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Senate Committee chair presses Forest Service for Alaska assurances during FY2027 budget review
Summary
The chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs welcomed Forest Service Chief Schultz to testify on the agency's FY2027 budget, praised recent Alaska-focused actions and pressed the agency for firm assurances on sustainable Tongass timber harvests, facility staffing, tribal co-management and wildfire preparedness.
The chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs welcomed Forest Service Chief Schultz to testify on the Forest Service fiscal year 2027 budget and thanked him for his leadership and recent conversations about Alaska.
The chair credited the agency with a number of actions in Alaska, saying the Forest Service had entered a shared stewardship agreement with the State of Alaska, begun revising the Tongass National Forest plan for the first time in decades, and issued a draft decision for the South Ravilla project "to enable the harvesting of more timber from the Tongass." The chair also said the agency is processing recreational permits to accommodate returning tourists.
At the same time, the chair cautioned that past Forest Service decisions in Alaska have not always met expectations and said the agency must restore balance across multiple uses. "I think you recognize the need for timber harvesting, energy development, and mining," the chair said, while also preserving subsistence uses and encouraging tourism.
The hearing shifted to wildfire risk and budgetary pressures. The chair warned that forecasts project a bad year for both fire and drought and said many forests are "overgrown, infested by insects and invasive species, increasingly susceptible to once extreme conditions that are now becoming the norm." Noting that Congress passed the 2018 "fire fix," the chair said FY2027 represents the final years of that law's budgetary adjustment and argued that Congress must provide "every resource needed to fight fires" while pursuing broad forest-management measures to reduce long-term fire costs.
The chair acknowledged merit in a proposed new wildland fire service and said Alaska's model demonstrates it can work, but asked whether the change makes sense across Forest Service lands nationwide. The chair also expressed concern about a proposed Forest Service reorganization and consolidation of assets and facilities, urging caution and consultation to avoid cuts that would "degrade the agency's capabilities and research mission." The speaker specifically referenced a proposal to move headquarters operations toward Salt Lake City.
To address those concerns, the chair said they will seek "firm assurances" for Alaska, listing priorities including "a sustainable timber harvest in our largest national forest, a commitment to maintain important agency facilities and personnel, continued co management agreements with our tribes, and a robust public process for those affected by agency decisions." The chair concluded by turning the hearing to Ranking Member Merkley.
The hearing continued with further questions and testimony after the chair's opening remarks.
