U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid the Trump Administration’s failure to properly engage in forest management and wildfire prevention — including slowing down the U.S. Forest Service’s rate of prescribed burns, fuel treatments, and other fire-prevention work — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, sent a letter calling on the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee leadership to include additional funding to support wildfire recovery on federal lands in New Mexico and nationwide.
In a letter to U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the senators pressed for additional resources to help National Parks, National Forests, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands recover from this year’s devastating wildfires. Since damage to federal lands is not covered by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding, federal land agencies themselves are responsible for cleanup and restoration costs.
“We write to request that any emergency disaster appropriations bills drafted this year include funding for wildfire recovery on federal lands,” the senators wrote to Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray. “Repairing wildfire damages to National Parks, National Forests, and Bureau of Land Management Lands is vital for the safety and economies of the entire country. Just as our forests and parks require restoration, so too do the surrounding counties and communities that bear the economic and infrastructure impacts of these disasters; their recovery is inseparable from that of the federal lands themselves.”
While noting that the Gila National Forest experienced the damaging and widespread effects of wildfire this year, the senators also underscore that mitigation activities such as removing hazard trees, road and bridge assessment, structural replacements, and trail repairs are needed.
“In the past, Congress has appropriated the funds our public land agencies require for their critical response, remediation, and mitigation activities,” the senators continued. “Ensuring that federal lands are restored after wildfires is a responsibility to our shared, national heritage.”
“We stand ready to provide any additional information or support that the Appropriations Committee may require to ensure that our federal lands, surrounding counties, and gateway communities receive the resources necessary to recover fully and build long-term resilience,” the senators concluded.
The letter is led by U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). Alongside Heinrich and Luján, the letter is signed by U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Read the full text of the letter here.