With Congress passing a $1.15 trillion spending bill, many in western states are wondering how the United States Forest Service (USFS) budget fix was left out of the federal funding compromise. Supporters of the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (WDFA) are certainly disappointed it was not included in the Omnibus spending bill that will keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year.
WDFA, the bill that would give USFS and the Department of the Interior (DOI) access to disaster funds in order to fight the 1 percent of fires that are the most expensive, had become immensely popular throughout the western U.S. because the budget fix would allow the USFS to fully fund the prevention projects that help keep forests from catastrophic fires. Momentum for WDFA peaked recently when a bipartisan group of western Senators negotiated a deal with the Obama administration to include forest management provisions with the WDFA. The deal was announced in time to be included in the Omnibus. However, the deal fell apart when Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee leaders could not support the brokered deal, mainly due to environmental concerns. In the end, the USFS and DOI received a large increase in wildfire suppression funds in the Omnibus. The agencies will together have more than $2.3 billion to fight wildfires this fiscal year, resulting in the largest appropriation for wildfire suppression from Congress in years. Supporters of the WDFA will refocus attention on next year as Congress is set to adjourn for the year after passage of the Omnibus.