Thursday, August 6, 2015
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The Rising Cost of Wildfire Operations

contributed by
Scott Golden,
Tree Farmer
Resource Specialist - Forestry
Boulder County Parks & Open Space

In a new report, the Forest Service estimates that within a decade, the agency will spend more than two-thirds of its budget to battle ever-increasing fires, while mission-critical programs that can help prevent fires in the first place such as forest restoration and watershed and landscape management will continue to suffer. Meanwhile, the report notes, these catastrophic blazes are projected to burn twice as many acres by 2050

Read the Report

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Senators promise bipartisan fix to 'fire borrowing'

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter

Published: Thursday, August 6, 2015

Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and 10 other Western senators today pledged to work across party lines to reform how the nation budgets for wildfires, a sign that lawmakers are hoping to coalesce around a solution this summer.

Each senator entered a statement in the Congressional Record today offering his or her thoughts on the matter. Enzi was joined by Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mike Crapo of Idaho, John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Steve Daines of Montana, and Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Maria Cantwell of Washington, and Jon Tester of Montana.

Their full statements can be read here.

The colloquy came one day after the Forest Service released a report warning that, for the first time in its 110-year history, it is spending more than half its budget on wildfires and that it expects suppression costs to rise rapidly over the next decade.

Read Article

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Help Get Wildfires Designated as Natural Disasters!

contributed by
Melissa Moeller
Senior Manager, Policy
American Forest Foundation

According to a report released yesterday, the U.S. Forest Service now spends more than half of its budget each year fighting wildfires, compared to only 16 percent two decades ago. Under the current budget structure, we could see as much as  two-thirds of the USFS budget going to fight fires by 2025. Please share a copy of the Forest Service report with your Members of Congress and ask them to support S. 235/H.R. 167, the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2015.

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