Bennet, Hickenlooper call for ‘halt’ to consolidation of federal firefighting forces into U.S. Wildland Fire Service

U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper are calling on the federal Department of Interior to “halt” its plans to consolidate firefighting forces into a singular entity, according to a news release.

President Donald Trump’s administration last year proposed consolidating wildfire fighting forces from across the federal government into a new U.S. Wildland Fire Service. After the Department of Interior last month began consolidating firefighting forces, Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calling on him to stop.

“We are concerned that the (Department of Interior) is advancing rapid and consequential restructuring of wildfire management without adequate analysis, transparency, or planning to prevent disruption during what is expected to be a significant fire season,” the lawmakers wrote the Feb. 5 letter.

Burgum issued a secretarial order on Jan. 12 ordering the establishment of the Wildland Fire Service. The order states that consolidation is “intended to create an efficient unified organization that will provide the highest level of management and support for the full spectrum of the (Interior Department’s) wildland fire operations for the benefit of the American people, while also avoiding disruption to the wildland fire mission during the transition.”

The Interior Department includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Office of Wildland Fire and the Office of Aviation Services, all of which have fire operations that will be consolidated into the new fire service, according to the order.

The Democratic lawmakers, however, raised concerns that the consolidation would separate wildland firefighting from land management practices and is moving forward with minimal planning.

The consolidation efforts were “announced without providing an implementation plan that outlines how operational continuity will be ensured in the short term, or how restructuring will avoid long-term disruption to wildfire preparedness, response, and recovery,” according to the lawmakers.

The letter notes that the Trump administration has already made significant cuts to staffing at agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and National Parks Service. The lawmakers raised concern the consolidation “risks diverting critical resources and funding away from land management agencies without any public plan to replace those capabilities.

“The (Bureau of Land Management) relies on an integrated workforce of land managers, scientists, fuels specialists, and field staff to plan and implement vegetation management, hazardous fuels reduction, grazing programs, habitat conservation, and post-fire recovery,” the letter states. “Further reductions in staffing, combined with improperly severing wildfire management from land stewardship, will undermine the agency’s capacity to manage landscapes proactively.”

While the lawmakers wrote it is possible consolidation could be “an effective strategy,” if planned right, they said current approach “risks diverting critical resources and funding away from land management agencies without any public plan to replace those capabilities.”

Congress recently appropriated funds to study the impacts of consolidating the U.S. Forest service and Department of Interior’s wildfire forces, but the lawmakers said “we want to be clear” that the study does not authorize the consolidation of Forest Service forces. Such a transfer would require authorization from Congress, according to the lawmakers.

The letter posed 13 questions to Burgum, including asking him for a list of positions proposed for consolidation, a pay scale for Wildlife Fire Service personnel and sought information on how he will ensure continued coordination with land management agencies.

Sophie Ulin, the press secretary for Bennet’s office, said Friday that the senator has not heard back from Burgum with answers to the questions posed by the Democratic lawmakers.

“Mismanagement of fire management has life-or-death consequences and places billions of taxpayer dollars at risk,” the letter states. “Suppression alone cannot be the sole strategy for addressing wildfire, and swift structural changes that undermine planning, prevention, preparedness, and recovery will only worsen outcomes.”