Texas A&M Forest Service Firewise Coordinator Nick Harrison received the 2015 USDA Forest Service Robert E. Browning Jr. Award for his efforts in wildfire prevention. The award is in memory of Browning, a southern wildland firefighter who gave his life battling the South Canyon Fire in Colorado in 1994. The award goes to those who [read more]
The National Wildfire Mitigation Awards proigram is supported NASF, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the USDA Forest Service and the National Fire Protection Association. Southwest Coloradoans accounted for three out of 12 awards handed out nationally for fire mitigation worked performed in communities. Three Colorado winners were Peggy Beach of Pagosa Springs, Les Cole or La Plata County and [read more]
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that in 2015, wildfires burned a record 10,125,149 acres across the United States, surpassing the previous record set in 2006. The Secretary renewed the call for Congress to pass the bi-partisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act. In 2015, there were more than 50 fires that exceeded 50,000 [read more]
The next federal spending bill should establish a new way to pay for fighting ever-more-severe wildfires as the cost of mobilizing fire trucks, helicopters, air tankers and hundreds of firefighters burns through more than half of the U.S. Forest Service budget, a top USDA official said this week. In a section of Medicine Bow National [read more]
Along with partners, NASF submitted a letter of support to Congressional leaders today urging Congress to implement a solution to fire funding. A solution should allow access to disaster funding, eliminate the negative impacts of transfers address the increasing costs of suppression over time. The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (WDFA) (S. 235, H.R. 167) is a bipartisan proposal that achieves these three goals. [read more]
By Christopher Martin, Connecticut State Forester and Chair of the Forest Science & Health Committee In 2014, wildfires consumed 3,595,613 US acres at a taxpayer cost of $1,522,149,000. Heat, fuel and oxygen make up the basic recipe to a fire start. Combine record breaking heat and historic drought with millions of acres of beetle-killed standing trees [read more]
Implementation of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (CS) has moved forward this spring with the formation of the National Strategic Committee (NSC), the establishment of three priorities, one for each of the three CS tenets by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC), and ongoing work by the NSC and the three Regional Strategic [read more]
Provisions to pay for the most extreme wildfires through federal disaster funding were included in the Fiscal Year 2016 Interior Appropriations Bill, which was passed by a Senate panel on June 18. The funding method is similar to legislation introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who along with Sen. Jeff Merkley [read more]
With support from the USDA Forest Service State & Private Forestry competitive grant program, the New Mexico State Forestry Division is achieving goals outlined in its Forest Action Plan. The devastation experienced following a destructive wildfire can be felt long after the flames have died down and the fire crews have left the scene. New [read more]
With support from the State Fire Assistance program of the USDA Forest Service, the Florida Forest Service is achieving goals outlined in its Forest Action Plan. In 2014 the Florida Forest Service protected 2.5 million acres of public and private forestland through prescribed fires. 214,000 acres of state lands were treated with prescribed fire, the [read more]
