Logging, Money Battles Delay Wildfire Prevention Work
Pew Trusts cited Distinguished Fellow RJ Smith on U.S. Forest Service funding:
Some conservative experts disagree that funding is a major problem for federal agencies. “They can find ways to work this out. There’s enough money in the budget,” said Robert “R.J.” Smith, a distinguished fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank.
The Forest Service makes money on timber sales, he said, so that piece of Trump’s order would be paid for by logging companies. Convincing environmentalists not to litigate timber sales and thinning projects could be the bigger problem, he said.