WHEREAS, forests cover over eight-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, 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 14-20, 2024 as

Wildfire Awareness Week

throughout the State of Maine, and I urge all 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-Four