Dr. Tony Cheng Testifies at Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry

Dr. Tony Cheng, Director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, provided witness testimony for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on Thursday, May 20, 2021.

The agenda and video feed for the hearing, titled “Federal, State, and Private Forestlands: Opportunities for Addressing Climate Change,” can be accessed here.

If you’d like to cut right to Dr. Cheng his testimony begins at 58:31 but the entire 2 hour hearing is well worth a listen!

“Federal forests are part of a green infrastructure portfolio to mitigate climate change. Climate change is also impacting the climate-mitigation capacity these forests. Western federal forest in particular have a unique set of issues and vary greatly in the diversity of their ecology, and their linkages to western communities’ social and economic well-being. I am here today to share a western perspective (and there are many), especially in the Rocky Mountain West where forests are being impacted by a succession of wildfires, insect outbreaks, and severe droughts.”

To read Dr. Cheng’s full testimony please click here.