OLYMPIA, WA – As federal cuts shake the U.S. Forest Service ahead of wildfire season, Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove said Friday that Washington state also eliminated around $60 million in fire prevention funding.
The Washington State Legislature finished its annual business last month by filling a projected $16 billion, four-year operating budget shortfall. The budgets primarily rely on tax and fee increases, but the state also took some cuts to dig itself out of the hole, including to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service is dealing with personnel cuts and hiring freezes as the Trump administration slashes spending. DNR has partnerships across the industry to fill a loss in manpower, but Upthegrove said Washington state needs to fill the hole it created.
He noted the difficulty in going from $120 million over the last two biennia to only $60 million.
“Cuts won’t affect our work much this year,” he said. “We’re still actively pursuing prescribed burns, reducing fuel and thinning, but as we look to next year, we’re going to need the legislature to step in and fill the hole they created.”
Upthegrove and DNR staff held a call with reporters on Friday ahead of the upcoming wildfire season. They expect a “slightly above average” risk this summer, but back-to-back drought years, a depleting snowpack and a dry spring could lead to “significant fire potential.”
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., held a press conference on Thursday to “sound the alarm” over the federal cuts to the Forest Service. She said the Trump administration eliminated 3,400 probationary employees, 500 of whom were from the Pacific Northwest, and 4,000 more employees could take a federal buyout.
According to reporting by Cascade PBS, many Forest Service employees are seasonal, so even if they work for a few years, it may not add up to two calendar years. Some have a “red card,” meaning they’re also certified wildland firefighters that the agency can call to the front lines.
Upthegrove said the Forest Service cuts and hiring freezes are concerning, but that’s why DNR establishes relationships with other agencies. Washington state often relies on boots on the ground from other states and even Canada, which sent an air tanker a few days ago.
Carol Connolly, a spokesperson with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, said firefighters are exempt from the cuts. The state may see fewer Forest Service crews, but many are already prepositioned around Washington and Oregon in anticipation of the season.
“Most of the [Bureau of Land Management] and Forest Service staffing of regular fire personnel looks pretty good in Oregon and Washington,” Connolly said. “They are bringing and onboarding those people as we speak.”
