Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced recently a streamlined review period to try to get in front of the massive buildup of dead and dying trees across the west.
Wiki Hustvedt
Vilsack requested just under a billion dollars to fight the worst 2% of the fires. The idea being the very hottest fires can cause permanent damage, the smaller ones not as much. Also the idea is that the emergency funds to fight fires would not be pulled from the forest service budget elsewhere. Fighting fires has robbed our Forest Service of the funds to make the forests healthier.
In an article in the Denver Post there was mention of 45 million acres in 35 states, over 9 million in Colorado alone.
Vilsack also announced the addition of four firefighting aircraft, bringing the total to 21 large tankers and about 113 helicopters as drought across the Southwest and California leads to heavy wildfires. Firefighting aircraft, if deployed early, can be effective in snuffing potential mega-fires.
"The breathing room is only going to come when we don't have to rob Peter to pay Paul," Vilsack said in an interview with The Denver Post. "It's a return to days gone by when you had a budget where a substantial percentage was going to restoration efforts and a small percentage was going to fire suppression. That's been flipped on its head now. You've got 40 percent of your money going toward fighting fires. And because you are robbing money from restoration, that percentage is just going to continue to increase.
"The only way you deal with it is you reduce the risk. The only way to reduce the risk is by doing a better job of restoring and making your forests more resilient. And you can't do that unless you have the resources."
There are key words in Vilsack's announcement which have specific policy implications if you understand the code, which I don't. Words like "restoration, resilience, and balance".
Our forests have grown older. Not much public land logging of late, and we haven't been burning things on purpose. I like fires as they bring new growth, as long as they don't cause property damage that is. Clears out the trees so grasses and bushes can grow. More of the species I like.