Vilsack Lays Out Ten-Year Plan To Fight Wildfires

Scientists tell us that we cannot stop wildfires from happening, "But what we can do is begin the process of reducing the catastrophic nature of these fires," noted Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. He recently announced a ten year plan to do more thinning out of forests, removing dead trees and brush, improving the health of forests and making communities near them safer.

"So today with this plan, the Forest Service commits to treat 20 million acres of Forest Service land, at levels over and above what we have been doing before and assisting in an additional 30 million acres of land that may be state, tribally or privately owned," Vilsack said.

The first step in the plan?  To identify priority areas that need to be worked on based on risk.

"And as soon as they're identified, they'll get work this year.  To take these resources and get them to work as quickly as possible," the Ag Secretary continued.

Vilsack said most of the work is being made possible by nearly $3 billion from the infrastructure bill.

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