The Forest Service has requested $604 million to fight wildfires in the budget year that begins Oct. 1. That amount is close to the 10-year average for fire suppression programs but well below what most officials expect will be needed, given continued drought conditions forecast in much of the West.
Lawmakers contend that the administration's plan is especially questionable considering last year's fire season, when thick, overgrown forests combined with an extended drought to scorch more than 7 million acres.
The acreage burned was the second-highest on record _ and the most expensive to put out. In all, federal officials spent more than $1.5 billion fighting wildfires _ triple the amount budgeted.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., told Forest Service officials that he and other senators have ``sort of grown weary'' of the administration's apparent habit of ``not funding very needed areas, with the expectation that we will get funding later or trade off other spending'' to fight fires.
``I worry about the consequences on other programs if we suffer another bad fire season,'' Domenici said at a budget hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which he is chairman.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the panel's ranking Democrat, echoed Domenici's comments. ``I don't think maintaining level funding for fire programs will be adequate,'' he said.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, acknowledged that severe wildfires have played havoc with the agency's budget in recent years. But he said the administration had proposed a series of reforms that should cut costs and improve efficiency.
Officials have established a team to review expenses and firefighting strategies and have set up procedures to focus on fighting fires for the lowest possible cost, among other changes, Rey said.
``I think we're going to see better use of the money in '04 in terms of getting work done on the ground,'' he said.
Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said the agency put out more than 99 percent of fires last year ``the way they all start _ small,'' and would do better this year.
Domenici was unconvinced. Most of the agency's soaring costs came from the handful of huge fires that made headlines and took weeks or even months to put out, he said.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, which had the single largest wildfire in the nation last year _ the 500,000 acre Biscuit Fire _ said he still does not know where the money used to fight the fire came from. The Biscuit fire, which burned for nearly four months, cost nearly $155 million.
Overall, the Forest Service budget would be set at $4.9 billion, about the same as the administration requested for the current budget year and $326 million below spending approved in 2002.
