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During a recent trip to Capitol Hill, the U.S. Forest Service's 2nd in command delivered a frank, for many many alarming statement.

"We do not have enough resources or capacity to address the needs in front of us right now,"  Forest Service Deputy Chief Christopher French told a Senate sub-committee that on the fire suppression side. "We are losing a number of our skilled wildfire specialists to other agencies."

Which seem to offer better pay and benefits.  French was asked if the federal vaccine mandate would accelerate the loss of firefighters. "We don't know yet.  We're currently assessing those numbers."

Meanwhile, French said that for years now, money designated for forest planning and management has been siphoned off to fight the wildfires and the result of that, "we've seen about a 40% decline in our natural resource professional across the agency.  We just can't pay for those positions anymore.  That includes land management planning."

Which French said partially explains why the Forest Service is behind schedule in updating many forest use plans across the country.

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