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Sen. Wyden warns of catastrophic western wildfire season, urges redirecting $200 billion to forest management
Summary
On the Senate floor, Sen. Wyden warned of an escalating wildfire threat across the western U.S., citing record-low snowpack, staffing shortfalls and reduced hazardous-fuels treatments, and urged Congress to shift $200 billion proposed for military action toward domestic wildfire preparedness.
Sen. Wyden, the senator from Oregon, took the Senate floor to warn that the western United States faces "one of the worst wildfire seasons in modern history" and urged lawmakers to redirect a reported $200 billion in proposed overseas military spending toward domestic wildfire preparedness.
Wyden cited local briefings and recent measurements in Oregon, saying some parts of the state have "less than 10% of their normal snowpack" and that Crater Lake recorded its lowest snowpack in 100 years. He said those conditions — combined with longstanding drought — leave forests like a "tinderbox" ahead of summer.
Wyden said the U.S. Forest Service has lost firefighting capacity, asserting that about 1,400 qualified Forest Service employees (so-called "red cardholders") left the agency in the first year of the administration. He told the Senate that the Forest Service chief informed him that hazardous-fuels treatment levels are "roughly a million acres below previous years," and that the longest government shutdown in U.S. history had paused some treatments.
On the Senate floor Wyden alleged that immigrant firefighters were arrested and detained while fighting fires on the front lines, saying those actions undermined community safety; the transcript contains this allegation by Wyden but no response or corroboration within the remarks.
Wyden sharply criticized the administration's broader approach, saying it had "dismantled" or planned to dismantle elements of the U.S. Forest Service and that it had defunded 57 research stations that study drought and wildfire. He said FEMA remained "mostly shut down" and that the administration's funding and personnel choices reduced the federal government's ability to help communities recover from disasters.
Framing his policy prescription in budgetary terms, Wyden contrasted a reported $200 billion request for military action with unmet domestic needs and urged lawmakers to use such funds "here at home" to pay for fuel treatments, forest management and to hire and pay firefighters. He said the conditions he described affect "something like two-thirds of the West."
Wyden closed by warning that there would be "no time to waste" to train new firefighters if severe blazes arrive and said he feared the outcome this fire season.
The remarks in the transcript are a floor statement by Sen. Wyden and present his claims, cited numbers and policy recommendations; the transcript does not include corroborating evidence or responses from administration officials within this exchange.
