Flake to Forest Service: Better Planning, Not Budget Gimmicks the Solution to Wildfire Funding Woes

Press Release

In a hearing today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) reiterated his agreement with U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell that wildfire budgeting issues must be resolved to bring an end to the practice of "fire-borrowing," in which the agency raids funds for a variety of initiatives, including wildfire prevention activities, such as hazardous fuels projects and thinning, to cover the costs of fighting wildfires

However, Flake expressed concern over a proposed solution that would simply move 30 percent of those wildfire fighting costs off budget:

"Paying for one disaster while furthering our current fiscal disaster doesn't make sense…There is a solution to be found on this issue. I believe that it involves flexibility, but only after 100 percent of those anticipatable suppression costs have been expended.

"Let's not confuse disasters with unanticipated costs. We need to plan for what is likely to occur, take the steps necessary to prevent those disasters from occurring, and then use flexibility in those rare years where we go over those costs."

Flake also acknowledged the signing of a phase-one record of decision last month to advance a large-scale forest thinning project in Arizona known as the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) as a positive development, but expressed frustration with an overall lack of progress:

"The paltry 3,000-plus acres that has far been treated is emblematic of a pace that we have that is simply too slow. We've got to do it on a much, much larger scale.

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