OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Representative Justin Humphrey (R-Lane) publicly called on Governor Stitt to restore Forestry Director Mark Goeller and questioned his budget figures for the department.
2 News broke this story after we asked the governor about Goeller's firing in a press conference after receiving a tip.
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In that press conference, Stitt briefly said the department did a bad job. Later that week, he elaborated:
Oklahoma just faced the worst wildfire in our state’s history. Over 515 families lost their homes. When lives are on the line, every resource must be deployed without hesitation. It became clear that didn’t happen. At the forestry director’s direction, firefighting resources were delayed, unused, or even called back during critical moments. That’s unacceptable. For this reason, he has been relieved of duty. We are committed to rebuilding stronger and that starts with rebuilding trust in the agencies that are meant to protect us.
A week later at his next regularly scheduled press conference, Stitt suggested cutting the entire department as a whole.
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When suggesting this, Stitt said the Forestry Division's budget was $75 million and he'd rather give $50 million of that to local fire departments.
Humphrey says that number isn't right. The entire Department of Agriculture's budget is $73.5 million for this fiscal year. $24.4 million of that went to the forestry division, and $11.7 million of that went to rural firefighters.
"In addition, the Department of Agriculture has requested a budget of only $42 million for Fiscal Year 2026, a 40% cut. However, the department's FY25 budget included some one-time funding, which was not included in their FY26 request," he said.
Humphrey said he's witnessed firsthand the work of the forestry division in fighting fires in his House district in southeast Oklahoma. Because of this, he said he's worked to increase the budget for the division to get higher pay and better equipment for its employees.
"I'm asking the governor to please not create more government by initiating another worthless task force comprised of a group of uninformed political cohorts," Humphrey said. "He acted hastily and he was wrong. He should apologize to Mark Goeller and then to Oklahoma. He should correct his mistake by returning Mr. Goeller to his job as forestry director. The measure of a real man is being able to admit you're wrong and make it right."
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