Forest Service chief: Firefighting cost leaves little room for prevention, other programs

File photo courtesy of Baker River HotshotsNationally, longer fire seasons and more destructive fires have put the Forest Service in a bad place: To pay the cost of fighting mega fires, the agency has had to raid other programs, including its fire prevention budget. Sen. Lisa Murkowski supports a plan to end so-called “fire borrowing.” But Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told her it’s not penciling out as they’d hoped.
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Last year, more than half of the Fore