PHOENIX — More than a year after being formed, the state House Ad Hoc Committee on Forest and Wildfire Management released its final report Tuesday without any recommendations.
In a prepared statement issued with the report’s release, Committee Chairman David Cook said, “I want to thank all the members that served on this committee — the final report shows their hard work and commitment to addressing this issue. As a result of the five hearings we held round the state, we are better informed of the critical issues that can be addressed before Arizona families and communities are impacted by new catastrophic wildfires and post-fire flooding. In Arizona, we unfortunately know all too well that it’s a matter of ‘when,’ not ‘if’.”
The report cites a number of measures passed by the Legislature in 2022, including authorizing the Department of Forestry and Fire Management to distribute up to $10 million in wildfire funding to private landowners, designating the State Forester to handle management and administrative functions for wildfire prevention, and creating the Livestock Operator Fire and Flood Assistance Grant Program.
The Legislature also set aside $113 million for wildfire-related spending, including $65 for wildfire emergency response, $39 million for wildfire mitigation and $3 million for hazardous vegetation removal.
The ad hoc committee was formed in September 2021. That year saw more than 1,700 wildfires burn more than 524,000 acres of land in the state.
