The Trump Admin Is Withholding Approx. $20M From WA For The 2025 Wildfire Season. Cantwell: “Why Aren’t We Releasing The Funds?”
During a potentially dire PNW wildfire season, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget claims they are still “evaluating” resources already set aside for the region; Funding being withheld could be spent NOW on firefighting training & equipment, forest management, & landscape restoration
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, questioned U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz about why the Trump Administration is withholding an estimated $20 million from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the 2025 firefighting season and future fire seasons.
President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has not disbursed over $280 million in FY25 State, Private, and Tribal Forestry (SPTF) program funds. This includes grants to states to help train and equip state, local, and volunteer emergency responders and firefighters with the tools and resources they need to put wildfires out safely and quickly. This includes funding for fire academies, personal protection equipment, fire pumps, hoses, nozzles, and other safety gear. Nationally, state, local, and volunteer fire departments respond to roughly 80% of all wildfires each year. Last year DNR, along with local first responders, successfully kept over 93% of fires in Washington state at 10 acres or less.
Funds from the SPTF can also be used for hazardous fuels work on non-federal land in the wildland urban interface (WUI), to recover land that has been burned, and for forest health management.
“So where is the resource for the state? I think it's a budget that's already been approved. So why aren't we releasing the funds that go to the community so that they can best prepare for this fire season?” Sen. Cantwell asked during a committee hearing this morning.
“We are evaluating that right now. We've had a lot of feedback from the State Foresters. We're working with OMB on that question right now, looking at that issue. So, we have not made a determination yet, but that's something that is being evaluated,” Schultz responded.
Sen. Cantwell: “So when do you expect that to go out?”
Schultz: “We expect there probably to be [a] determination in the next several weeks, would be my expectation […] But we don't-- again, we can't commit that that's for sure going to go out yet. That's still under discussion.”
Sen. Cantwell: “We want to follow the normal process so that the Forest Service is working with others to get the resources into those communities and do the work that they need to do.”
Last year, DNR received $20,509,589 of SPTF funding and is expecting a similar allocation this year. If FY25 is not apportioned and distributed by the U.S. Forest Service by Sept. 30, DNR may have to reduce Fire Academy Training sessions, which could result in 400 wildland firefighters not receiving training. Also, DNR may not be able to provide financial assistance for hazardous fuels reduction for non-federal lands in the WUI.
Wildfire risk is above normal for the entire state of Washington, according to the National Interagency Fire Center’s forecast for July through September 2025, with the high risk predicted to persist in Eastern and Central Washington through October.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is currently at Preparedness Level 3 (out of 4 possible levels), with five large wildfires burning in the state. So far this year the department logged 667 wildfires and 16,465 acres burned.
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s questioning of Schultz is HERE; a transcript is HERE.
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