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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-25 Supporting the Colorado Forest Management Improvement Act of 2007RESOLUTION 25, SERIES OF 2007 A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE COLORADO FOREST MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2007, ENCOURAGING THE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO TO ACTIVELY CONTINUE THEIR UNIFIED AND BI-PARTISAN SUPPORT OF THE BILL AND TO PUSH FOR RAPID APPROVAL BY THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF THE SAME, AND TO EXPRESS THE GRATITUDE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE TOWN OF VAIL, COLORADO FOR RECOGNITION OF THE DELEGATION OF THE MAGNITUDE OF THE BARK BEETLE INFESTATION IN COLORADO AND FOR THE EFFORTS MADE IN DRAFTING, INTRODUCING, AND SUPPORTING THIS ACT. WHEREAS, An infestation of bark beetles has killed and is killing hundreds of thousands of acres of lodge pole pine and other conifer species in the State of Colorado; and WHEREAS, The dead trees threaten human life, safety, dwellings, businesses, and municipal and county government facilities, along with their associated jurisdictions; critical infrastructure (including but not limited to: municipal, agricultural, and commercial water collection and distribution systems; high pressure gas transmission pipelines; inter- and intra- state electrical transmission lines; micro-wave and radio broadcast and relay facilities; and highways and other public and private roads); entire watersheds, including those of the headwaters of the Colorado River and its tributaries; valuable tourism destinations, including ski areas, scenic view corridors, lakes and reservoirs, and other amenities natural and manmade that are essential to the economic health of Colorado; and wildlife through increased risk of catastrophic wildfire due to dead timber and the related massive fuel loading; and associated post-fire erosion, sedimentation, debris flows and the associated costs to mitigate the resultant damages; and WHEREAS, Insect killed trees are susceptible to "blow down" by high winds, on large and small scales, and that such blow down endangers the health and welfare of people, property, and infrastructures in and around the effected forests; and WHEREAS, The entire Congressional Delegation of the State of Colorado has recognized the magnitude of the problem, the lack of resources of local jurisdictions to address the situation, that policies of the federal land management agencies need to be altered to allow more immediate and long term actions to mitigate the consequences of the insect infestation and to provide for means to reduce the likelihood of such infestation in the future, and have addressed this problem in a bi-partisan and unified fashion by introducing the aforementioned Act to the 110th Congress; and WHEREAS, There is a sense of urgency that the provisions of this Act become available as rapidly as possible in order to forestall the negative consequences of the infestation and to make use of the forest materials before decay renders them valueless. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF VAIL, COLORADO AS FOLLOWS: 1.The Colorado Congressional delegation is applauded for their bipartisan introduction and unified support of the Colorado Forest Management Improvement Act of 2007; and 2.The delegation is urged to promote the Act, to gain support in the Congress, and to actively pursue its passage as soon as possible; and that 3.The Town Council of the Town of Vail do hereby affirm their support to the Colorado delegation in this matter. INTRODUCED, PASSED, AND ADOPTED AT A REGULAR MEETING OF THE VAIL TOWN COUNCIL, AND SIGNED THIS 16T" DAY OF OCTOBER, 2007. is"'±~. J r'~ Rod Slifer, Mayor Lorelei Donaldson, Town Clerk