This month, the federal government announced funding for next year's wildfire management, totaling $236 million.
Money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be used to help reduce wildfire risk, improve firefighter training, rehabilitate burned areas and advance research, according to the Interior Department. The focus areas are partly based on a report last year by the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, with 148 recommendations on how the U.S. can approach fires more effectively.
Kimiko Barrett, wildfire researcher and policy analyst for the nonprofit research group Headwaters Economics and a member of the commission, said the recommendations build off one another but the federal government has focused on some more than others.
"It's not surprising that some of the policy is cherry-picking those recommendations that seem to be easiest or more reasonable, given the time constraints of the current administration," Barrett asserted.
The U.S. House of Representatives will consider a bipartisan bill this month, called the "Fix Our Forests Act." It could adjust permitting under the National Environmental Protection Act to make wildfire prevention projects happen faster, among other changes.
Most wildfire management is supported at the federal level, through agencies that manage public lands, as well as state foresters and natural resource managers.
Barrett notes communities are often the first line of defense when a fire ignites.
"Communities and counties need to be additionally empowered and provided the funding, the resources, the technical assistance, to be able to have more ownership over becoming more resilient," Barrett contended.
Barrett added the protection of the built environment is especially important to communities, including home and neighborhood infrastructure.
