Senate Joint Memorial 16-002 Summary

• Colorado contains about 24 million acres of forests and woodlands, with more than two-thirds managed by the federal government, and faces increasing wildfire risk with an average of 140,000+ acres burned annually from 2008-2014 compared to 40,000 acres annually from 2004-2007

• The U.S. Forest Service spent only 16% of its budget on fire suppression in 1995 but announced it would spend more than 50% in 2015, with projections to spend 67% by 2025, while federal wildfire suppression spending increased from less than $1 billion annually in the 1990s to over $3 billion annually since 2002

• Current federal law diverts funds originally budgeted for wildfire mitigation, watershed protection, forest health, recreation, and forest planning to fight fires once suppression budgets are depleted, creating a feedback loop that increases wildfire frequency and severity

• Colorado has the second highest percentage of households at high or extreme risk from wildfires of any state in the nation according to the Insurance Information Institute

• Congress should enact laws to fund catastrophic wildfire response using methods analogous to natural disaster funding to protect federal land management agencies' ability to mitigate wildfire risk and manage their lands