David Perdue, Senator for Georgia, Republican, has a history of supporting bills that address…
By: Michelle Solomon
Tags: David Perdue, Georgia, National Forest, Public Lands, Resources

David Perdue, Senator for Georgia, Republican, has a history of supporting bills that address issues on finance (23%) international affairs (21%), Armed Forces and National Security (12%), Government Operations and Politics (12%), Economics and Public Finance (10%), Crime and Law Enforcement (10%), Education (6%), and Public Land and Natural Resources (4%). His voting record shows that “from Jan 2015 to Oct 2020, Perdue missed 61 of 1,729 roll call votes, which is 3.5%. This is worse than the median of 1.8% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.”

Lacking solid history of support for science or the protection of our environment, it is no surprise that Senator Perdue is listed as the primary sponsor of S. 571 (115th): Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Land Adjustment Act, a bill which authorizes the sale of certain National Forest System land in the State of Georgia. and also “authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell or exchange any or all interest of the United States in 30 tracts of National Forest System land in Georgia totaling approximately 3,841 acres.” Clearly stated in Section 2 of this bill is that those in support of this bill believe that there are certain areas in the National Forest that are isolated, inefficient to manage and have lost their value. As a solution, this bill seeks to sell, or dispose of, portions of our Forest in exchange for money. Removing protected National Forest areas negatively impacts individuals and families who look to escape the daily grind for a chance to go hiking, camping, and enjoy the great outdoors. My stance on the S. 571 (115th): Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Land Adjustment Act is that I am against the sale of our National Forest.

What’s interesting is that this bill was merged with H.R. 2 (115th): Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, where it is included in a continuous argument for the sake of restoration and conservation. This second bill “protects forests through cross-boundary forest management projects by authorizing the State and private forest landscape-scale restoration programs” and that it “promotes conservation on private forests through the Forest Legacy Program and the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program”.

Just because certain forest areas are isolated or inefficient to manage doesn’t mean that it is not worth protecting. It is a well-known fact that trees are important for air and water quality, but also as a home for the wildlife of this state. If certain areas are isolated and inefficient, what would make a buyer interested in investing in these tracts of land that would help to protect the National Forest any differently? It would be quite an investment for a buyer to undertake without some kind of profitable scheme in mind for future plans.

Once privatized, the voice of the people who aim to protect our landscape and natural resources will hit additional barriers which politicians may not have planned for. According to the census bureau, the state of Georgia has a population estimated at 10.62 million. The USDA Forest Statistics show that in 2013, there existed an average of more than 15.4 million live trees at an annual removal of 1.4 million cubic feet of live trees. Trees clean the air by recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen, Science Focus reports that, “A human breathes about 9.5 tonnes of air in a year, but oxygen only makes up about 23 percent of that air, by mass, and we only extract a little over a third of the oxygen from each breath. That works out to a total of about 740kg of oxygen per year, which is roughly, seven or eight trees’ worth.” When pairing up the information from these various sources, we can see that nearly one-and-a-half trees as a source of oxygen per person does not meet the needs for survival when compared with our recommended seven or eight trees per person as our source for oxygen per year. Considering other states, such as California, where wildfires blaze, we can see that it is truly important on a global scale to preserve and maintain our National Forests.

David Perdue, Senator for Georgia, Republican, has a history of supporting bills that address issues on finance (23%) international affairs (21%), Armed Forces and National Security (12%), Government Operations and Politics (12%), Economics and Public Finance (10%), Crime and Law Enforcement (10%), Education (6%), and Public Land and Natural Resources (4%). His voting record shows that “from Jan 2015 to Oct 2020, Perdue missed 61 of 1,729 roll call votes, which is 3.5%. This is worse than the median of 1.8% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.” If Senator Perdue fails to back the bills that support out natural resources, it may be time for our voters to consider the democratic candidate for US Senator, Jon Ossoff- a politician who hopes to spark awareness of “energy and environmental policy on the basis of scientific evidence”.

Statistics of live trees in Georgia

Population in Georgia shown in blue

References

“S. 571–115th Congress: Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Land Adjustment Act.” www.GovTrack.us. 2017. October 6, 2020 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s571>

“H.R. 2–115th Congress: Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.” www.GovTrack.us. 2018. October 6, 2020 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr2>

Census Bureau, US. “Population in the U.S.” Google, Google, 2020, www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_.

Brandeis, T.J. 2015. Forests of Georgia, 2013. Resource Update FS–38. Asheville, NC:

U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 4 p.

Villazon, Luis. “How Many Trees Does It Take to Produce Oxygen for One Person?”

BBC Science Focus Magazine, 2020, www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/how-many-trees-does-it-take-to-produce-oxygen-fo r-one-person/.