On Friday, President Barack Obama signed the farm bill — a massive piece of legislation that authorized spending billions of dollars of federal funds on U.S. nutritional and agriculture programs.
Farm bills have been cyclical since the Great Depression and are usually renewed every five years, but the 2014 bill was the first passed since 2008. The bill finances many programs that, on the surface seem to have little to do with farming, but can have serious impacts on issues ranging from keeping low-income families fed to providing some counties a financial buffer to make up for lost tax revenue.
The 2014 farm bill renewed several programs considered to be key to the health of forests across the nation, and particularly forests in Colorado. The bill authorizes additional help for fire mitigation programs, removal of beetle-killed timber, and air tankers for firefighting, among other things.
Here’s a look at some of the bill’s environmental and conservation provisions that will impact Colorado’s forests.
Stewardship contracting and “Good Neighbor” authority
The bill’s passage reauthorized stewardship contracting, which allows the U.S. Forest Service to complete some forest management projects with the help of outside contractors.
“Stewardship contracting is something that we have been using in Colorado for a long time,” said Tim Sullivan, the state director of the Nature Conservancy in Colorado. “It’s actually one of our most important tools for fire mitigation.”
Similar to timber bids, the Forest Service puts together plans to help forest condition and health, which are then completed by contractors. Basically, the forests are “treated” for less money, Sullivan said. The contractors get the timber from forest thinning or downed tree removal, although Colorado’s timber is typically not worth the cost of transporting it out of the forest.
“Sometimes the cost is higher than the benefits,” and sometimes the benefits outweigh the costs of such work, Sullivan said.
Much of Colorado’s Front Range national forests — from the Arapaho and Roosevelt to the Pike and San Isabel — are currently under a 10-year stewardship contract owned by West Range Reclamation.
Another provision in the farm bill reauthorizes the “Good Neighbor” authority, which allows state foresters to do mitigation projects on federal land. This program already existed in Colorado and Utah.
All programs will help the Forest Service accomplish something it can’t afford on its own: managing forests.
“We still have millions of acres of our forest in Colorado that are in need of restoration, and limited dollars to do that,” Sullivan said.
Following the destructive 2012 wildfire season in Colorado, getting more air tankers for federal firefighters has been a hot-button issues for residents and lawmakers.
The farm bill reauthorizes the Forest Service to lease five air tankers to add to its fleet. The Forest Service has been trying to modernize its fleet of tankers — some of which are more than 50 years old — while struggling to pay for them.
In 2013, the agency had about 26 air tankers for firefighting, seven of which were non-agency planes called next-generation air tankers, on contract. The agency also uses seven former military C-130 planes transferred by the Defense Appropriations Bill.
While the farm bill gives the Forest Service the authority to lease up to five extra air tankers, it does not provide the funds to do so. Ultimately, getting more tankers in the air might come down to money, not policy changes.
National Forest Insect and Disease Act
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., championed the expansion of this act in the 2014 farm bill, which would allow states with infested or diseased forests to apply to have expedited treatment of their land.
In Colorado, where nearly 1 million acres of forest have been impacted by recent mountain pine beetle attacks, “treatments” could mean removing dead trees and replanting the forest. Beetle kill trees are a fire hazard. They are dry and can fuel a wildfire whether still standing or collapsed on the forest floor.
As in other aspects, the new provision in the farm bill allows the federal government and states to cut through some red tape to get treatment projects growing.
Within the next two months, the U.S. Forest Service and Gov. John Hickenlooper will select the first area in Colorado to receive expedited treatment.