USFWS in Interior Announced

As much as I would have liked an acronym not easily confused with USFWS (and that I have to check meticulously every time I write it), it appears that the announcement is out. The new Chief is Brian Fennessy, which we knew already.

Here’s his background from the press release.

Interior selected Brian Fennessy to oversee the creation of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, bringing decades of experience leading large, complex wildfire response operations in California.

“Wildfire response depends on coordination, clarity and speed,” Chief Brian Fennessy said. “This initial planning effort is about bringing programs together, strengthening cooperation across the Department and building a framework that better supports firefighters and the communities they serve. I want to thank Secretary Burgum for this opportunity to serve in this role and look forward to working alongside of the brave men and women of the fire community.”

Fennessy comes to Interior with extensive experience in wildland and structural fire management. He previously served as Chief of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and as Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, one of the largest fire departments in California. Fennessy began his career with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, and throughout his distinguished career, he has led wildfire suppression, aviation operations, and emergency response during some of the state’s most challenging fire seasons, while building strong partnerships with federal, state, local, and Tribal partners.

There’s a press release and an Order.

It seems that the Wildfire Today folks might be confused about the part about incorporating the FS (which they are not doing) and uniting the activity in DOI.

The Service already faces financial and legislative hurdles. A group of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers effectively blocked the service from being funded in a new appropriations bill package. The bills included $0 for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, despite the Department requesting around $6.5 billion for the agency’s wildland fire operations. The lawmakers also specifically said they don’t agree with the administration’s consolidation efforts in a recent press release.

“The bill does not endorse the consolidation of federal wildland firefighting into one agency as proposed in President Trump’s budget request,” a press release from the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations’ Democratic members said. “Instead, it specifically provides funding to continue wildland firefighting using the longstanding practice of funding both the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to allow Congress to consider legislative proposals for such a major change.”

Monday’s announcement did not mention the funding discrepancy.

Apparently DOI thinks it has the authority based on this:

Sec. 2. Authorities. This Order is issued under the authority of sections 2 and 5 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1262), as amended; EO 14308; the Department’s authorities relating to its Bureaus’ land management activities; and relevant statutes that authorize or relate to wildland fire management, reparedness, suppression, response, pre- and post-fire activities, and recovery.

Here’s what it’s intended to do:

This unification of fire programs within USWFS will allow the Department to better respond to the increasing risks that wildland fire presents to people, property and infrastructure, as well as the hazards faced by firefighters every day. This historic effort will modernize wildland fire management to support the long-term resilience of America’s public lands, while enhancing national security and economic competitiveness. Through the establishment of USWFS, and as set forth in the transition plan, the Department will:
• Streamline the chain of command and decision-making by aligning Bureau fire personnel
into USWFS, while maintaining coordination with the land management Bureaus.
• Simplify and align budget structures, allocations, and spending.
• Establish programmatic authority within USWFS.
• Standardize compensation policies, position descriptions, and retirement benefit
structures to ensure equitable pay, consistent classification, efficient recruitment, and
strengthened retention across the unified wildland fire workforce.
• Improve interagency and stakeholder coordination.
• Enable more strategic use of resources across landscapes.
• Establish an integrated wildland fire intelligence and data capability.
• Uphold DOI’s treaty and trust responsibilities to Tribes.

Following unification, USWFS will maintain close coordination with Bureau leadership and staff on all wildland fire-related land management issues, ensuring that all activities remain fully integrated with local resource management priorities. Geographic area and local wildland fire leadership will ensure that resources, ersonnel, and equipment are ready to meet wildland fire management needs across DOI-managed landscapes.

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Director, USWFS. The Director, USWFS, in coordination with the Deputy Secretary, shall take immediate steps to finalize the organizational structure and
deployment of USWFS, including:
1. issuing final organizational structures for USWFS;
2. reviewing the current distribution of DOI fire response units and assets and protection responsibilities and determining the extent of any necessary
redistributions of such units, assets, and responsibilities;
3. engaging fully with, and assuming leadership roles as appropriate in, relevant existing coordinating bodies, such as the Wildland Fire Leadership Council;
4. collaborating with land-management Bureau leadership to precisely identify those planning and decision-making activities that have been transferred to USWFS pursuant to this Order and those that remain with the Bureaus, as well as seeking leadership resolution for areas in which alignment has not been reached; and
5. pursing deeper engagement, transparency, mutual support, and interoperability among the USWFS and its Federal, State, Tribal, and local partners.

I bolded #4 because how that turns out will be of interest to many of us.