USFS: 43% Budget Cut Proposed

Forest Service identified 100M+ acres of National Forest land needing treatment in coming years; witnesses broadly argued current staffing, funding, permitting and litigation frameworks are not sufficient to execute at that scale. - Hazardous fuels work is already declining: Forest Service treated roughly 25% fewer acres from 2024 to 2025, and Oregon treatments were down 47%; witnesses tied this to staffing losses, policy uncertainty and reduced agency capacity. - Wildfire conditions are described as unusually severe in 2026: Oregon and the West face historically low snowpack, extreme drought and elevated temperatures; 2.7M acres already burned nationwide, above the 10-year average for both fires and acres burned to date. - House-passed 2026 Farm Bill would expand forestry tools: reauthorizes Landscape Scale Collaborative Forest Landscape and Joint Chiefs programs, authorizes hazardous fuel reduction/cross-boundary wildfire mitigation/insect and disease work, expands categorical exclusions, supports wood innovation grants, biochar demonstration and Timber Production Expansion Program. - Secure Rural Schools remains a key near-term funding risk for counties: witnesses urged long-term or permanent reauthorization before another lapse in 2027, saying delays force counties to defer road maintenance, school projects and public-safety staffing in areas with large federal land bases and limited tax revenue. - Forest products industry warned mill/logging infrastructure loss is directly reducing ability to manage forests; only ~one-third of the 193M-acre National Forest System is eligible for timber harvest, and in any given year the Forest Service manages only about 0.5% of that eligible base. - Industry and Republican members argued regulatory constraints are the biggest barrier to delivering timber and completing forest-health work; examples cited include wilderness, Roadless Rule and Northwest Forest Plan restrictions that prevent salvage/replanting after fires, leaving some burned stands unlikely to regenerate naturally for generations. - Conservation witness cautioned that staffing cuts plus growing use of categorical exclusions/emergency determinations may backfire: bypassing NEPA/public input can erode trust and make litigation the only accountability path, while robust collaboration can reduce conflict and improve project durability.