Washington Eyes Climate Funds to Close Wildfire Gap

Washington’s lands commissioner is looking to the state’s climate funds to help fill a wildfire funding gap.

Dave Upthegrove says he’ll ask lawmakers for an additional $60 million in the next legislative session to bring wildfire prevention and response funding back up to levels promised under a 2021 law.

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That law—House Bill 1168—committed the state to investing $500 million over eight years in wildfire programs. The money supports three main areas: stopping small fires before they spread, improving forest health via thinning and prescribed burns, and making communities more fire-resilient.

Lawmakers have so far kept close to those targets, but this year, facing a budget shortfall, they trimmed the amount to $60 million, half of what was planned. Upthegrove wants to restore the difference, and he’s eyeing revenue from the state’s Climate Commitment Act, which requires major polluters to buy emissions allowances.

That program has generated more than $3 billion since 2023 and is restricted to projects that cut pollution or improve environmental outcomes— including wildfire prevention and forest health.

“Although the general fund has a large shortfall, the Climate Commitment Act funding has some capacity,” Upthegrove said. “If we can prevent or reduce the size of one or two large fires, this will more than pay for itself.”

Representative Larry Springer, a Democrat from Kirkland, agrees. He says wildfire prevention aligns with the law’s purpose, noting that wildfires release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

“In terms of the carbon that’s thrown into the air by a wildfire—it’s astronomical,” Springer said. “So there’s the nexus with the Climate Commitment Act that I hope my colleagues will see.”

Negotiations over how much of that climate revenue could go toward wildfire programs are expected to unfold during the upcoming legislative session.

This story is republished from the Washington State Standard, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Washington state government and politics. Story Link Here.