Forest Service spending on large wildfires in the West
Dateien
Datum
2012
Zeitschriftentitel
ISSN der Zeitschrift
Bandtitel
Verlag
Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon
Zusammenfassung
Since the 1970s, federal spending on wildfire
suppression in the United States has grown,
reaching $1 billion annually over the past
decade. The USDA Forest Service has also increasingly
used private contractors to conduct fire
suppression. As with all activities that the Forest
Service performs, the agency can employ staff directly,
contract with outside businesses, or enter
into agreements with nonprofit and other government
entities to perform fire suppression. Historically,
the Forest Service primarily used agency
personnel for much of its suppression activities.
However, with the decline of Forest Service personnel
in the 1990s, the agency turned to contractors
more frequently. Despite these growing costs
and the larger role of private businesses in fire suppression,
relatively little is known outside the land
management agencies about what these funds are
spent on, how they are spent, which activities are
contracted out, and where this spending occurs.
Yet, the choices that the Forest Service makes in
wildfire suppression spending affect communities
and economies near wildfires. In particular, local
and regional capture of suppression contracts and
local employment of agency staff can help mediate
the negative economic impacts of a wildfire.
Beschreibung
16 pages