Now that the sequestration deadline has passed without agreement between Congress and the White House on the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts, there are two questions:

What exactly will be cut from the Wildland Fire Management Fund?

When do those cuts actually take place?

Both are undetermined at this point.

Last question first, even though the deadline passed and automatic cuts are to go in effect today, the Office of Management and Budget has until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 1 to issue the notice of sequestration that actually kicks off the cutting process. Once the order is issued, government agencies can then the process of issuing furlough notices to employees and implementing other cuts.

For the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, approximately $2 billion will be cut from its budget and projects about one third of its employees will be furloughed.

Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary, noted in a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 5 that more than $130 million would be cut from the Wildland Fire Management Fund, but it was not detailed as to how those cuts would proceed.

The furloughs are expected to take up to 30 days to implement in some cases, and the USDA has said it would have to close 19,000 recreation sites nationwide, ranger stations would have shorter operating hours, and law enforcement efforts would also be affected.

As we get more information, we’ll pass it along.

Sequester Cut Update

Here are the cuts related to wildland fire contained in The OMB Report to The Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013, sent to Congress on March 1.

U.S. Forest Service/Wildland Fire Management: $125 million
Bureau of Land Management/Wildland Fire Management: $38 million
FEMA/U.S. Fire Administration: $2 million