The way it is going, fire fighting costs will eat the entire FS budget.
Congress does need to keep fire fighting costs in hand, but the present system could defund the national forest system entirely. This article goes well with Rocky Barker’s recent blog, which received some excellent comments here.
Note: this system was installed by the old Republican Congress which failed to pass a federal budget last year for perhaps the first time in congressional history (I don’t know about the 19th century).
Note also that the FS could easily win fire fighting money by letting some “high end” forest subdivisions burn because “they were out of money.”
Story in the Missoulian by Perry Backus.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
