Western Governors call for stable, long-term funding for wildfire prevention (9/21/07)

Western Governors call for stable, long-term
funding for wildfire prevention

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 21, 2007 

Contact: Karen Deike, 303-623-9378 

DENVER - Western Governors today called on Congress to provide stable funding not only for fighting wildfires, but also for preventing them by investing in forest health, fuels management and preparedness activities.

The leadership of the Western Governors' Association expressed their concerns in a letter to Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, who introduced the Stable Fire Funding Act of 2006 (S. 1770). Signing on behalf of their colleagues were Govs. Dave Freudenthal (Wyo.), Chairman of the Western Governors' Association; Jon Huntsman, Jr. (Utah), WGA Vice Chairman; and Janet Napolitano (Ariz.), WGA's lead governor for forest health.

Western Governors believe that S. 1770 is a timely piece of legislation because it is imperative we address ever increasing wild land fire suppression expenditures, the governors said. But they expressed concern that it does not provide a solution to the long-term budget problem.

We believe the current budgeting approach for wildfires limits the ability to simultaneously prevent and prepare, as well as suppress, wild land fires, the governors said. A new federal wildfire suppression funding mechanism is needed to enable critical investments in forest health, fuels management and preparedness activities that make our communities safer.

The governors said there should be a new and separate funding mechanism -- with cost containment controls -- to pay for emergency suppression activities. Congress must also recognize that additional investments are needed in the budgets for the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, separate from the emergency suppression needs.

Without these long-term budgetary changes, the proper investments cannot be made and the federal agencies will continue to incur ever-escalating suppression expenditures, the governors said. Western Governors support the full implementation and funding of the National Fire Plan and the revised 10-year Comprehensive Strategy Implementation Plan as a means toward containing these expenditures.

Investing in proactive wildfire management activities as outlined in the Implementation Plan will enable the country to get out from underneath the current escalation of federal fire suppression costs. We need as much monetary attention on hazardous fuel reduction, forest restoration and perhaps most importantly, community fire assistance, as we currently put to suppression.

A copy of the letter and information on the 10-year implementation plan are available on the WGA Web site at www.westgov.org.

The Western Governors' Association is an independent, nonprofit organization representing the governors of 19 states and three U.S.-Flag islands in the Pacific. Through their Association, the Western governors identify and address key policy and governance issues in natural resources, the environment, human services, economic development, international relations and public management.

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