WASHINGTON – As drought persists in the West, wildfire risk continues to pose an immense threat to Durango’s surrounding forests and watersheds. In April, Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper introduced the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act alongside Sens. Alex Padilla, John Curtis and Tim Sheehy to strengthen wildfire resilience.
The bill was originally introduced to the House by Reps. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., and Scott Peters, D-Calif., and passed in January with the support of 215 Republicans and 64 Democrats. The Senate version, which differs from the House version, is awaiting approval.
The Fix Our Forests Act, if signed into law, would designate high-priority “Fireshed Management Areas” based on the threat they pose to neighboring communities and municipal watersheds, and maintain a registry of those regions. The areas of up to 10,000 acres – deemed “categorical exclusions” – will not be subject to detailed environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act, thus speeding up the permitting process for wildfire mitigation projects.
The Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements that NEPA traditionally requires can cause significant delays to projects.
“We can’t spend 10 years on each little project. … We don’t have that time,” Hickenlooper said in an interview with The Durango Herald.
The goal of the legislation is to strike a balance between allowing lessened, but sufficient environmental review, while strengthening wildfire resilience as quickly as possible. It will pave the way for “ecological thinning,” which uses techniques such as vegetation management, hazardous fuels reduction, prescribed fire and creating fuel breaks to decrease wildfire risk.
Some environmental groups are concerned that by sidestepping NEPA, the bill not only compromises all other environmental standards for the sake of mitigation, but also weakens public input. The bill sets a 150-day litigation limit to ensure projects can begin efficiently.
Colorado State Forester and Director Matt McCombs said that speeding up the permitting process does not relieve agencies of their responsibility to comply with the environmental policies and protections of NEPA. Instead, it solely removes the necessity for the lengthy documentation process.
“If there are extraordinary circumstances present that make the categorical exclusion not applicable, then they (the agencies) have a legal responsibility to consider a higher level of documentation and engagement with the public,” McCombs said.
One of Hickenlooper’s main focuses when amending the House version of the bill was ensuring that local communities are involved in the process of approval, before projects get underway.
The bill requires “fireshed assessments” to be conducted to identify wildfire risks and plan out the best form of mitigation, engaging local, state, federal and tribal agencies. It requires opportunities for public engagement, including at least one public meeting.
Local officials must be notified and ensure the community is aware of projects, according to Hickenlooper.
“You can't come in and clear-cut under this law,” he said, referring to the notion that widespread collaboration would not allow this to occur.
Among the changes in the Senate version of the bill is the inclusion of a Wildfire Intelligence Center to strengthen national coordination and response among agencies. It allocates a hub where the various factors contributing to fire risk can be collected and disseminated.
While concerns have been raised about the ability of the Forest Service to effectively implement the bill after 3,400 of its employees were fired nationwide earlier this year, Hickenlooper made it clear that the legislation’s priority is preventing wildfires from occurring at all, rather than fighting them, despite calling the layoffs “egregious.”
The bill has received support from first responders, several Western governors – including Gov. Jared Polis – and environmental groups such as The Nature Conservancy and Environmental Defense Fund.
Steve Wolff, the general manager of the Southwestern Water Conservation District, said he supports the legislation because “forest health means a healthy watershed.”
“It's really exciting that so much bipartisan energy, introspection and engagement has gone into creating something that's doing its darndest to figure out a balance in moving the state forward,” McCombs said. “Broadly supported equals implementable.”
Richa Sharma is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at rsharma@durangoherald.com.
