FACT SHEET: Trump Administration Cuts To Forecasting, Readiness, Recovery, And Research Are Putting Lives In Nevada At Risk
Last Updated: 6/3/26
- TRUMP’S CUTS TO EXTREME WEATHER DISASTER PREVENTION AND RECOVERY PROGRAMS HURT NEVADANS
- TRUMP’S GUTTING OF NOAA AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FUNDING IN NEVADA THREATENS FORECAST ACCURACY AND TIMELINESS
- TRUMP’S MOVE TO SLASH AND CONSOLIDATE THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE UNDERMINES WILDFIRE RESEARCH AND RESPONSE IN NEVADA
- RECENT EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND FIRES IN NEVADA HAVE CAUSED DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, AND SUCH EVENTS WILL BECOME MORE FREQUENT AND MORE DEADLY WITH CLIMATE CHANGE
TRUMP’S CUTS TO EXTREME WEATHER DISASTER PREVENTION AND RECOVERY PROGRAMS HURT NEVADANS
- Trump’s cuts jeopardized 26 projects in Nevada selected for FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) funding, totaling $15 million.
- In December 2025, a federal judge found FEMA’s actions were unlawful and ordered the reinstatement of BRIC. In March 2026, FEMA was forced to reopen program applications following an order requiring funding to be made available.
- BRIC projects in Nevada jeopardized by Trump’s cuts included improvements at the Hobart Creek Reservoir, part of the water system servicing Carson City, construction of three solar power stations for the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District, and two generators for communities in Douglas County.
- Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joined 11 other states in suing the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA for imposing illegal and burdensome conditions on more than $19 million in emergency management and disaster relief grants for the state.
- In December 2025, a district court judge blocked the Trump administration’s withholding of grant money from states for emergency management, disaster relief, and homeland security operations.
- In May 2026, Trump’s FEMA Review Council recommended raising the threshold for disasters to qualify for federal assistance and shifting more financial and administrative burden for recovery and preparedness onto states.
- Brett Compston, chief of the Nevada Office of Emergency Management, said the state was facing a “9/11 equivalent” in emergency management services due to changes at the federal level.
TRUMP’S GUTTING OF NOAA AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FUNDING IN NEVADA THREATENS FORECAST ACCURACY AND TIMELINESS
- As of July 2025, the NWS office serving much of northern and eastern Nevada had NWS leadership vacancies, and as of June 2025, the NWS office in Elko did not have a Warning Coordination Meteorologist in place.
TRUMP’S MOVE TO SLASH AND CONSOLIDATE THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE UNDERMINES WILDFIRE RESEARCH AND RESPONSE IN NEVADA
- In 2026, Trump’s chaos and cuts at USFS led to reductions of 44% in prescribed burning and 40% in fuel-reduction work – two leading strategies for wildfire prevention – ahead of fire season.
- The Trump administration planned to close the state’s only USFS research facility, at the University of Nevada, Reno.
- Closing research facilities will drive scientists away from the sites they manage, resulting in data loss for scientists studying wildfire risk, drought, pests, and threats from climate change.
- USFS research consolidation will undermine the timely implementation of new fire suppression technologies and strain relationships between fire protection personnel and researchers.
- Under the Trump administration’s reorganization, all regional USFS offices were slated for closure, including the Intermountain regional office in Ogden, Utah, which served Nevada and employed 200-300 people.
- In Salt Lake City, Utah, the USFS will open a new “Utah–Nevada State Office,” an office with just five to eight employees. The nearest “Operations Service Center” will be in Fort Collins, Colorado; plans for staffing the service center had not been announced.
- 86% of Nevada’s land is managed by federal agencies, and a Nevada state forester and fire warden said a loss in federal support would harm the state’s wildfire response efforts.
RECENT EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND FIRES IN NEVADA HAVE CAUSED DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, AND SUCH EVENTS WILL BECOME MORE FREQUENT AND MORE DEADLY WITH CLIMATE CHANGE
- Between 2010 and 2026, Nevada saw 17 billion-dollar extreme disasters, totaling up to $1 billion in damages.
- Between January 2015 and October 2025, Nevada received a total of $31,286,061 in FEMA Public Assistance and Individual & Household Program disaster assistance funding, responding to 3 disaster events.
- In the past decade, Nevada has received $227,079,206 in FEMA disaster assistance funding.
- In September 2024, the Davis Fire burned over 5,800 acres and destroyed 14 homes, two commercial buildings, and 22 outbuildings.
- In July 2018, the Martin Fire burned 439,230 acres to become the largest wildfire in the state’s history.
- There were a total of 3,774 emergency room visits in Nevada for heat-related illnesses and 523 deaths in 2024.
- In Clark County, there were 513 heat-associated deaths in 2024, a 73% increase from the 296 deaths reported in 2023. There were also 3,548 heat-related emergency room visits.
- Unhoused people are especially vulnerable to extreme heat. In 2020 and 2019, respectively, 186 and 147 unhoused people in Clark County died from heat-related causes.
- Between 2000 and 2023, Nevada had six weather-related power outages. Four of the outages were caused by extreme heat.
- Reno is the fastest-warming city in the nation, with the annual average temperature having risen 7.8°F since 1970. Las Vegas was ranked second nationally, with an increase of 5.9°F.
- In 2026, Nevada faced low snowpack, statewide drought, and record-high temperatures heading into the summer, expected to cause an early and active fire season. Drought and heat are key conditions that make wildfires more likely and severe.
- 3.1 million Nevadans live in areas where wildfire poses a high or very high risk to homes.
- In Washoe County, 173,353 properties (94% of all properties) are at risk of being affected by wildfires over the next 30 years.