Westerman leads tour of district for Western Caucus members

On April 8 and 9, Vice Chair of the Western Caucus Bruce Westerman led a group of Western Caucus Members on a field tour of Arkansas’ Fourth District. The Western Caucus is a group of Congress members from Western and rural states invested n policy that affects their constituencies.

The Western Caucus tour was attended by the following members: Representatives Bruce Westerman, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Jay Obernolte of California, Doug LaMalfa of California, Cliff Bentz of Oregon, Michael Burgess of Texas and Russ Fulcher of Idaho.

Members witnessed how Arkansan foresters work collaboratively with private landowners, industry, and the federal government to manage the nearly 19 million acres of forestland across the state. They toured a non-industrial private working forest, a U.S. Forst Service plot within the Ouachita National Forest, and Weyerhaeuser’s state-of-the-art sawmill in Dierks. Additionally, the group visited the Blakely Mountain Dam on the Ouachita River, which provides immense benefits to the region, including flood control, recreation opportunities, water supply and hydropower generation.

Lastly, the members visited Avant Mining to learn about Arkansas’ world-class quartz crystal mining and toured Hot Springs National Park, one of the smallest and most unique parks in the National Park System, which generates robust economic activity and brought over 2 million visitors to Arkansas in 2021.