Washington, D.C. – Senate Energy Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests today will hold a hearing in SD-366 at 2:30 p.m. to review the impacts of the 2005 fire season and the outlook for this year’s wildland fire season, as well as to assess the federal land management agencies’ state of readiness for the coming fire season. Testimony will be provided by Department of Agriculture’s Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, Mr. Mark Rey, and the Department of the Interiors’ Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget, Ms. Nina Rose Hatfield.                                      

In 2005, 8.7 million acres of forest and rangeland were burned by 66,552 wildfires.  Slightly over 50% of the acres burned were in the State of Alaska, which experienced a second large wildfire season with 4.4 million acres burned.  The 2006 fire season to date has been extraordinary, with 1.8 million acres having burned since January, as compared to an average of 154,937 acres for the previous 5 years during the same time period.   The National Interagency Fire Center projects an above-normal fire potential in most of the Southwest, the Southern half of California, and portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Alaska. 

Chairman Domenici’s statement:

Several Western states – including my state of New Mexico –  have suffered devastating loss from wildfire in the last few years.  While Congress continues to increase funding in the fire suppression accounts, I remain concerned that the Forest Service has the resources it needs to suppress wildfire. It’s been a dry year so far. If that continues, we could have a very expensive fire season ahead of us.                                                                                          

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