During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) spoke about DOGE cuts to federal wildfire prevention programs.
00:00Arizona, Ms. Ansari is recognized for five minutes.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chair.
00:04I'd like to first start by thanking our witnesses for being here today,
00:07especially Captain Chapman, who does such important work in my home state of Arizona.
00:12Arizona is on the front lines of the nation's forest management challenges.
00:17Our wildfire seasons are becoming increasingly severe, more frequent, more intense, and more destructive due to the climate crisis.
00:25Currently, the Bryce Fire in southeastern Arizona has already scorched nearly 3,000 acres.
00:32At the same time, the Coyote Fire in northeastern Arizona, near the New Mexico border, has burned close to 1,200 acres.
00:41This highlights just how important it is that we ensure our wildfire prevention teams have the resources they need to adequately prepare for and respond to wildfire season.
00:51Unfortunately, instead of strengthening these efforts, DOGE and the Trump administration have cut critical fire prevention programs,
00:59fired thousands of workers that prepare for and respond to wildfires around the country,
01:06and imposed a federal hiring freeze that could significantly hamper operations during peak fire season.
01:13That is why earlier this year, I sent a letter to the Trump administration expressing urgent concern about the potential impact of the current federal hiring freeze on the Forest Service's seasonal wildland firefighting workforce in Arizona.
01:29The seasonal firefighters employed by the Forest Service protect our communities, our infrastructure, and our public lands during the wildfire season.
01:38The uncertainty surrounding this year's hiring process threatens to leave the agency dangerously understaffed at a critical time.
01:46Captain Chapman, as of September of last year, the Biden administration allocated $60 million to Arizona for wildfire mitigation and recovery under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
01:58This funding was for things like fuel management projects, prescribed fires, firefighter training, and wildfire science.
02:05I want to ask you about how your ability to fight fires will be impacted if Elon Musk and DOGE take this funding away from our state.
02:14What would happen, Mr. Captain Chapman, if you lost millions of dollars for fuel management projects?
02:22Thank you for the question.
02:26You know, really, we like to think about fighting the fire before the fire starts.
02:30Our fire is local.
02:35And so in our area, we can really do a good job restoring the natural structure and pattern of our Ponderosa Pine Forest.
02:41That keeps the fire on the ground.
02:43When the fire is on the ground, we can actually engage that fire.
02:46We can get in front of that fire.
02:48Tools, trucks, people do a really good job when the fire is on the ground.
02:51We can't do a whole lot when the fire is in the trees.
02:53So keeping that fire on the ground is really important for us.
02:57And the way we do that is really something that's grown to be called the Flagstaff Model.
03:02And that's a locally driven collaborative process to treat our lands around the community, whether it's private lands, whether it's city lands, whether it's state or federal.
03:10We're pretty successful at getting that money and putting it into the ground, into these treatments.
03:15And so anytime we see a reduction in capacity to implement these fuel reduction treatments, it makes it harder to protect our community.
03:23So it's not just implementing that treatment, but it's also, as we've heard, maintaining those treatments as well.
03:28So our timber industry is growing in our area.
03:31Investments into that industry are very important.
03:34And maintaining that stability to give that struggling timber industry the assurance that investments in our area are a smart thing for them is very important for our communities.
03:45And then that ties into the built environment investments as well.
03:48And so working with our partners here at IBHS to better build our communities, to adapt to that low-intensity surface fire that we know is important for our forests.
03:57Not only can firefighters get in front of a low-intensity surface fire, defensible space and home hardening and that effective and safe response is really important for our communities to protect themselves from a fast-moving grass fire.
04:12So upfront work is really the most important thing we can do.
04:15Great.
04:16And just for the sake of time, I'll ask my two following questions.
04:19What would happen if you lost millions of dollars for prescribed fires and then also for firefighter training?
04:25Obviously, that would increase risk to our community.
04:27There's no other way to say it.
04:29If we can't maintain our treatments with prescribed fire, I mean, our natural fire return intervals every couple of years.
04:35If we don't have the people to put that fire on the ground and maintain those treatments, then our trees are growing back.
04:40And we start seeing that risk increase again.
