Worsening Wildfires Need ‘Paradigm Shift,’ Lawmakers Agree

House Democrats and Republicans agreed at a hearing Tuesday that mitigating wildfires requires improved forest management, but remain split on the root causes that lead to worse fires.

Democrats on the House Natural Resources National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands Subcommittee maintained that the bipartisan infrastructure package signed into law last year provided an exclusive boost to the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Forest Service and the Interior Department, as climate change exacerbates fires.

“This multilayered approach provides land management agencies with a generational opportunity to demonstrate a paradigm shift away from commercial management and emergency suppression, and towards fire adaptation ...