Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer Joins Oregon Delegation to Advocate for a Renewed Federal Commitment to State’s Wildfire Response and Protection

April 23, 2024 – Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer: Chavez-DeRemer Joins Oregon Delegation to Advocate for a Renewed Federal Commitment to State’s Wildfire Response and Protection

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05) joined members of the Oregon congressional delegation, including Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Val Hoyle, Andrea Salinas, and Cliff Bentz to call for a renewed, long-term commitment to the Western Oregon Operation Plan (WOOP). In a letter to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Tracy Stone-Manning, the delegation urges the federal agencies to extend WOOP by five years before the wildfire response coordination program expires on June 30.

“As you know, the checkerboard ownership pattern of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) forest lands in western Oregon is unique and creates approximately 14,000 miles of jurisdictional boundaries between federal, tribal, state, county, and private timberlands,” wrote the lawmakers. “The complexity of managing fires throughout this area led to agreements to provide protection by the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and non-profit Forest Protective Associations (FPAs) dating back to at least 1914.”

“This arrangement has been a model of success and continues to this day as the Western Oregon Operating Plan (WOOP) agreement,” the lawmakers continued. “The current iteration of the WOOP is set to expire on June 30, 2024, and BLM, ODF, and the FPAs had been working to secure another agreement to continue their coordination and preparedness. The Fiscal Year 2024 Interior Appropriations bill provides clear direction to BLM to develop a new agreement that ‘maintains or enhances the current level of fire protection for western Oregon forestlands through the Western Oregon Operating Plan agreement.’”

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

Chavez-DeRemer has led a number of bills to improve wildfire response and recovery efforts. In October, she helped introduce bipartisan legislation that would reduce wildfire risk from power lines. Most recently, she helped secure additional support for federal firefighter pay in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process.

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