Rep Ryan Zinke Statement on USFS Wildfire Funding Gap

Statement

Today, Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke responded to news that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is transferring an additional $250 million of funding from non-fire accounts to firefighting cover costs through the end of the Fiscal Year. This is part of a total of $700 million that been transferred since August.

"Sadly, I am not surprised to hear the Forest Service has to transfer another quarter billion dollars to cover the exorbitant costs of firefighting. But what's more upsetting is the fact that I've voted for and the House has passed a law that would permanently solve the wildfire borrowing problem by allowing FEMA to pay for wildfires the same way it pays for other natural disasters," said Rep. Zinke. "This wildfire season has been one of the worst Montana and the west has seen in years. Fire fighters, rangers, resources, our forests themselves, and now our budgets have been pushed to their breaking points.

"In the month of August, the USFS spent a staggering $627 million on fire suppression efforts. The top two budget expenditures for the Forest Service are wildfires and litigation. Imagine if this money actually went towards critical forest management tools, like hazardous fuel reductions. The number and intensity of catastrophic wildfires would decrease. The health of our forests would increase. And more people would be able to enjoy our public lands. The House did our job in passing H.R.2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act; now it's time for the Senate to act."

Zinke also cosponsored the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act.

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