Biden’s Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act allocated $3.3 billion to wildfire risk reduction over five years: about $660 million/year. It’s a well-intentioned start – and much more than the Republican Party was willing to spend – but it is insufficient.

We need a dedicated national effort to reduce the destructive impacts of uncontrolled wildfires. This will require an aggressive commitment by lawmakers to fund more firefighters, with more equipment, in more places. Just as importantly, lawmakers need to force USFS/BLM/NPS to change their culture from “managing fire” to “putting fires out and managing forests”.

Policy Proposals

1.  More federal money to fight fire on federal land: $1.7 billion dollars/year for at least five years.
2. Build federal air capability: more smaller platforms like helicopters and single-engine air-tankers distributed around the nation and crewed/maintained by full-time federal personnel. Large, contracted air tankers have a place in the firefighting task organization; but they are expensive and lack flexibility.
3. Put fires out immediately: the practice of “managed fire” is inappropriate given the poor state of our nation’s forests. To be clear, prescribed fires during appropriate burn windows are essential for forest health.