U.S. Forest Service

On Tuesday, the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee announced that three of President Trump’s nominees have received Senate approval to begin work at the USDA and the CFTC.

Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee are scheduled to vote Tuesday on two Trump administration nominees, Dan Berkovitz to be a CFTC commissioner and James Hubbard to be agriculture undersecretary for natural resources.

Lifelong forester James Hubbard told senators on Tuesday that if he is confirmed as agriculture undersecretary for natural resources, he will personally combat sexual harassment in the 32,000-member Forest Service.

After a record-setting fire season in 2017, this year “is showing all signs of another historic year,” said interim Forest Service chief Vicki Christiansen on Thursday. “I will say above normal is our new normal.”

James Hubbard, who retired as deputy chief of the Forest Service in 2017, is President Trump's choice to become agriculture undersecretary for natural resources, announced the White House. His primary job will be oversight of the Forest Service, with its 154 national forests and 20 grasslands on 193 million acres in 43 states and Puerto Rico.

Following the most expensive year ever for fighting wildfires, the Senate Appropriations Committee included $507 million in emergency wildfire funds in a funding bill for the Interior Department and related agencies.

The national forests are frequently judged on two criteria: How many board feet of timber they produce and how much the government spends to fight wildfires, says the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan policy institute. In a report, it says the 2018 farm bill could create rural jobs, protect drinking water and wildlife, and reduce fire risks by doubling forest restoration work.

The regional forester for the southern United States, Tony Tooke, is the new chief of the Forest Service, the USDA agency in charge of 154 national forests and 20 grasslands covering a combined 193 million acres (301,600 square miles) across the nation. Tooke is a lifelong employee of the Forest Service, joining at age 18, and was associate deputy chief of the agency before taking the job as regional forester.

The Trump administration proposed a $700-million reduction in funding to fight wildfires, but Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told a House panel that he will press the White House for more money, said Roll Call. At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Perdue said he would "advocate very strongly" for additional funding to prevent and manage fires.

Some 62 million trees have died so far this year in California, said USDA, blaming the losses on drought, warmer than usual weather and insect damage. The losses, up by 36 million from a survey earlier this year, are double the losses reported in 2015.

Government agencies in the U.S., Canada and Mexico can't say for sure whether the herbicides they spray on pubic lands to control invasive species are doing more harm than good, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Montana and their Canadian colleagues. The huge amount of herbicides applied by land managers every year—largely glyphosate (the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup)—may in fact prevent native species from germinating.

The U.S. Forest Service proposed a change in regulations on Monday that would allow it to consider requests to inject carbon dioxide beneath the 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands. Carbon sequestration is a key element in President Biden's goal of net-zero U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.