• Bipartisan legislation to reduce wildfire risk, written by U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), was unanimously approved by the House Natural Resources Committee, according to a Sept. 19 statement from Carbajal’s office. The Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act would reduce procedural steps for removing hazardous vegetation near power lines—cutting red tape to allow for a more streamlined process when tackling wildfire risk, according to the congressman’s office. The vote came at a time when firefighters are battling more than 500,000 wildfires in national forests and California communities. The legislation would allow the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management to approve removing hazardous trees near power lines on federal land—including national forests like Los Padres National Forest—without requiring a timber sale, easing a serious threat that has in the past been a major cause of destructive wildfires. Currently, utility companies are required to keep trees and branches away from power lines on federal land. But fallen or dead trees cannot be cleared without a timber sale. “As hundreds of brave firefighters, first responders, and forest rangers work around the clock to respond to the massive wildfires burning across California, I’m working in Washington to approve the federal policy changes that can help us prevent these increasingly destructive fires,” Carbajal said in the statement. “Our bipartisan bill is a no-brainer for the Western states that have seen the rising risk of fires year after year, and I’m proud to see it approved by the committee less than a year since it was first introduced. While no one change in policy will eliminate wildfire risk entirely, cutting red tape by removing the unnecessary administrative need for a timber sale will undoubtedly help protect the communities I represent.”
• The U.S. Senate recently passed bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) that would require the Department of Justice to add a new category to the existing National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) database, according to a Sept. 19 statement from Padilla’s office. This change would allow the public and law enforcement to mark cases where a person went missing or was identified on federal land, including specific location details. According to a NamUs report, more than 600,000 people go missing in the United States annually. While the majority of these cases are resolved, tens of thousands of people remain missing every year. There are approximately 640 million acres of federal land which include national parks, national forests, and Bureau of Land Management lands. Estimates suggest that at least 1,600 people have gone missing on public lands, though the number is likely much higher, as isolated or rugged terrain on public lands can make it especially difficult to find or identify people who go missing. Despite this, there is no functional system to report people who have gone missing on public lands, according to Padilla’s office. Having accurate data on how many people go missing on public lands every year is crucial to aid search and rescue efforts and resolve cases, according to the statement. This new feature would enable family and friends of people missing on public lands to more easily enter information in NamUs, while law enforcement agencies work to improve national records of missing individuals. The Tracking and Reporting Absent Community-Members Everywhere (TRACE) Act would also require the DOJ to submit an annual report to Congress detailing the number of cases from the previous year involving individuals who went missing or were suspected of going missing on public lands. “Thousands of people go missing on public lands in the United States every year, but without an effective system to track them, law enforcement’s ability to help bring them home is that much more limited,” Padilla said in the statement. “That’s why I’m glad to see the Senate unanimously pass our bipartisan TRACE Act to provide more accurate and readily accessible data, help equip law enforcement to resolve more cases, and help bring peace of mind to affected families.”
