Dear Member of Congress:

As the 119th Congress begins its work, we write to introduce ourselves as a coalition of organizations dedicated to improving federal wildfire budgeting and funding. Together, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Federation of American Scientists, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Megafire Action, Alliance for Wildfire Resilience, and BuildStrong America bring diverse expertise to address the growing challenges posed by wildfires. Our coalition serves as a resource for policymakers like you, offering insights and recommendations to ensure taxpayer dollars are used effectively to reduce wildfire risks, protect communities, and enhance resilience.

Wildfires are becoming more frequent, destructive, and costly. Recent catastrophic fires highlight the urgent need for proactive measures to mitigate wildfire risks and manage their devastating impacts. In recent years, Congress has made historic investments in wildfire mitigation, suppression, and recovery. However, these investments must be paired with strong accountability measures to ensure they deliver the intended results. To support this goal, we have developed a set of shared principles to guide our work and inform our recommendations for improving federal wildfire spending:

1. Wildfire spending should be more comprehensively tracked and reported and federal

agency budgets for wildfire should be better coordinated.

2. The federal government should continue to sustain and expand its investments in mitigation in order to reverse the trend of ballooning wildfire suppression costs.

3. The federal government should find ways to help states and local governments better access federal resources and make their own investments to lessen the overall cost of wildfires.

4. Federal agencies should use outcome-based performance metrics to evaluate the success of continued and expanded mitigation investment.

We believe these principles offer a strong foundation for bipartisan action to improve wildfire management. We encourage collaboration between Congress and the administration under President Trump’s leadership to address this pressing issue. As you consider legislation or oversight on federal wildfire programs, we hope you will view us as a resource. Our coalition is eager to collaborate with you and your staff on this critical issue.

Thank you for your leadership in addressing the challenges posed by wildfires. We look forward to working together to ensure federal investments are effective, accountable, and focused on protecting communities and taxpayers.

Sincerely,

The Pew Charitable Trusts

The Federation of American Scientists

Taxpayers for Common Sense

Megafire Action

Alliance for Wildfire Resilience

BuildStrong America