Warm, sunny weather in Medford on Friday offered a pleasant start to Easter weekend. But it also underscored growing concerns about the region’s wildfire outlook.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon met with state meteorologists and foresters at the Bureau of Land Management’s Medford office to discuss forecasts for the coming fire season
“You don't want to be an alarmist, but what I heard today was stunning and, by my calculus, alarming,” Wyden said during a media briefing.
Much of the West has seen an especially dry winter this year. Snowpack at Crater Lake is at a 100-year low. Jackson County recently declared a drought emergency, and forecasts call for a hot and dry summer.
Those conditions point to a potentially active wildfire season.
“These are not your grandfather's fires. They're bigger, they're hotter, they're more powerful,” Wyden said. “When I came to Congress, we'd have one meeting to discuss the whole thing, and now we talk about this constantly for the whole fire season.”
Dan Quinones, district forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry, said the season will likely be challenging but manageable.
“We've had challenging years in the past,” he said. “The Rogue Valley is known for a firefight, and the Forest Service, the BLM and Southwest Oregon ODF are ready for that challenge.”
Spring storms can still boost snowpack before summer, but Tom Wright, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said that appears unlikely.
“Right now, we don't see any of that," he said. "We're just kind of on track for a hot, dry summer with poor snow pack."
Wyden also raised concerns about whether federal agencies will have enough firefighters, citing ongoing federal reorganization.
Quinones said staffing levels appear normal so far and that agencies plan to rely in part on private contractors in the Rogue Valley.
Wyden has co-sponsored a bill with Republican Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina to increase funding for fuels reduction and prescribed burns. He said that federal spending on the war in Iran could divert resources away from wildfire prevention efforts.
