The Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2016, a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas to combat “fire borrowing,” has been included in the new Energy Policy Modernization Act and is headed for Senate discussion after a conference.
“Fire borrowing” is a term that described the U.S. Forest Service process of tapping into funds from nonfire programs when the agency exhausts its appropriated suppression funding. “Over 10 million acres of federal land went up in smoke last year,” Westerman said in a news release. “It is clear that the policies of the last several decades failed.”
Westerman, a freshman Republican representative for the 4th District of Arkansas is also a forester. He explained that his bill supports “active forest management” to “improve forest health, prevent wildfires, promote clean air and water, improve wildlife habitat, strengthen rural America and protect life and property.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture stated last year it was in opposition to the Resilient Federal Forests Act because of budget provisions. Instead, the USDA prefers the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, which it believes would provide the agency with more resources to restore forests. The USDA also took issue with taking funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency because of budgeting obstacles. The Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015 (H.R. 2647) passed the House last July and included a provision that would allow the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to tap FEMA disaster funding within 30 days of exhausting its suppression funding based on the 10-year average.
A record 52 percent of the Forest Service’s budget was dedicated to fire suppression activities in 2015, compared to just 16 percent in 1995. The Forest Service’s firefighting budget was exhausted in 2015, forcing the USDA to transfer funds away from forest restoration projects.
From the Times Record: https://swtimes.com/news/resilient-federal-forests-act-attached-senate-energy-bill