Heinrich Unveils Plan To Establish 21st Century Conservation Corps, Invest In Wildfire Resiliency

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the first AmeriCorps alum to serve in the Senate and a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, today unveiled legislation to expand national service programs to help address the historic COVID-19 joblessness crisis by establishing a 21st Century Conservation Corps.

“As a former natural resources AmeriCorps Member who worked primarily in rural New Mexico, I know firsthand the value of conservation work in rural communities,” Heinrich said. “National service members make a major difference by conserving our public lands, building resilient landscapes, and helping grow the outdoor economy, which was fueling some of the fastest job growth in rural communities before the onset of the pandemic. When he established the original Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt understood that a generation of out-of-work Americans were not without worth, but rather that they could leave an indelible mark on our country. We need to expand national service opportunities in this moment to provide a new generation of Americans with the opportunity to get back to work, leave their mark, and play a major role in our national recovery.”

The 21st Century Conservation Corps Act, originally introduced in July 2020, would provide critical funds to support a natural resource management and conservation workforce. The legislation would also 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. The legislation also supports President Joe Biden's climate and economic agendas.

Senator Heinrich recently commended the Biden administration for signing an executive order, that mirrors legislation Senator Heinrich introduced last year to significantly expand national service programs, including initiating a Civilian Climate Corps to mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers.

The impacts of COVID-19 on public health and the economy, combined with high levels of drought throughout the West, created unprecedented wildland firefighting challenges in 2020. Those at increased risk for adverse health effects due to wildfire smoke exposure – people who suffer from heart or respiratory diseases – are also particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. The COVID-19 crisis has also quickly brought the outdoor economy to a halt – and with it lost jobs – as Americans are limiting travel.

The 21st Century Conservation Corps Act aims to address these challenges directly by investing in workforce training and jobs to support conservation programs and reforestation to restore our public lands; address deferred maintenance and expand recreation access on our public lands; provide direct relief for outfitters and guides; improve access to clean drinking water; and mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

This legislation:

• Establishes a $9 billion fund for qualified land and conservation corps to increase job training and hiring specifically for jobs in the woods, helping to restore public lands and provide jobs in a time of need;
• Establishes a $2 billion fund to provide economic relief for outfitters and guides holding U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior special use permits;
• Provides an additional $500 million for Tribal drinking water infrastructure repairs, prioritizing Tribal communities that have decrepit and underfunded drinking water systems causing health and safety emergencies;
• Provides $2 billion 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 $2 billion for the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program to improve resiliency for communities impacted by wildfire;
• Provides $6 billion for 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;
• Provides an additional $3.5 billion for the U.S. Forest Service and $2 billion for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to support science-based projects aimed at improving forest health and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire;
• Provides $3.5 billion for reforestation projects on a combination of federal, state, local, tribal and NGO lands, with over one hundred million trees to be planted in urban areas across America by 2030;
• Increases access to public lands through expanding and investing in programs like Every Kid Outdoors and the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership;
• Supports voluntary climate stewardship practices on over 100 million acres of farmland by providing supplemental funding for USDA working lands conservation programs; and
• Helps restore and improve rangeland health by providing an additional $150 million for the North American Waterfowl Management and Joint Ventures program and $150 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Partners for Fish and Wildlife.

Original cosponsors of the legislation, led by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Representative Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), include U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and U.S. Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), and Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.).

A one-page summary of the bill is available here.

A section-by-section summary of the bill is available here.