It would not surprise me to find that many of the bureaucrats who helped create the problem are still in their jobs.
It is a hard fact of life that the city folks back east suffering from 'beltway fever' really do not give a diddley d@mn about the people who sent them to D.C. if it is not an election year, and then tout the 'special' projects which hit the largest cross section of the demographic.
In Western states, that has taken on a rural vs. urban component, where the population of a few key cities can outvote the rural population--with widely differing interests.
I honestly believe the founders foresaw such a conflict of interest groups, and that is the reason the U.S. Senators were originally elected by the state legislatures, thus enabling all areas of a state proportional representation by land area instead of population (as in the House) in the Federal Legislature.
That has since been subverted, removing a cornerstone of the republic, dragging us toward a de facto democracy.
In that sense, firefighting in rural areas comes in with a very low priority.
Using the Spotted Owl and other crap to severely damage the domestic timber industry has further ensured that the business interests which might have had the resources to be able to overcome that legislative inertia are no longer present.