U.S. Senator Ken Salazar Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees 2300 15^th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
For Immediate Release January 30, 2007		CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Comm. Director 303-455-5999 Drew Nannis – Press Secretary 202-224-5852
Sen. Salazar Calls for More Forest Service Resources for Wildfire Prevention and Bark Beetle Infestation WASHINGTON, D.C. – Colorado is home to more than 14 million acres of National Forests. Each summer, much of this land is under wildfire threat, through a dangerous combination of hazardous materials buildup, drought and bark beetle infestation. United States Senator Ken Salazar today, in a hearing before the Senate Energy Committee, focused on the need for the Forest Service to refocus their efforts on fire prevention and bark beetle prevention to help reduce expenditures on fire fighting. “From 2005 to 2006, the Forest Service’s firefighting costs doubled to $2 billion,” said Senator Salazar. “A cost increase of this size would hamper any agency from accomplishing its goals, and the Forest Service is no exception. This cost explosion must be addressed.” Because of these increased firefighting costs – which now represent 40 percent of the Forest Service’s total budget – the Forest Service has been unable to address other critical forest management issues, including recreation management and fire-prevention activities such as hazardous fuels mitigation and combating bark beetles. Attention to any one of these areas could significantly reduce later firefighting costs. “In 2006, funding limitations allowed the Forest Service in Colorado to treat barely more than a quarter of the acres with approved, on-the-shelf hazardous fuel treatments plans,” said Senator Salazar. “Measuring solely on acres treated is a mistake, but the numbers speak for themselves: In Colorado, hazardous fuel conditions are deteriorating faster than the Forest Service is able to address with its current funds and emphasis.” According to the Forest Service, in Colorado 113 hazardous fuels treatment projects covering 280,000 acres of hazardous fuels treatments have been approved through NEPA and are available for implementation pending funding, with nearly two-thirds of these located in the wildland-urban interface. Another 235,000 acres are being analyzed for approval. Unfortunately, the Forest Service reports that in Colorado it implemented merely 73,662 acres of treatments in FY06 due to funding limitations. Senator Salazar also expressed his concerns to USDA Undersecretary Mark Rey on the bark beetle infestation affecting Colorado, saying, “As I have said before, Colorado is infested by millions of acres of bark beetles and it represents the Katrina of the West.” Salazar has been working to push USDA to take a leadership role in helping address the bark beetle problem. ###