Article: WILDFIRES BURN UP TREE-PLANTING FUND FOREST SERVICE FAR BEHIND IN PUTTING BACK MONEY.(News)

The Forest Service has been gutting its tree-planting fund to pay firefighting bills and is years behind in restoring the money, a new audit shows.

And wildfires in the West this season may require diversion of even more money, a top Agriculture Department official warned the White House last month in one of a series of letters obtained by The Associated Press.

``This would seriously impair our ability to carry out the program of reforestation,'' Deputy Secretary Richard Rominger wrote June 13 to T.J. Glauthier, associate director of natural resources at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Without the firefighting diversions, the ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!