From 2004 to 2014, the Forest Service lost 46 percent of its funding for recreation funds for Alaska’s two national forests, the Tongass and Chugach. Recreation budgets have remained flat, said USFS Regional Partnership Coordinator George Schaaf. The financial burden is due to the rising cost of forest fires in the Lower 48.
The cost of fighting wildfires down south now consumes about half of the Forest Service’s annual budget. In the next few years, “if nothing changes,” Schaaf added, forest fires will consume about two-thirds of the annual budget.
The funding squeeze has caused the USFS to think creatively about how it funds recreation in Alaska, a big draw for locals and visitors alike.