Congress could have had a landmark moment—but it stopped short of passing the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act. Meanwhile the wildfire season is wrapping up as the most expensive ever.
"The 2015 wildfire season is now the costliest on record," reports Doyle Rice. The U.S. Forest Service announced earlier this week that the cost of fighting fires had reached $1.71 billion. "The previous record of $1.67 billion, adjusted for inflation, was set in fiscal year 2002," adds Rice.
2015 also came close to setting a record for total area covered by fires. According to data from the National Interagency Fire Center, 9.8 million acres burned in 2015, compared to 9.87 million acres in 2006.
Rice also notes the failure of the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act in Congress. The "bipartisan effort that would have treated wildfires more like other natural disasters and ended the transfer of money from other programs to battle the blazes," but it didn't make it into the omnibus spending bill.
In a separate article, Jeff Mapes provides more background on the close-but-no-cigar effort to reform wildfire funding at the federal level. Mapes provides more details about the reforms included in the bill as well as details about why the legislation failed.
FULL STORY: 2015 now USA's costliest wildfire season on record

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing
The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents
The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
planning NEXT
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie