Mark Udall: “The amendment would shift $4 million into the Forest Service's wildland fire management account. The purpose of the…”

“The amendment would shift $4 million into the Forest Service's wildland fire management account. The purpose of the amendment is to increase the funding for the preparedness and fire operations line items. Those line items pay for a number of important activities aimed at the protection of life, property, and natural resources. The preparedness account is used to enable the Forest Service and cooperating agencies to prevent, defect, and respond to fires on National Forest lands. The fire operations account pays for actually fighting forest fires; but even more importantly, it pays for work to prevent them in the first place by controlled burning and other steps to reduce the amount of hazardous fuels. The danger of fire is real. In fact, in the last couple of days, fires in Jefferson, Park, and Larimer Counties have burned more than 40 houses and caused hundreds of Coloradans to be evacuated from their homes.”