Wyden Presses Trump Administration Over Misleading Statements on Wildland Firefighting Preparedness and Capability
Senator’s letter follows U.S. Forest Service Chief Schultz's misleading testimony in a Senate hearing about Trump’s proposed Forest Service budget
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today demanded answers from the Trump administration following multiple misleading statements at a recent Senate committee hearing from U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz about how the Trump administration’s staffing and spending cuts are weakening wildland firefighting preparedness and resources this fire season.
“Unfortunately, the Trump administration has apparently not only failed to increase the overall resources available, it has failed to maintain the inadequate resources it previously had,” Wyden wrote in his letter to Schultz. “This overall lack of transparency through obfuscation and omission inhibits the Senate’s responsibility and congressional authority to conduct oversight of federal agencies, and protect our constituents.”
Following Wyden’s questioning during the Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing last week, Chief Schultz implied there had been no reduction in Forest Service employees available to respond to wildfire. This response conveniently ignored employees holding Incident Qualification Cards, or “red cards.” Only later after being pressed did Chief Schultz admit that staffing and budget cuts have resulted in the loss of 1400 red card holders. Any Forest Service employee holding a red card is trained and qualified to support firefighting operations during a wildfire.
Wyden also asked Chief Schultz to confirm in writing how the Trump administration’s planned reorganization of federal firefighting capabilities within the Department of the Interior will affect its ability to get Western states the personnel and resources they need to prepare for and battle blazes this fire season.
Additionally, Wyden pressed Chief Schultz on his misleading claim that there has been no decline in hazardous fuel reduction efforts under the Trump administration. The most recent number shared by other administration officials showed that only 1.7 million acres of hazardous fuels reduction treatment have occurred so far this fiscal year, less than half of the 4.29 million acres treated during the last year of the Biden administration in Fiscal Year 2024.
Wyden has been a longtime champion of sustainable forestry and common-sense policies to reduce the risk of wildfire, introducing the bipartisan National Prescribed Fire Act of 2025 that would invest in hazardous fuels management to reduce the risk of blistering infernos by increasing the pace and scale of prescribed burns during cooler, wetter months.
Video of the exchange at last week’s committee hearing between Wyden and Schultz can be found here.
A copy of the entire letter is here.
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