The Oregon Department of Forestry’s wildfire protection budget is set to rise to $127 million this year, a 12% increase compared to a year ago.

The amount includes a base budget for preparedness and initial attack statewide, said Joy Krawczyk, public affairs director for the agency. It also includes funding for additional aviation resources that can be moved statewide based on fire danger.

The funding increase this year is due primarily to increases in protection assessment rates for landowners within Oregon Department of Forestry protection districts.

“Those rates are updated annually to ensure the budget reflects an adequate level of protection based on the resource needs for each particular district,” said Krawczyk.

During the last fiscal year, the Oregon Department of Forestry had a budget of $113 million and in 2023 the budgeted amount was $104 million.

The $127 million also includes $20 million in emergency fire costs for large fires. When emergency fire costs increase above $20 million, ODF covers these costs from other parts of its agency budget until it can be reimbursed.

The Oregon Department of Forestry is responsible for fire protection on more than 16 million acres of forest in the state. These lands consist of privately owned forests as well as some public lands, including state-owned forests and, by contract, U.S. Bureau of Land Management forests in Western Oregon.

In addition to personnel hired by the Oregon Department of Forestry, the federal government is also hiring firefighters to work with the U.S. Forest Service. As of May 3, the Forest Service had hired 9,444 people nationally for wildland firefighters jobs.

The agency says the current total is 84% of its hiring target of 11,300 wildland firefighters. If the agency does reach that total, it will be in line with the number of firefighters hired in previous years.

In 2023, around 11,190 firefighters were hired and in 2024, the agency hired 11,393 firefighters.

Wildland firefighters are a nationally shared resource — firefighters are moved around the country depending where they are needed most. Units from Canada, Mexico, Australia and elsewhere are even deployed when needed.

The agency hasn’t said how many firefighters will be based in Oregon but it is planning to hire 1,429 firefighters in the Pacific Northwest, which is about 20 more than a year ago.

The Forest Service says it has cut jobs and spending in line with Trump administration goals of reducing the federal workforce. But these cuts do not impact wildfire fighting efforts, it says.

Across multiple voluntary separation programs approximately 5,000 non-fire Forest Service employees have either left federal employment or are in the process of doing so, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service.

The statement does not mention how many of those 5,000 non-fire employees were part of a backup team of certified firefighters — known internally as a “militia” — who can be called upon to fight fires when resources are thin.

The agency says national security and public safety positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze and jobs that protect forests from wildfire will remain in place.

“The United States Forest Service maintains operational readiness,” according to the Department of Agriculture statement.

“Communities in and around national forests depend on these services, and we will continue working alongside our partners and the people and communities we serve, to meet those expectations.”