mr. tidwell, why have grazing permits declined dramatically since the 1950s? >> it would be a combination of things, but part of it would be the impact that was occurring from the grazing. it's also the change with the multiple use, and that the public's interest in these lands for a variety of uses, whether it's for recreation, whether it's for wildlife, whether it is foreseen very. and so w when we look at how to manage these lands, we are going to continue to graze these lands, and we can do it in a way so that we can maintain, be consistent, maintain the riparian areas. we have thousands of places where we can do this. and so have they been reductions over the last 60, 70 years? sure there has. but you also remember that the reason the national forests exist in utah is that the communities petitioned congress to have been reserved from the public domain because of the lack of management that was occurring way back in the late 1800s. and so over time, yes, there's been reductions, but it's been to be able to address the public's needs to provide not only mu

mr. tidwell, why grazing permits have declined so dramatically since the 1950s? >> it would be a combination of things, but part of it would be the impact that was occurring from the grazing. it's also the change with the multiple use and that the public's interest in these lands for a variety of uses, whether it's for recreation, whether it's for wildlife, whether it's for scenery, so when we look at how to manage these lands, we are going to continue to graze these lands and we can do it in a way so that we can maintain, be consistent, maintain the riparian areas. we have thousands of places where we can do this. so has there been reductions over the last 60, 70 years? sure there has. but you also have to remember the reason the forests, national forests exist in utah is that the communities petitioned congress to have them reserved from the public domain because of the lack of management that was occurring way back in the late 1800s. so over time, yes, there's been reductions, but it's been to be able to address the public's needs to provide not only multiple

tidwell, welcome again to the committee. thank you for being here and we look forward to your testimony. and i don't know, mr. dickson come if you will also be presenting comment this morning if you are here in supporting roles which we appreciate as the director of strategic planning for budget and accountability fbos forest service. thank you for being you. with that, if you would like to proceed. >> madam chair, ranking member cantwell, members of the committee. i do appreciate the chance to be able to discuss our twentysomething budget request. our request for 17 is very similar to what we had in 16. which requires us to make some really tough decisions about, with basically a flat budget. this request will allow us to continue to increase our pace and scale to restore the nation's forests and grasslands by treating another 2.9 million acres to restore forest health, resiliency and improve watershed conditions. it allows us to decommission 2000 miles other unneeded roads, restore over 3400 miles of streams and improve the overall function on 22 different watersheds. and with one of the key outputs from th

tidwell, welcome, to the committee. thank you for being here. we look forward to your testimony. i don't know, mr.dixon, if you will also be presenting comments this morning. if you are here in a supporting role, which we appreciate, as the director of strategic planning for budget and accountable there at the u.s. forest service. thank you for being here as well. with that, chief, if you would like to proceed. >> madam chair, members of the committee, i do appreciate the chance to be up here to be able to discuss our 2017 budget request. our request for '17 is similar to '16. which requires us to make some tough decisions about with basically a flat budget. this request will allow us to continue to increase our pace and scale to restore the nation's forests and grass lands by treating another 2.9 million acres to restore forest health, forest resiliency and improve watershed conditions. it also allows us to decommission 2,000 miles of unneeded roads, restore over 3,400 miles of streams and improve the overall function on 22 different watersheds. and with one of the key outputs from this work, 3.2