White House Releases Wildfire Funds

The White House has agreed to release $280 million in wildfire money that had been approved by Congress last year, after several weeks of intense lobbying by Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

The Forest Service money is intended as an emergency fund--but $200 million of that will be spent to repay accounts that the Forest Service tapped to cover the costs of firefighting, forest rehabilitation and community aid.

The remaining $80 million has been promised for the Forest Service by the Office of Management and Budget, but with a restriction that it can’t be spent until July 1, the start of the final quarter in the fiscal year.

That money is to be used to thin national forests of the dense underbrush that is considered a source of fuel for wildfires.

Without the $280 million, which had been appropriated by Congress in a budget signed last year by President Bush, the Forest Service would have been forced to cut some critical programs, lawmakers said.

“It’s about time that the administration and OMB recognized the will of Congress,” said Sen. Conrad R. Burns (R-Mont.), ranking minority member on the Interior Appropriations subcommittee.

“We are approaching our fourth year of drought, and we must do whatever possible to be proactive in preventing fires,” Burns said.

Burns was among a handful of lawmakers who wrote to the White House, demanding that the wildfire money held back from this year’s budget be released to the Forest Service immediately.

Burns’ letter, which was sent to the president on Wednesday, noted that without the money, the Forest Service would have problems replacing aging trucks and aircraft, and repairing roads vital to reaching Western fires.