The USDA has announced $100 million in additional spending for 21 projects aimed at expanding the work of the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy.
Chief Randy Moore says that it is not about the dollars being spent but the outcome of the work they are doing.
The 21 new projects will span fourteen states and eighteen national forests. Among them California, Oregon, and Wyoming where a combined nearly 2.5 million acres have burned this year alone. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says that it is an issue that cannot be solved by the Forest Service alone, and that is why partnerships are critical.
“You know, frankly, the Forest Service as good as it is, simply doesn’t have the resources on its own to be able to do all that needs to be done,” Vilsack explains. “So, it is really important in order for us to leverage those resources to expand the capacity to get things done by partnering.”
Vilsack says that some of those important partnerships include tribes, non-profits, and private forest landowners.
