State foresters are pushing back — gently — against the Trump administration’s moves to revamp how the federal government fights wildfires.
In a set of policy recommendations, leaders of the National Association of State Foresters urged a more thoughtful approach to combining wildfire responsibilities between the Forest Service and the Interior Department.
The association hasn’t taken a position on the administration’s proposal to move wildfire management from the Forest Service to a new agency that would be created at the Interior Department. But the document, obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News, reflects challenges that the idea presents.
The organization’s recommendations may add to a narrative — echoed in the latest spending measures advanced in congressional committees — that the Trump administration floated the idea without fully weighing the implications. The relationship among the two federal agencies and state authorities has developed over decades in the face of worsening wildfires.
