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Forest Service forced to cut all of its seasonal firefighters
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New snow covers the burn area on Missionary Ridge earlier this week. Bush Administration budget cuts have resulted in cuts in firefighting resources for the San Juan National Forest. Local firefighters say they expect this summer's fire season to be "average" due to the increased amount of grasses from the wet spring./Photo by Todd Newcomer
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by Will Sands
Wildfire may be the furthest thing from most locals' minds right now. But in spite of recent
moisture and last winter's stellar snowpack, firefighters are anticipating an average summer in terms of wildfire.
This prediction comes as the Forest Service continues to deal with a budget crunch. Locally, that crunch will mean
the end of the agency's seasonal firefighting work force as well as reduced hours for the San Juan Hotshots and the
Durango Air Tanker base this summer.
This year, the Bush Administration cut a total of $4.07 billion from what many say is an already strapped Forest
Service budget. The cuts have led to talk of closing recreation sites and campgrounds in the Rocky Mountain region
and the institution of more and more fees at the ones that are open. And while reducing the risk of catastrophic fire
remains a top priority, serious cuts have been made there as well.
Nobody in the San Juan National Forest is expecting catastrophic wildfire this summer. However, Forest Service
officials are anticipating average levels of fire hitting later in the summer.
"We pretty much always have fires even when we have a wet spring," said Pam Wilson, fire information officer. "The
wetness brings out the grasses, especially the cheat grasses, and usually by July 4, we're into fire restrictions."
Mark Lauer, fire management officer for the San Juan National Forest, offers a similar forecast for the coming
months. "You talk to any firefighter, and they'll say it's going to be a good fire year," he said. "We've got good
moisture and grasses, and so we'll probably see activity later in the summer."
Referring to the Missionary Ridge and Valley fires of 2002, Lauer added, "Still, it shouldn't be anything like recent
years. I think we'll have fewer fires, and they should be smaller fires."
While the season should be tamer than recent years, the local Forest Service will also have lighter resources this
season. According to the Forest Service's Budget Justification, a total of $277.2 million has been cut from the
agency's fire-suppression budget nationwide this year. A portion of those cuts has trickled down to the San Juan
National Forest.
"We took a big cut in our pre-suppression budget this year," Lauer said. "The biggest hit is on our seasonal work
force on all three of our zones. We won't be able to hire any seasonals this summer, and they make up the brunt of
our work force."
A total of 25 positions have been cut, and with an absence of those firefighters, other agency employees could find
themselves digging line this summer, according to Lauer.
"I think it should be manageable as long as we make do with our other work force," he said.
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A stump sits beside County Road 250 amidst a section of burned forest ./Photo by Todd Newcomer
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"I think it should be manageable as long as we make do with our other work force," he said.
Cuts have been made and finances have been shifted throughout the agency's local efforts. The San Juan Hotshots will
be cut back by 10 days this summer, and a full 30 days of operation will by trimmed from the Durango Air Tanker base
at La Plata County Airport.
Mike Johnson, assistant manager for renewable resources at the San Juan Public Lands Center, acknowledged that the
cuts appear significant. "All of those seasonal workers will probably amount to about $200,000," he said.
Johnson pointed to a transfer of resources to the Northwest and Northern Rockies, which are both facing daunting fire
seasons this summer, as part of the reason for local cuts.
"Philosophically, the Forest Service seems to be positioning its resources where they'll be most needed," he said.
Even though cuts have hit seasonal workers, air tankers, the hot shots and a locally based helicopter crew, Johnson
argued that the San Juan National Forest is still adequately staffed to deal with wildfire.
"We were given the authority to staff at a higher level than we were funded for," he said. "We still have quite a
substantial work force, and we're adequately staffed up."
Efforts at thinning and fuels management, courtesy of the Healthy Forests Initiative, should also compensate for the
cuts, according to Johnson. "The decrease in the fire budget has been offset by increases in fuels management," he
said. "We've seen jumps in the budget for healthy forests every year since 2001."
Lauer agreed that finances have improved for fuels reduction. However, effective reduction and thinning take time,
and as a result, he's still keeping his fingers crossed this summer.
"We've seen an increase in Healthy Forests Initiative funding, but we're still waiting on results," he concluded. "It
hasn't quite had time to catch up to us yet.
Advocating a complete approach to wildfire
Group charges Forest Service with overspending on fire suppression |
At least one group has little sympathy for cuts in the Forest Service wildfire suppression budget. The Wilderness Society charges that suppression has long been over funded, largely at the expense of a comprehensive approach to wildfire management.
Tom Fry, of the Four Corners office of the Wilderness Society, said that the Forest Service has always and is continuing to spend excess resources on putting out fire. As evidence, the Wilderness Society pointed to as much 20 percent of the wildfire-suppression budget being allocated to administration during recent years. The conservation group also accuses the agency of borrowing from prevention and other land-management budgets to fund fire suppression.
“In terms of suppression and funding it, the federal government continues to commit as much as possible to safeguard lives and homes by spending billions of dollars on suppressing fires,” Fry said.
Taking the matter further, Fry pointed to a recently approved $500 million emergency fund that will open for fire funding if necessary this summer.
“The overall budget may have been cut, but when push comes to shove, we will find a way to suppress fires,” he said.
At the same time, Fry said that more significant cuts have been made in funding for local and state efforts at wildfire education, preparation, prevention and then suppression. He noted that since 2001, less than 8 percent of total wildfire funding has been funneled to communities and states. That already-diminished funding source has been cut by an additional $38 million this year.
“The cuts hit state and local agencies particularly hard this year,” he said. “It's growing ever more difficult for communities to get ahead of the curve.”
Fry commented that the Wilderness Society advocates a wholistic approach to wildfire control rather than one tilted in favor of just fighting fires. “There's a whole host of things communities can do to lighten their risks,” he said. “But funding to each of those mechanisms has been cut.”
Meanwhile, the Wilderness Society fears that the Healthy Forest Initiative's efforts at fuels reduction put the onus of quantity rather than quality of treatment and could backfire.
“The land managers on the ground are doing the best job they can,” Fry said. “Unfortunately, the system is flawed. There's a priority of quantity not quality of acres treated.”
– Will Sands |
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