Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced that she is using her constitutional authority to call a special session of the Oregon Legislature, to begin on Thursday, December 12, for lawmakers to appropriate funds to pay for the historic 2024 wildfire season. A record 1.9 million acres burned this wildfire season, far exceeding the state’s 10-year average of 640,000 acres per season and incurring costs upwards of $350 million. While over half of the costs will eventually be covered by disaster relief funds from the federal government, the state needs to pay its bills as expeditiously as possible.

“The unprecedented 2024 wildfire season required all of us to work together to protect life, land, and property, and that spirit of cooperation must continue in order to meet our fiscal responsibilities,” said Governor Kotek. “I am grateful to legislative leaders for coming to consensus that our best course of action is to ensure the state’s fire season costs are addressed and bills paid by the end of the calendar year.”

The Governor is asking the Legislature to release a combined total of $218 million to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and the Oregon Department of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) to address all costs for the season assumed to date. This includes meeting the state’s financial obligations to small, medium, and large contractors who worked tirelessly to protect and support Oregonians for more than five months.

“Fighting wildfires of the magnitude we saw this season required a tremendous level of resources that even wildfire experts couldn’t foresee,” said House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-West Eugene & Veneta). “Now, as we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, we need to make good on our commitments and pay our bills so that the contractors who fought fires in Oregon can be made whole. Convening now will enable us to do so, and to chart a bipartisan path forward to address our state’s most pressing needs.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Wildfires this season destroyed at least 42 homes and 132 other structures, and caused severe disruptions and damage to transportation facilities, utility infrastructure, and natural resource economies. In July, Governor Kotek declared a State of Emergency in response to the threat of wildfire and invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act a state record 17 times to mobilize structural firefighting resources coordinated by OSFM to local communities and thousands of wildland firefighting personnel and resources coordinated by ODF.

Oregonians are perplexed over the number of acres burned. If 86% of wildfires are man caused, why are the blaming climate change? How many of those man made fires were prescribed burns? The National Forest Service intents to repeat prescribed burns every five years. The trees that survived the 2021 prescribed burns are now dead hit by current wildfires that had the potential of two billion board feet of timber harvest.

According to ODF, the state’s share of 2024 fire season net cost is $123 million. Net costs are gross costs minus reimbursements from federal or other state agencies. The September 2024 emergency funds provided for 2024 net costs was $40 million, leaving $83 million. ODF intended to request the $83 million from the December Emergency Board, which is the remaining portion of the state’s share (net) of wildfire costs for the 2024 fire season. The gross cost will eventually be reimbursed by sources such as FEMA and USFS, but ODF has to carry that debt and pay those bills in the meantime. After the most expensive fire season in Oregon’s history, it’s clear that ODF needs financial help to make it until federal funds are received for reimbursements.

Will Governor Kotek enforce a 2010 administrative rule mandating that ODF harvest enough timber from state forests to fulfill its obligations to manage the forests. As chief of the Land Board, her decision to advance HCP, cutting production by over 50% is putting a bigger burden on taxpayers to cover wildfire costs, and having total disregard for rule of law.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2024-11-26 17:39:28

Last Update: 2024-11-26 19:15:37