As wildfire threat grows, California Farm Bureau urges congressional action

Forty significant fires were actively burning across the Western U.S. as of Aug. 16, according to Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services reports.

As fires continue to impact farmland across Western states, many agricultural leaders are stepping up and speaking out for sensible fire protections, strategic prevention plans and adequate recovery support.

California Farm Bureau leaders offered congressional testimony Aug. 11 before the House Committee on Natural Resources, with the backdrop of the Maui wildfire devastation still unfolding, according to a news release.

Recent wildfires on Hawaii’s Big Island and Maui have devastated communities. Relief nonprofits, communities and governmental agencies are starting the long recovery process of gathering critical financial and material assistance.

World Central Kitchen reports serving 16,000 meals to families and first responders in the first week of the recovery effort and Dole Food Co. has contributed $100,000 to relief efforts to date, according to a company statement.

In the view of Johnnie White, a California Farm Bureau member, wine grower and beef cattle rancher, large-scale devastation scenarios like Maui are exactly want he wants to avoid.  

Wildfire affects California’s $50 billion ag industry  

In his testimony to the House Committee on Natural Resources, White called for legislative actions to protect California and its farms and ranches from wildfires.

White is no stranger to wildfire. Not only does the rancher provide grazing for wildfire fuel reduction efforts, he’s also a 20-year veteran of the St. Helena Fire Department and was active in fighting the 2017 Tubbs Fire, the 2020 Glass Fire and LNU Lightning Complex wildfires, which devastated wine country communities and agricultural properties, according to the release.

“Wildfires have caused numerous direct and indirect impacts on California’s $50 billion agriculture industry,” White said in his prepared remarks to the committee. “In addition to being a significant public safety threat, many farms, ranches, wineries, employee housing, equipment, livestock and commodities have been directly damaged or completely destroyed.”

For operations only partially impacted, they are faced with the reality of rebuilding what remains of their operation, he continued.

“Because many farmers and ranchers live on their farming operation, some have also lost their home simultaneous to losing their farm and income,” White said.

The economic repercussions of farmers and ranchers being denied insurance coverage in the aftermath of the fires has led advocates like the California Farm Bureau to sponsor S. 505. This bill would allow farmers and ranchers to return to a competitive insurance market with accessible commercial policies after a catastrophic weather event such as wildfire, the release said.

The state’s insurance crisis continues, White warned in his testimony, with “announcements by individual insurance companies stating that they would stop selling insurance coverage in California due to the rapid growth of catastrophe exposure.”

“The reality is we are playing catch-up with a situation that has been worsening for decades exacerbated by drought, disease and even climate change,” White testified to the committee. “Collectively and collaboratively, we must remain committed to finding solutions to change fire behavior and achieve fire resilient landscapes for the sake of our natural resources and rural economies.”

Steps to mitigate fire danger in the Golden State

Throughout White’s testimony, he urged Congress to consider a strategic plan to mitigate fire danger in California. His key recommendations on behalf of the California Farm Bureau include:

• Enable the greater use of prescribed fire to reduce risks of high-severity wildfire through creating an exemption to current EPA regulations.

• Promote U.S. Forest Service partnerships with farmers and ranchers that expand vegetation removable and recognize livestock grazing as an effective management tool.

• Support private-public partnerships in the 2023 farm bill to grow markets for forest products and support rural communities.

• Remove barriers to expand forest management, including acreage eligible for fuels reduction, as well as insect and disease treatment.

• Prioritize reforestation of federal lands ravaged by wildfire and enlist and invest in public and private nurseries aiding reforestation.