The U.S. Forest Service now spends more than half of its budget fighting wildfires. Unlike other natural disasters, Congress does not provide separate funding for the largest fires, forcing the Forest Service to delay or abandon forest management that could reduce or prevent fires in the future.
This cycle of neglect must stop now. We call on leaders in the House and Senate to pass a wildfire funding fix as part of the omnibus budget negotiations this month, so wildfire funding is secure for the 2016 fire season.
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Dear Senator McConnell, Senator Reid, Congressman Ryan, and Congresswoman Pelosi:
We are writing to ask you to pass the wildfire funding fix this year.
When wildfires burn on our public lands, firefighters put their lives on the line to protect our homes, our children, and our precious resources. But Congress is failing these heroic men and women by not providing the resources needed keep destructive fires from threatening communities.
Here’s the problem: wildfires are getting bigger and hotter, and the amount of money needed to fight wildfires is growing. But Congress isn’t giving our wildfire fighters enough funding to get the job done, and currently the costs to fight fires often exceed what’s being provided by leaders in Washington for firefighting.
As a result, forest managers are forced to transfer funds away from other critical programs in order to pay for catastrophic wildfires. Important projects are delayed or even cancelled entirely, including those that would reduce the risk for even worse wildfires in the future. This means delays and cancellations for trail construction, campgrounds, watershed restoration, and other forest health projects.
Luckily, there’s a broadly supported, bipartisan wildfire funding fix. This fix would treat the largest and most expensive wildfires like other natural disasters by giving our forest managers access to emergency funding.
Please pass this simple and commonsense solution.
Thank you for your strong leadership on this critically important issue.
