Commissioners call for better forest management, increases in wildfire personnel
(Photo is of a scooper plane over Lake Wenatchee in August 2026. The plane is providing support for the Little Giant Fire, which can be seen in the background.)
On Sept. 8, the Board of County Commissioners voted to send a letter to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, and U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier with recommendations and requests related to wildfire firefighting and forest management in Chelan County. This summer has been an especially difficult wildfire year, with Chelan County being the site of the largest wildfire in the state. The letter reads:
September 8, 2026
The Honorable Patty Murray, US Senator
The Honorable Maria Cantwell, US Senator
The Honorable Kim Schrier, US Representative
Subject: Recommendations and requests related to Chelan County wildfires
Dear Chelan County Congressional Members,
Thank you and your offices for continued support and good communications during recent Chelan County wildfires and other natural disasters. The impacts to our communities, natural resources, and economy have been severe and will require long-term recovery.
As Chelan County Commissioners, we have lived with wildfire for too many seasons. We would like to provide you with our recommendations and requests:
Improved forest management and treatments: Federal land ownership in Chelan County is 78%, including Bureau of Land Management, National Parks Service, and US Forest Service (USFS) lands. The USFS lands alone comprise over 70% of the county. Those lands have massive fuel treatment needs. We believe the most effective approach to reducing the spread of future wildfires involves long-term and consistent proactive management of forests and fuel conditions. The level of investment in fuel treatments must be many-fold greater than what it is and actually more than that of suppression in order to overtake the current work of damaging wildfires. Congress must drastically increase the pace, scale, and investments in these forest treatments, removing the overabundance of smaller trees, clearing underbrush, and applying prescribed fire following the strategic thinning. To accomplish this work, efficient sawmilling is necessary and must be incentivized in these fire-prone areas. Congress must also authorize the USFS to supply these removed materials to purchasers. Employing people to do this work is good for our economy, beneficial for our natural resources, and safer for communities. Experts believe it is also the only option that will prove successful over the long term.
Increase air assets and firefighting personnel for initial attacks: Until our landscapes can accept active fire, something they used to withstand, a swift and overwhelming initial attack is much needed soon after wildfires start. This is best accomplished immediately and no later than the first 24 hours. Simply put, the western United States – especially Washington – needs more air resources for initial attack along with trained fulltime and rapidly-deployed firefighting personnel. If fires are not extinguished quickly, the fires spread and are “managed” until extinguished by season-ending rain and snow events.
Postfire mitigation and restoration: A major challenge of living in fire-prone areas is the impact large-scale wildfires have in the years after an event, both economically and on the landscape. Postfire, the dead and downed trees are still a major problem. They fall down and dry out, adding new fuel to the ground for the next fire and creating additional hazards. Immediately after wildfires, the dead trees must also be removed within the first year or two so their value to a purchaser remains. This will help avoid exacerbating future impacts. After postfire restorative treatments, severely burned areas must be replanted at densities that properly anticipate future fires and how they would naturally burn in the landscape. Unfortunately, after severe fires, severely burned areas are often impacted by heavy rain or rain-on-snow events. The Stehekin, Entiat, and Icicle Valleys and other areas of Chelan County have suffered recent flooding, landslides, and debris flows stemming from burn scars. Congress should invest greatly in burned-area restoration so that communities that have already suffered from wildfires are not victimized again by rain, snow, or fire events in subsequent years by landslides, floods, and debris flows.
We recognize that these requests will require massive investment by the federal government to create positive effects, but they should absolutely be undertaken and funded appropriately. Otherwise, the history of recent wildfires – and their aftermath – will repeat itself over and over. All the while, homes are destroyed, people lose their lives and possessions, families are displaced, home insurance is lost or threatened, emergency management personnel are overwhelmed, tourism is impacted, community events are canceled, air quality is compromised, and some residents live with lasting human health impacts, such as chronic respiratory, cardiovascular and other issues. With Chelan County’s clean energy vehicles, wildfire smoke is now our main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, so there should be support from all sides to reduce wildfires in Washington.
In Chelan County, we must find a path forward with reducing wildfires in order to protect our people, economy, and natural resources. Our communities living with this is not a viable option. Over the past 10 years, Chelan County has lost over 500,000 acres of land due to wildfires, approximately 30% of the county. As a result, residents have struggled with the financial, economic, physical, emotional, and social impacts of wildfires.
Thank you again to you and your offices for the helpful communications and thoughtful inquiries. We are grateful for your support of Chelan County and confident that your experience, abilities and longevity in Congress can help bring about positive changes for our county and state.
Thank you for your service,
Commissioner Kevin Overbay, District 1
Commissioner Shon Smith, District 2
Commissioner Brad Hawkins, District 3
Last Updated: 09/14/2026 01:23 PM
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