USDA Official Pressed for Costly Fire Response Near His Idaho Ranch

"/> Alex Wong / Getty Images A tech billionaire and senior official at the president’s Department of Agriculture used his position to request a more costly emergency response to a fire that started near his mega-ranch.

Michael Boren, 64, who serves as the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment that oversees the U.S.

Forest Service, was at his 480-acre Hell Roaring Ranch within Idaho’s Sawtooth National Recreation Area when a fire broke out nearby last month.

According to Forest Service officials, Boren called regional and national operations centers multiple times to ask why more aircraft weren’t being deployed to fight the fire near his ranch, pushing for additional resources even as officials determined they weren’t necessary, The Washington Post reported.

One official with knowledge of Boren’s calls said he was “putting pressure on [staff] to throw more resources at” the fire, resulting in about nine aircraft—including helicopters, air tankers, and tactical planes—being sent to the scene in an effort that cost about $115,000 in federal funds.

Multiple current and former Forest Service officials told The Post that the response was greater in both cost and scale than what would typically be deployed to a fire of the size that broke out on July 12 and spread near Boren’s ranch.

Boren, a co-founder of billion-dollar Clearwater Analytics and a Republican campaign donor, was confirmed to his role in a 51–47 Senate vote last October.

ProPublica estimates his personal assets at between $222 million and $834 million.

The undersecretary’s alleged repeated calls to the agency he oversees come after he revealed during his confirmation hearing last year that his past interactions with the Forest Service had been “oppressive.” Boren has clashed with the agency several times but said it “always comes around to a settlement that works for everyone.” Agriculture Department spokesman Michael Abboud defended Boren’s actions in a statement to The Post, saying he is “expected to have regular contact with the agencies he oversees,” but staffers told the outlet that it is highly unusual for an undersecretary to try to influence firefighting operations, given that they do not have all the information or expertise needed to make such decisions.

On the day of the fire near Boren’s ranch, where he had built a $1.1 million airstrip on protected land without permission , the nation’s preparedness level was four out of five, indicating a high risk of wildfires, with 44 large, uncontained fires burning across the country.

“There’s a finite number of resources.