The Farm Bill prevents megafires.
Saul Elbein 23; reporter for The Hill, 3/24/2023, “Legislators, lobbyists look to farm bill to save American forests,” https://thehill.com/policy/future-of-farming/3903990-legislators-lobbyists-look-to-farm-bill-to-save-american-forests/
With the 2018 Agriculture Improvement Act expiring in September, negotiations over the next farm bill — a massive grab-bag of programs that helps pay for virtually every aspect of American food — will likely peak in late summer.
That timing means that hearings will likely be backlit by worsening Western wildfires, a continuing catastrophe that will help keep a focus on forestry front and center amid the larger, sprawling negotiations.
For the U.S. Forest Service, the final legislation could empower — or constrain — the agency’s efforts to reverse more than a century of mismanagement of the country’s forests in just a decade.
For industry, it could enable the creation of lucrative new markets and, if its boosters’ biggest dreams come true, lay the groundwork for the triumphant return of wood products to the American home.
And for millions of acres of American woodlands, it could mean a new golden age — or at least a path to survival.