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>> All right. We leave it
there. Steven Deller thanks

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very much.
>> Thank you.

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wildfires is a regular
feature these days in

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Wisconsin. According to
current maps, there are 700

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active wildfires in Canada,
most of them categorized as

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out of control. What's the
risk of wildfires or forest

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fires in Wisconsin? And
could cuts in federal

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funding of the U.S. Forest
Service? If forest

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management in Wisconsin,
we're joined now by James

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Barnier forest fire
protection section chief for

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the Division of Forestry.
And thanks very much for

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being here.
>> Thank you.

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>> So I know that the
Wisconsin DNR also has these

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fire management dashboards
online. How has this year

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compared historically for
wildfires in Wisconsin?

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>> This year is fairly
unique. It was one of our

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more uncommon types of
events. We've had. As you

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might remember, a drier than
normal winter. We saw a

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significant number of fires
in January and February,

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which we traditionally don't
see. So those fires cause a

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lot of great a lot of work
on our staff to be prepared,

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be ready. Typically, when
we're trying to get ready

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for our typical spring
season, which is March,

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April and May. And so that
really took a toll on our

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staff overall from that
working those two months

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earlier. Traditionally, we
see snowfall during that

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time frame.
>> Right.

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>> So what are conditions
like right now for fires in

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Wisconsin?
>> Well, to be honest, we're

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just starting to get back
into some drought

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conditions. We're starting
to staff up again and just

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prepare for fires for the
summer months.

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>> When a fire breaks out.
What kind of fuels it

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spread?
>> Well, most of our fires

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are caused by people, and
typically in the state of

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Wisconsin, most of our fires
are wind driven, usually

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with low RH and higher
temperatures, but mostly

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with wind. And low RH is
what we see drives most of

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our fires. And that usually
that light fuels that grass

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type fuels that would spread
really fast. And then once

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that gets ignited, the fire
gets a lot bigger. There's

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called ladder fuels. Those
ladder fuels get you know,

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get into the tops of the
trees. And then when you see

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those really significant
type of crown fires.

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>> So you have told us that
it is not likely that

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Wisconsin would ever see
fires like those in in

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Canada. Why not?
>> Why wouldn't say we

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wouldn't see types of fires
of that magnitude of 250,000

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acres. We probably wouldn't
see that size of fires. But

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we do see a lot of
significant what I would

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say, catastrophic for the
state of Wisconsin. Anything

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between, you know, 3000 to,
you know, 15,000 acres,

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those types of fires in the
are common. You know, every

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so often in the state of
Wisconsin and have

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significant impacts across
the state.

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>> A number of DNR
firefighters have been in

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Canada. Tell me about that.
>> So we've sent up 20

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people to both Ontario, and
Manitoba. And during that

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time frame in, they're
actually fighting fires and

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working within that
organization on their IMT

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incident management teams to
help facilitate that. So

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doing so, it is a
significant event.

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>> How much forest land does
Wisconsin have and who's

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responsible for its
management, fire prevention

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and firefighting.
>> Just in general, there's

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about 57% of the forested
lands is privately owned and

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about another 10% industry
owned. And the rest is

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government entities. And so
we provide Wisconsin DNR,

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provide support with those
landowners through, you

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know, sound forest
management practices to

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provide some management
plans for them or through,

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you know, industry working
through industry foresters

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and ensuring that we have a
good, solid forest, healthy

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forest to help limit those
large scale fires.

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>> So we know that state
officials have concern about

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federal cuts to states from
the U.S. Forest Service.

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What role do the feds play
in wildfire management?

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>> They provide us a lot of
funding sources. So, yes,

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roughly a little over $2
million to support

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perspectives associated with
wildfire preparedness. And

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that where would that money
go? Well, we work heavily

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with our partners, local
fire departments. Our one of

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our key components within
the state of Wisconsin. And

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we provide grants to those
to help facilitate responses

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to those fires. Also for our
needs, for our training

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responsibilities, our tools,
our resources, and even some

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of our funding of our
positions.