WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson’s (PA-05) legislation, H.R. 2394, the National Forest Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2015, passed the House of Representatives by voice vote.
This bipartisan bill will reauthorize the National Forest Foundation Act so the foundation will have the resources it needs to protect and restore the 193-million-acre national forest system, including Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest.
“The National Forest Foundation, the USDA’s official non-profit partner, seeks to bring local communities together to restore and enhance our national forests and grasslands,” said Thompson.
“Through leveraging public and private funds, the foundation protects and keeps our national forests, like the Allegheny, thriving and viable for generations to come,” added Thompson, chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry.
Since it was created in 1993, the foundation has been essential in helping to address the challenges the National Forest System faces.
Accomplishments include:
- More than 14,000 miles of trail restored or maintained;
- Nearly 4.4 million trees and shrubs planted;
- More than 500,000 acres of fuel reduction completed or planned;
- More than 120,000 people volunteered more than 1.5 million hours with an estimated value of $34 million;
- More than 46,000 youth employed or engaged;
- Approximately 80,000 acres of invasive weeds treated;
- More than 117,000 acres of wildlife habitat restored or maintained; and,
- More than three thousand miles of streams surveyed or restored.
Shortly before the vote, Thompson spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives urging his colleagues to support the reauthorization.