WHEREAS, forests cover over eighty-nine percent of Maine's land, defining our environment and contributing to our high quality of life; and

WHEREAS, these healthy, productive forests provide employment and sustain the state's two leading industries of forest products and tourism; and

WHEREAS, for more than a century, the State of Maine has been a national leader in forest fire control and prevention, and in 1891 established the Maine Forest Service to combat forest fires; and

WHEREAS, Maine averages over 600 wildfires annually, over ninety percent of which are caused by people, destroying valuable natural resources, property, and threatening human life; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry's Forest Protection Division and municipal fire departments need the support of every resident and visitor to prevent wildfires;

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved, that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim the week of April 16th through 22nd, 2023 as

Wildfire Awareness Week

Throughout the State of Maine, and I encourage all Maine citizens to do their part to prevent wildfires.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this twenty ninth day of March Two Thousand Twenty-Three