Senators Slam Forest Service Cuts, Discussing Moving Agency To Interior Department

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON -- Senators on the powerful Appropriations Committee vowed Tuesday to reverse proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Forest Service and toyed with the idea of moving the agency from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Interior.

President Bush's proposed 2009 budget would reduce funding for firefighter readiness, hazardous fuels reduction work, law enforcement, construction and maintenance, recreation and research, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Interior subcommittee. "I don't know how anyone could really consider this a serious budget proposal," she said.

The administration requested $4.1 billion for the Forest Service, a full 8 percent below 2008 levels, Feinstein said. But she added that the cuts are actually much deeper because the budget did not fully account for increases in fixed costs including salaries and higher firefighting expenses.

"The way we look at it, the Forest Service is being cut nearly 15 percent," she said.

EDIT

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2008/04/04/news/wyoming/3112ad3b29110aa08725741e007fa002.txt

[LostinVA]

1. Good -- this is a great national resource that should be way better funded

It's also something that should be open to all Americans, instead of having facilities and whole areas closed.

It's also a public safety issue to increase the funding: fire, security, etc.

[Turbineguy]

2. Breaking Government

[XemaSab]

3. Starve the beast.

:(

[malakai2]

4. That would be nice

But then there would need to be a serious revision of agency responsibilities within DOI. The Fish & Wildlife Service is responsible for protecting the public trust in migratory birds, inland fisheries, and T&E species. The Minerals Management Service is responsible for managing lease sales and royalty payments for petroleum, gas, coal, and metal mining on Federal property. COE has certain sections of the Clean Water Act, EPA has other sections along with superfund, pesticides, and air releases. USFS has forest and grassland management, for most of its history focused on economic production (hence its location in DOA), and would maintain that with a simple move to DOI. BLM has the land that nobody (or rather, 'no white people') wanted during the land rushes in the late 19th century and parts of the 20th. BuRec is all about altering waterways in the interior west with the help of COE to benefit DOA agencies and generate power, and frequently knocks heads with FWS and NOAA Fisheries about listed species, both freshwater and anadromous. TVA does the same in the southern Appalachians.

If the Forest Service were to return to Department of Interior, they could easily combine with BLM and cut half their workforce, mostly in the already highly paid and overstocked regional and Washington offices. There is also no reason, given FWS's responsibilities, that NOAA Fisheries needs to be in charge of marine and anadromous species conservation. BuRec, COE, and some of the smaller entities like Bonneville Power and TVA have a bunch of duplicative duties, no real reason not to consolidate those as well. And since those waterworks agencies' expertise is engineering and power generation, we could strip their wildlife, contaminant, and clean water responsibilities and give those oversight authorities to FWS and EPA. Since MMS duties seem congruent with the concept of BLM duties, and since mining goes on in FS lands, it would seem that combining MMS with the already consolidated BLM/USFS would not be too far beyond the pale.

If they really want to save money and not sacrifice much, if anything, in the way of services, they have plenty of options. Or they can just keep kicking the political football.

[XemaSab]

6. You left out the USGS

:P

[malakai2]

7. I left out the BIA and OSM too

TVA is a Federally owned utility that should be placed within the Southeastern Power Administration, which should be lumped with the other three power administrations and left in DOE. BuRec's duties could be split between COE and the DOE power administrations. OSM's duties should be handled by the Federal landholding agencies, which would primarily be the USFS/BLM conglomerate. OIA should be dissolved and those territories allowed to self govern. BIA is a mess, and should probably be in the State Department. USGS is fine the way it is.

Can't believe I screwed up the breakdown so badly. I guess it's a good thing to review every now and again.

[XemaSab]

8. I don't know the ins and outs of every department

But NOAA, the USGS, the USFWS, the NPS, the NRCS, the BLM, the NWS, the Forest Service, the EPA, and about 8 other departments and agencies should all be under the same roof.

Certainly all the land management agencies and all the wildlife research and protection agencies, at minimum.

Or maybe it's healthy that they're scattered between commerce, interior, ag, EPA proper, and God knows what else...

[losthills]

5. Yeah, it's a good idea.

The Forest Service doesn't belong in the Department of Agriculture in this day and age.