The bark beetle tree kill in Colorado has been historic in magnitude. With all this tinder lying around on federal land, you might think the government would be redoubling efforts to haul out dead trees, make the forests healthy and support fire management activities.
Unfortunately, that’s not the reality reflected in President Bush’s budget request for 2009.
His budget actually cuts funding by 11.2 percent for the region of the Forest Service that includes Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.
Funding for the hazardous fuels reduction program is down 4 percent and the state fire assistance program, which provides aid to state foresters for fire management activity, is down 23 percent.
While that might sound like a good idea in Washington, D.C., one close-up look at a raging forest fire might change some minds inside the beltway.
Sen. Ken Salazar took on the issue at a recent oversight hearing in Congress, telling USDA Undersecretary Mark Rey and Forest Service chief Gail Kimbell he thought the budgetary priorities were sending the “wrong message.”
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., was more blunt about the impact of the proposed cuts, saying they came at a time when “we’re one lightning strike and a good wind away from burning the whole damn state down.”
Tester further criticized the agency for the way it budgets for firefighting costs, which have risen dramatically in recent years due to drought and the expense of protecting homes in remote places. The agency uses a 10-year average in predicting costs, instead of a shorter-term average that takes recent developments, such as severe drought, into stronger consideration.
Colorado is home to 11 national forests and two national grasslands, comprising 20 percent of the state. These are troubled times for the forests of our region. They need additional care, not a steward who ignores its problems.
