February 22, 2021 3:20 a.m.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have unveiled legislation to establish a 21st Century Conservation Corps.
A release said the legislation, originally introduced in July of 2020, would provide critical funds to support a natural resource management and conservation workforce and bolster wildfire prevention and preparedness to protect the health and safety of communities during the unparalleled combination of threats posed by wildfire season and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wyden said, “By investing in a 21st century workforce, this bill will put people to work to tackle the climate emergency, restore our public land and reduce wildfire risks”. Wyden said that creating new jobs and supporting public lands go hand in hand.
Merkley said the nation should harness the opportunity to create good jobs that will also help preserve and sustain the lands for future generations to enjoy them. Wyden said he will “…keep looking for more opportunities to invest in our workers, maintain our national treasures, and help our rural communities get through this storm”.
The release said the legislation will:
*Establishes a $9 billion fund to qualified land and conservation crops to increase job training and hiring specifically for jobs in the woods, helping to restore public lands and provide jobs
*Establishes a $2 billion fund to provide economic relief for outfitters and guides holding U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of Interior special use permits
*Provides $2 bill-on for the National Fire Capacity program, which helps the Forest Service implement FireWise, to prevent, mitigate, and respond to wildfire around homes and businesses on private land
*Provides $6 billion for the U.S. Forest Service, $6 billion for the National Park Service and $2 billion for the Bureau of Land Management maintenance accounts to create jobs, reduce the maintenance backlog and expand access to recreation
There are other aspects of the legislation as well:
A summary of the plan is linked: https://neguse.house.gov/imo/media/doc/21st%20CCC%20One%20Pager.pdf