The Kansas Forest Service says it is planning to get no federal funding in years down the road after work to eliminate the US Forest Service’s State, Private and Tribal Forestry programs in the upcoming budget.
State Forester Jason Hartman says the federal Office of Management and Budget has decided to withhold the state’s apportionment of current-year funds set aside by Congress earlier this year.
Due to the OMB decision, Hartman says Kansas will lose support in various ways, including funds for over 50 training courses per year, training for over 1,500 firefighters, over 30 public education events, direct assistance for the over 4,000 wildfires developing across the state and access to over 15 items of federal excess property items like trucks and hand tools. With this step, Hartman also says the Kansas Forest Service will not have resources to support destructive insect pest management, including detection, tracking, identification and monitoring.
Hartman says state landowners will lose access to nearly 200 technical assistance consultations, establishing around 40 windbreaks and developing around 60 forest management plans. According to Hartman, rural communities will miss out on support for over 90 Tree City USA locations, as well as hundreds of technical assistance visits and dozens of educational workshops.
This comes as several area fire departments received a special donation of water, thanks to Flint Hills Beverage and Anheuser-Busch. Allen-Admire, Hartford-Neosho Rapids, Miller and Osage County Fire District 2 all received a pallet of water, or over 2,300 cans, as part of the Emergency Drinking Water for Wildland Firefighters program.
