Advocating For The Mission

Congress passed a stop-gap spending measure (continuing resolution) to keep the government running through Dec. 16. During the lame-duck session following Congress’ return after the elections, there is always a frenzy of votes and negotiations to move bills that have either lingered in committee or are awaiting to make it onto the calendar for floor votes before the end of Congress’ two-year session. First on the agenda will be an end-of-year appropriations package to continue government services for a specified period.

For the NWTF, the most important of those bills is the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA), which passed the House, and at the time of this writing, was being negotiated in the Senate and still awaits a floor vote. There was some hope that it would piggy back on the continuing resolution, but it never made it on as Congressional leadership kept the resolution clean to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year. Moving forward, RAWA can either be presented as a stand-alone bill, tied to another package or to the broader appropriations omnibus bill Congress hopes to pass before Dec. 16. NWTF is using its contacts in Congress to keep RAWA visible and to urge its passage before the end of the year.

The NWTF continues to be deeply engaged in discussions surrounding the 2023 Farm Bill, which is extremely important to our mission delivery on private and public lands. Many of the Farm Bill-related programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, conservation easements and hunter access through the Voluntary Public Access program are key to our mission delivery. A team of NWTF staffers has worked for months with conservation field staff and partners to develop our own 2023 Farm Bill priorities for the conservation and forestry titles. Those priorities are shared with our partners and Congressional members as the new Farm Bill develops over the next year.

Combining our voices with the voices of many allows us to amplify our priorities and show unity among our partners. Through coordinated and cooperative messaging, we are able to increase our visibility at the national policy level. These coalitions developed and delivered the letters below.

• To the Bureau of Land Management opposing a proposed plan revision to close the majority of the Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona to recreational shooting.
• To Congressional leadership encouraging them to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires on our country’s forested lands by reforming the restoration permitting process so critical forest work can be completed in a timely manner.
• To USDA Forest Service Chief Randy Moore thanking him for committing to ecological and habitat connectivity and migration corridor health as a top priority in Forest Service decision making and planning. He also committed to working toward cross-boundary collaboration with states, local governments and private landowners.
• To U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams with concern over restrictions the Service added to the Lakes States Habitat Conservation Plans for bat species that restrict timber harvesting and create no-harvest buffer zones year-round, including during winter conditions when bats are not present in the forests. This plan would hurt family logging businesses that spur economic activity in rural communities and perform much-needed habitat- and forest-resiliency work. Science shows the primary source of the bat population decline is White-Nose Syndrome and not habitat manipulation.
• To USDA Undersecretary Robert Bonnie providing guidance on using Inflation Reduction Act monies allocated by Congress for existing Farm Bill programs and agency staffing needs.
• To the USDA Forest Service as input on their request for comments on defining old growth and mature timber stands as part of President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative. The NWTF also prepared and sent our own comments for this request.