Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler discusses a bill related to child care in Vancouver March 2019.
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler is one of nine Republican members of Congress who are urging the newly-appointed U.S. Secretary of the Interior to implement a federal rule that lawmakers say would protect rural communities as well as the Northern Spotted Owl from wildfire dangers, a release from the congresswoman announced this week.
On April 8 Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, announced that she had joined several of her colleagues in a letter to Secretary Debra Haaland urging for implementation of a court ruling that the lawmakers say would better allow federal agencies to implement a recovery plan for the owl, which is listed under the Endangered Species act.
If implemented, the rule would revise the designation of 1.1 million acres of federal lands in the Pacific Northwest currently listed as critical habitat, the release stated, which would allow for “active forest management tools” on those lands that proponents for the revision say were “illegally designated” during the Obama administration.
Implementation of the rule was delayed by President Joe Biden’s administration March 1, the release stated, keeping it from going into effect two weeks later.
“The 2021 designation aligns critical habitat for the (Northern Spotted Owl) with a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision and with federal environmental law. It represents an opportunity to move past antiquated, ineffective habitat policies that have stymied critical federal forest restoration activities by focusing on the real threats to this species and its habitat, while supporting American jobs and rural communities across three Western states. Science and the law have changed since the (Northern Spotted Owl) was listed 30 years ago, and (the Department of the Interior) needs to adapt to this as well,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.
Alongside Herrera Beutler, cosigners on the letter included U.S. Reps. Cliff Bentz of Oregon; Bruce Westerman of Arkansas; Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington; Doug LaMalfa, Jay Obernolte, and Tom McClintock of California; and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
