DEER LODGE – Some members of Congress believe the country’s forest management just isn’t cutting it.
“I’m of the firm belief if we don’t start managing our forests we’re going to continue to see these catastrophic wildfires,” said U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont.
Gianforte invited his Republican colleague from Arkansas, Rep. Bruce Westerman, to tour Sun Mountain Lumber Mill in Deer Lodge Monday and visit federal forest land near where timber is harvested.
The tour is an effort to draw support for Westerman’s Resilient Federal Forests Act that is up for a vote this week in Washington, D.C. The act addresses bureaucracy and litigation issues they claim impede federal forest management.