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Cattlemen ask White House to lead on reform of federal forests

Large portions of the West have been hit hard by a wildfire season of record-setting destructive power. The damage caused by the fires to homes, businesses and the environment is bringing more people to demand action to improve the health of federal forests that are believed to be a common originating point of blazes that get out of control.

The hefty toll prompted the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council to send a letter to the White House requesting serious action to address unhealthy federal forests.

From NorthernAg.net:

…[T]he Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association sent a letter to the White House today stressing the importance of proper natural resource management in order to help prevent these catastrophic events, and furthermore, the gross negligence and mismanagement of our nation’s forests and rangeland by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. …

PLC President Brenda Richards said the mismanagement of federally-owned forests and rangelands has created great economic hardship and danger for ranchers that depend upon the land.

“This year’s fire season has proven once again the federal mismanagement of our forests and rangeland,” said Richards, whose ranch has suffered damage in the current Idaho/Oregon fire. “The livestock industry and rural economies will spend decades attempting to recover from the millions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure damage and forage loss that have been the result of catastrophic wildfire in recent weeks and years, not to mention the loss of valuable wildlife habitat. …”

 Read more of the complete article at NorthernAg.net >>