From: Rep Lewis
Sent: Wed Sep 30 17:44:43 2020
To: Gerald Fisher
Subject: RE: Wildfires and Resulting Impacts to Water Bodies Used as Drinking Water Sources
Importance: Normal
Thanks Gerald.
I was asked by the Governor’s office to co-convene a work group on fires with Metro District Regional Solutions. I declined after they answered my question as to whether or not forest management practices would be on the table for discussion. The Governor’s office said no, not in the scope of work.
If we can’t get to the root of the problem, it’s nothing more than window dressing and potentially rubber-stamping what the Governor wants the outcome to be without benefit of preventing future wild land fire catastrophies.
Besides, my District is not a part of Metro. There needs to be a rural perspective on this issue, but Metro will not see it the way I do.
Rick
From: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2020 1:17 PM
To: gotomeeting.6@cadmusgroup.com
Cc: Rep Lewis <Rep.RickLewis@oregonlegislature.gov>
Subject: Wildfires and Resulting Impacts to Water Bodies Used as Drinking Water Sources
I have a recommendation for EPA since this effect drinking water providers and professional organizations associated with them.
EPA should partner with ACWA, ASCE, APWA, US forest service, state forest agencies, and state governor office’s to demand the federal legislative branch move forward with forest management funding and allow for the select harvest of timber and removal of built up fuel loads to help pay for management activities. Old clear cutting practices do not work. Environmental activist approach of leave it alone doesn’t work. It’s time that we, as a country, start clearing fuel from our forests and allow for select removal of trees to prohibit wildfires from destroying our forest and critical habitat. The massive amounts of money spent on private firefighting firms could then be put back into the management system so ongoing additional federal support would no longer be necessary. And contracting it out is not the final answer. Utilizing contractors to work side by side with federal forest teams initially is fine but we need to eliminate the potential for it to become another bloated high bid contract that is not managed. Thank you for considering my comments.
Regards,
Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director
City of Molalla
117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038
Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218
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