WASHINGTON — President Obama this weekend signed legislation that will bring a degree of relief to the nation’s forests by helping federal agencies solve several of the top problems caused by the skyrocketing costs of wildfire suppression. The measure establishes a new approach to budgeting for costly wildfires, which continually drain the budgets of the Forest Service and Department of the Interior and lead to the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from other agency forest and land management priorities.

Interior Department receives $4.5 billion increase for environment

The U.S. Senate yesterday passed a Department of Interior appropriations bill by a strong 77-21 bipartisan vote, providing a $4.5 billion increase above 2009 funding levels for a variety of critical environmental agencies, programs and services. In doing so, the Senate also created an important separate source of funding for federal agencies to suppress large-scale wildfires.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a bill aimed at solving a critical part of America’s wildfire suppression funding crisis. The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement (FLAME) Act is designed to help federal agencies address the escalating cost of suppressing wildfires. It would also relieve the burden placed on other vital programs and services each year when the agencies pull money away from them to fight fires.