California Members of Congress Call for Year-Round Wildland Fire Workforce
Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla and Representatives Zoe Lofgren, Scott Peters and Jimmy Panetta (all D-Calif.) led a group of their California colleagues on a letter urging the Biden administration to transition to a year-round federal firefighting workforce.
“As California and the West continue to contend with historic and destructive wildfire seasons, it has become clear that we are entering a ‘new normal’ in which increasingly intense wildfires wreak havoc during a nearly year-round fire season,” the lawmakers wrote to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Interior Secretary Haaland.
“Because the federal government owns 57% of the forest land in California, and climate change all but ensures an ever-expanding fire season in the years to come, we must begin to adapt our federal resources to better align with needs on the ground,” the lawmakers continued.
In addition to Feinstein, Padilla, Lofgren, Peters and Panetta, the letter was also signed by Representatives Julia Brownley, Salud Carbajal, Jim Costa, Mark DeSaulnier, Anna G. Eshoo, John Garamendi, Jared Huffman, Sara Jacobs, Barbara Lee, Ted W. Lieu, Alan Lowenthal, Jerry McNerney, Grace F. Napolitano, Adam B. Schiff, Brad Sherman, Eric Swalwell, Juan Vargas and Pete Aguilar (all D-Calif.).
+ to read the full article, click here.Source: By East County Today Staff | East County Today