Forest Health Overview
Current Conditions and Tools for Improvement
Congress has been discussing forest health problems and programs for more than a decade. Interest groups have supported programs to improve forest health, for a variety of reasons. Some expect such programs will increase logging and timber growth. Others believe they will protect their homes and communities from catastrophic wildfires. Still others feel the programs can restore natural conditions. Other groups have opposed forest health programs that include logging, arguing that logging has been a major cause of the problems, doesn’t reduce the threatening biomass accumulation, and causes other environmental problems. The severe fire seasons in recent years have increased…