Centennial – While snow has been an ally against wildfires this year, the federal government is not so kind, Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday.
Forest officials want to cut $4.3 million from the $230 million spent last year on forest health in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota.
“Losing that ($4.3 million) erodes our ability to add land for management,” the governor told reporters after he was briefed on fire conditions by state and federal officials.
Colorado’s congressional delegation sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell asking to restore the money.
The Forest Service “shouldn’t balance its books by putting Colorado at risk,” Sen. Ken Salazar said in a statement.
Last year Colorado saw 3,294 fires that burned 202,000 acres – 1,200 more fires and three times the acreage of 2005.
Fire officials from across the West will convene in Boulder next week to discuss weather, forest health and other issues that cause or contribute to wildfires.
This season’s snowy winter and wet spring have left Colorado in a “strong position,” Ritter said. But the delayed fire season leaves more fuel to burn later this summer, he cautioned.
A dry summer is hardly certain, said Klaus Wolter, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climatologist at the University of Colorado.
“If La Niña were to take hold,” he said of the weather pattern, “a hot, dry summer would be more likely, but there’s still some uncertainty on whether that could happen.
“It’s wide open for summer.”
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
