WASHINGTON – After one of the most destructive and costliest wildfire seasons on record, members of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry met Thursday to discuss budgetary and environmental impacts of combatting future wildfires.
The hearing, which committee chairman Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., noted at the start was a “reminder” that the wildfire issue extends beyond Western states, addressed limitations on fire prevention, mitigation and suppression.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who serves on the committee, criticized the current approach to combatting wildfires as “ridiculous.”
“What comes through to me is that there is a compelling consensus that what we’re doing now does not work, and that we’ve got to change it, and it’s long overdue,” Bennet said.
According to Roberts, the Obama administration warned Congress this summer that wildfire-suppression costs would consume the U.S. Forest Service’s appropriated budget in the coming years if meaningful legislative actions were not taken. Costs associated with combatting and preparing for wildfires now account for almost half of the Forest Service’s annual budget, up from $1.6 billion in 1994 to $3.9 billion in 2014.
Budgeting of resources has forced the Forest Service to divert funding from other needed projects to fire-prevention efforts, a process the senators referred to as “fire borrowing.” According to ranking committee member Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., fixing the fire services budget of the Forest Service is “of paramount importance” in combatting future wildfires.
“In the name of fiscal responsibility, we’re managing our national forests in the most fiscally irresponsible manner we can manage them,” Bennet added.
Roberts said the Forest Service, which must comply with more than 50 federal laws and undergo a laborious review process before it can undertake any project, is already hamstrung in its efforts to mitigate the spread of wildfires.
“As a result of policy decisions from decades ago, we are now witnessing a significant decline in timber harvests and frivolous lawsuits halting active forest management and forest-restoration projects, leaving our national forests consisting of overstocked stands simply as more fuel for more fires,” Roberts said.
Chris Treese, manager of the external affairs department with the Colorado River Water Conservation District and a witness before the committee, said wildfires also impact water quality, a problem that’s especially magnified in Western states.
“The currently degraded condition of our national forest adversely impacts water chemistry, runoff timing and water yield,” Treese said. “Large-scale, high intensity wildfires are becoming more frequent and significantly larger.”
egraham@durangherald.com. Edward Graham is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.
