Oregon Delegation Presses New Forest Service Chief for Full Cooperation to Fight Wildfires
Oregon Delegation Presses New Forest Service Chief for Full Cooperation to Fight Wildfires
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader and Greg Walden today pressed the new chief of the U.S. Forest Service for full cooperation in bringing much-needed resources to wildfire-ravaged communities across Oregon.
In a letter to Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke, the Oregon lawmakers stressed the need for the agencies, the administration and Congress to come together to battle the catastrophic fires burning across Oregon and the West.
“When it comes to national forest management in Oregon, we need the full attention of the administration, including the full cooperation of the U.S. Forest Service,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We are actively pursuing funding for the U.S. Forest Service in any bill before Congress intended to help communities recover from Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters. We look to you to help us hone those requests and make them as targeted as possible to help our communities and our lands recover from this soon-to-be record-setting fire year.”
This week, Congress passed legislation that will provide emergency funding to fight wildfires as part of a broader bill to provide disaster aid and fund the government through Dec. 8.
The legislation will also make it possible starting October 1 for the Forest Service to quickly repay funds it will need to borrow in the coming weeks to continue fighting the nearly 1.5 million acres of land currently burning in nine western states. Almost one-third of those acres are in Oregon.
Read the full letter here.
Recent Press
- Merkley, Wyden: Over $3.2 Million in Federal Funds to Address Domestic Violence and Expand Services for Survivors
- Merkley, Daines Introduce Legislation Providing Specialized Wildland Firefighting Training to Civilian Conservation Center Students
- Merkley, Wyden: $350,000 in Pollution Prevention Planning Headed to Oregon
- Merkley Joins Luján, Matsui, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Increase Digital Equity, Inclusion, and Literacy
- Senators Merkley, Tillis Team Up with Reps. Blunt Rochester, Young Kim Introduce the Bipartisan National Nursing Workforce Center Act