Cody Desautel, president of the Intertribal Timber Council and executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, testifies about federal forest management at a hearing on April 17, 2024.

Desautel, a Colville citizen, spoke of the need to include tribal governments in federal forest policy. He specifically pointed to the risks that tribes face from wildfires on federal lands, many of which include treaty territories. Federal lands also lie adjacent to a number of reservations.

“When these lands don’t receive adequate management, or are severely damaged by wildfires tribes feel the impact,” Desautel stated in his written testimony.

Desautel appeared at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands, which is part of the House Committee on Natural Resources. The hearing was called to discuss a Republican-led draft forest management bill that has not yet been introduced in the 118th Congress.

Legislative Hearing on Discussion Draft of H.R. ___ (Rep. Westerman), To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and improve forest management activities on National Forest System lands, on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested lands, and for other purposes
Hearing Notice (naturalresources.house.gov)
Hearing Documents (docs.house.gov)