Forest Service chief signals budget belt-tightening is on the horizon for FY2025

The head of the U.S. Forest Service said last week that as the clock on the fiscal year winds down, the agency is preparing for the potential of harsh budget realities in fiscal 2025. 

In an Aug. 29 blog post, Chief Randy Moore said that the Forest Service was planning its fiscal 2025 budget allocations under a scenario of “a potentially budget-limited future” after previous legislation provided additional funding and pay raises for its wildland firefighters.

“When we plan, we look at our current funding level and both the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee funding proposals,” said Moore. “Prudent planning entails using the lowest of all those numbers so we neither over-plan nor negate Congress’ decision space.” 

That means until an appropriations package clears Congress, the Forest Service will gauge its fiscal 2025 allocations estimates to the funding levels proposed by the House Interior Subcommittee, which was $8.43 billion as of the June 26 markup.

Those levels reflect a $53.5-million increase from the agency’s regular fiscal 2024 appropriation, and a 6.3% increase for wildland fire management, but an overall 3.5% cut from total enacted levels that included $945 million in supplement funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  

The Forest Service asked for $8.9 billion in funding in the president’s fiscal 2025 budget request in March. 

Moore said that the targeted funding level, combined with expiring supplemental funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and two cost of living increases that amount to nearly 10%, means that the Forest Service is traversing some challenging budget headwinds.

“The current situation calls for us to make hard decisions. In the short term, we are leaning into workforce planning, as well as relying on our partners who we’ve substantially invested in, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us to continue to deliver our priority work,” he said. “This is leadership’s work for the foreseeable future. As this work progresses, we will share information as quickly as we can.”

In the near term, the Forest Service will prioritize funding the workforce, including “asking employees to be taking on the highest priority work that matches our funding sources.”   

The funding warning follows years of financial challenges for the agency, including in trying to recruit and retain federal wildland firefighters.

The Biden administration sought to shore up wildland firefighters numbers in 2022 by authorizing pay raises of $20,000 per year or 50% of their base salary, whichever was lower, in the infrastructure law, and Congress extended those raises through at least fiscal 2024.

In July, Moore told the Forest Service’s National Leadership Council that lower job attrition meant that the agency would require tighter hiring controls. 

The House passed its appropriations package on 210-205 on July 24. The Senate appropriations bill cleared committee on July 25 and awaits a floor vote.

Moore said the Forest Service would hold an all-employee call on Sept. 16 to answer any questions about the budget planning and other subjects.