A house resource committee report called "America's most threatened forests" ranks Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest as number eight out of twelve. With that in mind, Congressman Greg Walden has called for a field hearing Monday, August 25th on H.R. 1904 the Healthy Forest Restoration Act. Ed Shepard and Assistant Director in the Bureau of Land Management will be one of those testifying on the dangers Oregon faces.

"Southwest Oregon, east of the Cascades and up to northeast in the Blue Mountains are pretty much are all the same situation. These were predominately pine forests and now are overgrown with thick fir. And when these burn they take out the big pines and cause a lot of watershed damage."

Shepard says it's not just trees but also Sage brush eco-systems that are in danger.

"When the rangelands burn the native grasses and Sage brush are often replaced with invasive species like Cheat grass."

Cheat grass is easily ignited and fast burning and it's a threat to the habitat of the Sage Grouse which has been petitioned for listing under the endangered species act. Ron Tull, Interior Department Radio News Service, Washington.