Published on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
By RICHARD BROOKS
Big fires have burned big holes in the U.S. Forest Service budget again this year, forcing both Inland national forests to slash nearly $6 million in nonessential expenditures, ranging from road repairs to campground toilet replacements.
"The direction from our national office is to bring all spending to a halt," said Valerie Baca, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino National Forest.
As a result, that forest is cutting $4.5 million -- mostly for 18 miles of roadwork and planning for future tree- and brush-clearing programs -- or about 6.5 percent of its $68.7 million budget.
The Cleveland National Forest is trimming $1.35 million -- almost entirely for campground upgrades -- or 4.5 percent of its $25 million budget.
That is terrible news, say some forest visitors, who add that years of rising firefighting costs and cuts in nonfire budgets have degraded the forests
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