FWFSA to attend senate hearings in San Diego 11-27-07

Business Manager Casey Judd will be attending congressional hearings in San Diego on Tuesday November 27th. The hearings are being conducted by the Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations for Interior and Related Agencies to address, among other things, concerns about the Forest Service fire program. The chairperson of the committee, Sen. Feinstein of California has received a number of communications from FWFSA members seeking the FWFSA's appearance at the hearings as a witness.

However late today, Monday November 19th, Senator Feinstein's staff contacted the FWFSA to indicate that regrettably the witness panels had already been set. As a result, the FWFSA has sent a rather candid email to the Senator's staff regarding the exclusion of the FWFSA with respect to providing oral testimony.

That being said, the FWFSA will be submitting written testimony for the congressional record and Casey has indicated he will make every effort to speak directly to the Senator who he has worked with for over a decade to ascertain why the committee didn't feel compelled to hear from those representing the true experts on the issues...our federal wildland firefighters.

Quite frankly, the make-up of the panel will likely be demonstrative of whether Congress is truly interested in identifying problems and seeking ideas for change or whether the hearing will be yet another example of bureaucratic rhetoric.

Our members are encouraged to attend if they can. The hearings will be held at the San Diego City Council chambers at:

202 C st.
San Diego
12th Floor
9:30am

For more information please contact us through the web site.

~JOIN ONLINE~

USFS · BLM · NPS · FWS · BIA