Concerns about Trump cuts to US Forest Service abound as wildfire season comes |
Concerns about Trump cuts to US Forest Service abound as wildfire season comes
(DC Bureau) — The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Department of the Interior say they are prepared for a wildfire season, amid lawmaker concerns of staffing shortages with federal firefighters.
Meteorologists anticipate a difficult fire season after record low snowpack in the West and drought across the country.
“I’m extremely concerned about the upcoming season,” Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) said.
Six Colorado Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the chief of the Forest Service concerned the Trump administration’s 2025 workforce cuts will affect the agency’s ability to fight fires. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Inspector General shows the USFS — a division of USDA — lost 16 percent of its workforce last year.
But in a statement, the Forest Service said it’s close to meeting its goal of 11,300 wildland firefighters on-board by mid-July. As of May 11, the agency said it had 10,496 wildland firefighters on board.
The Interior Department said it has 6,600 federal firefighters across four entities, which it says are ‘comparable’ to the firefighting force in 2024, when former President Biden was in office.
“It’s going to be a tough situation, but I don’t think that the cuts themselves were directed toward the firefighters,” said Rep. Jeff........