Wildfire prevention in Oregon stalled by funding freeze
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Workers from the Lomakatsi Restoration Project treated more than 34,000 acres for wildfire mitigation last year. Photo: Courtesy: Lomakatsi Restoration Project
Wildfire prevention work in some high-risk parts of Oregon has slowed after federal funding was frozen by the Trump administration.
Why it matters: Oregon is coming off one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, and any interruption to work that lessens risk could lead to more intense and expensive conflagrations.
Driving the news: In a letter to Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the executive director of the Lomakatsi Restoration Project said federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have been frozen for the last several weeks.
- In a separate letter, the American Loggers Council, which administers a program to transport logs from forest-thinning projects to lumber mills, also said its funding had been frozen.
Context: For more than 30 years, Lomakatsi, a nonprofit based in Ashland, has been providing forest management, job training and wildfire risk reduction programs in Oregon, northern California and Idaho.
- Last year, the organization treated more than 34,000 acres through thinning, prescribed burning and forest restoration across state, federal and private land.
By the numbers: Executive director Marko Bey said his organization, which employs 95 full-time employees and about 200 seasonal workers, gets roughly 65% of its $17 million annual budget from the federal government.
- With roughly $39 million in already-awarded grants being held up, the organization has had to lay off 20% of its staff in the past few days, Bey said.
- Bey wrote that "this funding would otherwise be supporting over 40,000 acres of strategic fuels reduction work, hundreds of jobs and substantial economic opportunities within communities at some of the highest risk of wildfire in the entire country."
What they're saying: In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a dozen senators — including Merkley and Oregon's Ron Wyden — blasted the funding freeze, calling it "flagrantly illegal" and dangerous for those who live in areas at risk of wildfires.
- "These projects are integral to increased safety and resiliency and any delay in implementation puts those communities at greater risk," they wrote.
The other side: J. Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson for the Department of Interior, declined to answer specific questions about the freeze on funds to Lomakatsi.
- She told Axios the agency "is working to hire key positions that will continue to protect public and tribal lands, infrastructure and communities from the impacts of wildfires through hazardous fuels management, wildfire preparedness and close collaboration with interagency partners."
The big picture: Bey said that coming on the heels of Oregon's devastating wildfire season and the recent infernos that engulfed large parts of Los Angeles, the government needs to be doing all it can to protect residents from wildfires.
- "We work in some of the highest-risk wildfire areas in the country" and need resources to address wildfire risks, Bey told Axios. "But now we don't know when we'll see these funds."