The US has a new plan to confront its ‘wildfire crisis’

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The fast moving wildfire destroyed more than 1,000 homes.

Photo by Saul LOEB.

Federal authorities have a new plan to protect communities in the western US from fire. The USDA and Forest Service will focus on forest thinning to minimize mega fires, a shift from old-school firefighting strategies that tried to stamp out naturally occurring blazes.

The agencies released a 10-year strategy today that includes removing trees and using controlled burns to reduce the amount of vegetation that feeds flames. The plan is to treat up to 20 million more acres of national forest land than is currently managed, plus work with partners to use the tactics on an additional 30 million acres on other federal, state, tribal, and private lands. It will take an estimated $50 billion to accomplish. The USDA didn't respond to a request to verify the estimate.

The 10-year implementation plan describes the US's "wildfire crisis" as a national emergency. Huge areas are being devoured by fires. The previous record of nearly 1.9 million acres was shattered in the 2020 fire season, burning more than 4.2 million acres. Senator Mark Kelly said during a press conference for the new wildfire plan in Arizona that mega fires are unlike anything he has seen before. Today's fires burn hotter and burn longer.

They are also more destructive. According to the USDA, the number of homes and buildings destroyed by fires in the US has gone up four-fold in the last five years.

Climate change has made wildfires more ferocious, according to the plan. Fire-prone areas have more urban sprawl. Today's dry landscapes were turned into a fire hazard by historical fire suppression strategies.

The Karuk Tribe in California started controlled fires before European settlers arrived. The method reduced the amount of fire-starting material on the forest floors. California, the state that loses the most structures to wildfires, recently passed measures that allow for more cultural burns for which tribe members might have previously faced fines and criminal charges.

We needed a boost.

Authorities plan to expand similar practices to quell conflagrations. We are not talking about stopping fires. The Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said at the press conference that they were talking about having that fire behave as it does its natural thing across the landscape.

The Pacific Northwest, Colorado, California's Sierra Nevadas, and the Southwest will be where their new efforts will be concentrated. They will go to high-risk areas where fires pose the greatest threats to people. 80 percent of fire risk to communities is accounted for by less than 10 percent of fire-prone forests.

The 10-year plan will get off the ground with $3 billion in badly needed funding thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last November. There is a nearly $6 billion deferred maintenance backlog. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said at the press conference that the forest service is not allocating enough resources to do everything they want to do. We needed the start.