Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King today urged the U.S. Forest Service to commit the necessary funds to maintenance in the upcoming budget to prevent a catastrophic backlog. In a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee, King spoke with Budget Director of the Forest Service, Mark Lichtenstein, and stressed that the agency cannot continue underfunding maintenance, expecting the government to provide another bailout in the future like the Great American Outdoors Act that Senator King negotiated.
The conversation comes as the Biden Administration submits its budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year 2024.
“You’ve submitted answers, or the Department submitted answers, to questions a year ago, that you have about $58 billion worth of capital assets. A rule of thumb is 1% to 4% of value of capital for maintenance, yet your budget this year is, I think, $100 million. What gives? That’s ridiculous. Are you expecting the Congress to bail you out every ten years with a Great American Outdoors Act? You’ve got to stop digging the hole,” King implored.
Lichtenstein responded, “No, sir. We do not expect you to bail us out every year. Recognizing that the cost of deferred maintenance continues to grow and the value…”
“So why isn’t more money in the budget for maintenance?” King asked.
Lichtenstein replied, “There are always difficult decisions to make. We are always trying to stay ahead of our maintenance and prioritize maintenance.”
“And the easiest one is to defer maintenance, but that’s not really a cut, all it is a moving of the expense further into the future,” King said.
“Understood. I think we’re in the same position as many other federal agencies in addressing our maintenance problems, in terms of our overall asset inventory. So, we’re still working, analyzing our assets, to make sure we’re having the best assets available to meet those mission requirements,” Lichtenstein concluded.
Senator King has been a longstanding advocate for preserving Maine’s public lands. In August 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act—introduced and negotiated by Senator King was signed into law. This bipartisan legislation provides full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and addresses the deferred maintenance backlog at our national parks, national wildlife refuges, and national forest lands.
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