Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today announced that the U.S. Forest Service has backed off from a proposal to take away $9 million from California for preventing wildfires by shifting 15 percent of the hazardous fuels reduction funding for the State to other areas of the country.

“I was delighted to learn today that California will not be losing money, but will actually be receiving $2 million more this year than last, for a total of $52 million,” Senator Feinstein said. “I would like to thank Under Secretary Mark Rey for his reconsideration of this issue. It means a great deal to our State.”

In a letter to Agriculture Under Secretary Rey last month, Senator Feinstein had cited the devastating impact that redeploying hazardous fuels reduction funding for the Healthy Forests Restoration Act to other parts of the country would have had on California , such as:

• 90% less funding to implement community fire plans;
• 50% less funding to remove fuels from areas surrounding homes on Forest Service land (wildland-urban interface zones); and
• Treating 20,000 fewer acres in the Sierra Nevada forests.