More than half of the U.S. Forest Service budget now goes to fighting fires, pushing the agency to a “tipping point.” The problem is only expected to worsen in the future.
Cal Fire firefighters watch a large plume at the Rocky Fire on August 1 near Clearlake, California.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
In a report released Wednesday, the U.S. Forest Service revealed that it now spends more than half of its annual budget fighting wildfires, pushing the agency to a "tipping point." That's up from only 16% of the budget in 1996.
Worse still, the agency believes that by 2025, battling wildfires could burn up more than 67% of its annual funds. The result is that the Forest Service has seen a steady decrease of funds for other programs such as land management and research as fire fighting (represented below in red) eats up a greater share of the budget.
U.S. Forest Service
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