🔰Amy Klobuchar Presses Trump's Forest Service Nom On His Previous 'Disagreements' With Agency

Thank you very much, Senator Bozeman. I think I'll start with the staffing issue I raised in the opening just with the thousands of employees that have left and terminated. There were deferred resignation plans and then the White House's direction to federal agencies to plan for additional layoffs. Mr. Boren, how will you ensure resignations and terminations will not affect the ability of the Forest Service to prevent and address the dangers of wildfires? Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. That's a very important point. We certainly need to have an appropriate level of staff to fulfill our mission. I have not had an experience with the Forest Service yet where I understand what the staffing levels are and how they're being applied, but I am very familiar with resource-constrained organizations having worked in one and for one that I started for many years where we started with a very small amount of money and never really had enough to do what we needed to do. I certainly wouldn't say that that guarantees that I'll be able to figure it out immediately at the Forest Service, but I know that we have to live with the resources that we receive and we will find a way to do that. Okay, and the present budget proposes moving wildland fire management outside of the USDA. This is a significant responsibility of the Forest Service that would be transferred to the Department of Interior, and I understand some have questions about the impact on this on managing wildfire responses. Could you talk about how this proposal could affect the agency's fire mitigation work, like prescribed burns, and how you will work with states, tribes, and employees and other interested parties as this proposal is considered? I have questions as you do. I don't fully understand the proposal and how it's intended to work. I do have a background through my father and through living in Boise, Idaho and visiting the Interagency Fire Center and through being a firefighter and working with incident management teams where it's very clear to me that cooperation with other agencies and other organizations is the way to fight fire, and I'm sure that if this transfer occurs, the Forest Service will still be intimately involved since that organization is responsible for most of the federal forests and a large chunk of grasslands and responsible for keeping them in good condition. Exactly, and so, yep, thank you. That's part of why I'm so worried about this, and thanks for mentioning that because, as you acknowledge, the Forest Service is charged with managing forests and watersheds, wildlife habitat, and these are responsibilities of the Forest Service. Could you very quickly, because I want to get something else mentioned, what policies or practices you would promote to balance these multiple uses to ensure the long-term health of forests and grasslands? I'll try to be brief. That's a really big question, Senator. Multiple use is super important. All of the people in America own our forests and grasslands, and they all have different ideas about how they should be used, and we need to find ways to balance all of the uses, recreation, timber production, clean air and water, which sometimes involves non-production in areas, oil and gas and forage. There are lots of things that we need to balance, and we just need to always be mindful of everyone else's position. I find that when we get into negotiation, when I get into negotiation frequently, it's important to show, to learn what the other person wants and not to worry too much about my own personal needs. Okay. Senator Risch mentioned that you had as a land owner and has had some disagreements about easements with the Forest Service near your Idaho ranch, and could you talk about these disagreements briefly? You can follow up in writing, and how will you respond to those that may disagree with your positions or decisions, including employees or members of the public? Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. That is a long conversation, potentially, but Well, Senator Risch opened the door. He did. He did, and he's aware of some things that have happened that have been difficult for me, and some that I felt were oppressive, because I've talked to him about those. But I think one of the important things to point out is that I don't have disputes with the Forest Service. He did use that word, but I would disagree with that. As a land owner, I've had disagreements from time to time with the Forest Service. Typically, they've been very aggressive at the beginning of those disagreements, and eventually, when they got the facts and when we talked through it and we had reasonable discussions, we've always come around to a settlement that works for everyone. And to be very clear about easements, if I may just have a moment, there's a scenic easement on a ranch that I live on, and I have never had a violation or even a suggestion that I violated. Well, I've had one suggestion, but it was clear that it didn't happen, and it was retracted. I haven't had violations of that easement ever. Okay. I'd just last, very quickly, will you commit to not interfering with, and in fact, or accusing yourself from any existing or future matters involving properties that you, your family members, or your friend's owner are affiliated with, with the Forest Service? Senator, I have had incredibly detailed discussions with USDA ethics attorneys, who, by the way, are amazing, and I will commit to making sure they always know everything about anything that could be a conflict of interest that I can tell them, and to always following their advice. Okay. Thank you.