State Department of Natural Resources awaits new wildfire funds; residents can help
State officials urge homeowners to take steps to cut fire risk By Laurel Demkovich, The Spokesman-Review
Published: May 16, 2021, 6:03am
Share: A Fire Boss plane - a fixed-wing aircraft used in wild land fire suppression - battles a wildfire in Eastern Washington in 2018. (Eastern Area IMT)
OLYMPIA After several years of devastating wildfires across Washington, lawmakers this year agreed to make a major investment in wildfire prevention and forest health.
It was a fight Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz had been fighting since she first came into office in 2017.
In Our View: Wildfire bill approval will be investment in state The Columbian
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Overwhelming legislative support for House Bill 1168 demonstrates the depth of concern about wildfires in Washington.
“Washington is on the brink of breaking the cycle of inaction that has created our wildfire crisis,” said Hilary Franz, commissioner of public lands. “We are one step closer to protecting our communities, our forests and the air we breathe.”
The bill passed the House of Representatives by a 96-0 count (Rep. Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver, had an excused absence), and passed the Senate, 49-0. It now returns to the House for consideration of amendments approved by the Senate.
Looking For Permanent Funding To Protect People And Forests
Hilary Franz is Washington s Commissioner of Public Lands and it s a big job. Her office manages nearly six million acres of public lands in Washington State including working forests and farms, commercial developments and recreation areas and she does all that with a budget of about 43-million per biennium. She says the state needs to spend more, like 3 times more. As the leader of our state s largest wildfire fighting force, she has pushed for new strategies, innovations, and resources to protect our communities..Commissioner Franz developed a 20-year Forest Health Strategic Plan (that)..will make more than one million acres of forest healthier and more resistant to wildfires – a scale and pace that is unprecedented.