ConservAmerica Signs Letter To Committee Chairs Urging Solution to Cottonwood Decision

ConservAmerica today joined with other like-minded organizations in sending a letter to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee and the House Natural Resource Committee urging the need for a solution to the Cottonwood decision, which hampers the ability of federal forest managers to protect and restore our forest ecosystems.

In the 2015 Cottonwood v Forest Service ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that the Endangered Species Act requires federal forest managers to halt projects—even those that might help wildlife—while they reanalyze the general forest plan, a document that remains in place for decades and has no on-the-ground impacts.

Currently, the Forest Service faces an 80-million-acre backlog in forest restoration projects, which is fueling a wildfire crisis that annually burns millions of acres, scorches wildlife habitat, and threatens Western communities. If Congress does not act soon, urgently needed forest restoration efforts could become mired in red tape and lengthy legal challenges.

To read the full letter from ConservAmerica, The Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), C3 Solutions, American Conservation Coalition Action, and The Western Way, click here.