If you’ve ever driven through an area ravaged by wildfire, you’ve likely noticed signs on fences and driveways thanking firefighters. Performing critical services, firefighters are among the most celebrated of our public servants. 

So plans to alter the way America battles wildfires — through the proposed creation of a $3.7 billion U.S. Wildland Fire Service at the Department of Interior — has raised some eyebrows.

Some groups, such as the Center for Western Priorities, called the move a “performative gesture that will cause chaos.” 

Others, including Partners in Wildfire Prevention and the International Association of Firefighters, lauded the decision, pointing out that “the current patchwork of wildfire prevention measures is not working for states” and “a comprehensive, national solution is needed.”   

The idea of a singular wildfire agency has been bounced around for decades, so why is this time any different? 

The proposed new agency would build off a presidential executive order issued earlier this month focused on some basic firefighting tenets — emphasizing strengthening firefighting compacts and partnerships and modifying or eliminating rules that impede the use of prescribed fire — while also calling for the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to consolidate their wildfire fire programs by mid-September “to the maximum degree practicable.” 

The proposed federal budget for next year takes it a step further by proposing an entirely new wildland fire agency. Its creation would take an act of Congress, but the idea already has bipartisan support. Sens. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced a bill earlier this year that would consolidate “federal wildland fire preparedness, suppression, and recovery efforts under an agency of the Department of the Interior.” 

Brett Taylor, wildland urban interface community coordinator at Truckee Meadows Fire and a former Nevada Division of Forestry battalion chief, said in an interview he could see wildfire response consolidation cutting down on bureaucratic red tape — one of the main reasons that Nevada was interested in joining interstate wildfire compacts. And the executive order’s call for a new “technology roadmap” could be a boon to firefighting efforts. 

And, as the U.S. Forest Service points out, no individual agency has enough firefighters, engines, aircraft or equipment to manage all wildfires occurring under their jurisdiction. 

But it could also hurt. 

“It sounds OK on paper, but when you turn the page on how to do it, you realize how complicated it is and there’s a ton of reasons it hasn’t been done before,” said a person familiar with the matter granted anonymity to speak freely with The Nevada Independent.  

One of the key functions of the BLM and Forest Service isn’t just fighting fire — it’s doing work such as prescribed burns and mechanical thinning to improve forest health and prevent fires from igniting in the first place. The Forest Service alone conducts about 4,500 prescribed fires each year, and the BLM has performed wildfire mitigation work on hundreds of thousands of acres of land that it manages. 

But, as a 2008 Congressional report noted, “A separate fire agency would likely emphasize suppression, rather than management to reduce wildfire damages.”

We’ve seen before that suppression, without mitigation, doesn’t work. 

In the 1930s, the Forest Service implemented its “10 a.m. policy,” mandating that all wildfires be under control by 10 a.m. the following day. That total fire suppression policy is in large part why forest debris built up to dangerous levels, and “the 10 a.m. policy is a strategy of the past that unfortunately helped create the wildfire crisis of today,” according to the Forest Service. 

Officials expect minimal Nevada changes 

Despite proposed federal changes, Nevada officials are heading into fire season with their same ready-for-battle mentality, this year bolstered by easier access to resources. Earlier this month, Gov. Joe Lombardo signed SB19, allowing the state to enter into the Great Plains Wildland Fire Protection Compact and the Northwest Wildland Fire Protection Agreement. 

Read More: As wildfires worsen, Nevada seeks to join compacts as another 'tool in the toolbox'

And although the state has already experienced several hundred fires, including the recent Conner Fire that burned more than 17,000 acres in Douglas County, what’s happening at the federal level hasn’t affected Nevada’s ability to respond to fires thus far, State Fire Warden Kacey KC told The Nevada Independent. 

“I don’t know what it will look like specifically for Nevada until we know more of what the structure is,” she said. “We plan to be as engaged as they will let us be in the process.”

Federal officials also say it is business as usual in Nevada when it comes to firefighting.

“We’re going to continue to work together, whether we’re one agency or five different agencies,” Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest Fire Management Officer Gwen Sanchez said earlier this month at a public wildfire panel in Reno.

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In the weeds:

Final bill tally — When my last newsletter came out, many bills had cleared the session but were still awaiting signatures by Gov. Joe Lombardo. In good news for Nevada’s environmental and energy advocates, all the bills I was watching as of the last newsletter were signed — here’s a recap of what got the green light: 

• AB96, requiring Washoe and Clark counties to create formal heat plans. 
• SB260, establishing protections for outdoor workers when air quality is poor due to wildfire smoke.
• SB36 and AB104, establishing the Nevada Voluntary Water Rights Retirement Program. 
• AB458, enabling property owners to install rooftop solar on affordable housing properties, thereby expanding net metering access to low-income renters. 
• AB452, directing state energy regulators to investigate how fuel and purchased power costs are passed on to ratepayers and to potentially adopt fuel cost sharing, a move that could lead to NV Energy bearing some of the financial risk when natural gas price spikes. 
• SB442, a bill requiring public utility companies such as NV Energy to publish quarterly data broken down by ZIP codes on the number of customers it disconnects each month due to nonpayment.

And, worth a second mention, Lombardo had already signed SB19, allowing the state to enter into two interstate wildfire compacts.

Egg-xemption over — Nevada’s temporary allowance for the sale of non-cage-free eggs in response to rising egg prices and limited supplies caused by avian bird flu “egg-spired” on June 20. All eggs sold in the state must once again be sourced from cage-free hens. 

Egg prices have dropped an average of $1.37 per dozen in the state since the order was issued Feb. 20, according to the Nevada Department of Agriculture.  

Nevada passed legislation in 2021 requiring all eggs sold in the state to come from cage-free hens; AB171 was passed and signed early this session permitting two temporary suspensions of the cage-free regulations for a maximum of 120 days each per calendar year.

Investigation approved — State energy regulators have unanimously determined a full investigation into NV Energy is warranted after the utility was found to have overbilled tens of thousands of customers as far back as 2001.

With overbilling running into the tens of millions of dollars, the utility never reported its mistake to state energy regulators, instead opting to issue partial refunds to certain customers, capping those refunds at six months’ worth of payments. Despite having overcharged customers $17 million between 2017 and 2024, with an unknown number of overcharges in the years between 2001 and 2017, the utility issued only about $2 million in refunds.

AB452, which I mentioned above, also requires customers to receive full refunds, along with interest, if they are overbilled. 

Not so clear — After declining steadily through the late 1990s, Lake Tahoe’s long-term clarity is stuck in limbo.

Long-term trends show annual Secchi depths — the depth at which scientists can see a white disk lowered into the lake — have leveled off, despite efforts to increase the lake’s clarity. The most recent measurements, taken in 2024, show clarity levels down to 62.3 feet, down from the previous year’s depth of 68.2 feet, according to a report released earlier this month.

Scientists have tracked Tahoe’s clarity since the mid-20th century, following the Tahoe basin’s development boom. Research points to sediment as the main factor in declining visibility.

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ICYMI:

Nevada’s infrastructure among best in the nation, but report IDs looming challenges

Indy Explains: How NV Energy’s proposed pricing switch could affect your power bill

How a resolution backing public land sales for housing died in the Nevada Legislature

Officials brace for fire season as Nevada is ‘abnormally dry’

GOP push to sell off public lands revived in Senate. Here's how it could affect Nevada

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Here’s what else I’m reading (and listening to) this week:

I recently discovered Montana Public Radio’s podcast The Wide Open, about the past, present and future of the Endangered Species Act. I recently discovered Montana Public Radio’s podcast The Wide Open, about the past, present and future of the Endangered Species Act. Once I found it, I quickly binge-listened to the first four episodes. Definitely worth a download!

The river that came back to life: a journey down the reborn Klamath — a great read from The Guardian.

From NPR: Faced with rising temps, Las Vegas is embracing a simple climate solution: More trees.

And just for fun, also from The Guardian: A Henderson man has converted his house to a free dinosaur theme park. 

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A hint — it involves the Nevada National Security Site!