USDA works to reduce wildfire risk

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – As thousands of acres in Southern California burn, the USDA is investing in new projects to reduce wildfire risk across the country.

“We’re announcing a commitment of $100 million that will fund 21 projects in 18 national forests,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday.

The projects span 14 states with a focus on prescribed burns meant to reduce fuels that make fires worse. California is getting the largest chunk of money, $15 million in total for the Eldorado, Tahoe and Sequoia National Forests.

“We never lost a sequoia to fire for 1,200 years until 2017,” Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) said. “Since then we’ve lost 20% of the sequoias.”

California Congressman Scott Peters is trying to prevent forest fires with his own legislation. His bipartisan “Fix Our Forests Act” is expected to get a House vote later this month. Peters also has a bill to save sequoia trees.

“Help can’t come soon enough. We have a tremendous challenge with wildfires,” Peters said.

The USDA money comes from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, but Secretary Vilsack says more will be needed.

“Frankly, we need our friends in Congress to continue to provide the resources,” Vilsack said.

California Congressman Ro Khanna wants to do that.

“The wildfire issue isn’t going away, especially with climate change, as temperatures get hotter and the air is drier,” Rep. Khanna said.

Khanna says people can feel the impacts, even far from the flames.

“It’s really devastating. There are times in Silicon Valley where we’ve gotten up and walked out and it’s covered in smoke, and sometimes hard to breathe and hard to see,” Khanna said.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, more than 35,000 fires have burned more than 6.8 million acres this year so far.