Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is criticizing the federal land management agencies for not accomplishing enough hazardous fuel treatment projects, saying “the federal government can’t get this right”, and:
The message has not gotten through with respect to the choice: You can spend more modest amounts on the front end, with preventive kinds of efforts, or you can spend your time investing substantially more money trying to play catch-up as these infernos rip their way through the West.
The Senator is right, in that money spent up front to remove or reduce hazardous fuels can reduce the amount of money spent on fire suppression and minimize damage done to private property and infrastructure. It can also save lives.
In Colorado alone last year, six people were killed by wildfires, an issue we rarely hear being discussed as wildfire budgets are debated. When we’re talking about saving money and acres, how many dollars is a human life worth? Is it the Forest Service’s or BLM’s mission to manage fuels and fire management organizations with a primary objective being to prevent lives being lost in wildfires? It is a complex question, with plenty of responsibility and blame to be distributed to federal, state, and local agencies… and Congress.
The federal agencies know that fuel treatments can save money and help protect private property. And the Senator knows they know this. He should look in the mirror to discover part of the problem. The Senate and the House establish funding levels for the federal government, and the President signs the legislation. The agencies would love to accomplish more fuel reduction projects, but as the amount of money approved by Congress decreases, the first things to fall off the table are fire prevention and hazardous fuel treatments. After those are cut to the bone then the agencies have to start looking at furloughs, reductions in force, staffing fewer fire engines, and cutting back on the number of seasonal firefighters — some of which are occurring this year.
I don’t have any patience with politicians who issue strongly worded press releases (probably written by an intern) that blame an agency for cutting back on services while the politicians cut the budgets that caused the reduction in services.
The video below shows 16 minutes of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s June 4 hearing about wildland fire management. It features Senator Wyden and Chief of the Forest Service Tom Tidwell discussing budgets, fuel treatments, and next generation air tankers. It was edited to highlight Senator Wyden’s participation in the hearing. A video of the complete almost two-hour hearing can viewed on the Committee’s web site.
Below is the complete text of Senator Wyden’s strongly worded press release, including the bold highlights as it was written:
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Jun 04 2013
Wyden to Agencies: Ramp up Wildland Fire Prevention Efforts
Washington, D.C. – Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today urged federal agencies to do more to reduce the severity of major wildfires by treating more hazardous fuels on federal lands ahead of the start of fire season, rather than facing larger, more dangerous wildland fires that cost dramatically more to fight.
“The message has not gotten through with respect to the choice: You can spend more modest amounts on the front end, with preventive kinds of efforts, or you can spend your time investing substantially more money trying to play catch-up as these infernos rip their way through the West,” Wyden said.
The White House budget office has resisted efforts to invest in hazard fuels treatment. A recent report by Northern Arizona University’s Ecological Restoration Institute showed that wildland fire prevention activities, including hazardous fuels treatment and restoration, can reduce fire suppression costs.
In light of the U.S. Forest Service’s decision Monday to award three out of seven contracts for next generation air tankers, Wyden also pressed Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell to get all of the tankers operational in time to assist firefighters this summer. The agency’s air tanker fleet includes planes that have been in use for decades and pose potential safety risks.
Additionally, Wyden urged the administration to implement the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement (FLAME) Act of 2009, which was designed to be a reserve fund to prevent other accounts from being raided to pay for firefighting efforts. The administration has treated the fund as part of the regular firefighting budget and has continued to take funds from important activities, including hazardous fuels treatment. Wyden pressed the administration witnesses to explain in writing exactly why the budget office has resisted these important prevention efforts.
“I just think our priorities are out of whack,” Wyden said. “That’s what you’ve heard Democrats and Republicans talking about and when one of these conflagrations rips through a community, nobody’s sitting around talking about Democrats and Republicans. They’re talking about why it seems, year after year, the federal government can’t get this right.”
Wildfires have already broken out in California, New Mexico, Oregon and Alaska. Forecasters predict this year could be another heavy fire season.
