Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse Passes Amendment To Increase Wildland Fire Management Funds

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- Colorado may be in line to get more money for fighting wildfires. Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse passed an amendment through the U.S. House to increase federal funding for wildland fire management by $2 million.

Neguse is the Chair of the U.S. Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. The amendment increases funding for wildland fire management accounts at the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture. It supports fire preparedness and suppression, fire science and research, emergency rehabilitation and rural fire assistance.

That includes targeted local funding of $385,000 for wildfire risk reduction in Jefferson County.

"As communities in our district recover from the record-setting 2020 wildfire season and communities across the West experience dangerous and more intense fires, it's absolutely crucial that we provide robust federal funding to restore our forests, support wildland fire suppression and help families recover," said Congressman Joe Neguse in a statement. "We've been advocating for many months for more robust wildfire resiliency funding to be included in the FY2022 budget, and we're grateful to secure these needed resources for the West. We continue to work to ensure historic investments for our lands and forests through the establishment of a 21st Century Climate Conservation Corps and robust, sustained investments for our forests."

A final vote is expected later this week.