In response to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control, American Forests resilient forests lead Brian Kittler released the following statement:

Catastrophic wildfire and its effects have touched most of the U.S. this year, and American Forests applauds the Biden-Harris administration for taking note to reverse these trends through this new interagency agreement.

This partnership between EPA, DOI, USDA and CDC aligns with recommendations from the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission’s comprehensive report and will collaborate to identify wildland fire priorities for the next two years, but will also focus on community preparedness, land management and public health integration, data collection and sharing, and interagency communication and messaging.

The agencies will prioritize beneficial fire practices like prescribed burns to create more resilient and climate-adapted forests that are less likely to spiral beyond suppression when fire inevitably returns to the landscape. The administration is also prioritizing reducing the negative health impacts of smoke on communities and health.

These priorities build upon the Biden-Harris administration’s investments through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to invest in wildfire preparedness, fuels management, post-fire restoration and long-term fire preparedness.

American Forests commends the administration for its approach to wildfire risk reduction and landscape resilience and encourages Congress to match these efforts through robust integration of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission report recommendations where target funding or other legislation is needed.