Oregon shoppers buying nicotine pouches like Zyn and Rogue are now helping pay for wildfire protection.
According to a report from High Country News, in collaboration with Vox, beginning this year, the state placed a 65-cent tax on each tin of nicotine pouches as part of a broader effort to stabilize Oregon's wildfire budget after a devastating 2024 fire season. That year, wildfires burned more than 1.9 million acres statewide, and Oregon spent over $350 million fighting them — far above the $10 million originally budgeted.
What makes the new fee especially significant is that it creates a dedicated stream of funding for prevention, not just emergency response once fires are already underway.
That could have wide-reaching benefits for both communities and ecosystems.
It could also reduce the likelihood of another emergency budget scramble like the one Oregon faced in the summer of 2024, when lawmakers had to convene a special session to free up more money.
The new tax was only one part of the package. Lawmakers also increased some existing wildfire-related taxes and fees, and they created a new $150 million natural disaster fund.
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Together, those moves are designed to make the state more resilient as fire seasons across the West become longer and more costly.
That timing matters as wildfire risk is no longer confined to traditional regions, but now affects places many people once assumed were safe. And as the price tag of major fires keeps rising, the financial toll increasingly reaches everyone — through taxes, insurance premiums, or rebuilding costs.
Oregon's approach stands out because it reflects a simple truth: It is cheaper and safer to lower wildfire risk before catastrophe hits than to respond after the fact. Preventive work has long received less funding than firefighting, even though it can save money over time.
Kimiko Barrett, a researcher with the Alliance for Wildfire Resilience, said that wildfire spending still "overwhelmingly favors wildfire response and suppression," per High Country News, highlighting why dedicated prevention funding marks such an important shift.
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