US plans wildfire fight where forests, neighborhoods collide

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration plans to significantly expand efforts to stave off catastrophic wildfires that have torched areas of the U.S. West by more aggressively thinning forests around areas called “hotspots” where nature and neighborhoods collide.

As climate change heats up and dries out the West, administration officials said they have crafted a $50 billion plan to more than double the use of controlled fires and logging to reduce trees and other vegetation that serves as tinder in the most at-risk areas.

They said work will begin this year in regions where out-of-control blazes have wiped out neighborhoods and sometimes entire communities — including California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the Rocky Mountain foothills of Colorado and portions of Oregon and Washington state, officials said.

“You're going to have forest fires. The question is how catastrophic do those fires have to be," Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack told the Associated Press in advance of a planned public announcement of the administration’s wildfire strategy at a Tuesday event in Phoenix.

“The time to act is now if we want to ultimately over time change the trajectory of these fires,” Vilsack said.

Specific projects weren't immediately announced, and it’s not clear who would pay for the full scope of work envisioned across almost 80,000 square miles (200,000 square kilometers) — an area almost as large as Idaho. About half that area is privately-owned or controlled by states or tribes, making their participation in the plan crucial.

Reaching that goal would require an estimated $20 billion over 10 years for work on national forests and $30 billion for work on other federal, state, tribal and private lands, said Vilsack spokesperson Kate Waters.

Vilsack acknowledged that the new...