•      "Environment America recognizes the urgent need to protect communities from the growing threat of catastrophic wildfires, and we support efforts by the Biden administration and members of Congress to do so. But instead of promoting policies and forest management practices grounded in science, the Fix Our Forests Act bypasses critical environmental laws that protect our ecosystems and restricts scientific input and public engagement. The bill could have devastating consequences for the environment and endangered species, especially amid rapid extinction rates and a climate crisis that necessitates healthy, sound forests. Protecting communities from wildfires is becoming increasingly difficult as they grow more frequent and intense with climate change. Despite its name, the Fix Our Forests Act [...] would weaken critical science-based management practices for maintaining forest health." Source: Environment America

•      "This legislation purports to be about sound forest management and fire, but it could actually make fires worse, and is really about stifling citizen voices, removing science from land management decisions, and legislating a large-scale rollback of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on millions of acres of federal lands. Its sweeping provisions remove scientific review and accountability to benefit the short-term interests of extractive industries. Instead of focusing on proven ways to protect communities such as home hardening and science-based forest management projects close to communities, this legislation will open millions of acres of federal land to logging without scientific review and community input, which may increase the risk of wildfires. This bill also paves the way for increasing the number of miles of permanent logging roads and removing large old trees that naturally confer fire resilience. Older trees also store a disproportionately high amount of carbon, mitigating against climate change that fuels fires. Road density has been linked with an increase in human-caused wildfires—as the density of roads increase, so do wildfire ignitions. Logging roads also fragment forest habitat and are sources of chronic sediment that harm water quality in rivers and streams. During a time of mass extinction, the bill also removes ESA consultation requirements designed to prevent harm to imperiled species. Finally, compounding these harms, it removes rights to judicial review, effectively barring citizens from holding federal agencies accountable. Our organizations recognize the challenge in addressing threats posed by climate change, including increased risks from fire. Unfortunately, the majority of this bill would harm forests, communities, the climate, water, and biodiversity. Federal land managers already have broad procedural authorities: 85% of management on National Forest lands now proceeds under categorical exclusions (CEs). Further changes to bedrock environmental laws will only exacerbate harm to our forests. In particular, Congress should not be undermining ESA protections amidst an extinction crisis. As such, we are fully opposed to this legislation as a whole." Source: Published in a letter by the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and signed by 137 groups