In his weekly press conference Wednesday, Gov. Stitt shared an idea about possibly getting rid of the Forestry Department. This all comes after the Governor ousted now former Oklahoma Department of Forestry Director, Mark Goeller, over the department’s response to the March wildfires across the state. Stitt has said that he believes that the Forestry Department withheld resources necessary during the fires.

In response to a question about the firing of Goeller, the Governor said that he didn’t know where some of the resources for wildfires were. “The fact that we can’t get answers about where their assets were around the state is further proof that this is a deep-seated bureaucracy that are trying to protect their actions,” Stitt said. “If all the resources are spend, we get it...but that wasn’t the case.”

Former Forestry Director Goeller has defended his actions during the March wildfires saying, “I have been falsely accused of not performing the duties necessary to protect life and property in a timely manner...nothing was held back.”

Later in the press conference the Governor questioned the need for having a Forestry Department at all. “Why do I even have a Department of Forestry?” Stitt said. “Let’s just get rid of the whole thing. I’d save $75 million for the taxpayers. Or let’s take 50 million of that and let’s give it to our local firefighters.”

Next steps for the Forestry Department are still to come, but in the state of Oklahoma, only the legislature has the authority to remove the department.