Update: Additional FY26 Trump Budget Request Details - DOI/USWFS

[u/Flat-Suggestion-8373]

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.

[u/TownshipRangeSection]

Sounds good on paper, in practice it is going to be half-baked and create unnecessary levels of bureaucracy. Collaboration between stakeholders and agencies? It just got a whole lot more difficult for everyone.

[u/BACKCUT-DOWNHILL → u/TownshipRangeSection]

Having the USFS, BLM, Fish and feathers and parkies spread out across the USDA and DOI isn’t unnecessary levels of bureaucracy?

[u/UltramaficBasalt → u/BACKCUT-DOWNHILL]

Alright me and my crew now work for the USWFS instead of the forest service — but the FS owns our rigs, do we keep them or are we walking now? It also appropriated all our gear, do we keep it or do they? They administer our housing — do we still have access, and if we do how does selection between FS and USWFS employees work? Who do my FMO and AFMO report to? Do we still work out of the FS district office we do now or do we have to move to the other side of the Cascades to start operating out of the nearest DOI land?

Nobody proposing this has serious answers to these questions. Anything we lose access to fucks us. Anything we keep access to now requires inter-agency coordination for what used to be routine and in-house. Maybe systems get worked out eventually but for at least a season after this goes into effect it’s gonna be a shitshow.

[u/ResidentOverhead → u/UltramaficBasalt]

The proposed budget did appear to address at least some of this, it clearly gave authority to the secretaries to make transfers. Which seems reasonable to assume this means funding, equipment, potentially facilities etc… All equipment purchased with fire funds will get transferred to the new agency.

Facilities will likely be leased in the short term and new ones potentially leased or purpose built in the longer term.

Your local FMO will likely report to some Deputy Regional FMO, who will report to a Regional FMo who will report to a National FMO. What their actual titles will be, I have no clue. FMOs will have delegated responsibility over a geographic area and have resources and funding to manage their zone. The structure is there, if just needs details ironed out.

100% though the first 5 years will be a rough period of change for most firefighters. As the saying goes “firefighters hate two things, change and the way things are”.

[u/Whiskey_Jack → u/ResidentOverhead]

Yeah, except a lot of the people who have actual knowledge about how all these specifics and contracting needs work just DRP'd and more are soon to get RIF'd. Dispatch centers are getting absolutely hollowed out by the early retirements.

It's just extremely poorly thought out, and I have a feeling Sheehy and his ilk want it to fail spectacularly so they can start selling public lands and hand everything to private contractors due to the ineptitude of the feds.

Every single person here knows how underfunded these programs are and that they just need funding for employees and fuels work, this is not that.

Im not even opposed to a separate agency. It sucks that Recreation, timber and wildlife have their budgets fucked by fire every year. But there is absolutely no mention of that in any of this.