HYDE-SMITH OFFERS TO WORK WITH FOREST SERVICE CHIEF ON MISS. TORNADO & WINTER STORM FERN CLEANUP

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today offered to work with Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz to ensure his agency has the resources needed to help Mississippi recover from tornado and severe winter weather damage across the state.

Hyde-Smith and Schultz discussed recovery efforts during a Senate Agriculture Committee oversight hearing on the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Hyde-Smith focused on the risks posed by the delayed cleanup of significant damage to privately owned and national forest property caused by the May 6-7 tornadoes and Winter Storm Fern.

"I surveyed the damage, and it is pretty staggering. The tornado caused, obviously, damage on private land as well as our federal land. It's pretty significant," said Hyde-Smith, describing "tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars" in damage to trees, Forest Service facilities, roads, campgrounds, and other infrastructure in the Homochitto, Delta, and Holly Springs national forests.

Hyde-Smith endorsed passage of a supplemental appropriations package to accelerate storm damage cleanup, reduce wildfire threats, and rebuild damaged infrastructure in affected areas in Mississippi.

"I'm concerned, obviously, about the dead timber and the biomass that's left behind that we know are perfect conditions to create wildfires that we certainly do not need. If this material is not removed quickly, that's exactly what we're going to be experiencing. So, being very frank, the wildfires in these already hard-hit areas, which have experienced drought conditions, would be catastrophic and threatening to the surrounding communities," Hyde-Smith said.

Schultz indicated that the USFS has cleared 70 miles of national forest roadway and prepared six salvage timber sales in different Mississippi Forests, amounting to about 66,000 CCF of volume.

"Now, what happens is in an area like this, what you see is typically the private lands want to be salvaged first. So, our ability to sell some of the federal timber can be challenged. We don't want to oversupply the market. We want to ensure that those private landowners have first opportunities to make sure that they can salvage dead material off of their properties," Schultz said. "We have acted quickly in this particular situation working with the forest."

In terms of campgrounds and other damaged infrastructure, Schultz told Hyde-Smith, "If you decide and Congress decides to move forward with a supplemental, we'll definitely work with you to help identify areas where that could be helpful."

In backing a supplemental disaster appropriations package, Hyde-Smith recommended that it also include her legislation ( S.2440) related to Okhissa Lake and rural economic development within the Homochitto National Forest in Franklin County. The Senate Agriculture Committee approved that Hyde-Smith bill for Senate consideration last October.