after clear-cut logging.

These collaboratively developed restoration activities will help promote fire resilience. They’ll also protect communities, restore diverse forest ecosystems that are naturally adapted to fire, and they’ll create local jobs. My bill would also establish a partnership of federal, state, and local entities to restore public lands and waters that are damaged by something that happens a lot in my district- illegal marijuana grow sites, which pose significant threats to public health, public safety, and law enforcement, wildlife and water quality. This is critical in my district and elsewhere in the western United States and I hope our work can serve as a model for other places.

My bill is ambitious when it comes to recreation and conservation. It calls for an additional 295 miles of trails, with opportunities for hiking, biking, horseback riding, and off-highway vehicle use. It proposes new visitor centers and overnight lodging to boost the rapidly growing outdoor recreation economy and its benefits for communities around those valuable public lands. In California, and this is important to understand, the outdoor economy drives $92 billion in consumer spending, nearly 700,000 jobs, it results in $6.2 billion in state and local tax revenue- and in my district alone, people spend almost $2 billion a year on outdoor recreation. So, it’s clear that investing in our public lands now means a future where the environment and the economy can both thrive.  

Now, this bill would also result in 261,000 acres of wilderness, 379 miles of wild and scenic rivers, designated areas that are critical habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead, and also home to a variety of important native ecosystems and rare plants. The proposals would protect some of the largest intact old-growth oaks, conifers, and redwood forests in California. Finally, these areas include some of the best fishing, swimming, and whitewater runs in the state. So, protecting them in perpetuity under the Wilderness Act and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will ensure that future generations can enjoy the same experience in these wild places that we do today.

Lastly, I’d like to explain how this bill was developed. It happened over more than five years of hard work. I’ve been asking stakeholders that whole time what policy issues they think should be addressed in public lands legislation and this led to a draft bill three years ago that included the issues that were raised by a variety of my constituents. This draft bill was available on my website for public review and comment for over a year. I held four public meetings, countless smaller-group and individualized meetings in my district- and at the public meetings, we had over 500 people attend. This level of stakeholder participation means that we have focused on what the people in Northwest California want to see with their public lands, and that is the bill under consideration today. 

Now much of the input we received resulted in changes to the draft bill. I don’t have time to run through them all, but I particularly want the ranking member to know that I have done the hard work that he referenced in his opening statement, and that’s why you see before you a bill that has broad support in all four of the counties that I represent.

This broad support I think will be reflected in some the testimony here today, including from Kent Collard who is a business owner and constituent who I will be welcoming in a few minutes.

Thank you Madam Chair and I yield back the balance of my time.

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