WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and other members of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met last week to discuss a bill aimed at improving forest management and wildfire budgeting and suppression efforts.
The hearing took place as firefighters in Southwest Colorado mopped up a 66-acre wildfire that began Tuesday east of Marvel and monitored a 68-acre Long Draw Fire near Lone Mesa State Park in Dolores County. Both fires are believed to have been started by lightning.
The “Wildfire Budgeting, Operations and Forest Management Act of 2016” was introduced last month and includes provisions such as improving the technology used to fight wildfires, and stopping the practice of “fire borrowing,” in which the U.S. Forest Service has shifted funds from regular service operations budgets to wildfire budgets after normal funds were depleted.
Another aspect of the bill would require agencies to work with states to certify firefighting aircraft before wildfire season begins. In Durango, aircraft used to suppress fires that occur along the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad are not permitted to fight fires outside this jurisdiction.
“While the railroad is rightfully responsible for fighting fires that come up on the railroad right-of-way, it is my understanding that they are prohibited from fighting fires which come up beyond the rights-of-way in the Forest Service land and must instead just report it instead of actually using their resources to help fight it,” Gardner said during the hearing.
Gardner specifically mentioned a section of the bill that would require a single system for credentialing both federal- and state-certified wildfire aircraft, and provide interim acceptance of both standards. He said that he hoped such action would address the railroad situation and allow firefighters there to better protect their community.
Gardner asked a witness, undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the Department of Agriculture, Robert Bonnie, what policies the Forest Service has for partnering with private contractors in fighting wildfires.
Bonnie said that while the Forest Service often partners with private contractors to provide helicopters, he cautioned against using a single credentialing system for state and federal wildfire aircraft due to safety concerns.
“We’ve had a number of accidents, and so the standards we set are very important to the Forest Service,” Bonnie said. “We just want to make sure whatever we do, we’re being as safe as we can.”
Lawmakers, especially Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., also discussed the growing issue of climate change and its effect on the increasing number of wildfires that occur each year. Bonnie said that wildfirescontinue to become more catastrophic each year, and Forest Service officials estimate that the number of acres burned per season from wildfires will more than double by mid-century as climate change continues.
Kate Magill is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald. Reach her at kmagill@durangoherald.com.