An Idaho businessman tapped to become the new leader of the U.S. Forest Service faced little questioning over his past land disputes with the agency during his confirmation hearing.
Michael Boren, who co-founded the multi-billion dollar investment firm Clearwater Analytics, has sparred with the Forest Service in recent years over his ranch in central Idaho.
The property is within the protected Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
Neighbors said he built an airstrip before getting the required permits, and the Forest Service accused a company formerly linked to him of building an unauthorized cabin on federal land.
President Donald Trump nominated Boren to serve as the U.S.D.A undersecretary for natural resources and environment, which oversees the Forest Service and the 193 million acres of land under its jurisdiction.
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Tuesday, Boren said he’s already consulted the agency’s ethics lawyers.
“I will commit to making sure they always know everything about anything that could be a conflict of interest that I can tell them and to always following their advice,” he said in response to a question from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Klobuchar, the committee’s top Democrat, also asked Boren how he will manage the agency as thousands of employees have resigned or retired recently.
He said it’s not an ideal situation, but that he’s run understaffed businesses before.
“I know that we have to live with the resources we receive and we will find a way to do that,” Boren said.
Just five of the Senate committee’s 23 members attended the hearing.
Boren told senators his priorities include better preventing wildfires, supporting timber production and being a good neighbor to private landholders.
"When people go to the forest, it's a spiritual experience, it's an awakening and it's a patriotic experience for them and I want to make sure they have that opportunity."
He also recounted his relationship to the country's public lands. Boren's father worked with the Forest Service while he grew up and Boren himself later bought timber from the agency to resell as a side business.
The full Senate must still confirm his appointment.
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