Rural voters turned out in record numbers in the 2024 election and were a decisive factor in the presidential race.
Rural voters sent a strong message: Our voices can no longer be ignored in Washington, DC.
For years, our timber communities have pleaded for active forest management to protect their homes from wildfire; keep nearby national forests green and healthy; provide timber to support local economies; and to maintain safe access to their local public lands.
It’s reasonable to expect the new Trump administration, combined with the new Congress, to respond by prioritizing active forest management and restoring the federal agencies’ traditional mandate to manage public lands for multiple uses.
Maybe the new administration will continue President Biden’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy that aims to double the current rate of forest health treatments in areas most susceptible to severe wildfires, pests, and diseases.
It is likely the new administration will reverse the Biden policies that directly undermined the strategy. This includes the political and self-defeating “Old Growth” rule that would have made it even more costly and bureaucratic to properly manage national forests and sustain older stands of trees.
Protecting our forests and communities through active forest management is not a partisan issue.
As we have previously written, the Fix Our Forests Act recently passed the U.S. House with strong bipartisan support.
Even Nancy Pelosi voted for it.
The Fix Our Forests Act restores forest health, increases resiliency to catastrophic wildfires, and protects communities by expediting environmental analyses, reducing frivolous lawsuits, and increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration projects.
The new Congress should put the Fix Our Forests Act back on the agenda when it convenes in January.
Doing so will be one way to honor the millions of rural voters who showed up to vote in November and made such a big difference in shaping the future of our country.
