By Tracy Beck
Both nationally and locally, the 2017 wildfire season was unpre-cedented in terms of dollars spent, acres burned, and the duration of the wildfire season.
We will continue to feel the impacts from these fires, including impacts to trails, roads and especially, financially.
As wildfires grow more severe – and costly – the USDA Forest Service overall, including the Willamette National Forest is struggling to adequately fund projects that are important to the land and to our communities because of soaring firefighting costs.
The Forest Service is the only federal agency that is required to fund its entire emergency management program through its regular appropriations.
These emergencies include wildfires. Over time, an increasing number of our lightning-ignited fires now grow more rapidly and burn more intensely than firefighters can control.
Each year, firefighting costs consume more and more of the USDA Forest Service’s budget. In 1995, firefighting costs accounted 15 percent of the Forest Service budget.
In 2017, it was 57 percent.
At the rate things are going, firefighting will consume 67 percent of our budget by 2021. This means less money for other priority USDA Forest Service programs and services, including recreation, visitor services, law enforcement and much-needed fire prevention work that reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfires in the first place.
In the Pacific Northwest, this funding model means that projects designed to actually decrease the severity of wildfire are being delayed.
It also means that our historic sites, campgrounds, outhouses, trails and roads are deteriorating due to a lack of maintenance and/or being replaced at the end of their service life.
Trash goes unemptied, toilets uncleaned, and we are forced to make hard decisions on whether we can safely keep roads and recreation sites open. The funding challenges directly impact our ability to provide safe and enjoyable visitor experiences. Restoration work that improves water quality as well as hunting and fishing opportunities goes undone.
We here on the Willamette National Forest are dedicated to fostering the productive and sustainable use of your national forests and grasslands. If you can’t use and enjoy your public lands to the fullest, that’s a problem.
While the Forest Service is working more closely with partners and volunteers to leverage resources and accomplish more than we could by ourselves, our current fiscal path is simply unsustainable.
The Forest Service appreciates the ongoing work of Congress to pass new legislation to reform the way wildfire suppression is funded. Let’s get back in balance with all the work we care about– meeting the many different needs of the communities we serve, for the benefit of generations to come.
– Tracy Beck is forest supervisor for the Willamette National Forest.