Jul
10
2020
Colorado Politics: Neglect Is a Steep Bet Against Colorado’s Wildfires
In a recent column for Colorado Politics, Joey Bunch highlighted the decreased federal and state funding for combating wildfires in Colorado. For example, Bunch notes the Colorado General Assembly appropriated just $30 million in the budget past last month – down from $31.3 million in 2019. However, in 2017 the Division of Fire Protection and Control received $58 million and in 2018 it received $71 million.
Bunch notes that the Trump administration has placed an emphasis on logging rather than wildfire prevention, and it has reduced by 16% funds for state wildfire action plans. US Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) have each co-sponsored their own proposals to tackle the funding issue.