In Forest Service Budget Hearing, Tom Pushes to Fund Severe Wildfires as Natural Disasters
April 7, 2016
Senator Tom Udall pressed U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell on the agency's ability to meet the escalating costs of wildfire suppression and the urgent need to fix how the government pays to fight increasingly frequent big, expensive wildfires. Udall and Tidwell also discussed the proposed Gila River diversion project, working with New Mexico's traditional communities, the closing of the Mescalero Forest Products sawmill and how to better coordinate Forest Service hiring in the Southwest.
