Our final recommendations and wrapping up our argument
- Severe wildfires are a growing risk amongst our federal lands and the risk is passed to those enlisted to fight them.
- People under the title of Forestry Technician are often doing the job of wildland firefighter pointing to a source of confusion
- Policy should look to
- Change or reclassify the existing job to better reflect the hazards, demands, risks, and to better compensate for those.
- Aim to promote longer hiring periods
- Increase managers’ ability to use preventative measures like prescribed burns and thinning
- Done in tandem with reinforcing the role of local units in fire response
