Idaho Rep. Russ Fulcher brings state and feds together to prevent wildfires
CANYON COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) - Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher brought federal and state officials together on January 31, 2025, to curtail the 2025 wildfire season after what he calls a "devastating" wildfire season in 2024. He gave an overview of the roundtable in an interview with Local News 8.
"Last year, we burned - and I say 'we, the state of Idaho' - right at a million acres of wildfire that that tragically went up in smoke all over the state."
Fulcher, currently serving on the Natural Resources Committee in Congress, says he "could see writing on the wall," for more fires in Idaho this year.
"I can see that the Forest Service in Idaho and the Department of Interior have about a billion dollars in what's called 'deferred maintenance,' and that is projects and things that have been approved they need to do, but they don't have the resources to do it."
'Deferred maintenance' refers to the fuel load clearing that Fulcher says isn't happening in Idaho's forests. The 'fuel' is from brush, dead branches, and small trees that can ignite and intensify wildfires.
Fulcher says the Forest Service "is overwhelmed" with the amount of work that needs to be done, making this "an all hands on deck" situation - even if all the parties aren't accustomed to working together.
"There's some fiefdoms that are out there," Fulcher told Local News 8. "The federal entities don't like to work with state and local sometimes. And vice versa. It's a two-way street. But part of my motivation was just to bring everybody together, have them look left and right at the table and say, you know what, we need each other If we're going to prevent this from happening again."
Fulcher says he thinks some progress was made during the roundtable with multiple organizations.
"If nothing else, there was some rapport that was kind of built-in, shared some faces that were attached to a name and an entity that, you know, it just helps when you are in the middle of a crisis - and this wildfire situation is a crisis."
Fulcher thinks there will be more meetings between organizations - albeit in a different geographic region.
"That doesn't necessarily adhere to state boundaries, nor should it," Fulcher said. "The Panhandle, for example, has got a different management corps that oversees that. And so we'll want to do that probably in some different geographies just because the state is so big. But the bottom line that I just need to drive home here, is we need to understand that our federal partners in this case, they really are overwhelmed."
Watch Rep. Fulcher's full interview above.