A resolution by the Oregon Logging Conference Regarding U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighting policies.
WHEREAS, the U.S. Forest Service was established to actively manage National Forest System (NFS) lands; provide valuable and sustainable timber supplies to meet the needs of the American public; remove excess forest growth before it can burn; and to sustain the health of these lands for current and future generations; and
WHEREAS, for decades following its establishment, the Forest Service successfully and aggressively suppressed wildfires to protect these NFS lands and resources that belong to the American public; and
WHEREAS, timber harvests on NFS lands declined more than 80 percent beginning in the early 1990’s, and the Forest Service largely abandoned active forest management on NFS lands due to arbitrary political and regulatory decisions, single-species management and anti-forestry litigation and obstruction; and
WHEREAS, this absence of active forest management has contributed to unhealthy and overstocked conditions on NFS lands, resulting in wildfires, insect infestations and disease on these public forest lands, including decreased forest growth and increased tree mortality; and
WHEREAS, the Forest Service leadership has adopted a “full fire suppression” definition that includes letting fires burn for reasons including “restoration” strategies that rely on so-called “managed” or “beneficial” wildfires that burn much longer and hotter than necessary, resulting in large and severe wildfires at great expense to the American public; and
WHEREAS, in recent years, the Forest Service also adopted a “big-box strategy” that involves retreating firefighting resources away from fire ignitions, constructing fire lines, and then igniting fires from those lines as a means of corralling the fire; and
WHEREAS, “let burn” and “managed fire” policies have resulted in the Forest Service burning an estimated average of more than six million acres a year over the last decade across the nation; and
WHEREAS, the wholesale use of “managed fire” under the guise of forest health, and resilience and restoration, is scarring landscapes, devastating forests, eliminating or restricting public access to public lands, and leaving vast lifeless ecosystems with few signs of recovery; and
WHEREAS, millions of acres of valuable National Forest lands have been burned in the West due to the escape of “managed fires” that can burn as high intensity fires; and many of these landscapes are not likely to return to their original forested state, but, rather as brush and grass fields that will later burn again; and
WHEREAS, wildfires are producing harmful toxic smoke that endangers children and vulnerable populations; contributes to thousands of deaths and chronic and acute illness every year; and increases costs to our economy and national health care system, and degrades the quality of life for millions of Americans; and
WHEREAS, decisions to “let fires burn” are not subject to federal environmental laws and regulations including the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act that require environmental analyses and public comment, nor do they ensure compensation to private landowners damaged by so-called “managed fire;” and
WHEREAS, these intentional fire growth policies have granted the Forest Service power over not just the fate of our public forests but also public and private property, wildlife and their habitats, and the lives of those residing within wildfire-prone areas, and this assumed authority has been exercised with no accountability; and
WHEREAS, current Forest Service wildland firefighting policies are inconsistent with the practices of state and local wildland firefighting agencies that work to quickly attack and suppress wildfires, especially to protect private forest lands as well as infrastructure and structures in areas that are often close to populated places; and
WHEREAS, over the last decade the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior have spent an average of $2.9 billion annually to suppress wildfires, funded by the American taxpayer, to implement its “managed fire” policy with projected wildfire spending to increase to $3.9 billion annually by 2050 under the status quo.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Oregon Logging Conference urges President Donald J Trump to adopt a new national wildfire suppression policy that prioritizes aggressive initial attack of all unplanned wildfires, with the goal of containing wildfires while small and suppressing them within 24 hours of initial detection. This policy should end the practice of monitoring wildfires, letting fires burn for resource management objectives, and reduce wasteful federal spending.
The federal government should work with state and local agencies and diverse stakeholders including loggers and private forest landowners to develop new policies and mandate full utilization of all available firefighting resources, including aerial and night-capable aerial resources, smokejumpers, hotshots, as well as state and local resources.
In addition to ensuring aggressive initial attack on wildfires on NFS lands, the policy should promote, expand and accelerate proactive and science-based active forest management activities on federal lands that reduce the risks of severe wildfires before they ignite.
A policy of aggressively suppressing all wildfires during fire season and not allowing wildfires to burn will ensure America’s forests can be well-managed in balance with environmental, social and economic concerns, now and for the future.
Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be provided to President Donald J. Trump, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon’s congressional delegation.