Back to basics on funding forest management Image By Tom Schultz This is a lightly edited excerpt of testimony recently provided to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources during a hearing concerning the president’s fiscal year 2026 proposed budget for the U.S. Forest Service. The 2026 Forest Service Budget is focused and strategic, making trade-offs for efficiency and alignment around the highest priorities for National Forest System lands. It will also support local economies through jobs, trade, timber production, recreation access, energy development and livestock grazing. The production of various forest products, such as timber, lumber, paper, bioenergy, and other wood products (timber production) is vital for the country’s well-being. Executive Order 14225 emphasizes the importance of timber production and how forest management and wildfire risk reduction projects can protect American lives and communities. To improve efficiency and federal response, the FY 2026 budget removes duplicate efforts in Federal Wildland Fire Management by consolidating the federal suppression response apparatus into a new DOI bureau. The new U.S. Wildland Fire Service will unify logistical and support functions such as dispatching, training, information technology, reporting, financial management, and contracting. This organization will provide initial attack, large fire response, and facilitate hazardous fuels mitigation operations (both mechanical and prescribed fire) for all federal land management agencies enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Federal wildfire response capacity. The following investments align with and enhance the agency’s efforts to modernize the wildland fire management system: • Forest Service Operations: Requested amount reduces support services salaries and facility leases to streamline Agency’s management structure and right size the real property footprint. Some funding and associated capacity will shift to the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service in DOI to meet business support requirements associated with the combined fire organization. • Forest and Rangeland Research: The account was eliminated, except for Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) which was moved to the National Forest System account and the Joint Fire Science program which would be moved to the DOI as part of the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service. The shift of the FIA program will ensure that it is aligned with the practical needs of forest management for timber production, continuing to sustain its longstanding census of forest resources and conditions to the National Forest System. • State, Private and Tribal Forestry: The discretionary account was eliminated to ensure fiscal responsibility with American taxpayer dollars and to better balance the appropriate roles of federal and state governments. In alignment with restoring federalism, we encourage increasing State authority to fund the management of State and privately-owned forests, community preparedness, and public risk mitigation activities. • National Forest System: The 2026 Budget proposes $1.297 billion to fund the National Forest System focusing support on field-based operations, which are essential for meeting high-priority agency objectives. With this level of funding the Forest Service will prioritize activities related to timber sales, recreation, environmental analyses, law enforcement, critical minerals permitting, and grazing allotment management. • Capital Improvement and Maintenance: The 2026 request necessitates a significant rightsizing of Forest Service facilities (both administrative and recreation), roads and trails. Prioritization will be made in alignment with the administration’s priorities, with funding going towards infrastructure that facilitates timber production, hazardous fuels removal, mineral extraction, and emergency response. • Wildland Fire Management: The 2026 request will transfer the Forest Service Wildland Fire Management appropriations to DOI for the creation of the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service. This new DOI bureau will absorb the Forest Service Wildland Fire Management response program, including over 11,000 firefighters, 3,000 operational fire support personnel and leadership, and over 400 business support personnel. Through Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) funding, the Forest Service continues to repair and upgrade vital infrastructure and facilities in the national forests and grasslands through the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund and the FY 2026 budget requests its reauthorization for another five years. The GAOA also permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), with which the Forest Service invests in conservation and recreation opportunities in public and private lands through the Forest Legacy Program and Federal Land Acquisition. The FY 2026 request proposes an amendment to the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act expanding it to include a new Priority Deferred Maintenance program to address priority deferred maintenance projects at DOI bureaus and the Forest Service. For the Forest Service, this LWCF Priority Deferred Maintenance program will prioritize deferred maintenance projects that support and facilitate high-priority objectives associated with timber production, emergency response, and recreation activities. The funding would be spent predominantly on roads, bridges and facilities, including those critical to housing employees and ensuring visitor safety. We are getting back to the basics of managing our national forests for their intended purposes of producing timber, clean water, recreation, and other necessities for the American taxpayers. Tom Schultz is the chief of the U.S. Forest Service. *The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of HealthPlatform.News.
