U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Randy Moore called for reducing hazardous fuels in national forests while also improving the pay and welfare of firefighters in his annual letter to the agency and while testifying at the House Appropriations Committee.
Moore’s wildfire letter of intent for 2022 highlights the challenges faced by the agency with last year’s wildfires.
“I am proud of the professionalism and determination we continually demonstrated while living our agency core values of safety, diversity, service, conservation and interdependence,” Moore wrote. “This interdependence, coupled with common goals of protecting our communities and natural resources, will provide us the framework for this fire year.”
Moore stressed the need for more significant hazardous fuel reductions, but he acknowledged it would “take a sustained effort over the long term” with the ongoing drought.
Speaking at the House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies on April 27, Moore said funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) are only a down payment but will enable USFS to focus on work in 10 zones the agency determined to have the highest potential for wildfires.
The hearing before the subcommittee was to discuss President Joe Biden’s budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2023 for USFS. Biden has requested a $1.04 billion increase for USFS, a 20 percent increase over 2022.
Chairwoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1) said in her opening remarks one of the obstacles to a healthy forest is the increase of high-intensity wildfires. Pingree recognized the recent funding the committee appropriated for wildfires but said more work needs to be done.
Moore said in his opening remarks that USFS has been putting fuel and forest health treatments “where we can, rather than where we should” due to a lack of focus. He said continuing to deliver jobs, forest products and the benefits people want from forests and grasslands will require sustained investments over multiple years. To achieve that goal, Moore said it requires the hard work of USFS employees who feel “valued, safe and respected.”
For FY 2023, the Appropriations Committee considered funding such as:
• $26 million for grazing management to support post-fire restoration and provide strategic incentives to grazing permittees.
• $321 million for hazardous fuel reductions on 3.8 million acres in high-priority and high-risk areas. This builds on previous funding through the BIL and supports the objectives of the agency’s 10-year wildfire crisis strategy.
• $1.15 billion for wildland fire management salaries and expenses to fund additional firefighters and firefighting support personnel and enhance year-round fire response and hazardous fuels reduction activity.
• $1.68 billion for National Forest System non-fire programs, including funding to support the Great American Outdoors Act.
• $98 million for vegetation and watershed management to assist with the Biden administration’s climate goals and post-fire vegetation work.
During the hearing, Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA-10) asked what it would take to get USFS fully staffed and what more is needed by the agency.
Moore replied there is a lot of competition for firefighters, and by increasing pay and benefits for firefighters, the agency is hoping to hire 11,400 firefighters this year. He said USFS is 90 percent toward that goal, and as in previous years, the agency can use government, state and local agencies to assist with wildfires.
In Moore’s letter regarding safety, he recognized that time away from family and a high-stress environment are taxing on firefighters, and he highlighted the rest guidelines and other resources for firefighters’ well-being. Moore also said USFS is working to improve firefighter pay and end harassment and discrimination to “continue our work to ensure the wildland fire work environment is physically, psychologically and socially safe.”
Democratic representatives from western states sent a letter to Pingree and subcommittee ranking member Rep. David Joyce (R-OH-14) asking to increase the pay grade for firefighters so starting wages would be $20 an hour.
“Throughout the country, our federal firefighters are answering the call of duty,” the letter read. “We ask that you work to include this language in the FY 2023 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill to ensure that federal wildfire personnel are paid a salary competitive with other wildland firefighting opportunities outside of the federal government.”
Moore emphasized that jobs and recreation are at risk, with drought and climate change lengthening fire seasons into fire years.
Pingree acknowledged the subcommittee authorized $21 million in FY 2022 for forest inventory and alluded to Biden’s executive order (EO) calling for safeguards to protect old-growth forests on federal lands from wildfires.
Moore said he is working with the Department of the Interior (DOI) to define mature and old-growth trees per the EO and then inventory the trees. USFS is also working with DOI to treat areas around old-growth forests to remove fire hazards that threaten old-growth forests on federal lands.
Biden EO
Signed on Earth Day, April 22, the EO not only calls for safeguards for old-growth forests, but also strengthens reforestation efforts, deploys nature-based solutions to reduce emissions and combats global deforestation.
The EO notes the BIL expands reforestation projects on national forest lands—enough to plant an estimated 1.2 billion trees and sequester 75 million metric tons of carbon while supporting thousands of jobs. The jobs would be created to support the harvest of wood products, the care of seedling nurseries, tree planting and other outdoor recreation needs.
Building on the America the Beautiful initiative—also known as the 30×30 plan—the EO calls for establishing the first U.S. national nature assessment to “look ahead at how nature might change in the future and identify opportunities for investments in nature to help achieve our climate, health, environmental justice and economic goals.” Agencies will work to develop opportunities for greater deployment of nature-based solutions such as restoring marshes, planting shade trees and promoting drought-resistant crops.
The Public Lands Council in its Weekend Roundup stated it is not surprised that the Biden administration is emphasizing the need to protect old-growth forests, but it hopes the focus on these types of forests does not come at the expense of other landscapes.
“Fuel reduction treatments (like grazing!), post-fire rehabilitation, and other management activities are urgently needed on all our national forests—not just the ones that are attractive to the White House from a climate perspective,” the newsletter read. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
