Today, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands conducted an oversight hearing regarding the United States Forest Service (USFS) Fiscal Year 2025 (FY 2025) budget request. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) issued a statement highlighting concerns about forest health and wildfire management.
"Improving the health of our nation’s forests and combatting the devastating wildfire crisis are among the most pressing issues facing the Natural Resources Committee," said Tiffany. "For far too long, rural communities have had to bear the brunt of catastrophic wildfires and poor forest management year after year. Regrettably, the Forest Service's fiscal year 2025 budget falls short of meeting this urgent challenge – even proposing treating fewer acres than the year before for the second year in a row."
The USFS manages 193 million acres of National Forest System lands, including 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The hearing provided members an opportunity to hear from USFS Chief Randy Moore and scrutinize the agency's increased budget request amidst ongoing challenges in federal forest management.
The FY 2025 budget request seeks additional taxpayer funding while proposing treatment for fewer acres of forest land compared to previous years. The USFS has faced difficulties addressing numerous challenges, particularly inadequate forest management contributing to a historic wildfire crisis. Regulations and litigation are cited as primary obstacles to improved forest management outcomes. The continuing wildfire crisis has severe consequences including loss of life and property, degradation of air and water quality, and extensive damage to millions of acres of forest land and wildlife habitat.
Despite receiving approximately $11.5 billion in supplemental funding recently, the USFS has not significantly improved active forest treatment across its managed lands. Investigative reporting from August 2022 revealed that USFS inflated its treatment numbers by over 20 percent.
In response, multiple pieces of legislation have been advanced by the House Committee on Natural Resources during the 118th Congress to address these issues. Notably, H.R. 1567 mandates accurate reporting from both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Interior regarding hazardous fuels reduction activities and establishes standardized procedures for tracking related data. This bill passed in the House with a bipartisan vote of 406 to 4 on September 13, 2023.
During today's hearing, committee members voiced further dissatisfaction with USFS's mismanagement practices such as missed timber targets, reduced access, and criticized what they see as inadequate responses from the Biden administration concerning border issues.
