The U.S. House of Representatives has belatedly fixed the fire borrowing mess that has for several years forced the Forest Service to borrow taxpayer money from its forest restoration budgets to pay its ever- increasing fire-fighting bills.
The salvage operation was not without controversy. The smoke had not yet cleared when environmentalists announced that “not one black stick would be harvested because salvaging burnt timber was like mugging a burn victim.”
Costs related to the suppression of wildfires are soaring to over one billion tax dollars per year, causing a fiscal crisis in the Forest Service.
Working to reduce the amount of understory vegetation can enhance the natural fire resistance of large-diameter trees.
An explanation of the socioenvironmental cost factors associated with wildfires including fuels, homes, and climate change.
A multitude of reports over the last 15 years have attempted to understand why the size of wildfires and number of acres burned continues to increase.
Should state or federal government pay for multi-jurisdictional wildfires?
The public expects that wildfires will be suppressed, firefighters effective in their actions, and that no expense will be spared in their efforts.
It is the largest 2% of all wildfires that consume 94% of total federal suppression expenditures.
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