▶ 0:20:26>> I called to order this meeting of agriculture, nutrition and for street to consider the whole milk for healthy kids act that provides a school children a greater variety of milk options in our school lunch program. The house passed this legislation in the last congress by a broad majority. Senator marshall and's senator welch introduce this.
▶ 0:21:02This committee held a legislative hearing on this bill in april. We think senator marshall and welsh for the work you've done in putting together this legislation, we certainly need to think your staff or their hard work. Also your work with senator booker, senator fetterman and senator schiff to incorporate changes to the legislation to allow schools the option to also serve nondairy beverages such as soy milk at lunch should they choose.
▶ 0:21:35Recognize the ranking member for comments she might have.
▶ 0:21:41Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you very much. I wanted to first of all say how important this bill is and its national dairy month so it's very appropriate. I'm pleased we have an agreement to consider the whole milk for healthy kids act.
▶ 0:21:58Sen. Klobuchar: But also some accompanying policies to increase nondairy alternatives and I'm grateful for the committee members that worked on the legislation, especially marshall, welch, federman, or, -- federman, and others. When the committee makes a decision to come together and move forward we can be successful.
▶ 0:22:23Sen. Klobuchar: Our committee has a long tradition of doing this and our work on this bill is consistent with that tradition. Even as we are positive about this bill and the work we need to do we must also acknowledge that the house just sent us a bill that cuts nearly 300 billion dollars from nutrition programs which will cut millions from the snap program and in the sleight-of-hand, put it over to the states, I think kansas alone was $50 million, north carolina,
▶ 0:22:56Sen. Klobuchar: $400 million. 41 of the states have balanced budgets and they won't even be able to do this without cutting other things. A lot of the governors are standing up, but this is right in front of us. We have to remember even when it comes to dairy, usda research has found the number one purchased product by snap recipients is milk into the kind of milk we are talking about.
▶ 0:23:23Sen. Klobuchar: While I'm glad we are moving forward on this bill in front of us, I hope we are not going to rush headlong into ill-conceived and poorly planned policies when it comes to ag when we have the ability to work together on a farm bill moving forward and these severe snap cuts which affect kids and our farmers and local grocery stores in a big white as well as the states we represent who can't take the cost shift, will be affected by
▶ 0:23:54Sen. Klobuchar: This and he will forever change -- and it will forever change if we can do a farm bill again. While I'm glad we can work this out, I hope we see this as it shows our ability that we could do a farm bill too, but not with severe snap cuts, thank you.
▶ 0:24:13Chair Boozman: I agree totally and I appreciate your cooperation to consider this legislation. Thanks to you and your staff. Before proceeding to the legislation I ask unanimous consent that letters to the committee regarding this legislation be included in the record. Without objection, so ordered. I also ask unanimous consent that members be permitted to submit statements regarding the legislation for the record.
▶ 0:24:43Chair Boozman: Without objection, so ordered. Seeing a quorum is present, the committee will proceed to the whole milk for healthy kids act of 2025 for amendment. I offer a bipartisan amendment in the nature of the subject that has been distributed and ask for unanimous consent that it be adopted and considered as the original text for the purpose of the amendment. Without objection, so ordered.
▶ 0:25:12Chair Boozman: Do any committee members wish to debate or offer amendments to the whole milk for healthy kids act as amended? >> I'd like to offer this amendment on behalf of senator durbin, increases food allergy training in schools for food service personnel in order to protect students from allergic reactions.
▶ 0:25:40Chair Boozman: It adds food allergies to the existing list of required annual trainings alongside nutrition and food safety. It is durbin, first degree number one.
▶ 0:25:50Chair Boozman: Thank you. Are there any other senators who would like to speak on the amendment? Seeing no further debate, the question is on the amendment. Without objection, I ask for unanimous consent for the amendment to be adopted.
▶ 0:26:12Sen. Klobuchar: Second.
▶ 0:26:15Chair Boozman: So ordered. Any other amendments or committee members who wish to debate this bill? Seeing no further commitments or debates, and a quorum is present, I move that this be moved favorably. Signify by saying aye.
▶ 0:26:43Chair Boozman: In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. I ask unanimous consent in preparing the legislation for reporting, the staff be authorized to make technical clarifying and conforming changes as appropriate. Seeing no objection, it is ordered. Thank you to the members of our committee and the sponsors of this legislation. This business meeting is adjourned.
▶ 0:27:15Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you Mr. chair.
▶ 0:27:18Chair Boozman: We will proceed with a hearing to consider with nomination. I've lost control.
▶ 0:30:28Chair Boozman: Good afternoon, we welcome Mr. michael boren of idaho to the committee as we can city's nomination to be under secretary for the natural resources and environment at the department of agriculture.
▶ 0:30:52Chair Boozman: Forest reserves a number of functions and I look forward to hearing from him on how he will use the mandate from the for service. I've seen a reduction in the party for timber, I'm glad of some of the actions that have been taken to address this problem.
▶ 0:31:12Chair Boozman: Utilizing or forced to sequester carbon also requires responsibility by harvesting timber improperly managing our force that provide an almost unlimited resource resulting in a win-win for everyone. When timber is harvested and ultimately stored in lumber and other end products that carbon is reserved almost permanently. Perhaps an even better way for us serve our environmental powerhouse is by providing and mitigating catastrophic wildfires.
▶ 0:31:44Chair Boozman: I know we've heard before but it still outstanding, california wildfires to me released twice as many greenhouse emissions from -- then the state to produce between 2003 and 2019. Properly managing our nations forest can prevent carbon missions better than almost anything we can do in congress.
▶ 0:32:09Chair Boozman: Thankfully this committee is currently considering the fix our forests act and we hope to move this forward in the near future and get this legislation signed into law. It will provide the right tools and processes for our federal land management agencies including the U.S. forest service to mitigate their frequency and intensity of catastrophic wildfires.
▶ 0:32:29Chair Boozman: If confirmed as undersecretary, the mission area that oversees the forest service, the committee will look to you to quickly implement this and follow congressional intent. Your leadership and background will be critical in ensuring the forest service is efficient and effective in carrying out the critical job.
▶ 0:32:55Chair Boozman: Doing this successfully will ensure all americans can enjoy the benefits of our nations forests and grasslands for years to compute expect congress in this committee will be able to work with Mr. boren and rely on his professionalism and candor as we conduct necessary oversight over most of the programs and efforts under his purview. We expect you and your team will be prompt in request and work with the committee to provide needed information and technical assistance.
▶ 0:33:22Chair Boozman: We will trust your experience and expertise should you be confirmed as undersecretary. I want to congratulate you on your nomination to undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment. I turned to senator klobuchar for her opening statement.
▶ 0:33:48Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you very much. Thank you for coming here. I spoke with Mr. boren and I appreciated that very much and I would like to welcome his family, including his wife joan and his father, and two of his children and his daughter-in-law I understand are here. If confirmed you will oversee the U.S. forest service.
▶ 0:34:16Sen. Klobuchar: Which is as we know responsible for managing 190 3 million acres of forest and grassland. You are being considered for this position at a critical time for the forest service. We mentioned, as the chairman mentioned, the wildfires in california, which of course created unimaginable harm. I will note, sometimes there are smaller fires as well that can quickly get out of control, as uni talked about.
▶ 0:34:46Sen. Klobuchar: I appreciated the for service work as I told secretary rawlins, working with the state of minnesota in just the last few weeks to contain fires in northern minnesota that quickly spread to acres and acres. We currently have fires in canada that are not really close to our state in terms of burning forests but creating huge smoke issues in a lot of parts of the united states, with more to come.
▶ 0:35:15Sen. Klobuchar: The forest service has an important multiple use mandate to manage lands for timber, recreation, watershed health and more. The focus on wildlife suppression and prevention are very important right now.
▶ 0:35:29Sen. Klobuchar: A critical part of reducing wildfire risk is the forest service and its partners carrying out more forest management and I recognize the usda recently released a forced management strategy and I welcome the focus on increasing the use of good neighbor authority, a bill I worked on for years, and other partnership agreements. If confirmed you will responsible for implement and responding to wildfires.
▶ 0:35:57Sen. Klobuchar: I remain concerned about the forced service capacity to carry out the important work to reduce wildlife risk and severity. The service has reportedly lost more than 4000 employees since january and my office has received reports of contracts having been canceled and delayed, including some projects focused on reduction of welfare risk.
▶ 0:36:24Sen. Klobuchar: Disruptions in funding and contracts raise questions about the forced serviceability to balance its many responsibilities these are concerns I've raised in several communications with the usda and need clarity from the agency. The administration's proposed budget that just came out also contributes to the uncertainty.
▶ 0:36:43Sen. Klobuchar: It makes deep cuts in national forest service system funding, popular programs that strengthen state and private sector capacity for managing forest, and resources this is confusing following recent testimony from the for service on the need to rely on state and private partners. The budget also recommends moving wildland fire operations to the department of interior from the usda forest service.
▶ 0:37:12Sen. Klobuchar: While I'm open to reviewing the details of the proposal, I'm concerned it would hurt the forced serviceability to execute wildfire mitigation and other land management work. These proposals raise questions about the forced service approach to overseeing wildfire crisis we are seeing in so many states, as senator bennet knows, from his home state of colorado, and managing forced service lands.
▶ 0:37:40Sen. Klobuchar: I look forward to hearing more about how if confirmed you will work to ensure the forest service addresses these challenges and how you will ensure our national forced remains a place for all americans to enjoy. I yield back my one minute to senator risch.
▶ 0:37:56Chair Boozman: Senator alvin wanted to know what job we were confirming senator risch for. [laughter]
▶ 0:38:06Sen. Risch: You should be so lucky. [laughter]
▶ 0:38:09Chair Boozman: We are more than pleased to have our good friend and colleague senator risch with us, truly a champion of agriculture and rural america through the country. He will introduce our nominee, Mr. michael boren. Thank you for being here again.
▶ 0:38:26Sen. Risch: Thank you, it's good to get even with you. Thank you to yourself in the ranking member for having me here today. You've introduced -- I've got more nominees in my committee than any of the other committees and I think you've introduced more of them than anybody else. I was thinking of getting you your own chair. But thank you for being here. It's a great honor to do this for a lot of different reasons. For street is a passion of mine, my undergraduate agree was in forest management.
▶ 0:39:00Sen. Risch: We haven't had idaho think a prince on the forced I was governor. When I was governor, one of my classmates was chief of forced service and we will have achieved a forced service from idaho and of course this position from idaho. It's important, if you live east of the mississippi, it's hard to fathom that our state about two thirds is owned by the federal government.
▶ 0:39:35Sen. Risch: It's an entirely different ballgame doing business there, commerce and everything else. Particularly when the state cut its teeth on mining and for street and those kinds of things. It's very difficult to operate sometimes with the federal government. They are not always the best neighbors in the world. Most federal employees are good people, hard-working people, well-intentioned people.
▶ 0:40:02Sen. Risch: But there are some that make being a neighbor with the federal government challenging. Turning to the nominee, president trump has picked I think the right person for this job. If you go into his background, he's been a very successful person in the business sector. Beyond that, he has considerable routes -- roots in the forest.
▶ 0:40:30Sen. Risch: He started as a teenager working and doing business with the forest service and followed his family -- his father had a lot of dealings with the forest service, which he will talk about in his opening statement, as did his wife's grandfather I believe. He comes at it from a couple different ways.
▶ 0:40:51Sen. Risch: One of the things I'm sure you will ask him about, there's been a lot of media about disagreements he's had with the federal government and I can tell you, in idaho, where we have all of this federal land, there are pieces of ground called in holdings.
▶ 0:41:09Sen. Risch: When you are from out west, as a lot of our members are, they know what and in holding his -- holding is. Most federal people will not concede they are not -- don't you want to hear the rest of this? [laughter] but I've listened to you over these years.
▶ 0:41:36Sen. Risch: [laughter] he takes things literally. In any event, when you have in holdings, usually the elm and forest service are not happy with in holdings and they are not always the best neighbor. I've dealt with these problems when I was governor, in my decades in the state senate.
▶ 0:42:06Sen. Risch: I dealt with a lot of people that had problems with blm and for service and they should've been resolved like good neighbors but they turned into public debates and it can be difficult and reaches a fever pitch at times.
▶ 0:42:25Sen. Risch: I've never yet run into anybody that has an in holding -- and they are relatively common in the west -- I've never run into somebody that has one that hasn't had some disagreement with their neighbor the federal government. I'm sure you'll want to ask questions about this and I'm sure he will explain these to you. These are difficult things and he has a considerable amount of land in an in holding.
▶ 0:42:55Sen. Risch: As I said, he will be able to explain the disputes with the federal government. This is the right guy for the job and I commend the president for choosing him for this position and I would commend his nomination for you and I know you will look at this favorably and civilly when you deal with him. Thank you thank you Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:43:26Sen. Risch: If I could be excused, I have another meeting.
▶ 0:43:27Chair Boozman: I will let you go.
▶ 0:43:34Sen. Risch: Senator klobuchar you will not cross-examine me. [laughter]
▶ 0:43:43Chair Boozman: Thank you very much. Ok, I will now administer the oath and to begin with witness testimony, you will have five minutes. Please stand and raise your white -- raise your right hand.
▶ 0:44:10Chair Boozman: Do you swear or affirm that the statement you are about to provide is the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? You agree that if confirmed you will respond to requests to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the senate? Thank you Mr. boren, you are recognized for your statement.
▶ 0:44:30Mr. Boren: Thank you, chairman, ranking member and members of the committee. It's an honor to be here today to do -- to appear before you and I've had a pleasant opportunity to meet some of you in your offices and learned some good things about your states and what you are concerned with.
▶ 0:44:52Mr. Boren: If confirmed it will be a privilege for me to spend time working with you as you exercise your responsibilities and authorities and oversight with the forest service and department of agriculture. I'm thankful to president donald trump and the secretary for the trust they've placed in me in this nomination. I think they are very inspiring people and I hope you will give me the opportunity to work for them.
▶ 0:45:20Mr. Boren: May I introduce my wife and partner of 41 years. It's been a really interesting ride. Meeting joan at a church dance changed my life. It made it harder but so much more worthwhile and it gave me so much more reason to be the best I could be. Joan and I have had a life of adventure.
▶ 0:45:48Mr. Boren: So many times we look at each other at the end of the day and say truthfully, just another best day ever. We've had great days and we've had hard days that were great days. . My father, a retired professor and forest service employee and consultant with the for service for many years, is with us today and I'm pleased to have him here. He's spent many days in the fort since 1937.
▶ 0:46:18Mr. Boren: My mother died in 2012 after 54 years of marriage to my father, she was a great example to me. She was a true pioneer and spent her life serving other people. I'm glad to have known her and ben hur son. -- and to have been her son.
▶ 0:46:41Mr. Boren: I have my children jack and amanda, and jack's wife amanda, and my granddaughter stevie, one of nine grandchildren. We've had one per year for nine years. I love my grandchildren and my children and I will do everything I can to preserve the beauty and opportunity and freedom that is america for them and that's why am here today, among other reasons, but I'm here to serve my children in your children and grandchildren.
▶ 0:47:13Mr. Boren: I'm thankful to be supported by many friends and family members, some of them here today. And many more are watching live and I'm glad to have their support. United states forest service has always been part of my life. I remember, some of my earliest memories were when my father was working at a district in central idaho and he spent long hours there. There was too much to do and too few employees.
▶ 0:47:42Mr. Boren: I know that seems surprising that we are back to that today. I think it is maybe always the case. Somehow he and the rangers got it done. I have to say, the ranger to me was larger-than-life. That was a really important person in our county and I really looked up to him. Later in his life my father worked for the forest service and interagency fire center based in boise, idaho, as a consultant.
▶ 0:48:11Mr. Boren: I had time to learn things about that as well and I feel like I have a good grounding in some of the challenges and opportunities of the forest service. As senator risch mentioned, my brother dave and I worked as teenagers, we had a business and buying logs from the forest service and turning them into posts and poles and selling them to ranches.
▶ 0:48:34Mr. Boren: That was so successful that the next year we decided to make more money we would be gs one level employees of the forest service and plant trees and that went pretty well. So we have some experience there. I have accessed the forest in almost every way you can imagine, on foot, horseback, skis, snowmobiles, every conveyance from motorcycles to atv's, four-wheel-drive,
▶ 0:49:07Mr. Boren: Motorized and non-motorized boats, and especially aircraft and helicopters. I can tell you it's given me a real appreciation for the difficulty of maintaining and increasing and improving access to the forest for the general public. And this is a very important issue for me because I believe when people go to the forest, it is a spiritual experience, and awakening and patriotic for them. I want to make sure they have that opportunity.
▶ 0:49:34Mr. Boren: My wife's grandfather, who was mentioned, worked for the for service his whole career and he ended his career in washington, D.C. and I really admired him. I also recognize his abilities and strengths and integrity in many of the employees of the forest service with whom I hope to be able to work. Looks like I'm about out of time.
▶ 0:50:00Mr. Boren: I can tell you more about my career and my background but I feel I am meaningfully positioned to support the for service in its role and I think it will be a blessing to work for the forest service if you confer me to this position. Thank you.
▶ 0:50:14Chair Boozman: Thank you. Before ask my questions I'd like to add letters in support of the nomination into the record as well as a statement from senator crapo, who has a conflict, he is chairman of finance and is busy right now. Without objection, so ordered. I will go ahead and start.
▶ 0:50:41Chair Boozman: Due to the rise of catastrophic fires across the united states, federal and state land management agencies and private forest tree owners recognize the need to increase the pace and scale of hazardous fuels reductions on federal lands and cross boundary landscapes. What is your view of the forest service role in forest management tools like timber production that can prevent catastrophic wildfires?
▶ 0:51:08Chair Boozman: How can the forest service proactively manage our forests to promote wildfire resiliency?
▶ 0:51:14Mr. Boren: The for service -- thank you for the question. The forest service has many tools available to sustain forest health and productivity. I think we should use all of them.
▶ 0:51:33Mr. Boren: In particular the tools relating to timber production, which are important not only for making the forest more healthy and resilient and fire resistant but also for revenue to the government of united states and therefore its people. Also to be able to use those organizations to take care of some of our trails and roads. It's really important to produce timber.
▶ 0:51:59Mr. Boren: It's also important to reduce fuel accumulation or timber isn't the best way to do it, or to do it in conjunction. I feel like that's something that's really well done in coordination with timber producers and other groups and we can look in particular to state forest reorganizations to see some of the good things they've done.
▶ 0:52:20Chair Boozman: Across the western united states, a checkerboard pattern of land ownership between public, private and tribal landowners creates confusion and limits active management of the forest. These limitations can negatively impact our national forest. How do you views these -- view these cross other issues and how can the forest service engage with other public and private land managers?
▶ 0:52:47Mr. Boren: As a private land owner, I know the checkerboard nature of the west is difficult because it doesn't matter what you do on your own land in terms of noxious weeds, reduction and prevention, or in terms of fire prevention. Your neighbors need to be involved. There have been some really good things that you and congress have done the last few years along those lines.
▶ 0:53:16Mr. Boren: There's an interesting checkerboard project for fuels reduction in california today. With sierra pacific industries and possibly other countries, it's a good example of how the public and private landowners can get together to deal with fuel reduction and other methods of mitigation and I think we can do more of that.
▶ 0:53:35Chair Boozman: Timber sales from the national forest benefit many stakeholders, medicaid and welfare's, preventing disease outbreaks and supporting the economy of local communities. Unfortunate many mills are struggling due to fluctuations in the amount of timber and forest products.
▶ 0:53:55Chair Boozman: What is your view on the value of timber sales when it comes to supporting rural economies and forest management and what can the forest service play in supporting mills with a steady supply of timber?
▶ 0:54:07Mr. Boren: I've seen firsthand the problems that come with life of timber production and things that happen to rural communities when they lose a timber mill a lumber mill. I realize it's difficult these days to add new lumber mills to replace the old ones.
▶ 0:54:25Mr. Boren: One of the reasons is the cost is really high, navy $300 million to build -- maybe $300 million to build a good lumber mill and no one is willing to do that if they don't have a guarantee of production to maintain the mill for a long time.
▶ 0:54:45Mr. Boren: It's important to support our rural communities to sell more timber but if there's no one to process it, you can't have that mill, you can't build those economies. We need to do more than just say we will produce more timber. We need to encourage long-term contracts with mill owners so they have a reason to believe they can invest $300 million into a mill and make a living over the long-term.
▶ 0:55:13Mr. Boren: We need to work with other entities -- state forest and private forest to find ways to grow rural economies by providing them a steady supply of timber.
▶ 0:55:27Chair Boozman: Senator klobuchar.
▶ 0:55:30Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you very much. I'm going to start with what I raised in the opening, the thousands of employees that left, terminated. There were referred -- deferred resignation plans and additional layoffs. How will you ensure resignations and terminations will not affect the ability of the forest service to prevent and address the dangers of wildfires?
▶ 0:55:59Mr. Boren: Thank you, that's an important point. We certainly need to have an appropriate level of staff to fulfill our mission. I have not had an experience with the for service yet where I understand what the staffing levels are and how they are applied but I'm very familiar with resource constrained organizations, having worked in one and for a number of years,
▶ 0:56:31Mr. Boren: Where we started with a small amount of money and never had enough to do. I wouldn't say that guarantees I will be able to figure it out immediately at the forest service, but I know we have to live with the resources we receive and we will find a way to do that.
▶ 0:56:49Sen. Klobuchar: Ok. The president's budget reposes moving wildfire and is meant outside of the usda. This is a significant responsibility of the forest service that would be transferred to the department of interior and I understand some have questions about the impact on managing wildfire responses.
▶ 0:57:11Sen. Klobuchar: Can you talk about how this proposal could affect the agency's fire mitigation work like prescribed burns and how you will work with states, tribes and employees and other interested parties as this proposal is considered?
▶ 0:57:24Mr. Boren: I have questions as you do. I don't fully understand the proposal and how it is intended to work. I do have a background through my father and living in boise, idaho and visiting the interagency fire center and being a firefighter and working with the incident management teams where it's clear to me that cooperation with other agencies and other organizations is the way to fight fire.
▶ 0:57:55Mr. Boren: I'm sure that if this transfer occurs, the forest service will still be intimately involved since that organization is responsible for most of the federal forests and a large chunk of grasslands and responsible for keeping them in good condition.
▶ 0:58:15Sen. Klobuchar: Exactly, that's part of why I'm worried. Thank you for mentioning that, as you say come up before service is in charge of antigen forest, watersheds, wildlife habitat and these are responsibilities of the forest service. Quickly because I want something else mentioned, what policies and practices you would promote to balance these multiple uses to ensure the long-term health of forests and grasslands?
▶ 0:58:42Mr. Boren: I will try to be brief, that's a really big question. Multiple use is super important. All the people in america own our forests and grasslands and they all have different ideas about how they should be used and we need to find ways to balance all of these as recreation, timber production, clean air and water, which sometimes involves nonproduction in areas. Oil and gas.
▶ 0:59:11Mr. Boren: There are things we need to balance p balance . We need to be mindful of everyone else's position. I find when we get into negotiation, when I get into gauche and, frequently it is important to learn what the other person wants and not worry too much about my own personal views.
▶ 0:59:32Sen. Klobuchar: It was mentioned that you have as a land, have some disagreements about easements with the forest service, and near your idaho ranch. Could you talk about these disagreements briefly, you can follow in writing, and how you respond to those who might disagree with your positions or decisions, including employees or members of the public?
▶ 0:59:58Mr. Boren: Thank you for bringing that up, that's a long conversation potentially.
▶ 1:00:04Sen. Klobuchar: : senator risch opened it up.
▶ 1:00:07Mr. Boren: He did and he is aware of some things that were difficult for me. I've talked to him about those. I think one of the important things to point out is I don't have disputes with the forest service. He didn't use that word but I would disagree with that. As a landowner I've had disagreements from time to time with the forest service.
▶ 1:00:32Mr. Boren: Typically they've been very aggressive at the beginning of those disagreements and eventually when they got the facts and we talked through it and had reasonable discussions with come around to a settlement that works for everyone. To be very clear about easements if I may have a moment, there's a scenic easement on a ranch I live on and I've never had a violation or even a suggestion that I violated -- well I had one suggestion it was clear it didn't happen and was retracted.
▶ 1:01:04Mr. Boren: I haven't had violations of that easement.
▶ 1:01:06Sen. Klobuchar: We you commit to not interfering and recusing yourself from existing or future matters involving properties you, your family members or friends own or are affiliated with, with the for service?
▶ 1:01:21Mr. Boren: I've had incredibly detailed discussions with usda ethics attorneys, who by the way are amazing. I will commit to making sure they always know everything about anything that could be a conflict of interest that I can tell them, and to always follow their advice.
▶ 1:01:41Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you.
▶ 1:01:52Sen. Hoeven: Thank you for coming in. One of the things we talked about his excess in the grasslands and that's important. You've been a rancher all your life, although you've been involved in other pursuits obviously. But you understand from a rancher's perspective. Talk to me about the importance of access for those ranchers in the grazing associations on the grasslands.
▶ 1:02:19Mr. Boren: I have been involved in excess, ideas and issues for most of my life. It's really important in my life for people to have access to the properties and public land to be able to use that land appropriately.
▶ 1:02:41Mr. Boren: There are often differences of opinion about how to approach that and my opinion is the forest service is the servant of the people in managing the assets of the people, known as the national forests and grasslands.
▶ 1:03:03Mr. Boren: If I happen to be confirmed by you, the forest service should always remember it is a service organization for the benefit of the people, today's people and future generations, and should be careful to consider the importance of access to the forests or grazing license or grasslands of being paramount importance.
▶ 1:03:28Sen. Hoeven: Will you work with us to make sure we have access, grazers have access to section lines so they can access their herds in the grasslands?
▶ 1:03:40Mr. Boren: I will commit to working with you to resolve that issue. I can't promise I will make sure it happens but I will do my best.
▶ 1:03:48Sen. Hoeven: But you understand the importance of access through the section lands?
▶ 1:03:55Mr. Boren: Extremely important, I agree.
▶ 1:03:59Sen. Hoeven: Are you going to make sure the grazing agreements for ranchers are fair, tactical, -- practicable and workable?
▶ 1:04:10Mr. Boren: Yes. I have experience with that with state and blm leases and I know it's important for both sides to work together.
▶ 1:04:21Sen. Hoeven: How about fire control? The ranchers, the volunteer fire departments have a huge role in the grasslands in terms of addressing fire. Most are volunteer fire. Sometimes the federal government will come in and do prescribed burns when they shouldn't, high winds or whatever.
▶ 1:04:46Sen. Hoeven: Are you willing to work to make sure that doesn't happen and the federal government is working with the for service and with the ranchers on the ground when it comes to things like controlled burns and other issues?
▶ 1:04:56Mr. Boren: Thank you, that's an area that's important to me. I've been involved with a volunteer fire department and worked with the forest service on fires. I think it's important to work together. It's very important if you're ever going to do a prescribed burn to make sure everyone knows about it. The other thing is, I think we can be more careful about when and how we do prescribed burns.
▶ 1:05:23Sen. Hoeven: Have you seen some of the inscape's where the prairie dogs have taken over and it looks like the moon?
▶ 1:05:29Mr. Boren: I have.
▶ 1:05:31Sen. Hoeven: You think that is appropriate?
▶ 1:05:34Mr. Boren: I don't like it and I think there are solutions we should pursue.
▶ 1:05:39Sen. Hoeven: Solutions like a reasonable buffer, so that privately and doesn't have a per dog infestation, that's not fair to individual ranchers or grazers, is it?
▶ 1:05:49Mr. Boren: I think that's correct, it should happen, and it's not fair and it's the same thing for prairie dogs as other infestations like weeds, there should be a buffer zone.
▶ 1:06:02Sen. Hoeven: I'm glad you mentioned that, we have noxious weeds. The assistant director at the forest service, or deputy director, has been really good about working with us on addressing noxious weeds, which is a huge issue. I want to commend him and ask for your help and support, continued support in addressing noxious weeds -- I can't imagine why everybody couldn't agree that that makes common sense.
▶ 1:06:31Mr. Boren: Thank you, I offer my support and I agree it makes common sense and I will say in my home area, the forest service does a really good job of encouraging ranchers to control weeds on their own property and I think it's good to have that be reciprocal.
▶ 1:06:51Sen. Hoeven: You said that just right, thank you.
▶ 1:06:56Sen. Bennet: Thank you. I know you grown up, you mention your dad worked with the forest service, and I know you've got exposure to the fire risk we are all dealing with. In colorado there are huge amounts of concern, how dangerous things are.
▶ 1:07:21Sen. Bennet: I have a lot of concern about what the purpose of the trump administration's decision to move fire suppression out of the forest service is meant to accomplish at a moment when the last thing we need I think is to make it more confusing, especially thinking about the current wildfire season we are facing right now.
▶ 1:07:47Sen. Bennet: It wasn't clear from your answer whether you supported that change -- you said you have questions of your own. I have questions, I wonder what questions you have about how to do it. I think maybe there is a philosophical view in the world separating fire suppression from mitigation and wildfire restoration.
▶ 1:08:12Sen. Bennet: All that stuff as an idea philosophically, especially in a world where people come to work together so well with local communities, volunteer fire departments, the work your dad did at the fire center.
▶ 1:08:29Sen. Bennet: Can you talk a little bit about that in this context and how when you become in charge of the forest service, the degree to which you will pay attention to the question of whether this is a good idea or not?
▶ 1:08:44Mr. Boren: Thank you. I guess the answer is I am certainly willing to look at that idea and considerate and I can understand on my own without getting into details or being told by anyone in the administration yet, and since I'm not there I haven't been. I can see why it's a good idea to have an agency focused on fire where there is a person at the head of the agency that can be held fully responsible.
▶ 1:09:18Mr. Boren: Responsibility is a good thing, consequences are good and help shape decisions. I can see where this may be some value and hope in that and that might be part of what's driving it. I have to say I just don't have the facts yet to really understand all of the reasons behind it.
▶ 1:09:36Mr. Boren: However, I will commit to you that managing fire so it doesn't cause so many health problems and economic problems to our country, and problems to the forest is very important to me and will be a major focus.
▶ 1:09:55Sen. Bennet: Thank you, I appreciate that, I think it's important to the taxpayer that fighting fires costs six times or nine times more than doing mitigation on the front end. In that sense, they are related questions.
▶ 1:10:14Sen. Bennet: I hate to say it, given the conditions, we my -- we may find ourselves paying one way or another and that's why think it's important to coordinate this work and I think important for the people suppressing the fires to be able to understand and give advice to the people doing the work on the front end as we think about how to take care of these landscapes and protect the infrastructure and
▶ 1:10:46Sen. Bennet: Our water infrastructure in particular. Can you respond or comment?
▶ 1:10:51Mr. Boren: I think that's an insightful comment and I think you are underestimating when you say six to nine times because you're talking about the tangible costs. The health costs to america of wildfires we've had is ridiculously high and overlooked. I've read some of the studies on that from university professors and other organizations and the health risks to americans, especially young americans, is very high.
▶ 1:11:24Mr. Boren: The health risks to cattle herds is very high. It's a really expensive thing. The other thing is damage to watersheds.
▶ 1:11:46Mr. Boren: I see it first hand in our neighborhood, we had big fir and pristine wilderness rivers that haven't recovered in 20 years.
▶ 1:12:08Sen. Bennet: Every farm and ranch is downstream, every community. The entire american west. The entire american west is at risk.
▶ 1:12:30Sen. Bennet: We can't undo decisions that have been made up until now I suppose that we have to work in an urgent way to mitigate the risks we are facing and I completely agree that we have to make important investments on the front end to mitigate not just the costs of fires but the destruction they can cause to our watersheds. Without those watersheds we don't have a colorado.
▶ 1:12:57Mr. Boren: I couldn't agree more.
▶ 1:13:00Sen. Bennet: Thank you.
▶ 1:13:09Sen. Hyde-Smith: Thank you for being here. I'm glad that stevie is here today, we don't get too many little girls in here. In mississippi we call ourselves the wood basket of the nation and we had a good visit about that. We play a critical role in the U.S. timber supply and are uniquely positioned to meet the growing demands of the timber needs, the wood products, but we also ship them through ports.
▶ 1:13:40Sen. Hyde-Smith: Our report at the gulf of america and mississippi river as well. Even in challenging times, public and private forests in mississippi have been at the forefront of common sense forest management to keep us healthy, working and productive.
▶ 1:13:59Sen. Hyde-Smith: The next farm bill, and the fix our forests act, which is currently being considered by the committee, we hope to create more opportunities to support this industry that's critical to my state and improve the essential tools we need at the for service to increase the pace and scale of active forest management in mississippi and across the country.
▶ 1:14:25Sen. Hyde-Smith: If confirmed, how do you plan to approach the management within the mage and see -- the agency especially when it comes to streamlining approvals and coordinating with state and local partners and insuring decisions keep on the ground realities in mind?
▶ 1:14:42Mr. Boren: One of the things I intend to do is learn more about mississippi and how you accomplish the things you've accomplished because some of the projects you've been involved in in mississippi and some of the involved in in mississippi and some of the things going on in the forest in mississippi are truly revolutionary and should be applied throughout the country and I appreciate your example as a state.
▶ 1:15:09Mr. Boren: But really, I think what it comes down to is we have large tasks ahead of us with the forest service and all the areas you mentioned and we need coordination with other entities, both state agencies -- state agencies but also user groups and other organizations that want to put skin in the game and be helpful.
▶ 1:15:36Mr. Boren: And I think that that can be a really, really good thing as we have not all the resources that we need but one thing we need his help from senators and representatives and you pointed out we have a need for streamlining what we do.
▶ 1:15:58Mr. Boren: There is some things we probably can't streamline without streamlining some of our acts of congress that might need a little tweaking so that they work appropriately both for protection of the environment, because one of the things important was is long-term health of the forests and sustainability of the usability for the people.
▶ 1:16:17Mr. Boren: So that is important but also being able to get the right things done at the right time on the ground and a good example of that would be after a fire, it's really important to use that timber now rather than wait and try and sell it in three or four years when it has no value and there's some things you can do to help us with that. >> in mississippi, is called hard work.
▶ 1:16:40Mr. Boren: Our successes are hard work and really good programs with people willing to invest in people willing to commit what you know, we have been working on one particular issue for decades now and I had the opportunity to mention that to you, developing the area around franklin county, mississippi, in southwest mississippi.
▶ 1:17:06Mr. Boren: Beautiful area, so much potential, 11 hundred acre, pristine lake down there and it was built in the 1990's is when it was built by you can fish all day long by yourself and you can ski by yourself.
▶ 1:17:23Mr. Boren: We have got to develop something to capitalize on the potential around that area and the 2018 farm bill, we worked really hard to include a provision that transferred 150 acres of the international forest land to support economic development. And we are beginning to see that payoff significantly since it was signed into law and we are very excited about that project.
▶ 1:17:47Mr. Boren: Really good announcements just lately on that but the goal of this effort is to enable smart locally driven development that complements the natural resources and increases public access that you have mentioned and I look forward to continuing working with this committee in supporting economic development in this very, very rule area of mississippi. Two small towns. One of them has a red light. The other one doesn't.
▶ 1:18:16Mr. Boren: Please share how you view this kind of targeted land transfer for economic development and what kind of support the forest service could provide to ensure the success of this project, both for the community in maintaining stewardship of the surrounding national forest lands.
▶ 1:18:34Mr. Boren: Thank you for the opportunity to address that, senator. I have to correct you from my personal point of view which is I don't want to fish by myself when I have nine grandkids who like to fish so it's nice to have some friends. Even if you have to create them. But in terms of your project, I think it's brilliant. I think it is replicable.
▶ 1:19:03Mr. Boren: I think it's the kind of thing that we need to try to do throughout our forest to increase access and use of the forest. I don't know that we would have to do it just the way you did it but the idea is really important to get people opportunities to benefit from use of the forest and I look forward to -- I mentioned to your staff that I would love to learn more about that project and I mean it. I look forward to coming to your office and meeting with them and learning how we can replicate that elsewhere.
▶ 1:19:35Sen. Hyde-Smith: I would love for you to come to mississippi and I will take you there.
▶ 1:19:41Mr. Boren: As long as I don't have to land at the triangle because that is a scary place from what I hear.
▶ 1:19:51Sen. Hyde-Smith: We will leave that right there. Thank you.
▶ 1:20:03Chair Boozman: Thank you again for appearing before the committee and for our committee members could as always to our staff, so much work getting these things ready. The record will remain open for two business days. Today's hearing is now adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]