Fire season started early. Is the federal government ready?

With Trump’s proposal, Congress has chosen to slow things down in two ways. First, the appropriations bill package passed by the Senate in January didn’t allocate funding for the USWFS, instead allocating funding for wildland firefighting separately to the Forest Service and Interior. The administration had asked for $6.5 billion for the new agency.

Congress has also said the idea has to be studied further, which could end up derailing it. In a letter sent to Burgum on February 5 by nearly a dozen senators and representatives, the administration is criticized for a lack of detail. “We are concerned that the DOI is advancing a rapid and consequential restructuring of wildfire management,” the letter says, “without adequate analysis, transparency, or planning to prevent disruption during what is expected to be a significant fire season or to safeguard long-term wildfire preparedness.”