Fire Spending to Impact Outdoor Recreation

US Forest Service funding for many programs vital to Americans’ enjoyment of our National Forests is about to disappear as the agency re-allocates funding for those programs to its fire fighting budget. The Chief of the US Forest Service announced Friday that the agency has depleted its $1.18 billion fire suppression budget for fiscal year 2008, and has initiated a recall of $400 MM from agency programs throughout the nation.  The result is that many projects benefiting outdoor recreationists will be put on hold until the end of the fiscal year (October) or until 2009.  

 

Chief Abigail Kimbell stated that “firefighting activity and costs have risen steadily and drastically over the past several years due to the increased need and costs of protecting homes built near natural areas, drought and climate change.”  The agency’s fire fighting budget is based on a ten year rolling average of past fire-fighting costs, which regularly fails to meet the demands of a rapidly changing environment. 

 

This $400 million recall will be felt directly by the millions of people that treasure America’s national forests as places to hike, bike, climb, paddle, ski, and snowshoe.  Collaborative efforts to protect the environment and encourage public enjoyment will be hampered by agency staff’s inability to travel to meetings.  Research efforts will be ceased – right in the middle of the prime data collection season – which will likely delay many agency actions for one year.  Grants and partnerships will be frozen.  Construction and watershed restoration projects will be put on hold.  For paddlers, one example of these impacts will be that dam relicensing projects, which often hinge on USFS participation, could be delayed. 

 

Forward thinking Federal lawmakers responded to this recurring problem in March of this year by introducing the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act, also known as the FLAME Act.  The FLAME Act would create a supplemental funding source for catastrophic emergency wildland fire suppression activities on federal lands, and would require agency leaders to develop a cohesive wildland fire management strategy.  The FLAME Act, which has drawn wide support from the outdoor recreation community, passed in the House on July 9th and is now under consideration by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. 

 

Read the message from the Chief of the US Forest Service:

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/2008/releases/08/fire-impacts.pdf

 

Learn more about the content and status of the FLAME Act by searching www.thomas.gov for H.R. 5541 or "FLAME Act".