r/Wildfire • u/Flat-Suggestion-8373 • Jun 02 '25
News (General) Update: Additional FY26 Trump Budget Request Details - DOI/USWFS
Earlier today, DOI released their departmental-level summary for their FY26 budget request: https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2025-06/fy26bibentire-book508060125.pdf. USDA released their summary a few days ago, which was highlighted in an earlier post.
DOI’s summary includes a section for the new “U.S. Wildland Fire Service,” which would replace OWF and be a bureau-level organization within DOI. Overall the request would provide $3.7b in dedicated base funding for the service, which is equivalent to the total of the base funding provided to the the two departments for their individual WFM and haz fuels programs in FY25 ($1.1b for DOI, $2.6 for FS).
Additional details will likely be made available with the release of the account-specific congressional justification books in the coming weeks/months. These materials will give a better idea of what trade offs the Admin. would make to pay for standing up a new agency without providing a significant increase in dedicated funding above baseline levels to do so.
Of course, the normal caveats apply regarding these budget requests being an initial offer of sorts from the Admin., with Congress generally having a final say.
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u/dave54athotmailcom Jun 02 '25
Another disadvantage not mentioned is many of the PSEs found work in the off season with other shops, like timber, wildlife and recreation, instead of being laid off. This gave them breadth of experience plus year around employment. Under the new agency that opportunity will most likely disappear.
Yeah, the USWFS and USFWS are too close together for sister agencies in the same Dept. That needs to be fixed.
How to coordinate with the Resource Management side of the job needs to be worked out. The host agencies will still need an FMO type person to be a liaison with the fire shop. Different fire policies on different units will need to be taken into consideration -- for example, a National Forest adjacent to a National Park will have different priorities and fire use policies, yet both are served by the same USWFS personnel. Fuels projects require close coordination with the resource specialists of the host agency.
At first, I am assuming the fire crews will operate out of the same facilities as they do currently, even if co-located at a District office. I suspect eventually they will move out to their own brand new stations and facilities located nearby. Over time, many fire crews on currently adjacent units may be consolidated.
All budgets and policies are political. This will not change. The current administration is not addressing the deficit as promised, and is in fact increasing it. There will be budgetary pressure in the future as Congress faces the growing deficit and is forced to reduce appropriations. The smart manager will consider the FY2026 budget as 'bubble money' that will not be there in a few years.