CHEYENNE-Following outrage by Western senators, the U.S. Senate on Thursday killed an earmark that would send millions in federal wildfire management funds towards restoring public parks and watersheds in the District of Columbia.

The Senate unanimously passed an amendment by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., to prohibit the Forest Service from sending $2.8 million in "wildland fire management" stimulus funds to the District of Columbia, which has no national forests. U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., co-sponsored the amendment.

Barrasso said the amendment prevented wasteful government spending.

"That's money that's absolutely needed in dealing with forest fires which are spreading around the West," he said.

However, Steve Coleman, executive director of Washington Parks & People, a D.C-based non-profit group that would have received about $2.7 million of the money, said the funding was urgently needed to clean up inner-city parks that have become havens for crime and drug use.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Coleman said, simply mislabeled the funding request as being for "wildland fire management."

A USDA spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.