Sustainable Bioenergy, Farms, and Forests - August 22, 2014

A weekly look at sustainable bioenergy, farm, and forest policy issues

 

 

SBFF will be on hiatus August 29, and return on Friday, September 5.  

 

 

USDA Tallies Costs of Fire Borrowing and Urges Congress to Pass Wildfire Disaster Funding Act

On August 20, the USDA released a report on the effects to other U.S. Forest Service (USFS) program areas from ‘fire borrowing’, wherein funds are reprogrammed from other programs mid-year, to cover wildfire fighting deficits.  Due to increasing drought, disease, pests, as well as increasing numbers of communities at the urban-wildlife intersection, the total wildfire area has tripled since 1980 and the number of fires has doubled in the same time period. Climate change is exacerbating wildfire risk -- the U.S. National Climate Assessment predicts that for every 1.8 degree F of surface temperature rise, the Western wildfire area may quadruple. Subsequently, suppression costs have grown from 16 percent of the Forest Service budget in 1995 to 42 percent today, robbing other Forest Service programs, many of which deal with hazardous fuels and forest health – which are important in reducing wildfire risk. USDA’s latest report details the widespread effects that fire borrowing practices have had on the Forest Service’s ability to manage federal lands across the United States. 

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To Contact the Editor: Jessie Stolark at [email protected]

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