If you in Congress believe this won't happen, you have another thing coming. Either at the Regional, State, or Forest-District-Park-Reserve level this happens all the time. So as a Federal Firefighter, and as a Tax-Paying Citizen of the United States of America, I ask of you to support this funding to help prevent destructive wildland fires and to protect property, but with the following stipulations:

1. The Department of Agriculture (U.S. Forest Service), The Department of Interior (Bureaus of Land Management & Indian Affairs, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service), and other State Fire Management Resources that would share these funds be directed that all funding provided will only go to Fire Protection and Prevention projects.

2. That the above mentioned agencies cannot syphon off these funds for non-fire projects.

3. That the above mentioned agencies cannot reduce or eliminate current and expected funding to their respective Fire Management Divisions in as to the additional funding. This goes for the coming and future fiscal years.

4. Any upper-level Supervising Official from the Capital Offices down to the Forest/Regional/District Level who tries to shunt these funds from their intended purpose (Fire) or use these funds as a suppliment to an existing Fire budget shall be suspended, demoted, or terminated.

Those of you in Congress who may read this may think "That doesn't happen", "The funding you requested gets to you", or "Your officials wouldn't do that" live in Fantasy Land. This happens all the time, mostly incrementally but sometime majorly. For the first time in a long while a funding level has been proposed that can allow us to better complete our missions and protect our natural resources. All these years of lobbying for better funding may finally happen. But I will tell you all now that unless those of you in the Congress or the White House place directives like this in this funding bill a majority of the funding proposed will not go where it's intended.

It was mentioned previously on this board that in Region 5 (California) recieved something like $19 million in additional funding but only saw one additional engine (which works out to be around $200,000 for a new engine and equipment and $122,000 for a five-man engine crew for one season, if they bought a new engine). So out of $19,000,000 for Fire only $322,000 actually went to Fire. Where did the other $18,678,000 go? This process of funneling money through layers of interagency buracracy is not working (Can you say "The Fleecing of America"?). The money needs to get to the Fire Management people, not to those who administer other things. Stipulate where it goes, don't send a block grant of money to a forest with a note "Here's $50 million for Fire, but you can spend it how you see fit". If you do that it will only go to someone's pet project.

You were all elected to office by your constituents to do a job, and do the best for your constiuents and for the country. Please show us all that you have the country's best interests at heart. Pass the funding bill and make sure the money goes where its supposed to.

MOC4546