Following the Carlton Complex of fires that burned 300 homes and 256,108 acres in north-central Washington this summer, there have been calls for better preparedness for future wildfires. Below is an excerpt from a December 7 article in The Olympian:
…The Department of Natural Resources, which [Peter] Goldmark oversees, operates the state’s largest on-call fire department, and it is also responsible for the regulation and control of forest practices, including wildfire prevention. It’s a shame the state Legislature has thwarted his efforts.
Goldmark has tried to upgrade preventive forest management practices to keep pace with forest growth and the long-term effects of climate change. Two years ago, the commissioner asked lawmakers to approve $20 million for restorative forest health programs, which he later pared down to $10 million. The Legislature gave him only $4 million.
That small amount didn’t go far and represents the worst sort of short-term thinking. With climatologists predicting continued drought and exceptional warming trends in Eastern Washington, the forest fire threat will increase. Lawmakers should approve his request this year.
The Legislature should also give Goldmark another $4.5 million to restore fire engine and helitack crews eliminated in recent budget cuts. Adding these resources would enable DNR to respond to wildfires like the Carlton blaze more quickly, minimizing the duration of the fire and the extent of property damage.
Goldmark asked for a paltry $2 million last year for this purpose, and lawmakers gave him nothing.
It’s expensive to suppress wildfires, and often represents a failure to maintain a healthy forest. But when fires do occur, it’s essential to have ample resources ready to curtail them quickly…
