The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing this week to explore ways to improve wildland fire management. Along with other witnesses, Oregon State Forester Doug Decker, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell and NAU’s Ecological Restoration Institute (ERI) Director of Policy and Partnerships Diane Vosick testified. Through the lens of the Blue Mountain Project in Northeast Oregon, one of the Nation's first pilots under the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, Decker spoke to the need to improve the economics of fuels reductions projects and continue investments to treat hazardous fuels at a meaningful scale. He also addressed the negative impact of fire transfers and the need to ensure the FLAME Act is implemented as Congress intended. A fire cost accounting study from the ERI can be found at http://www.eri.nau.edu/. An archived webcast and testimony from all the witnesses is available for viewing on the Senate website.
