Letters

In a letter sent earlier this week, the Society of American Foresters and the National Association of State Foresters urged the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee to confirm the nomination of Jim Hubbard as undersecretary of the Natural Resources and Environment mission area within the United States Department of Agriculture as swiftly as [read more]

The National Association of State Foresters has sent letters to House and Senate leadership in support of robust Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 funding for USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry programs. "We believe that investments in key federal programs to conserve and improve America’s forests—rural and urban, private and public—are critically important. These investments [read more]

NASF, the National Volunteer Fire Council, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the Congressional Fire Services Institute, and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture have sent a letter to U.S. House of Representatives leadership in support of two critically important wildfire protection programs: State Fire Assistance (SFA) and Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA). SFA and VFA, programs [read more]

In a letter to Senators Pat Roberts and Debbie Stabenow—chairman and ranking member respectively of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry charged with confirming Agriculture Department appointments—NASF expressed its full support for President Donald Trump’s nomination of James Hubbard as undersecretary of the Agriculture Department’s Natural Resources and Environment mission area. "Throughout his long and distinguished career [read more]

This week, the National Association of State Foresters and more than 125 diverse organizations submitted a letter to congressional leadership in support of a comprehensive wildfire funding solution. Today's fire seasons are on average 78 days longer than in the 1970s and are projected to grow hotter, more unpredictable, and more expensive in the coming [read more]

On Monday, October 4th, U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) sent a letter to the Senate and House Leadership of the Energy Bill Conference (Committee Chairmen and Ranking Members) urging them to address wildfire funding and federal forest management reforms.  The letter also supported codifying of the Landscape Scale Restoration program and [read more]

The National Association of State Foresters provided coalition letters in support of fiscal year 2017 appropriations levels for priority USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry (S&PF) programs.  State and private forests make up more than two thirds of our nation’s forests and provide a host of public benefits including jobs, clean air and water, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities [read more]

The National Association of State Foresters urges the Senate to pass legislation allowing the USDA Forest Service to sell isolated parcels of land and utilize those funds for acquisition of access and inholdings. HR 1214 passed the House of Representatives and was sent to the Senate for consideration on September 17, 2015. It passed the [read more]

State Foresters joined a broad coalition of forestry partners in urging leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to retain language included in the House Farm Bill (H.R. 2642) that would codify the EPA’s longstanding Silviculture Rule that looks to state-based Best Management Practices (BMPs) for addressing stormwater runoff associated with forest roads. The [read more]

NASF joined other associations this week in sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Scientific Advisory Board on the draft report concerning Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence. The letter highlights the need for continued cooperation between the states and EPA as the [read more]