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Attorney says federal 'wildfire-use' policy shifts suppression and damage costs to Montana landowners and state
Summary
An attorney and former hotshot told a joint committee that use of wildfire for resource benefit under the federal cohesive strategy has led to large private losses and higher state costs, citing the Alice Creek fire and urging tougher cost‑sharing negotiations and statutory direction.
Quentin Rhodes, an attorney and former hotshot and smokejumper, told a joint Senate-House natural resources committee that federal adoption of a ‘wildfire-use’ approach to reduce hazardous fuels has shifted substantial suppression and property-damage costs onto Montana landowners and the state. He urged the legislature to give clear direction to negotiators and to insist on stronger cost-sharing protections for Montana.
Rhodes summarized the 2014 National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and said the Forest Service now often leaves small lightning fires to burn for resource benefit, counting resulting burned federal acreage as hazardous-fuel reduction. “They have a…
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