SALT LAKE CITY — As the revegetation efforts continue in the wake of the Brian Head Fire that scorched more than 70,000 acres in Garfield County, members of Congress and Western governors are urging forestry management reforms.

Gov. Gary Herbert and Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock met Thursday with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who is pushing Congress for budget fixes after a record-setting wildfire season that topped $2.3 billion in costs.

Firefighting costs this year consumed more than half of the federal budget, leaving little left over for vegetation treatment and other efforts to reduce wildfire threats.

Herbert brought up the devastating Brian Head Fire this summer, which cost more than $30 million and took a crew of 1,800 to suppress.

"We had a very productive and pragmatic discussion about how to improve the state-federal relationship regarding the management of national forests in Utah," said Paul Edwards, Herbert's deputy chief of staff.

On Wednesday, the Congressional Western Caucus called for bipartisan forestry reforms and active forest management to prevent a repeat of the 2017 wildfire season, which saw nearly 49,000 separate wildfires that burned more than 8.5 million acres across the country.

Legislation to reform the way the U.S. Forest Service manages forests has been introduced in both chambers.

A 2017 inspector general's report concluded the most "extensive and serious" problem to the health of national forests is the overaccumulation of vegetation, with accumulation rates three times higher than can be treated.

The report noted that 58 million acres in the national forest system are at high risk for an "ecologically destructive" wildland fire.

Critics of federal forest management practices, including Utah leaders, point to the drastic reduction in timber harvests as the leading culprit in catastrophic fires. The Western Caucus cites U.S. Forest Service harvests in 1990 of 10 billion board-feet, compared with 2.5 billion board-feet produced from forests in 2016.

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Panguitch Lake reopens as crews contain more of Brian Head Fire

People were allowed to drive on a canyon road and camp, fish and swim at Panguitch Lake for the first time in over a week on Sunday as crews contained 65 percent of a wildfire that started near Brian Head.

But Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-Va., backed by the chief scientist at the climate change organization Geos Institute, said increased vegetation removal or timber harvests are not the solution.

"We cannot log our way to wildfire control," McEachin said, noting that stripping bedrock environmental protections for timber harvests will only jeopardize natural landscapes.

McEachin, in a Wednesday hearing of the Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, pointed to recent analysis by the Center for Western Priorities that asserts "state" lands are at as high a risk for wildfires as federal forests, if not more so.

Jason Curry, spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said the analysis likely includes both state and private lands in the urban interface, which by their proximity can be accompanied by enhanced risk if homeowners don't take precautions.

"There is not a whole lot of forested state land out there, so I don't believe that analysis takes that into account," Curry said.

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Recouping costs of fighting Utah wildfires isn't easy

Many of Utah's wildfires over the past two years have been sparked by people, but recouping firefighting costs that can run into the millions of dollars isn't easy, state fire officials say.

His agency works with local government and homeowners to develop wildfire preparedness plans that, among other things, encourage creating defensible space by removing vegetation and other fire hazards adjacent to homes and structures.

In the case of the Uintah Highlands fire last month, Curry said several homeowners took steps to reduce their risks and likely saved their homes. That fire, which burned on state and private land, destroyed three homes, causing millions in property damage. Authorities say it started from a downed power line.

Utah leaders are among those pushing for more "active" management of federal forests, which in the West are being ravaged by bark beetle kill.

Greg Chilcott, from the Ravalli County board of commissioners in Hamilton, Montana, testified in the subcommittee hearing, urging passage of federal reforms.

"We have created a second-tier industry in Washington of attorneys who can sue the government at will, recover their fees and stop a project until it loses its value," he said. "(Agencies) have become managers of paper and litigation rather than resources."

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