The Billion-Dollar Question Public Land Seizure Proponents Still Cannot Answer
Conservative politicians in Western states continue to promote efforts to dispose of U.S. public lands into state and private hands. But ever since this modern day version of the Sagebrush Rebellion appeared nearly five years ago, proponents of “transferring” public lands have failed to answer even the most basic question about their proposal: how will states afford to protect communities from wildfire that occurs naturally across the West?
This fundamental question is top of mind as wildfire has flared up in Western states during this past summer. The Center for Western Priorities first analyzed this issue in 2014. What follows is an update to the original report, which finds that between 2009 and 2015 the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) alone has spent over $6 billion suppressing wildfire in Western states.