May 6, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing re: Fix Our Forests Act – 5.6.25
Removing public review and local community input will not solve wildfire challenges
Contacts:
Kya Marienfeld, Wildlands Attorney, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (435) 259-5440; (kya@suwa.org)
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry hosted a Legislative Hearing to discuss the incorrectly-named Fix our Forests Act or FOFA (S. 1462). Below is a statement from SUWA Wildlands Attorney Kya Marienfeld and additional information.
“We appreciate the thoughtfulness of Senators Bennet, Welch, Smith, Schiff, and Klobuchar, who in today’s hearing pressed for clarity on what’s truly essential for forest health and wildfire resilience: robust, well-resourced land management agencies. Unfortunately, the current version of this bill still falls far short of its stated aims,” said Kya Marienfeld, SUWA Wildlands Attorney. “Rather than advancing forest restoration or safeguarding communities from wildfire, it erodes bedrock environmental protections, risking further degradation of treasured landscapes and leaving communities more vulnerable to destructive fires, not less. Equally troubling, the bill would sideline science while stripping transparency and public input from restoration decisions-precisely the wrong approach for effective, enduring wildfire prevention and ecosystem health.”
“Of particular concern is the threat to native pinyon pine and juniper woodlands-vital ecosystems in and around the redrock wilderness and home to some of the last old-growth stands on public lands. These landscapes could be fast-tracked for removal if this legislation passes. We still hope for meaningful amendments in the Senate, but the bill today would do lasting harm to our public lands and forests, not protect or ‘fix’ them.”
Additional Information:
During the 119th Congress, FOFA (H.R.471) was first introduced in the House by Rep. Bruce Westermann (R-AR-04); on January 23, 2025, it passed the House of Representatives. As noted in a January 16, 2025 coalition letter that SUWA signed, “This legislation purports to be about sound forest management and fire, but it could actually make fires worse, and is really about stifling citizen voices, removing science from land management decisions, and legislating a large-scale rollback of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on millions of acres of federal lands. Its sweeping provisions remove scientific review and accountability to benefit the short-term interests of extractive industries.”
SUWA’s Statement from when the Senate version of the bill was introduced can be found here; SUWA also has an advocacy action tool where members and supporters can reach out to Senators who serve on the Agriculture Committee.
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.