A Prescribed Burn  (USFS file photo)

The Senator tells the Subcommittee ahead of wildfire season that “These fires are not your grandfather’s fires, and we as Westerners know what's really at stake here.”

June 16, 2024 - Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore. last week, urged bipartisan support for two of his bills–the National Prescribed Fire Act and the River Democracy Act–highlighting the need to combat disastrous wildfires by using prescribed burns, while ensuring local communities have access to reliable drinking water.

“These fires are not your grandfather’s fires, and we as Westerners know what's really at stake here,” Wyden said at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining on the legislation. “When lightning strikes, the fires go from being small to being an inferno real fast, especially during hot and dry seasons.”

“For years, I’ve worked with industry groups and environmental advocates to reduce the risk of wildfires,” Wyden continued. “My National Prescribed Fire Act received support from Westerners and people around the country to fight fire with fire. My other bill, the River Democracy Act, took ideas from Oregonians across the state to protect our treasured water sources such as rivers from threats, including wildfires.”

Wyden urged his colleagues to continue work to advance the National Prescribed Fire Act and the River Democracy Act. Today’s subcommittee hearing served as a critical step in moving both bills forward on a bipartisan basis.

The Bureau of Land Management and National Forest System affirmed Wyden’s National Prescribed Fire Act, which would unlock additional flexibility and opportunity for wildfire risk reduction through the $300 million it would provide federal agencies to implement prescribed fire.

Watch a video of Wyden’s remarks here.
Source: Senator Ron Wyden