Live at 2 15 eastern. That on cspan as well. The Senate Energy and National ResourcesCommittee Held a hearing on Wildland Fire Management programs. We hear from officials with the u. S. Forest service and the interior department as well as state officials from california and alaska. Good morning. Committee will come to order. Discuss thetoday to outlook for the 2019 wildfire season. We know it is underway, certainly in my state. I know its underway in washington state, california, most certainly. Westall received virginia, you are ok right now. But if you look at that map, the red in the southwest is something to Pay Attention to as well. Last week, the National Interagency fire center released its potential outlook for june through september and despite relief from the oppressive Drought Conditions this past winter, analysts addict elevated wildfire activity in california, oregon, and washington, among other areas in the country. Some of the some believe the stage is set for fire activity similar to the damage and loss of life we saw last year in northern california. We watched as the camp fire engulfed the town of paradise, killing 85 individuals, some of whom were trapped in vehicles on rural roads trying to escape the blaze. Back again. Weve seen an uptick and wildfires nationally. The oregon lake fires and alaska continue to burn in the donnelly training area. This is a u. S. Army range and in addition to the hazards of fighting the fire are folks are very carefully monitoring and spot treating the fires moved across dod land that contains unexploded ordnance. Another threat that is out there. I understand the vast majority of our fires are lightning strikes and they predict a lot more lightning in the next week. This weekend in arizona, smoke billowing from the mountain fire at the outskirts of phoenix suburbs prompted the closure of a popular weekend campground and marinas in the Tonto National itest so arizona is seeing as senator mcsally knows. Brush in l. A. County triggered panicked evacuation of hundreds of families from a crowded six flags amusement park. Some reported they were actually on the roller coaster rides and sh began burning their eyes. More than 500 firefighters have been working in triple digit heat north of sacramento temp maintain the sand to contain the sand fire. This is the new normal. We want to try to deal with some of this fire threat. We are going to turn off the power. We have seen time and again how something simple like a small spark on a breezy day can bring devastating infernos. The mendocino complex fire, the largest in californias history, was started by a hammer hitting a small state a hammer hitting a metal stake. We see our home state hereof in flames and more wildfires are occurring in the east and central state wildfires in the west grow larger and more severe. There are a number of reasons why our forests and grasslands are increasingly susceptible to fire. Changing climate means drier and warmer weather. Much of our nations forest landscapes are unhealthy and overstocked with excess fuel and the proliferation of disease and insect outbreak like we have seen in alaska and elsewhere around the country certainly colorado but these leave behind swaths of trees that are ready to ignite like a matchstick. In alaska, warmer winters have led to a population boom of spruce beetle across nearly one million acres in a few years have communities on the peninsula and in the mount sue valley that are scrambling to remove the dead and dying trees along the highways. Year in and out these factors continue to compound, creating the recipe for longer and more damaging fire seasons. In 2018, more than 8. 8 million acres burned across the country, double the average acres burned in the 1990s. Last year was the most expensive wildfire season on record. The federal government spent more than 3. 1 billion dollars in suppression costs so this is not only a human catastrophe, but andainly a financial cost increase is beyond the leave. Back in 2015, we had more than 5 million acres that burned in alaska alone. Truly a catastrophic year for us. I suppose the good news for that if you can see any good news in 5 million acres burned, is that very little in terms of Property Damage because of where these fires were located. We do not see that with these intensifiers in the lower 48. So congress has started to respond by expanding authorities for Fire Preventions. To reduce hazardous fuels on federal lands near force communities and out in larger landscapes we have streamlined the federal Environmental Review process to expedite projects aimed at restoring our forests to their natural fire adapted state and initiated a 2 billion increase in how we budget for wildfire suppression and that change will take effect later this year, at the start of fy 2020. We are counting on the Forest Service and interior department to utilize its full suite of resources for Fire Prevention and active Forest Management and hearing congress will continue to work on additional reforms to reduce the threat of wildfires. Toay weve got a good Panel Discuss the outlook for the wildfire season. Alaska, ourte of state forrester. He is testifying on behalf of of the National Association of state forresters. He has been before the committee before and we welcome you back, chris. The secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency and hes going to discuss the wildfire crisis facing the state of california. Representing the department of the interior, jeff rupert, the director of the office of wildland fire. Garza the director of fire in aviation management for the Forest Service. A long time Civil Servant with wildlandears of wildLand Management experience. Once a hotshot superintendent. I think the wildfires we are seeing in the past few years and the aftermath they leave shows why this is such an important topic for us to discuss and i am eager to learn more from the witnesses today. As Ranking Member from the eastern state ive listened to my colleagues and continue to learn more about the issues impacting their states and wildfire has been repeated topic of discussion. Despite the slow start to this years fire season, i understand wildfires are increasing in intensity, size, and frequency, burning longer harder to control than they were a few years ago. One of the major reasons for these fires is the change we have going on in climate. A couple weeks ago i joined chairman murkowski, senator , towell, senator whitehouse see firsthand the effects of , toate see firsthand the effects of Climate Change on the arctic. Climate warming, Climate Change, why cant we just have Climate Solutions because we know we have to do something . It will bring people together rather than drive them apart. The warmer and drier weather has been causing wildfires to burn hotter and faster and for longer periods. Recent studies show the average fire season is 78 days longer than it was in 1970. Experts are saying as global in 1970. Experts are saying as Global Temperatures continue to rise the wildfires we all experience the United States will continue to worsen. Research from headwater economics has shown global temperature increase of one degrees fahrenheit will result in 35 more increased acres burning in wildfires, doubling our cost. The effects of Climate Change are being made worse by our decades long history of suppressing all wildfires, even of good fires, and the lack Timber Harvesting in our forest, which is something im sure we will talk about today. Communities across the country are being confronted with increasingly dangerous blazes. Last year, 18,000 homes were lost in wildfires. That is one in every 7000 houses in the United States. Think about that. 18,000. As we continue to have these important conversations about lowering Carbon Emissions and increasing resilience and mitigation, wildfires need to be part of those conversations. I will say it again. I am seeking Climate Solutions that will bring people together rather than solutions that drive people apart. Fortunately, i believe addressing wildfires is bipartisan. Wildfires do not discriminate. They do not care whether you are republican or democrat. They have severely impacted communities in red and blue states equally. Everyone here supports giving our brave men and women the best tools available to do their jobs. I know that senator cantwell and gardnerarner senator have shown great leadership in ensuring our firefighters have access to stateoftheart technologies. I want to take this opportunity hishank senator white on wildfire funding bill, enacted last year. That will make 2 billion available beginning next year to the agencies for firefighting. I was a cosponsor of the bill because of how important it is to my state of West Virginia. Each year, when Forest Service ran short of funds, it would id the accounts of the Eastern National forest. We understood that. The practice was disruptive to proper management of these forests, like the monongahela. It directly harmed the surrounding communities that depend on our National Forests. It was a great start but there is more work to be done. We need to be looking at new solutions because these are complex problems, without simple answers. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses about the approach we are taking this year, so our country does not have to repeat the devastation we experienced last year. Thank you, madam chairman, and thank you to our witnesses. I look forward to this hearing. I appreciate you raising the surrounding our trip to the arctic. I have been attending the arctic dozenl meetings for a years or so. I have been on the arctic parliamentarian. We all had an opportunity to visit while in ottawa. Time, on the list of priorities on the Arctic Council as well as the arctic parliamentarian and all of the arctic nations one of those issues that we needed to deal with is the issue of wildfires. Wildfires in the arctic. We are not going to resolve that one today. It does speak to what we are seeing in different parts of the world that we really have not been as concerned about because the winters are cold enough that they kill the bugs, the beatles that would destroy the trees. As we are seeing increased drought in areas where you do not have big trees, you can still have fires. We recognize that. Say one thing that i took away from the trip that we had, which was the most amazing trip. We all have seen things we had only read about before. Close in person was really moving. The thing i walked away from ottawa patients were all represented. In those countries, they have more than just two Party Systems like we do. Not onehe parties, nation except the United States theica allows climate discussion of Climate Change, Climate Solutions, whatever to be a political divide. They all agree because their existence depends on something being done. We all can agree that it needs to be done. It is just a matter of agreeing what needs to be done and how to do it. Sen. Murkowski i have introduced each of you in an order that folks know he value that you bring to the discussion, whether through the usda Forest Service, interior state level as state foresters, and individual states. Lets begin with ms. Legarza. We welcome you to the committee and look forward to your testimony. We ask you to limit your comments to five minutes. Your full statement will be included as part of the record. Thank you for having me here today. I will speak about the 2019 remainder of the fire your lookout and talk about what we are doing for Information Technology in our agency and look at the different fire and levels ofment the national, regional, and state. What areow already, the normal conditions across the South Central wetter than normal conditions across the South Central and west coast. It is starting to dry out. Arizona, new mexico, idaho, alaska, even canada. We are sending firefighters to canada. Predictive services is showing it will start to increase. We could have a significant fire year again this year in california and the pacific northwest. Those grasses will dry out from the heavy rains and snowpack. With that will come large fires. We must continue to be prepared. In the past several years, we have seen recordbreaking fires every year in addition to what we saw last year. How do we continue to be continuousr this state of emergency we have across america . Things w, all the the main things that affect the fire environment are fuel, weather, and topography. One of those things we can fuelol is the fuels, the loading we have across america in the landscape. There is not a lot we can do with typography and we have seen the abnormal weather events that come in. What can we do in the fire triangle of fuel, weather, and topography . We know right now in the Forest Service we have 80 million acres at moderate to high risk, 44 million homes in addition adjacent. We must use the authorities coming to our agencies to work on the triangle. Ofn we work on the fuel leg the triangle, we will reduce exposure for firefighters to get in there and attacked the fires and for the public to be able to get out of that area. The fire can get knocked down quicker. In addition, i think about 86 of the fires in america are human caused fires. That means 86 of fires can be prevented. We do know we have more fires on coast. T then on the west coast a large percent of smaller fires are on the east coast. Big fires happen on the west coast. How do we continue to Work Together on these fire emergencies . Different emergencies include mobilization of management, vehicles, mechanized equipment, logistics and communication all across the country. We should be proud that we have one of the best systems for fire response. We go to other countries and hear about their stories of yearround fire and we talk about the system we have in america. At the national level, we work continuously with a shared stewardship and continue to roll out the authorities you have , including in the dingell act. In two weeks, we are having our first Information Technology day week in boise, idaho. There is overwhelming response of the public and vendors that firefighter us have accountability and safety across america. , at yourcal level district offices, there is continuous preseason meetings where we come together. We look at our authorities, our agreements. We review our Fire Management plans that we have. Aboutk to communities when a fire will come to that area and how we will deal with it in that community. E are working on the new bill we are looking at communities at risk. A study coming out soon in washington that we hope to look at those areas and plan on that. Just as we need to continue to improve the state of the nations forests and national grasslands, we have to work on the Work Environment and Forest Service. Ofbelieve that the values duty, respect, and integrity are a must. No harassment, discrimination at any level in the Forest Service. We will work on initiatives. We know we have to do more for the future to help change that situation. That includes my statement. Concludes my statement. Mr. Rupert, welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to this morning to discuss the in theldfire Outlook Department of the interiors wildFire Management program. When i spoke to laster this time, i said the year ahead will be a challenging one. 2018 proved to be more than that. It has been a trend now for many years that the fire season is in reality a fire year. Larger,on is facing costlier, more damaging wildfires. We ended 2018 with the destruction of an entire community in california. Oflost 85 lives and billions dollars in economic losses. It is hard to imagine a repeat of this experience. This is the potential reality that we face this year. It is difficult for me to sit here before you this morning and say that a challenging year as ahead of us because wildfires we are now experiencing are consistently more destructive than they have ever been. , this fire year will simply be a challenging one. So far in 2019, we are seeing fire activity across the pacific northwest, california, and along the southern border. Increase potential is expected in these areas well into the in washington, idaho, northwest montana come along the canadian border. It is expected to last through september. Most of hawaii will experience above normal wildfire potential through september. The rest of the country will see normal large wildfire potential through most of the summer. This nonstop mean this does not mean there is no risk of wildfire in other areas. It just means there is a normal risk of wildfire in other areas. While we have yet to see the really large, costly wildfires that our canadian neighbors are ineriencing right now alberta, we can expect to see them soon. We are vigilant in our