A new way to pay for large wildfires

The Obama administration’s proposed 2015 budget aims to change how the federal government pays for catastrophic wildfires.

In the past, large wildfires were paid for through the Forest Service budget. If a large fire broke out, the service would “borrow” money from funds used for forest restoration and other projects.

In the past, the Forest Service spent about 16 percent of its total budget on firefighting. But in more recent years, that figure has dramatically increased to about 40 percent, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said last week.

Northwest Montana, like much of the West, has seen huge wildfires over the past 10 years. Fires in the region in 2003 alone cost more than $100 million.

The Obama administration proposes using funds from another federal source, one that pays for other natural disasters like hurricanes. That funding falls outside of normal budget caps, and the funding would be used only for large catastrophic wildfires.

Sen. Jon Tester said he liked the idea during a recent conference call with reporters.

But Congressional action will be needed to change the fire funding mechanism, and Congress has shown little appetite to adopt Obama’s budget, considering it already adopted a budget plan earlier this year.