Fire Borrowing Impacts Colorado- from Bob Berwyn

To paraphrase an old song "the funding my friend is blowing in the wind..."
To paraphrase an old song “the funding my friend is blowing in the wind…”

Thanks to Bob Berwyn for this one..

Below are some excerpts:

FRISCO — U.S. Forest Service officials said they’ve had to defer reviews of ski area projects, delay trail improvements and forest restoration work because of the high cost of fighting wildfires. This year, the agency projects a $470 million gap that ripples through the entire Forest Service budget.

More than a dozen important projects in Colorado were on the hit list, according to a new report released this week by the Department of Agriculture. Some of the projects were canceled altogether because their funding has been diverted to fighting wildfires.

In Colorado, the following projects have been affected:

*Recreation Special Use permits for outfitter guides were deferred and ski area applications for four season use improvements were deferred.
*Emergency repairs on the Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands were reduced to only critical repairs.
*A project to replace boundary signs that were destroyed in the High Park fire was canceled.
*Over 25,000 acres of ecosystem assessments, part of forest-wide inventories, were not accomplished.
*The Aquatic Nuisance Program (invasive species) with the State of Colorado was not funded.
*The Beaver Brookland acquisition project on the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest wasn’t funded.
*A $72,000 project to clear downfall and conduct related trail maintenance in areas affected by the bark beetle was deferred.
*Facilities improvement projects at the Lottis Creek Kiosks and the Crested Butte Forest Service housing were not completed.
*Abandoned mine mitigation work on the Akron Mine and Mill Site in Gunnison National Forest was deferred.
*Over $400,000 in watershed projects was deferred.
*Over $300,000 in wildlife management projects were delayed, deferred, or canceled.

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