U.S. Reps Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers are urging President Joe Biden to approve a Major Disaster Declaration for the Colville Confederated Tribes following extreme wildfires this year.
If approved, public assistance would be available to remove debris, rebuild roads and bridges and address recovery efforts on the Colville Indian Reservation. Both Newhouse and McMorris Rodgers sent a letter to Biden this week.
“The Colville Indian Reservation sustained damage from five uncontrolled fires that burned between July and September,” the two Washington lawmakers wrote. “The Chuweah Creek and Summit Trail Fires grew quickly and merged with smaller fires. When they were finally contained, another storm system passed through the region and ignited an additional blaze on Reservation lands.