Last Friday, Congressman David G. Valadao (CA-22) joined the House Natural Resources Committee for a field hearing on wildfires and forest management in Yosemite National Park. Ahead of the hearing, members participated in site tours of Mariposa Grove and learned more from the National Park Service about forest management priorities, preventative steps to combat wildfires, and water rights. Earlier this year, Congressman Valadao hosted the Natural Resources Committee for a field hearing on water in Tulare.

“Proper forest management is key to preventing the catastrophic wildfires we’ve seen in California that have devastated people’s livelihoods, homes, and businesses,” said Congressman Valadao. “We need to streamline some of the burdensome regulations and bureaucratic red tape that make it difficult for our land managers to properly manage our forests and confront the threat of wildfires. Thank you to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman and Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse for bringing members from across the country to California to learn about some of these challenges firsthand.”

Background:

Last year, U.S. Forest Service (USFS) researchers estimated 36.3 million trees died in California in 2022 alone, a 282 percent increase from the year prior. In Mariposa County, the location of the field hearing, nearly 1 million trees died last year. This forest health crisis has fueled an unprecedented rise in the likelihood and severity of catastrophic wildfires. The need to increase the pace and scale of active forest management has never been more apparent

Watch the Congressman’s questioning here.

Watch the full hearing here.