NFH FIRE FUNDING AND PREVENTION LETTER TO CONGRESS: TEMPLATE

INSTRUCTIONS: Please replace all the <placeholders> with your specific information. It is great to add a personal element, the story of your family's cabin or perhaps a recollection of fire or some numbers regarding fire in your state. DELETE THIS PARAGRAPH WHEN DONE.

<Your Return Address>

<Today's Date> 2015

Senator or Representative <Enter your Congress person's name>

Address Office Building <Enter their address>

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator (or Representative) <Enter their name>,

As the summer 2015 fire season comes in as one of the most catastrophic in history, I want to speak up about legislation affecting forests and wildland fire fighting.

I own a cabin on National Forest land for which I pay annual permit fees. My cabin is one of 14,000 of these Recreation Residences across the United States. We are involved in our forests, care about these public lands and are deeply concerned about the fires in our national forests. In many states this year, owners have had to evacuate due to fire. <Include mention of your state, if applicable. Tell a personal story.>

While funding to fight catastrophic wildfire disasters is part of the US Forest Service's annual budget, it is never enough. Fires have grown in scale and intensity over recent years. As a result, the USFS has to take funding from other worthwhile programs to pay for these disasters. Stream restoration, trail-building, road upgrades, environmental and thinning programs get cancelled. Even programs to prevent future fires. All of us with a stake in the national forests are losing because of this so-called fire borrowing.

Please end the practice of fire borrowing and please do something to restore forest landscapes to defensible resilient conditions. Ultimately, we need to reduce the fuel load to protect our cabins and these forests. We understand that this year you have the opportuntity to accomplish both these desperately needed solutions that can restore balance, not only to the USFS program budgets, but to the forest conditions across our Western States. As a <enter your state> resident and voter, and as a cabin owner on national land, I'm asking you to lend your immediate support towards passing legislation in Congress this year that addresses these urgent issues.

Sincerely,

<Your Name>