🔥Burning Questions: Legislation and Lodgepoles
This edition of Burning Questions tackles legislation supporting wildland firefighters, advice for homeowners in wildfire prone areas, and research around reforestation
Welcome back to Burning Questions, an occasional newsletter looking at the intersection of wildfire, climate science, and fire research in the West. It’s the latest student-produced newsletter coming out of the Colorado College Journalism Institute.
Writing and reporting this newsletter edition is Haley Strom, Katie Rowley, Charley Sutherland, Theo Cherry, Galileo Defendi-Cho. We are writing this as part of a class called “Reporting on Wildfires” at Colorado College.
We’re based in the heart of Colorado Springs, a city home to some of the state’s most infamous wildfires, and we’re learning how to convey news and information about wildfire to the general public.
🏛What you should know about the Tim’s Act, a federal law that would support firefighters
Wildfires are increasing in size and intensity, and wildland firefighters are in high demand. But according to a 2022 Government Accountability Office report, retaining and recruiting federal firefighters has been difficult.
The report identified low pay as the most significant factor, given entry-level positions start at just $15 per hour. Many firefighters find they can earn more in nonfederal firefighting roles or in less dangerous jobs, such as food service.
Congress addressed some of these problems through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which was signed in 2021 by President Joe Biden. The law temporarily increased federal firefighter pay by up to 50% and even introduced support systems such as mental health services. In 2022, additional provisions were signed into law through the First Responder Fair RETIRE Act, including presumptive health coverage and enhanced retirement benefits.
In an interview with Colorado Public Radio, Lucas Mayfield, a former hotshot and president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, emphasized how important government support is. He spoke about high divorce rates and substance abuse among firefighters, and the general toll of the job on their mental health, as key problems. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill was crucial to addressing these needs. However, the federal government expects the funds allocated by this law to run out by the end of this September.
Because of this, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters have been advocating for permanent pay increases that match the wages of state, county and municipal firefighters. They are also advocating for year-round mental health support. Some wildland firefighters currently have access to healthcare during the fire season, but it disappears when the season ends, leaving them without coverage for months.
Joe Neguse, a Democrat who represents Colorado in Congress, is determined to provide these benefits by focusing on pay and housing. This spring, Neguse, along with fellow Colorado Democrat U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, introduced a bill to boost both pay and benefits for federal firefighters.
The Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act, or Tim's Act, aims to raise base pay for wildland firefighters to at least $20 per hour, establish standard pay rates across all grade levels, provide premium pay for hours spent fighting fires, and introduce mental health programs, including mental health leave. The bill also offers tuition assistance and housing stipends for firefighters stationed more than 50 miles from home.
Lawmakers named the bill in honor of Tim Hart, a smokejumper from Cody, Wyoming. Hart lost his life while fighting the 2021 Eicks Fire in New Mexico following a hard parachute landing. Tim’s widow, Michelle Hart, is a vocal supporter of the bill.
As the Legislative Liaison for Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, an advocacy committee for federal wildland fire personnel, Michelle published an article for USA Today calling attention to the poor working conditions her husband and other wildland firefighters endure.
The USA Today article is paywalled, but you can access it here on Reddit.
📜Key provisions in Tim’s Act
Increasing Base Pay: The legislation establishes pay rates at all grade levels for federal wildland firefighters, ensuring that their compensation reflects the value of their work.
Higher Starting Wages: New federal wildland firefighters would see their starting wages set at a minimum of $20 per hour. (Previous wages started at $15 per hour.)
Improved Deployment Pay: Tim's Act introduces a new form of premium pay for those deployed to specific wildfires, ensuring compensation for all hours of work and increasing standby premium pay.
Healthcare and Mental Health Services: The Act creates a "Federal Wildland Firefighter Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Database" to monitor chronic diseases caused by on-the-job environmental exposure. It also launches mental health awareness campaigns, education and training programs, and peer-to-peer mental health support networks for firefighters and their immediate families.
Paid Rest and Recuperation Leave: Firefighters involved in certain wildland fire activities would be entitled to paid rest and recuperation leave after completing their service.
Housing Stipends: All firefighters stationed more than 50 miles from their primary residence would receive housing stipends.
Tuition Assistance: Permanent federal employees in the wildland firefighter classification would be eligible for tuition assistance.
Retirement Benefits: Firefighters can credit temporary years of service toward their retirement and include premium pay in retirement pay calculations.
Neguse lost his Republican cosponsor of the bill, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, when the Wyoming Republican lost her reelection bid last year. (Fun fact: Cheney is a Colorado College grad who gave last year’s commencement speech.) According to a recent article, Neguse has not given up on finding a new Republican cosponsor. (Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives.)
Burning Questions tried to catch up with Neguse over email this week, and despite initially attempting to set something up, his office declined to weigh in on where the federal legislation stands or whether Neguse has been able to find a new Republican cosponsor.
🆕 UPDATE: After this newsletter posted, a Neguse spokesperson emailed a statement from the congressman saying he is “proud to report that this bill is co-sponsored by Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), and together we will continue to call for bipartisan support of this proposal.”
Here’s more from Neguse:
“Our brave federal wildland firefighters are on the frontlines of every wildfire in our country. They are irreplaceable. For years, many of us have fought to secure critical pay raises for these first responders, which we successfully enacted in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – this includes the introduction of my bill Tim’s Act, which ensures wildland firefighters are paid a wage that reflects the value of their work.”
He added
“I am Additionally, I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus – a group I founded with Congressman John Curtis (R-UT) – to protect our communities from the encroaching threat of wildfires.”
“Most recently, I introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill to increase firefighter pay – bolstering recruitment, retention, and overall well-being in this workforce. The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act incorporates parts of the pay provisions from Tim’s Act. It is a starting point, one that will preserve the 2021 temporary pay increase ahead of the September 30th expiration.”
“This issue is vitally important and with the threat of wildfires increasing pervasiveness it’s essential that we act. I will continue to partner with my colleagues and the Biden-Harris Administration to make certain our firefighters have the support they need.”
Given the current political landscape of the House of Representatives, the bill could face an uphill climb without bipartisan support. — Haley Strom
Mitigation and Legislation in Loveland Colorado
Given the increased risk wildfire poses to Colorado communities, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed 11 bills in May aimed at protecting Colorado residents.
These bills range from an approval to expand the state’s Firehawk fleet, insurance changes, and movement towards building wildfire-resistant homes. But, wildfire legislation isn’t only happening on a statewide level.
In Loveland, a city of about 80,000 in northern Colorado, the City Council is asking voters in November to approve a fire safety tax. The proposal, if passed, would result in a .37% sales tax increase, and allow the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority, known as the LFRA, to focus on fire mitigation.
“Right now, we’re not doing any mitigation efforts,” Tim Sendelbach, chief of the LFRA, told me in a Sept. 5 interview. “We don’t have the resources.”
According to a Community Wildfire Protection Plan released by Loveland Fire, every residence within the authority’s boundary is within the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) or the Grassland-Urban Interface, a subset of the WUI. Homes in both zones are at an elevated risk of wildfire.
If voters approve the fire safety tax, the LFRA would have money to create a team specialized to focus on cleaning up fuels in hazardous areas. The U.S. Department of the Interior cites fuel management as important to “reduce the chances that lives or property will be lost to wildfire.”
With additional funds, the LFRA would focus on fuel management and mitigation techniques, such as prescribed burning in high risk areas like Storm Mountain, which is located in the northwest area of Loveland, and the Pinewood Reservoir/Flatiron area, according to Sendelbach. Project plans for high-priority locations can be found in section 4.b. of the CWPP as well as this interactive map.
On Aug. 15, Loveland’s City Council initially approved the ballot measure by a vote of 8-1. City councilor Steve Olson was the only member who did not support the proposal, saying in the City Council meeting he does not think the increase is “fair to all of our city employees” who will not receive an increase in funding.
But, during the second authorization of the tax increase during the City Council meeting on Sept. 5, Olson came out in support of it, recognizing the importance of the increase and support that it has garnered from the other members of city council, leaving the ultimate approval up to Loveland residents.
Sendelbach said there’s nothing he can do to encourage wildfire-vulnerable voters to approve the tax increase. “Endorsement will be done by our personnel, civilian staff, as well as the Fire Rescue Advisory Commission,” the chief said.
In the meantime, Sendelbach continues to focus on public education and home assessments, something the LFRA currently does. The CWPP provides residents who reside in the LFRA boundary recommendations for protecting their homes, through creating defensible space, and preparing for evacuation.
Sendelbach himself has mitigated his property, substituting mulch for rock and ensuring that his outside furniture and deck are synthetic and noncombustible. But, living in southwest Loveland, he has yet to make any changes to vents in his house as he feels “removed from that immediate risk.”
Vents are one way embers can enter a house, and covering them with a screen is one fire protection method, according to this Time article.
Until November, the state of the LFRA’s additional funding hangs in the air. But, regardless of whether the fire safety tax passes or not, Sendelbach advocates for all Lovelanders to mitigate to the best of their abilities. — Katie Rowley
🏡 How to live among the trees
Luckily for homeowners in wildfire-prone areas who want to live among the trees, it’s possible to maintain a foresty feel and be fire-wise at the same time.
Trees provide shade and can add to the aesthetic appeal of a home. More importantly, many Colorado property owners, especially in the mountains, might have bought homes in the forest because they wanted a home in the forest.
Homeowners who don’t want to cut down the trees around their home might be relieved to hear tree cutting is not the first or the most important step in making their home more fire-resistant.
Last week, our class visited the Colorado State Forest Service’s Seedling Tree Nursery outside Fort Collins, Colorado. There, we spoke with Scott Godwin, the nursery manager at Colorado State Forest Service, a service and outreach agency of Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources.
“A general strategy for a landowner who is trying to make their property more fire-wise is to reduce overgrown brush or non-native grasses, clean up their grounds, [and] remove vegetation from around their structures and buildings,” Godwin said.
The nursery sells seedlings to private landowners who are trying to make their properties more fire-resistant. Godwin explained that while a tree’s proximity to structures is important, some tree species are simply better suited for wildfire environments than others.
During another class field trip to Centennial Airport, Flatiron Helitack Captain Danell Doyle and Flatiron Helicopter Manager Calum Murray answered questions about wildfire-resistant infrastructure. Both Doyle and Murray work in wildfire aviation and have backgrounds as wildland firefighters.
Murray, who worked with fire departments assessing homes for firewise policies, explained how pines, conifers, and junipers can be particularly problematic to have near a home. Whereas, “aspens or fruit bearing trees that are more water heavy” can stay, Murray said.
Because of Colorado’s broad landscape diversity, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to tree selection, according to Godwin. Many local fire departments across Colorado, like one in Manitou Springs, offer free property assessments to homeowners looking to make their property more firewise.
Foresters, through the Colorado State Forest Service, are also available for hire. Foresters work with homeowners to make their homes fire resistant, while also considering aesthetics.
Doyle said having clean gutters is the most important first step in defending a home against wildfire. She explained that investing in metal roofing and storing firewood and propane tanks far enough from structures is more important than cutting down trees.
According to Doyle, a fire front, the portion of a fire that is continually combusting, is not what actually burns structures; instead, flying embers ignite flammable materials near or attached to a home. By regularly clearing leaves and pine needles from areas surrounding structures, you can make your property more firewise — without cutting down trees.
The Colorado State Forest Service has a webpage dedicated to firewise home practices. Property owners should replace combustible fences or gates, use tempered glass for windows, and remove leaves and needles from decks and roofs, the department states.
Murray explained fire-resistant property operates on a sliding scale. He described some properties he helped assess as “bomb-proof,” but bomb-proofing a home requires a lot of tree cutting, showing that there are simple steps property owners in wildfire prone areas can take, while maintaining a foresty feel. — Charley Sutherland
🔥🌲Burned lodgepole pine forests north of I-70 may never return (and that might be a good thing)
For as long as humans have inhabited North America, Lodgepole Pine forests have covered mountainsides above present-day Denver and other northern Colorado cities. These beautiful, 70-foot-tall trees rely on fire to open their pinecones and release their seeds back into the earth.
But over the past 100-plus years, the United States has aggressively attacked many wildfires that naturally occur leading to an excess of fuel buildup, including shrubs, dead wood, and leaves. This has contributed to fires becoming more intense. As a result, Lodgepoles have adapted to fire and can no longer benefit from it because current fires cause total destruction of the pinecone and seed.
Because of this, many of the Lodgepole forests that have burned to the ground in recent years in fires like the Cameron Peak Fire and East Troublesome Fire are not on track to recover.
Lodgepole pines may no longer be the best tree to replant our forests.
The lack of natural tree regrowth in the wake of fires leaves humans with the job of restoring forests, putting us in a unique position in which we can try and make our forests more resilient to fire. After speaking with Godwin about what trees could take their place, he said it is site-specific, depending on microclimates, moisture, and which direction a mountain faces.
“Though lodgepole often forms mono-dominant stands, at the landscape scale heterogeneity is crucial,” says Alexander ‘Zander’ Evans, executive director of the Forest Stewards Guild, citing research. “A mix of species will be more resilient to climate stressors and likely wildfire.” (Forest Stewards Guild is a nonprofit organization focusing on human interactions within “responsible forestry.”)
If you struggled to understand that statement like I did, don’t fret. In essence, he agreed with the idea that a mix of new species could be more resilient in the face of fires and climate change.
Additionally, as warmer temperatures push farther north within the Rocky Mountain corridor, the range of the Lodgepole Pine retreats to the colder north. Lodgepole pines tend to burn in stand-replacing fires, so even in normal conditions, it may take decades or even centuries for lodgepole stands to return. But now, warmer temperatures may delay lodgepole reforestation even longer, or prevent it altogether.
But these warmer temperatures are conducive to Ponderosa Pine growth, a tree with a historical range throughout much of the dryer, warmer southwest, including southern Colorado.
Godwin discussed a concept called “assisted migration” — essentially, deliberate reforestation with species from other locations that more accurately fit new environmental conditions. “You can be pretty successful and confident in moving genetics from south to north,” he said — exactly what replacing burned Lodgepole stands with Ponderosas would be doing.
In addition, Ponderosa Pines, which already grow in lower elevation areas of northern Colorado, are much more resistant to fire compared to Lodgepoles, thriving in ecosystems with frequent, low intensity fires.
“If Lodgepole start disappearing from this southern range here in (northern) Colorado, (they’ve) got to be replaced with something. And Ponderosa would be a good replacement,” said Mike Wilkins, a professor of geomicrobiology with the College of Agricultural Sciences at CSU.
Assisted migration is a strategy that’s already being employed, both on a public forestry level and by the timber industry, meaning there is a precedent off which to model reforestation efforts, and a strong track record of success.
Adapting to climate change will require change in our ecosystems. If we want resilient forests in the mountains of northern Colorado, Ponderosa Pines may be the best tree for the job. — Galileo Defendi-Cho and Theo Cherry
You’re reading Burning Questions, a newsletter that seeks to help bridge a gap between wildfire science research and journalism, and is a project of the Colorado College Journalism Institute with support from a National Science Foundation grant. Students produced this edition in their class “Reporting on Wildfires” in the fall of 2023. Learn more about this newsletter here. 📬 Enter your email address to subscribe and get Burning Questions delivered to your inbox each time it comes out. You can reach us with questions, feedback, or tips by emailing burningquestionscc@gmail.com