The Bush administration is proposing to increase the budget for wildfire prevention and firefighting by nearly US$220m following the second worst wildfire season in history.
The proposed US$2.2bn budget, for the Forest Service and US interior department, follows a year when 7.1 million acres of land were burned.
The White House budget request for fiscal 2004, which begins on October 1, is subject to revision by Congress.
Meanwhile, the Forest Service has revealed it wants to offer 2 billion board feet of timber for sale during the next financial year, a similar amount to current levels.
