Buffalo soldiers remembered
And news of federal wildfire agency proposal
Volume 3, Number 47 - Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025
Published every Monday and Thursday
Perspective
I’M LEADING WITH SOME HISTORY today, prompted by a Facebook post this morning from the Department of Interior with the photo above and this:
Some of the first park rangers in America weren’t rangers at all. They were Buffalo Soldiers — Black Americans who served in the U.S. Army after the Civil War. These dedicated men protected wildlife from poachers, built trails and forged a proud legacy in our nation’s history.
Interior continues to preserve and honor the history of these first rangers at places like Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, Fort Selden National Historic Site, Yosemite National Park and more.
As I reported Monday, Secretary Doug Burgum was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior. I reviewed the DOI’s Facebook page before and after his confirmation and the inauguration. I did not observe much difference, with posts typically featuring national parks or accomplishments of agencies under DOI, including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs and others.
I did notice a recent post touting the accomplishments of the Great American Outdoors Act, which President Donald Trump signed during his first term. The last post referencing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by former President Joe Biden in November 2021 was on Nov. 15, 2024, eight days after the election.
As The New York Times reported on Feb. 1 (gift link HERE), there is still plenty of uncertainty about how Trump’s executive orders impact funding for projects across the country from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
Here’s an excerpt:
But those funds have now been held up by President Trump’s order that all federal climate spending be paused. Even though the White House this week rescinded a sweeping directive that would have stopped trillions of dollars in grants across the federal government, a separate executive order is still in effect that halts tens of billions of dollars in energy and environmental spending.
That pause is paralyzing federal agencies, causing confusion in states and cities, delaying construction projects and forcing some companies to furlough workers.
So, back to the Buffalo Soldiers…
The presence of their photo on DOI’s Facebook page seemed reassuringly normal to me — while the many comments on that and other recent posts reminded me of how badly our country is divided.
New federal fire agency?
In news today, on Semafor* is a report that Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican, and California Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat, have teamed up”on a bill to organize wildfire response under a new National Wildland Firefighting Service within the Interior Department, according to details first shared with Semafor.
Read more HERE, and an excerpt:
The bill would require the Agriculture and Interior secretaries to combine their wildfire operations under the new agency, with a specific budget and plans for a Senate-confirmable director.
Sheehy said the current bureaucratic organization under multiple departments had “failed” firefighters and led to towns being engulfed by wildfires: “The time is now to reshape our approach to American wildfire management and start fighting fires better, stronger, and faster.”
According to the text linked to the article of a currently unnumbered bill (HERE), the new organization would be known as the “National Wildland Firefighting Service” and under the DOI.
The related news release from Sen. Padilla (HERE) notes that two other senators — John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) — have signed on to the bill since the Semafor report.
According to the news release, the bipartisan legislation would “create a national Wildfire Intelligence Center to streamline federal response and create a whole-of-government approach to combat wildfires. The joint office … between the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of the Interior, would facilitate coordination and information sharing across federal and state departments and agencies, tribal entities, academia, and the private sector on wildland fires.”
According to Padilla’s one-pager, the proposal is endorsed by Megafire Action, the Federation of American Scientists, the Association of FireTech Innovation, the Alliance for Wildfire Resilience, Climate and Wildfire Institute, Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition, The Stewardship Project, Tall Timbers, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, American Forests, Environmental Defense Fund and American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
Obviously, this is something to watch, but for the moment, I’m confused by differences between the Semafor report and Padilla’s news release and one-sheet (HERE).
Stay tuned!
*Note: I had never heard of Semafor. Per Wikipedia, it’s a news website founded in 2022 by Ben Smith, a former editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News and media columnist at The New York Times, and Justin B. Smith, the former CEO of Bloomberg Media Group.
Save the Redwoods League response
You may recall that a week ago, I asked Sequoia National Forest, the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition and Save The Redwoods League about the impact of the Trump Administration’s actions on giant sequoias, especially the hiring freeze and the effort to reduce federal employees with fire season right around the corner.
I heard back from SQF, as reported in the Extra edition published Monday, HERE.
And on Tuesday, I received this statement from Paul Ringgold, chief program officer at Save the Redwoods League:
“Save the Redwoods League and our federal, state, local and tribal partners who are collectively responsible for managing the giant sequoia range have made significant efforts to save the giant sequoias in recent years, following the devastating wildfires 2015-2021 that resulted in unprecedented tree mortality and threats to the long-term survival of this uniquely fire-adapted species.
“Our collaborative success has been made possible largely through emergency resources provided to the National Park Service and USDA Forest Service. It is too soon to fully understand the possible impacts of the fast-moving policy and budgetary changes that are occurring with the arrival of the new administration in Washington, D.C. Yet the existential threat across the range of these iconic trees remains severe. It is vitally important that these federal agencies continue to have the tools, staffing and sustained funding necessary to implement near-term restoration actions and to engage in long-term stewardship to address the future needs of giant sequoia conservation.
“We must ensure a robust future for this iconic, irreplaceable species.”
Wildfire, water & weather update
The San Francisco Chronicle reported this morning (gift link HERE) that “Claps of thunder hit Tuolumne County just south of Bear Valley on Thursday morning as snow began to accumulate across the Sierra Nevada foothills.”
As with other storms this winter, whether the Southern Sierra will be invited to the party remains to be seen.
Yosemite National Park reported yesterday on Facebook that it received rain and higher-elevation snow the previous night, with a chance of snow possibly being as low as Yosemite Valley over the next few days.
As noted previously, the California Drought Map (HERE) shows the Sierra Nevada from Mariposa County south in “moderate drought.”
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Ringgold sounds like he is running scared and either unable or unwilling to actually say something definitive. Typical political non-speak.