PHOENIX — The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service is warning his employees that budget cuts may be on the way.
In a letter posted this month to the agency's website, Chief Randy Moore wrote that the agency is preparing for a reduction in appropriations for 2024.
The Forest Service is funded through the federal budget, which has yet to be passed. The U.S. government is currently operating under a continuing resolution through the first week of March.
Specifically, Moore's letter said the agency is facing gaps in funding for salaries and other areas but did not specify which areas.
Still, experts are concerned about how the budget process could impact firefighting efforts as fire season begins to get underway across the West.
"Our wildland firefighters have been underfunded and underpaid for years," said Camille Stevens-Rumann, a wildland fire researcher at Colorado State University, as well as a former wildland firefighter.
She said she's concerned about firefighters returning for the same low pay they've had for years. The current average entry-level salary for a wildland firefighter is around $34,000 a year.
"I think that's one of the things that we've seen a lot of is that those fires that are on the shoulder season, either really early in the spring or in the fall and winter, don't have the resources that we need to fight them," Stevens-Rumann said.
It's not the money that it takes to fight a fire that is in question, Stevens-Rumann said. Federal guidelines give the Forest Service the money it takes to fight fires without the agency having to worry about it affecting its allocated budget.
"The staffing issues are going to continue to be a concern," Jude Bayham, another wildfire researcher at CSU said.
And because firefighting is not done by a single agency, Bayham said the budget problems of one agency could trickle down to others.
"Federal agencies coordinate with state and even local agencies," Bayham said. "And yes, budget cuts to one agency can certainly have long-term consequences."
The U.S. Forest Serice sent a statement saying:
The federal government is currently operating under a continuing resolution.
It would be inappropriate for us to speculate what the next year budget (or continuing resolution) may or may not look like but we are hopeful that the budget will fully fund our firefighting workforce.
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