Fix Our Forest Act (FOFA)

Wild Alabama Board of Directors

Apr 18, 2025

Open Letter

From the Board of Directors of Wild Alabama, a nonprofit corporation, to all concerned about our National Forests in Alabama:

We write to express our concerns about a development impacting our national forests. Recently, a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate called the “Fix Our Forests Act.” It builds on a House version that was passed in January.

An aim of the bill is to change forest management plans ostensibly to address the risks of wildfires in the Western United States. While wildfire mitigation efforts are important, the Fix Our Forests Act stands to have a negative far-reaching effect that could eliminate important safeguards that protect our forests here in Alabama.

Specifically, the legislation seeks to expedite forest management projects by streamlining environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and limiting certain legal challenges. In other words, the bill would eliminate opportunities for our citizen voices to be part of the conversation about how our public lands are managed and could lead to increased logging without adequate scientific review or community input, potentially harming ecosystems and endangered species. That is critically important in Alabama where the richness of our biodiversity ranks us among the top four states in the country.

The important safeguards the Fix Our Forests Act stands to eliminate are also the very means by which our national forests in Alabama came to be the beautiful treasures they are today with their three designated wilderness areas: Sipsey, Cheaha and Dugger. All National Forests in Alabama are currently managed under a plan focused on conservation and recreation that was created under the process established by the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires environmental reviews and community input through public comment. Wild Alabama participated directly in that process and our citizen volunteers were instrumental in helping to change the former forest management plan from one of timber production to the restoration plan we all benefit from today.

The Fix Our Forests Act stands to dramatically undermine years of conservation efforts by opening millions of acres of federal land across the country to logging without scientific review and community input.

Wild Alabama advocates for maintaining existing safeguards and increasing protection of our public lands. Please join us in asking our elected officials to protect our national forests and vote against any bill that diminishes the protections and safeguards we have fought for many years to enforce.

You can contact our U.S. Senators and House of Representative Members at these numbers. All you need to say is who you are, where you are from, and how you want them to vote:

Senator Tommy Tuberville

(202) 224-4124 (Washington D.C.)

(251) 308-7233 (Mobile, AL)

Senator Katy Boyd Britt

(202) 224-5744 (Washington, D.C.)

(205) 731-1384 (Birmingham)

(659) 251-2880 (Tuscaloosa)

(251) 662-9990 (Mobile)

(334) 777-1150 (Montgomery)

(256) 429-3450 (Huntsville)

(334) 500-4097 (Dothan)

Representative Barry Moore (District 1) (202)225-2901