Forest Service chief signals budget tightening is on the horizon for fiscal year 2025

The head of the U.S. Forest Service said last week that as the end of the fiscal year approaches, the agency is preparing for potentially difficult budget realities in fiscal year 2025.

In an Aug. 29 blog post, Chief Randy Moore said the Forest Service is planning its fiscal year 2025 budget allocations based on a “potentially constrained fiscal future” scenario after previous legislation provided additional funding and pay increases for forest firefighters.

“When we plan, we take into account our current funding levels and the funding proposals from the House and Senate Subcommittees on Internal Appropriations,” Moore said. “Prudent planning is to use the lowest of all those numbers so that we don’t over-budget or negate congressional decision-making space.”

This means that until Congress approves an appropriations package, the Forest Service will evaluate its fiscal year 2025 allocation estimates based on funding levels proposed by the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on the Interior, which was $8.43 billion as of June 26.

These amounts represent an increase of $53.5 million over the agency’s regular budget for fiscal year 2024 and a 6.3% increase for wildfire management, but overall a 3.5% cut from total enacted levels, including $945 million in additional funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In March, as part of the president’s fiscal year 2025 budget request, the Forest Service requested $8.9 billion.

Moore said the targeted funding level, combined with expiring supplemental funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure legislation, as well as two cost-of-living increases of nearly 10%, means the Forest Service is facing serious budget headwinds.

“The current situation requires us to make difficult decisions. In the short term, we are focused on workforce planning, and we are also relying on our partners, in whom we have invested significantly, to stand shoulder to shoulder with us to continue to deliver our priority work,” he said. “This is management’s work for the foreseeable future. We will share information as we progress as quickly as possible.”

For the foreseeable future, the Forest Service will prioritize workforce funding, including “asking employees to take on the highest priority tasks that align with our funding sources.”

The funding warning follows years of financial problems for the agency, including efforts to recruit and retain federal forest firefighters.

The Biden administration sought to boost the number of firefighters saving forests in 2022 by authorizing pay increases of $20,000 per year or 50% of base pay (whichever is lower) in an infrastructure law, and Congress extended those raises at least through fiscal 2024.

In July, Moore told the Forest Service’s National Leadership Council that lower employee turnover means the agency will have to implement more stringent hiring controls.

The chamber approved the budget package by a vote of 210 to 205 on July 24. The Senate’s budget bill was approved by the committee on July 25 and is awaiting a vote in the plenary chamber.

Moore said the Forest Service will hold a conference call with all employees on Sept. 16 to answer any questions about budget planning and other issues.