September 15, 2025 2:50 a.m. 

On Friday, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said he joined colleagues from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to question the Trump administration’s sudden elimination of the Women in Wildfire Bootcamps program and demand its reinstatement.

A release said this year alone, the U.S. has experienced 48,458 wildfires that have burned more than four million acres across Oregon and dozens of states. The WIWF Bootcamps provided essential training to women considering careers as wildland firefighters or fire management professionals. Wyden claims its elimination will harm recruitment efforts at a time when firefighters are needed more than ever.

In a letter to Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Acting Chief of the U.S. Forest Service Tom Schulz, the senators said, “The WIWF program was established in 2011 by a group of dedicated female firefighting professionals employed by the U.S. Forest Service for the purpose of increasing firefighter recruitment within Federal land management agencies”. The letter continued, “The program gave both women and interested men an opportunity to learn the basic skills, requirements, and knowledge necessary to begin a career as a wildland firefighter or in a related wildfire and natural resource management position. The program armed its participants with the knowledge and confidence to apply for further training and full-time wildland fire management positions”.

The senators concluded, “Eliminating a successful outreach program such as the WIWF Boot Camps unnecessarily limits recruitment to a smaller pool of potential trainees when there is already a shortage of skilled and willing potential workers in a field where more dedicated and motivated personnel are urgently needed”.

In addition to Wyden, the letter was signed by seven other senators as well.