After revealing last month that it would take $4 billion to improve the state’s ability to respond to catastrophic wildfires, Gov. Kate Brown’s Council on Wildfire Response released recommendations Tuesday on how the money should be spent.
The report said the state should focus on creating fire-adapted communities, restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes and effective wildfire response.
The 110-page report contains 37 specific recommendations with short-term, midrange and long-term solutions. The council said the highest priorities are working with power utilities to create risk mitigation plans, changing building codes to require defensible space around homes built near forests, reducing fuels within forests that cause catastrophic fires and educating the public on wildfire prevention.
The council also called for a new system to pay for wildfire suppression.