Forest Service Bill a Win for Forest Service, Local Communities, Collins Says

Doug Collins officialU.S. Representative Doug Collins (R-9th) says his new forest land bill is a win for the public , the U.S. Forest Service, and local counties.

Collins took time out of his busy schedule Monday night to do a town hall meeting with constituents by conference call.

Collins took calls from voters from across the 9th Congressional District, answering questions and updating them on what is going on in Washington on Capitol Hill.

One of issues brought up came from a man in Lumpkin County who said people there are wary of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Bill submitted last week by Collins.

Under H.R. 470, the Forest Service would sell remote tracts of forest land at market value and buy others with the proceeds.

“It’s simply taking land that is surrounded and making better use of not only forestry service resources but also local resources as well,” Collins said. “So that you have both local government input and federal input, which the local governments are very supportive of this. Conservation groups have been very supportive of this. It actually provides better access to public lands.”

Collins said another advantage the bill would allow the Forest Service to work towards improving fishing, hunting and hiking in existing forest service land.

“This is a bill that the Forestry Service has been working on this for awhile,” he said. “I know Senators Isakson and Chambliss before have been working on this. But the biggest thing about this is localism. It just goes back to letting the Forest Service work with the local government communities and the folks in the community to do the best use of land for Georgia and the 9th District.”

Collins said additionally, the bill will benefit nearby counties that are currently providing services to federal lands by giving them new and additional property tax revenue from new private owners.