{"id":35474,"date":"2023-03-01T10:13:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T17:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bennet-introduces-protect-the-west-act-to-address-wildfires-and-drought\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:24:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:24:52","slug":"bennet-introduces-protect-the-west-act-to-address-wildfires-and-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bennet-introduces-protect-the-west-act-to-address-wildfires-and-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"Bennet Introduces \u2018Protect the West\u2019 Act to address wildfires and drought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Michael Bennet speaks in the Dolores Water Conservancy conference room. (The Journal file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sen. Michael Bennet announced his \u201cProtect the West\u201d Act, presenting his plan this week to address wildfires and drought across the West through investments in restoration and sustainability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the West, our forests, grasslands, and watersheds are as important to our economy as the Lincoln Tunnel is to New York. But they are under threat \u2013 not only from climate change, but also consistent underinvestment from the federal government,\u201d Bennet said in a news release.<\/p>\n

The bill, presented by Bennet on behalf of himself and Sen. John Hickenlooper, seeks to establish an Outdoor Restoration Fund for restoration and resilience projects, echoing previously proposed legislation from Bennet in 2021.<\/p>\n

Front end prevention and mitigation efforts are more cost-effective than recovering forests and watersheds after natural disasters strike, according to the news release. In Durango, where severe drought has persisted in recent years, preventive measures for droughts and wildfires could make a difference.<\/p>\n

The West is facing a 1,200 year megadrought, and the federal government spends 30 times more in recovering from wildfires than preventing them, according to the news release, and Bennet will \u201cmake a major, proactive investment\u201d in preventive methods rather than reactive ones.<\/p>\n

Through investing in wildfire prevention, Bennet aims to save money for landowners and local governments, such as those in local municipalities in La Plata County.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo reduce the risk of wildfire and protect the West, we must break from the status<\/p>\n

quo and make a major, proactive investment in the restoration of our forests, grasslands,<\/p>\n

and watersheds that matches the scale of the challenge,\u201d Bennet said in the release.<\/p>\n

With the Restoration and Resilience Project Grant Program, grants will be established for restoration efforts in both capacity and implementation of the projects. The Grant Program must seek local input and provide mentoring opportunities for underserved communities and populations.<\/p>\n

In rural areas such as Southwest Colorado, Bennet aims to create 2 million jobs, supporting industries like agriculture, outdoor recreation and forestry.<\/p>\n

The Outdoor Restoration and Watershed fund will support local efforts in restoring forests and natural habitats, preventing wildfires and expanding outdoor access. The bill would establish an advisory council \u201cof local, industry, conservation, Tribal and national experts\u201d to oversee funding efforts.<\/p>\n

Twenty billion dollars will be made available to state and local governments, tribes, special districts and nonprofits in an effort to bring more diverse voices to develop environmental solutions. Forty billion dollars will also be invested through partnerships between states and tribes, \u201cto tackle the backlog of restoration, fire mitigation, and resilience projects\u201d on public, private and tribal lands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to break from the status quo and make a major investment in the restoration of our forests that matches the scale of the challenge,\u201d Bennet said in the release. \u201cWe have no time to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Mattalian is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at smattalian@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legislation aims to invest in the environment with sustainable financial efforts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[529,402,1030,28,25],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-conservation","tag-drought","tag-environment","tag-headlines","tag-u-s-sen-michael-bennet"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82992,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35474\/revisions\/82992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35474"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}