Cliff Bentz Emphasizes The Importance Of Public Opinion In Forest Management Strategizing

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During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR) questioned experts about creating federal forest management strategies.

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00:00I'll recognize another Oregonian, Mr. Bents, for five minutes.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome all of you here.

00:09I guess one of the biggest issues, and I noticed in reviewing Mr. Crockett's testimony

00:15that he was sensitive to the challenges that are going to go with this kind of a management arrangement.

00:22And so I spent some time going through the bill and trying to sort out what the foundation would be

00:29for determining who's in charge, and you could tell that from my earlier questions.

00:34So I'm looking at this bill and trying to figure out a simple thing to focus upon

00:42that would raise the issue, and the easy one is found on page three of the bill

00:47where there's a discussion of access and who controls it.

00:51And so just to point out, by the way, I want it clear, I think the tribes are the key

00:57to getting into this land and taking care of it.

01:01So what I'm saying now is in the order of trying to make this thing actually work.

01:07And I can't think of anything that would destroy it more quickly than a belief by folks,

01:13hunters and others, that somehow this arrangement would prevent them from having access.

01:17That would, this would not advance one inch if that were the case.

01:22So, drawing your attention to page three of the bill, I note that it says,

01:27as part of the agreement to treat federal forest land as Indian forest land, under paragraph one,

01:31the secretary concerned and the tribe making the request shall.

01:34And then it says, to the maximum extent practical, then it says, and this is the language that is a bit

01:40of a problem, I think, subject to any Indian trust asset management plan approved under section 204

01:47of the Indian trust asset management and demonstration act.

01:50Well, I have it right here.

01:51I looked it up and I was trying to figure out where the public would have something to say

01:56about what the contents of that agreement might be.

01:59This bill needs a lot of work.

02:01It's not as clearly crafted as it should be.

02:02And it's a draft, right?

02:03So the real question is if, if folks, the public don't have an opportunity to weigh in,

02:10in putting together the agreement that provides the exception to access, then we have a problem.

02:15So I'll start with you, Mr. Vandenberg, what is your thought when it comes to the access

02:21by the public to land being managed by the tribe under one of these agreements?

02:26I, I completely agree with, you know, that, that has to be addressed.

02:30ITARA does require that the, the public has, you know, is informed and has the ability to comment.

02:42And, um, I think the, what we had, what we would need to recognize is when we, if we were to amend

02:50our ITAMP Indian trust asset management plan to include the federal lands, those, those, um, the public changes.

03:00And instead of on reservation where it's a tribal public, um, now that public needs to be interpreted

03:07more broadly to include the general public, um, and, and those lands need to be managed

03:13for the public benefit as well, um, which means access, um, uh, recreation, the things we all value.

03:22I know, uh, I know in, in regard to how they have to be managed, if you go to page nine

03:29of the, of the bill and a very in, in artfully crafted, uh, paragraph from lines one down to

03:36line nine, it says that, um, I think it's saying that the tribe shall be the sole authority

03:42for timber management activities on these lands.

03:44It, it, it's not written clearly enough to know whether that's what's meant, but is that

03:49your thought that the tribe would be the, quote, sole authority for timber management activities

03:54on those lands?

03:55That's how I read it.

03:58Um, the, and I think we can do, we can do a better job as far as, um, using modern techniques

04:09for marketing, um, ensuring competitive, um, competitive, uh, bids for the, the, the material

04:17that, that comes off of those restoration projects that will fund future work.

04:21Um, we're, we're, we're positioned to be able to do that very effectively.

04:27I believe you.

04:28The, the challenge is going to be making sure that all the neighbors in, in, in all, which,

04:33which we would hope would be large parcels of land, all of which need these management

04:37activities are enthusiastic about the arrangement and not opposing it.

04:44And so the bill needs considerable, uh, clarification, um, to make sure, uh, that these access issues

04:51are addressed.

04:52And, and, um, I've been working on this, uh, obviously down in my part of the state of Oregon,

04:58where there are no trees, uh, when, when it comes to, uh, access to huge millions of acres

05:04of rangeland and accesses everything to everybody.

05:08So with that, I'm, I'm, uh, happy for your efforts here and, uh, and look forward to working

05:13with you, uh, to help clear it up.

05:15With that, I yield back.

05:16The gentleman's time has expired.

05:18I'm going to take my time for a question.

05:20I want to start with you, Mr. Desatel.

05:22Thank you for coming back again.

05:24We had testimony.

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