In a meeting of the Western Governor’s Association last weekend in Phoenix, the governors praised the Phase III report of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. That document calls for enhanced collaborative efforts that will result in improved wildfire response, the creation of fire adapted communities, and the restoration of landscapes that are resilient to wildfire. The Phase III report can be downloaded HERE, but it is a large 9MB file.
The governors met Saturday with Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, USDA, to discuss actions that can be taken immediately by Western states and the U.S. Forest Service under existing environmental protection authorities to reduce hazardous fuel conditions across the West.
“Wildfires pose a serious threat to people, property and water throughout the West–especially in the forested areas near communities,” said Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. “The federal government and the states need to work together to manage forest health and pool all available resources to reduce catastrophic wildfires before they start and fight the fires once they occur. We need to spend scarce resources wisely to achieve these goals of healthier forests and firefighting detection and suppression tools.”
Woops, Bill, I meant this article, the link to the Phase III report. Thanks!