DOGE grant freeze left Minnesota forest vulnerable to wildfires

A federal funding freeze by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) delayed critical wildfire prevention in northeastern Minnesota, local officials told the Washington Post.

Now, portions of the forest began experiencing wildfires in early July, with over a dozen still ablaze as of July 29. Officials say if the prevention was properly funded by the Trump administration, the wildfires would not be as severe.

In 2024, the Biden administration awarded $10 million to the Superior National Forest to clear decades of fallen trees and dry vegetation. The funding was intended to reduce the threat of wildfires in high-risk areas like the Superior National Forest. According to a July 25 Post report, the Trump administration delayed the $10 million grant in 2025. The Post cited five people familiar with the wildfire prevention plan.

DOGE paused nearly all U.S. Forest Service grant projects to review funding tied to climate and diversity initiatives. The freeze halted work that local officials say was ready to launch immediately.

“We were shovel-ready,” Aaron Kania, a former Forest Service district ranger in the Superior National Forest, told the Washington Post. “Had that work been implemented, it would have been effective in stopping or slowing down these fires.”

By the time federal officials released the funding late last year, new administrative rules required staff to redesign the project. According to Kania and two others the Post spoke to, teams were forced to focus the project around commercial timber sales to generate revenue, which halted fast-acting brush clearing. The U.S. Forest Service workforce also lost roughly 7,000 employees last year, fueled by federal agency cuts and buyout incentives implemented by Trump.

“It’s the totality of all these things that set us back about a year and a half,” said Kania.

Superior wildfire burn continues

In early July, lightning sparked a series of fires that have torched nearly 64,000 acres across northeastern Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) issued a peacetime emergency on July 12 and mobilized the National Guard to help combat the crisis. Fire crews are also scrambling to thin brush under emergency conditions, and they’re paying premium rates for loggers and equipment during an active crisis.

Kania noted the financial irony of DOGE’s cost-cutting mandate: emergency operations during a blowout fire are more expensive than the preventative work the grant was supposed to fund in the first place.

“The irony is that the Department of Government Efficiency created chaos which undermined a very efficient process,” Kania said. “It was pretty straightforward, we had a plan that met grant criteria, applied and received the money. We were working through finalizing partnerships when DOGE upended everything.”

State Sen. Grant Hauschild (D-Hermantown) and state Rep. Roger Skraba (R-Ely), two lawmakers from Northeastern Minnesota, are collaborating on relief legislation in wake of the wildfires. Hauschild told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the “economic relief is devastating.”

“There were business owners there telling about their economic losses in what is supposed to be their peak season,” Hauschild said. “We had outfitters telling us of six-figure losses. Businesses are getting reservations canceled as far out as October. A local radio station said they don’t want to ask for advertising from small businesses who are losing money.”

Walz has floated calling a special session on Aug. 12 to extend the peacetime emergency order.