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Federal agencies fall short of Trump forest protection goals

Wildfires have now claimed 25 lives in California, Oregon and Washington
Posted at 2:17 PM, Oct 31, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-31 17:17:50-04

(AP) — Federal agencies have fallen short of President Donald Trump's goals for making forests and rangelands they oversee less vulnerable to wildfires.

Trump set targets in 2018 for measures such as removing dead trees, underbrush and other potentially flammable materials.

But government data shows the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Interior treated just over half of the area the president sought.

It was only slightly better than their average annual performance over nearly two decades.

Trump has blamed poor state forest management practices for the worsening problem of catastrophic fires in the U.S. West.