Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined group of Western U.S. Senators to sound the alarm over reports that the Bureau of Land Management issued stop work orders to small businesses and organizations across America related to the removal of hazardous fuels on public lands. Delaying these treatments even for a short period can mean missing out on the right seasonal and weather conditions for safely treating hazardous fuels and reducing the risk of devastating fires.
Their letter follows President Donald Trump’s illegal executive orders cutting federal funds to mitigate and fight wildfires and comes as communities nationwide prepare for wildfire season.
“Catastrophic wildfires across the United States are an ongoing national crisis and responding to them must be a national priority. These stop work orders and funding freezes jeopardize communities that depend on a robust federal response to our wildfire crisis – and also jeopardize small businesses, often in frontier and rural communities, that are contracted to do the work on the ground to reduce hazardous fuels,” wrote the Senators.
“As we’ve seen with the recent fires surrounding Los Angeles, wildfire does not distinguish between homes and trees. But we do have ways to mitigate the risk,” the Senators stressed. “One of the most effective strategies to reduce that risk is to reduce the hazardous natural fuels that surround our communities. These fuels reduction projects save lives and property, reduce the danger to firefighters, and return our lands to a fire-adapted ecosystem that can better withstand the threat to human life, communities, infrastructure, and property.
“By terminating or even pausing these projects, all of the progress made at protecting these communities is at risk. We are imploring you to rescind the order to stop work on these hazardous fuels reduction efforts, as well as any other wildland fire management programs that are working to reduce risk and safeguard communities from catastrophic wildfire,” the Senators demanded.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
Senator Cortez Masto has led efforts to support Nevada firefighters and combat the wildfire crisis in the West, securing billions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act to support wildfire risk reduction and new firefighting equipment. She recently visited the burn scar of the Davis Fire and discussed key resources she’s delivered for wildfires fuels reduction in Northern Nevada. She also ensured all federal wildland firefighters—including many working in Nevada — got a significant pay raise in 2023 and helped designate the Sierra and Elko Fronts as Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscapes for wildfire prevention efforts.
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