Bill in Congress would increase logging and wildfire risk

Published 1:30 am Sunday, November 23, 2025

Regarding a recent commentary (“Misnamed Fix Our Forest Act would worsen wildfire risk,” The Herald, Nov. 15), the legislation is less about fixing forests than it is about fixing profits for timber industry executives. By fast-tracking logging projects and gutting public oversight, this bill reads like a wish list written in a corporate boardroom, not a serious attempt to protect communities from wildfire.

We know what works: home hardening, defensible spaces and community‑level fire preparedness. What doesn’t work is pretending that industrial logging will somehow reduce fire risk. In reality, logging practices leave behind slash piles, dried-out microclimates, and create the very conditions that make catastrophic fires more likely.

So why push such a misguided policy? The answer lies in the corrosive influence of money in politics. Ever since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on political influence, legislation has increasingly reflected the priorities of wealthy donors rather than the needs of ordinary citizens. The Fix Our Forests Act is a textbook example: a shameless giveaway to timber corporations dressed up as “resilience.”

Congress should reject this bill and instead invest in science‑based, community‑centered wildfire strategies. Additionally, Congress should tackle the outsized role of corporate money in shaping policy; until it does, we’ll keep seeing legislation that prioritizes profits over people and the planet.

Jennifer Normoyle

Hillsborough, Calif.