Congressman Steven Horsford Urges Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to Address Sagebrush Ecosystem Restoration

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Steven Horsford (D-NV-04) sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland urging that a significant portion of ecosystem restoration funds in the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act address the need for restoration of the vast sagebrush ecosystems of the American West.

"Sagebrush ecosystems are some of the largest and most threatened in the American West," said Congressman Horsford. "We must prioritize investments to restore and conserve these plants with funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to promote rural development, protect against devastating forest fires, and maintain the pristine landscapes that make Nevada the Sagebrush State."

The letter text can be found below:

Dear Secretary Haaland:

The Department of the Interior (DOI) received substantial new resources for ecosystem restoration funds in the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ("IIJA"). As Members of Congress representing Western states, we urge you to allocate a significant portion of these funds to address the need for restoration of the vast sagebrush ecosystems of the American West.

The sagebrush ecosystem encompasses approximately 120 million acres of the American West, and is home to more than 350 species. Millions of Americans across the West live, work, and play in this landscape, which is increasingly at risk from devastating wildfires largely driven by invasive annual grasses.

Cheatgrass and other invasive grasses now cover one-fifth of the Great Basin, and these grasses fuel intense fires on the rangeland. These aggressive non-native species recolonize burned-out areas more efficiently than native plants, which further contributes to future wildfires. Consequently, fires are growing in intensity, frequency and destructiveness across the rangelands of the American West.

Successful conservation of the sagebrush ecosystem would contribute enormously to the Biden Administration's America the Beautiful campaign to protect 30% of our lands and waters, and it would provide significant climate resiliency by protecting the soil carbon stored in tens of millions of acres of the rangeland.

We encourage DOI and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to prioritize investments in the sagebrush ecosystems with a significant portion of the $905 million allocated to DOI for ecosystem restoration provided by Section 40804 of the IIJA, as well as the $200 million provided for wildfire risk reduction programs in Section 40803 of the IIJA. These investments should supplement the $50 million provided in the bill for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the restoration of the sagebrush steppe, included by Congress as a recognition of the significant threats that face this uniquely American landscape.

Additionally, we urge DOI and the BLM to join with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state, tribal, and local governments to promote USDA's "Defend the Core" framework to identify and prioritize landscapes that are intact and defend these places against invasive species and wildfire. Investments by USDA and DOI, using data developed by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, represents the best opportunity to reverse the devastating trends that are degrading this important landscape.

Finally, the IIJA funding provides a unique method to create jobs in rural America while addressing important conservation needs. DOI has at its disposal $100 million for fuels removal efforts that employ locally-based laborers, an historic opportunity to put people to work while helping restore the sagebrush steppe and protect the landscape from wildfires. We encourage you to act ambitiously to enact a program that will have lasting benefits – both conservation- and employment-based – for an entire generation of Americans in the West.

Madam Secretary, thank you for your consideration of these important issues.

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MEDIA CONTACT

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