House committee to hold hearing on Walden's forest access bill next week

House committee to hold hearing on Walden’s forest access bill next week

Union County Commissioner Steve McClure to testify before Congress in support

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation will hold a hearing on U.S. Rep. Greg Walden’s forest access bill on Tuesday, June 10. Union County Commissioner Steve McClure will be on hand to testify in support of the Forest Access in Rural Communities Act (H.R. 4272).  

“This hearing is the first step in passing my common-sense bill to stop the misguided travel management rule on national forests in the West and promote local control over future proposals that could restrict forest access. I’m pleased that my friend Steve McClure will be there to give his support to the bill and perspective as a county commissioner,” Walden said. “Federal agencies need to heed the input and wishes of local citizens before closing roads and restricting access. My bill will bring management decisions about public lands back to rural communities and force the forest service to listen to Oregonians.” 

“During the first round of travel management planning on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, I saw the Forest Service largely ignore the data and comments compiled by local forest users when the plan was released. I appreciate Representative Walden working with the counties and local residents throughout the travel management planning process and in crafting HR 4272 to ensure local communities have a say in management decisions on our National Forests,”McClure said. 

Walden’s bill has picked up support from his colleagues in the House since it was introduced in March. It currently has six cosponsors: Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA), Steve Pearce (R-NM), and Mike Simpson (R-ID).

Walden has also heard support for the proposal at community forums in La Grande and John Day. Larry Cribbs, a representative from the Eastern Oregon All-Terrain Vehicle Association, told The Observer,“This legislation is put together with our thoughts, our comments, our opportunity up front, and they listened to everything we said.” Union County Commissioner Mark Davidson said, “I fully support it. I think this is the kind of relationship that we always should have had.”  Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer told The Blue Mountain Eagle,“What comes off of this (forest) is our livelihood, our business, our future.”

Editorial boards in Oregon have also supported the measure. The Baker City Herald wrote, “Greg Walden has gotten right to theheart of the debate over managing national forests, and he only needed to write a four-page bill to do it,” in an editorial entitled “Walden’s bill has promise.”The Bulletin in Bend declared “Walden’s forest bill is just what’s needed.”