National push for shared stewardship, more treatment

SEELEY LAKE – "There is a [National Forest] crisis right now because of increased wildfire and increased diseases and more people moving in to the Wildland Urban Interface," said Daniel Hottle, US Forest Service press officer with the northern region. "[The Forest Service] has not been operating on the scale that we need to."

With the 2015 Farm Bill, 2018 Omnibus Bill and the 2018 Executive Order 13855 from President Donald Trump, the Forest Service has expanded authorities to prioritize fuels and timber sales on forestlands. Hottle and Seeley Lake Acting District Ranger Quinn Carver agree tha...