Forest Management Bill Passes State Legislature

After back-to-back years of devastating wildfires, the state legislature took a step to try and help manage the forests in a better way. A bill sponsored by 12th District Senator Brad Hawkins passed the House yesterday and now heads to the Governor's desk.

"Sometimes good things can come from those tragedies and the folks back home, the folks that have worked on the wildfire project really helped raise awareness of this issue of the need for forest health."

The bill map out a strategy of forest health through prescribed burning and other tools to help mitigate future wildfire seasons.

Hawkins said, "It sets up a framework for our long-term forest strategic outlook for the state of Washington and sets a goal to treat over 1 million acres of fire-prone lands by 2033 and I'm just really excited that it passed the House."

The bill could be signed in the next couple of weeks.