HCM 2004
Initials PAB/AH Page 1 Caucus & COW
ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fifty-sixth Legislature
First Regular Session
House: LARA DP 5-4-0-0
HCM2004: urging Congress; national forest health
Sponsor: Representative Griffin, LD 19
Caucus & COW
Overview
Requests that Congress enact legislation to support multiple-use forest management policies to
improve the nation's forest health.
History
Multiple Use and Sustained Yield in National Forests
President Theodore Roosevelt gave the Department of Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service
responsibility for managing forest reserves, and later national forests, in 1905. The management
of these forests' renewable resources has been the subject of frequent legislation:
1) The Multiple Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to
develop the renewable surface resources of the nation's 154 national forests for multiple
use and sustained yield of the products and services obtained from them (Public Law 86-
517). This provision was intended to ensure these resources are used in a manner that
best meets the needs of the American people and allows for a high level of output;
2) The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 directed the
Secretary of Agriculture to prepare a renewable resource assessment that enabled long-
term planning of renewable resources in national forests, discussed opportunities for
improving the yield of tangible and intangible goods and services from these resources,
and reviewed programs, laws and policies that influence the management of forest lands.
The Secretary of Agriculture was also required to develop a Renewable Resource
Program based on the principles of multiple use and sustained yield (Public Law 93-378);
3) The National Forest Management Act of 1976 required that any land and resource
management plans for national forest units be developed in accordance with the principles
of multiple use and sustained yield. It also generally limited timber sales from each national
forest to the amount of timber that could be removed annually on a sustained yield basis
(Public Law 94-588).
There are six national forests comprising about 40 percent of total forest lands in Arizona: Apache-
Sitgreaves, Coconino, Coronado, Kaibab, Prescott and Tonto.
Hazards to National Forests
According to the U.S. Forest Service, outbreaks of bark beetles have increased pine tree mortality
in the Coconino National Forest and other locations in Arizona where the beetles can infest
drought-afflicted low vigor trees and spread quickly in densely forested areas. Foliar disease that
causes a loss of leaves and reduction in overall growth is also common in aspen, Arizona
sycamore, cottonwood and willow trees. For example, in 1999, mortality reduced gross tree
growth in Arizona's forests by almost 20 percent.
In 2020, over 2,500 wildfires burned nearly 980,000 acres of state, federal and tribal land in
Arizona. The U.S. Forest Service has cited past fire exclusion, accumulating fuels, prolonged HCM 2004
Initials PAB/AH Page 2 Caucus & COW
drought and expanding development as contributors to the growing size and severity of wildfires
in western states. Of the U.S. Forest Service's $7.4 billion budget in FY 2021, $3.9 billion was
allocated to wildland fire management and wildfire adjustment (Congressional Research Service).
Provisions
1. States that the Arizona House of Representatives urges Congress to enact legislation that
supports multiple-use forest management policies that will improve the nation's forest health.
2. Directs the Arizona Secretary of State to transmit the memorial to the President of the United
States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives and each member of Congress from the state of Arizona.
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note