Lawmakers urge U.S. Forest Service to restore $4.3 million
By Deborah Frazier
Rocky Mountain News
Copyright 2007 Denver Publishing Company
DENVER — Colorado is headed into a wildfire season made more dangerous by millions of trees killed by pine beetles - but with
$4.3 million less of federal funds to avoid a potential disaster.
Colorado’s congressional delegation is asking the U.S. Forest Service to restore the money, noting the Pacific Northwest got a $30 million budget boost for forest management.
“It would be horrible policy for the United States Forest Service to cut funding in Colorado when the bark beetle problem continues to be a threat as the dangerous fire season approaches,” Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said in the delegation’s joint statement Tuesday.
The Front Range foothills and northern mountains were hit hard by pine beetles, but Colorado’s federal dollars for fuel reduction were rolled back in February.
The regional office of the Forest Service received a $230 million budget this year for all programs in Colorado and parts of Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Sen. Wayne Allard argued that a catastrophic wildfire season in Colorado could endanger water supplies across the West.
“Many folks rightfully call Colorado the ‘headwaters state’ because we are the headwaters for four regional watersheds,” said Allard, a Republican. “The Forest Service needs to recognize that when they shortchange forests in Colorado, they put the entire western United States at risk.”
The U.S. Forest Service ordered the cuts after President Bush reduced funding for many federal programs because of other national priorities.
“The U.S. Forest Service shouldn’t balance its books by putting Colorado at risk,” said Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo. “Cutting corners is not acceptable.”
No one was available to comment Tuesday at Forest Service offices in Washington, D.C.
Jim Maxwell, of the agency’s regional office in Lakewood, said that about $4 million was cut from the timber program, which also aids in fuels reduction and fire mitigation. He said that the region also received $1 million last month to help with the beetle epidemic in the foothills and some of the mountain areas.
“It’s helped soften the blow,” he said. “It’s tough, it’s tight and we’re down in funds overall.”
In their letter to Gail Kimbell, chief of the Forest Service, Colorado’s delegation said federal funds were used to lessen wildfire risks on 74,000 acres in 2006.
But the federal forests in the state have a backlog of more than 500,000 acres that need significant fire fuels reduction programs to protect homes, businesses and watersheds, the delegation said.
“Colorado and the rest of the Rocky Mountain Region face serious forest-management problems,” said Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo. “Its vital that the administration not shortchange our region.”