Posted on 08/30/2002 6:23:13 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The United States Forest Service, now battling one of the worst fire seasons in history, "misplaced" about $215 million intended for wildfire management because of an accounting error, a watchdog group contends.
The Forest Service says the money is being recovered.
Taxpayers for Common Sense, an advocacy group based in Washington, made public on Friday an internal memorandum from the Forest Service chief, Dale Bosworth, that said the error, made nearly two years ago, had been discovered as the agency tried to improve its accounting practices.
The Forest Service expects to spend a record $1.5 billion this year to fight wildfires that have consumed more than six million acres in the West and killed 20 firefighters.
The agency is working with the White House Office of Management and Budget to find a way to apply the money, which was supposed to have been spent in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2000, to this year's budget. Then it can be used to help pay for current firefighting, Mr. Bosworth said.
Even so, said Eric Lynch, a policy analyst for the taxpayer group, "The misplaced millions could have been spent to reduce fire risk long before this year's fires ravaged the West."
In a memorandum to regional foresters and other supervisors this month, Mr. Bosworth said $215 million was mistakenly reduced from a wildfire management account in a year-end reconciliation in late 2000. The error was recently discovered "as a result of our continuing intense efforts to address agency accountability issues," Mr. Bosworth wrote.
Over the last decade, the Forest Service failed 8 out of 10 inspector general audits — a record the taxpayer group called among the worst in the federal bureaucracy.
Mr. Bosworth, in his memorandum, said the windfall from the accounting error would do little to reverse the financial strain the agency is experiencing because of the severe fire season.
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