Last week, Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized the Oklahoma State Forester’s response to the fires that blazed across Oklahoma in March. This week, the governor is floating the concept of axing the entire Forestry Services division.
Stitt has said he believes the Oklahoma Forestry Service held back resources during the fires. When asked to specify which resources during a press conference, Stitt said he didn’t know.
“The fact that we can't get answers about where their assets were around the state is further proof that this is a deep-seated bureaucracy that are trying to protect their actions,” Stitt said. “We still haven't been able to figure out where they were during that thing.”
Just weeks after the fires, the state's Chief Forester Mark Goeller resigned following criticism from the governor.
In a Facebook post, Goeller defended his actions as firefighters from across the state rallied in his defense.
"I have been falsely accused of not performing the duties necessary to protect life and property in a timely manner," Goeller wrote. "Preparations were made well in advance, the public was notified of the impending fire danger, firefighting resources were ordered and in place. Nothing was held back."
Stitt said he’s requesting a full post-mortem of the fire response from Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur and Secretary of Public Safety Tricia Everest.
In the meantime, he’s musing over the possibility of eliminating the state’s Forestry Services, which he says accounts for about a third of the budget for the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.
“Why do I even have a Department of Forestry?” Stitt said. “Let's just get rid of the whole thing. I'd saved $75 million for the taxpayers. Or let's take 50 million of that and let's give it to our local firefighters.”
Ultimately, only the legislature has the authority to dissolve the Forestry Services, which were created by the legislature almost exactly 100 years ago, on Apr. 6, 1925.
Neither the Oklahoma Forestry Services nor the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry immediately responded to a request for comment.
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