The timing of an Obama administration trip to the Denver area this week to talk about the threat of wildfires might have seemed odd, given the recent, record-breaking precipitation around Colorado.

But officials warn that the green that currently coats the state has the potential to feed blazes throughout what is expected to be a hot and dry summer.

“It looks pretty nice here right now, but when this stuff gets dried out, it could get bad,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell at a press event on Tuesday at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City.

Jewell was joined by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and forest officials to talk about federal efforts to prepare for a potentially catastrophic wildfire season in the West.

But the press conference was also used to blast Congress over firefighting funding issues that the cabinet members say are hurting efforts to prevent fires from getting out of control.

Jewell and Vilsack said Congress is being “short-sighted” in its response to administration pleas to set aside natural disaster funding for the worst kinds of fires.

That debate is currently going on in Washington, D.C. The same day as the press event, the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee revealed a wildland firefighting and prevention budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year. However, the bill currently does not include wildfires in the mix of natural disaster funding.

Jewell said that’s not good enough. She used a business analogy to knock Congress’s efforts at addressing wildfire issues.

“You think long-term. You think about what can happen and how do we plan for a catastrophe, and you think about what kind of maintenance and decisions that are made today that are going to reduce my cost long-term,” she said. “That is not how this Congress is thinking.”

Firefighting efforts causing budgets to bust

Last year, the federal government spent $1.5 billion to fight more than 63,000 wildfires across the country.

Vilsack said there have already been 23,000 wildfires this year, in spite of heavy rainfall in parts of the U.S.

The United States Forest Service is better equipped to combat fires this year than in past years, he said. The federal government is prepared to mobilize 10,000 firefighters this season, and its aerial firefighting fleet is made up of more than 100 helicopters and 21 planes and air tankers.

But Vilsack said the problem lies in budgeting constraints that take away from fire prevention efforts. More than than half of the U.S. Forest Service’s budget is being used to fight fires, he pointed out, compared to just 16 percent in 1995.

The Forest Service has appropriated more money for fighting fires than it did for non-firefighting forest management over the last two fiscal years. And Vilsack said “there is a 90 percent chance” that this year’s fires will cost more to fight than the $1 billion that has appropriated.

The more the departments have to pay to fight fires, the less money there is to put in place efforts to prevent the blazes from breaking out in the first place, officials said.

“The reality is we could do more and we want to do more,” Vilsack said. “That’s why we need help and assistance from Congress.”

The Obama administration wants the worst kinds of wildfires to be covered under Federal Emergency Management disaster funding, similar to coverage for disasters caused by tornadoes and hurricanes.

Bills currently sitting in Congress to address the administration’s wishes include the bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, which is being co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who represents Colorado’s 7th Congressional District.

“Colorado has seen all too often the dangers of wildfires and the damage they leave behind,” Perlmutter said in a statement on Tuesday. “I’m glad Secretary Jewell and Secretary Vilsack came to Colorado today to raise awareness about the need for reforms to the way Congress funds wildfire suppression and mitigation.”

But Republican Sen. Cory Gardner believes action is being held up because of Senate Democrats’ moves to block a defense appropriations bill. Democrats object to Republican plans to keep sequester spending cuts in the legislation.

“Sen. Gardner believes the best way to deal with these critical funding issues is through the regular appropriations process, which Senate Democrats have vowed to hold up,” Gardner spokesman Alex Siciliano told The Colorado Statesman in an emailed statement.

While the budget battles in Congress continue, fire officials including U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell warn that record-breaking heat and drought “is the new norm” these days.

“Things are lining up to be very similar to what we had last year — a very active fire season,” Tidwell said.

— Twitter: @VicVela1