Lawmakers angered that USDA fire Stimulus is funding green jobs UTC effort; Washington, D.C.

Stimulus money for wildfires going to DC parks Washington Examiner:
By: MATTHEW DALY Associated Press
09/23/09 5:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — Nearly $3 million in stimulus money targeted for fighting wildfires is being spent to restore public parks and watersheds in the nation's capital, which has no national forests.
The Forest Service has directed that $2.8 million in "Wildland Fire Management" funds, approved under the economic stimulus law, go to groups that will create "green jobs" in the District of Columbia. The projects are intended to restore public parks and watersheds in the city and highlight the value of urban parks, including a park 2 miles north of the White House that once was plagued by crime.
The stimulus money was awarded to the D.C. Department of Transportation's Urban Forestry Administration, which passed most of it on to Washington Parks & People. A city transportation spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but the agency said in a news release that the grant would create green jobs in the District and improve the health of the city's urban tree canopy.