As the government shutdown drags on, some GOP members of the House Agriculture Committee warn that reduced forest management could increase the risks of intense wildfires.
Government funding
lapsed Wednesday and is set to continue into the next week as most Democratic Senate members
continue to oppose the House-passed funding measure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
noted in its funding lapse plan that “significant agency activities that will cease” include measures to reduce fire risks, a point some GOP House Agriculture Committee members are hammering as they oppose the shutdown.
“Wildfire agencies need every tool at their disposal to reduce fuel loads, protect property, and save lives,” Committee on Agriculture Chairman and Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson told the DCNF. “The Democrats’ reckless shutdown threatens to sideline critical prevention work, leaving our rural communities at risk.”
The USDA notes in its funding lapse plan that the Forest Service will need to “scale back hazardous fuels treatments like prescribed burns that prevent catastrophic wildfires, … halt processing of permits, state grants, and reimbursements for ongoing forest management on non-federal lands [and] suspend applied science work, including experiments tied to prescribed fire and weather windows, losing critical research opportunities.”
Prescribed burns as defined by the Forest Service are the “controlled application of fire by a team of fire experts under specified weather conditions.” The Forest Service notes that “the right fire at the right place at the right time” can “reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires in the future.”
Wildfire season starts in May and ends in November, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association.
“Halting hazardous fuels work and prescribed burns in the middle of fire season is dangerous. We’ve already seen forest management slowed by endless bureaucracy, and now the limited work that does get done has come to a stop,” Republican California Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Forestry, told the DCNF. “The longer this shutdown drags on, the less work gets done, only increasing the chance of larger, more destructive fires. The Senate needs to take up this simple proposal without profligate new spending and end this stalemate so we can get back to reducing fuels and protecting lives and property.”
A USDA spokesperson referred the DCNF to a
list of which agency programs will be impacted by the shutdown and said it will “cause real harm to American farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. President Trump has made it clear through his support of H.R. 5371 that he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”
Notably, the top banner on the USDA’s
website states that “due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse.”
Friday is the third full day of the shutdown. The most recent funding lapse occurred in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term and
lasted 34 days, culminating in the longest shutdown.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/PBS NewsHour)
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
