(Cascade, ID) Today, U.S. Congressman Russ Fulcher held a roundtable with officials from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL), local county commissioners, and key stakeholders. The discussion focused on addressing the financial toll of Idaho’s devastating 2024 wildfire season, the importance of wildfire prevention and land restoration efforts, in addition to the need for stronger collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies.
In 2024, wildfires scorched approximately 640,000 acres across Idaho, resulting in an estimated $131 million loss in timber sales. This impact could reduce Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) by $1.5 to $2 million, putting significant strain on local governments that depend on these vital funds.
Key excerpts from the roundtable:
“These conversations are essential to reduce the devastating impacts of wildfires across the state and help me champion long-term solutions on the federal level in Washington, D.C.,” said Congressman Fulcher.
“I need to tell you the truth,” Congressman Fulcher told the group. “The calvary is not coming. We are $36 trillion in debt. The budget is going to get cut and I want the stakeholders to know what they are dealing with. They have a big task and their resources are going to go down. Meanwhile, the PILT constraints are going to get harder, and for our county friends who don’t have a revenue stream outside of this funding, that is concerning.”
“We don’t want to be a welfare county,” Viki Purdy, Adams County Commissioner added. “The Forest Service won’t let the Rural Fire Protection Agency (RFPA) fight fires on their own land. We want to work with the Forest Service, but we are steamrolled at every chance they get.”
“There are no loggers in the woods fighting these fires,” Mark Mahon, President of the Idaho Association of Logging Contractors said. “We are the best-trained people, the best-trained machine to fight these fires, and the Forest Service doesn’t use us.”
The roundtable discussion also highlighted the growing backlog of deferred maintenance on public lands. The USFS reported $741 million in overdue maintenance for Idaho’s federal lands, while the BLM estimated a $358 million backlog.
“These fires burned livestock, burned homes, put young men and women in harm’s way, and it costs an incredible amount of money,” Brant Peterson, Boise National Forest Service Supervisor, said in response. “If we are going to be successful, we need to remove the trees before these fires start, and we try to do this, but we can’t help when we get litigated.”
“The Forest Service has been tied up with sue and settle,” Dar Moon with Idaho on Fire added. “50-year-old legislation has put them in a spot where they cannot manage the scope and size of our forest and it is destroying Idaho because our hands are locked. We cannot mine, we cannot graze, and we are dying on the vine.”
“These maintenance shortfalls not only hinder fire prevention efforts but exacerbate wildfire risks,” Congressman Fulcher added. “We need to solve this problem, and we need to solve it together.”
