Full Colorado Delegation Urges USFS to Restore Colorado Fire Prevention Funds

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Each year, the Mountain West region is threatened bywildfires that scorch thousands of acres of National Forests andgrasslands. However, earlier this year, under the authority granted inthe Continuing Resolution signed into law by the President to fund thegovernment for the remainder of 2007, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS)cut funding to Colorado's Region Two by $4.3 million. The result couldreduce on-the-ground management of bark beetles, hazardous fuels andforest health needs.

In a letter yesterday to U.S. ForestService Chief Gail Kimbell, United States Senators Ken Salazar andWayne Allard and U.S. Representatives Diana DeGette, Doug Lamborn,Marilyn Musgrave, Ed Perlmutter, John Salazar, Tom Tancredo and MarkUdall asked USFS to prevent this short sighted management move byimmediately restoring the funds by drawing from the Chief's ReserveFund or excess Northwest Forest Plan funding.

"The fact isthat not enough is being done," the bipartisan group noted in theirletter to Kimbell. "The need for increased funding is apparent." Thefull text of their letter can be viewed by clicking here.

"USFSshouldn't balance its books by putting Colorado at risk," said SenatorSalazar. "Last year, barely one-in-five NEPA approved acres in Coloradoreceived treatments. Bark beetles and persistent drought are increasingthe need to conduct hazardous fuels projects to protect our localcommunities and watersheds. Cutting corners is not acceptable."

"Manyfolks rightfully call Colorado the ‘Headwaters State' because we arethe headwaters for four regional watersheds," said Allard. "Water thatruns out of Colorado eventually supplies most of the West; the ForestService needs to recognize that when they short change forests inColorado they put the entire Western United States at risk. If theForest Service restores funding to Colorado they can take a step towardaverting the potentially dangerous fire season that is approaching."

"Wesimply cannot wait for fire season to begin again before Coloradoreceives these critical funds," said Chief Deputy Whip Diana DeGette(D-CO). "In recent years Colorado has seen terrible drought, insectinfestation, higher temperatures, and drying soils. To protect ourcommunities from wildfire, we need more resources on the ground and weneed them now."

"Colorado faces a tremendous risk during thesummer because of forest fires," said Rep. Lamborn. "This existingfunding is necessary to effectively manage the serious problem ourstate faces with regards to proper forest management and the criticallyimportant protection of Colorado families and land."

"The threatof forest fires in Colorado is very real. It has been exasperated bythe bark beetle infestation, which shows no signs of slowing down,"said U.S. Rep Marilyn Musgrave (CO-04). "This is not the time to cutfunding for programs that aim to cut down the threat that forest firespose to our state."

"The reality is that a dry summer and fallwould be devastating to our state and region because any damage fromwildfires could be made worse by the bark beetle problem. It iscritical for the Administration to act responsibly and restore fundingto Colorado to mitigate these damages," said U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter.

"Tofully understand how vitally important this forest funding is, all onehas to do is drive through the mountains on I-70 to see masses of treesturn from green to brown as they die from the bark beetle epidemic thatis destroying our forests and threatening our rural communities," U.S.Rep. John Salazar (CO-3) said. "Because there is no easy cure for thebark beetle epidemic, prevention and management of the disease isimperative at this point. This funding will help that cause."

"Asdemonstrated by the Hayman fire that took place in my district, it isclear that there are some unresolved forest management issues inColorado. It would be horrible policy for the United States ForestService to cut funding in Colorado when the bark beetle problemcontinues to be a threat as the dangerous fire season approaches," saidRep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton)

"Colorado and the rest of theRocky Mountain region face serious forest-management problems,including the beetle epidemic, and it's vital that the Administrationnot short-change our region as it allocates Forest Service funds," saidU.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs).

In 2006approximately 74,000 acres of USFS land received hazardous fuelstreatment. However, as of 2006, Colorado had over 280,000 acres oftreatments that are approved under the National Environmental PolicyAct (NEPA), with another 235,000 acres of treatments in NEPA analysis. In addition, there is another 12,000 acres ready for timber sales andforest health treatments, but lack of funding threatens to keep thoseprojects shelved. These needs continue to grow as the bark beetleinfestation spreads and outbreaks on Colorado's Front Range create evenmore hazardous conditions and needs in this expansive wildland-urbaninterface area.

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