For weeks, wildfires have spread throughout southeastern Appalachia, destroying more than 76,000 acres of land in Western North Carolina, and tragically taking the lives of 14 of our neighbors in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
The heroic and tireless work of first responders, coupled with the deliverance of rainfall, have undoubtedly played a role in saving property and lives. As local, state and federal officials begin to assess the damage, it’s critical that we reflect on ways to improve our capacity to prevent and contain wildfires moving forward.
I have heard from local leaders and stakeholders in Western North Carolina who watched as first responders were impeded in their efforts to stop the fires. I’ve heard accounts of the tremendous difficulties creating plow lines, the lack of operable roads into and out of the forestland, and the general lack of good silviculture practices that are vital to the growth and health of forests.
Outdated federal government regulations and practices have been a major factor in creating and contributing to these glaring problems. The result is a federal system that is too often times counterproductive, straining the resources of our local first responders and drastically impeding our ability to prevent and contain wildfires.
Consider the fact that wildfire suppression efforts currently consume more than one half of the U.S. Forest Service’s appropriated budget. This debilitates the Forest Service’s capacity to actually manage forests and federal wilderness areas.
We must address these glaring issues before more innocent lives are lost and more properties and forestland in North Carolina are destroyed.
First and foremost, we must be more proactive. We need vigorous forest management across forest landownership boundaries to help make landscapes more resilient to wildfires. The lack of active forest management only leaves our forests and landscapes vulnerable, holding stockpiles of hazardous fuel just waiting to burn.
One piece of legislation debated this Congress, the Resilient Federal Forests Act, directly addresses this issue by reforming federal forest management to promote better forest stewardship and increase resilience to destructive wildfires.
I also introduced an amendment to this legislation that was voted on and approved by my colleagues that would give North Carolina counties the final say as to whether their land is designated as wilderness study areas by the Forest Service. I strongly believe that local officials should take part in the ultimate decision-making process, as they know the land and the local residency better than federal government bureaucrats.
If you don’t think local input matters, consider the thoughts of Bill Yarborough, the special assistant to N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, who wrote to my office: “We just need to look at the local impacts of recent wildfires on U.S. Forest Service land. The local economies were impacted by the smoke and budgets were impacted both locally and at the state level from the emergency response of firefighters and others trying to protect lives and private property. North Carolina was spared the devastation of Gatlinburg. It could have been different if not for the local efforts in conjunction with the work and cooperation of the Forest Service. The locals and the feds are joined at the hip and as such, decisions should be made in a cooperative manner.”
Additionally, efforts in Congress are being made to make wildfires occurring on federal land eligible for FEMA funding under existing federal law. After watching this funding mechanism play out during Hurricane Matthew, I believe this is a commonsense way to resolve the long-standing fire borrowing problem in which the Forest Service transfers funding from other programs in order to pay for firefighting services.
The recent wildfires in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee have provided a wake-up call for reforms at the federal level. Our local communities are paying the price of antiquated policies and poor federal management of forests and wilderness areas. I will continue to work across the aisle with my colleagues in the Senate to support reforms that will assist our first responders and increase the ability to not only respond to destructive wildfires, but to prevent them in the first place.
Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is North Carolina’s junior U.S. Senator.
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