Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Today, Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (PA-5), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry, held a public hearing to review the 2015 fire season and long-term trends of forest fires. Members heard from Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell as well as a second panel of affected stakeholders on the many reasons why forest fires are becoming increasingly more destructive and burning more acres per fire, the impacts these fires are having, and possible solutions to this growing issue.

The U.S. Forest Service manages the National Forest System, which covers 193 million acres of 154 national forests, 20 national grasslands, and several other federal land designations. This management includes responding to wildfires through prevention, detection, response, and recovery. Recent fire seasons have been recorded as some of the worst since 1960, with the average number of acres burned each year doubling since the 1990s. As of September 30, 2015, over 50,000 fires have burned over nine million acres of federal and non-federal land.

“Wildfires continue to be of great concern, yet the Forest Service continues to have many other fundamental challenges hampering the agency’s ability to manage our national forest lands. When we put half the Forest Service’s budget to work in fighting fires, it means that it is not going toward other important efforts – such as combatting invasive species, forest thinning and prescribed burns, and responsible timber harvesting – activities that will actually help prevent such catastrophic fires from breaking out,” said Subcommittee Chairman Thompson

“In July, the House passed H.R. 2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act, which is a great step in addressing this major issue of forest fires. As we have seen this year and in previous years, forest fires can be detrimental to our natural resources and negatively impact our nation’s farmers and ranchers. I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to take up this legislation to provide our foresters with the resources they need to actively manage our national forests and reduce wildfires,” said Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway