The Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate funding for a program to help communities thin overstocked forests and produce more timber is “just horrific,” a top Democratic appropriator said Thursday.
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, criticized the proposal on a news conference call with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and local officials.
The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program supports projects around the country, combining federal funds for use on national forests with nonfederal funding to be used on state, private and tribal land. Projects include forest thinning, prescribed fire and timber harvesting, which provides material for local sawmills.
More than 5 million acres have been covered by the program since its inception in 2019, Merkley’s office said.
