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Wildland Fire Management: Additional Actions Required to Better Identify and Prioritize Lands Needing Fuels Reduction

GAO-03-805 Published: Aug 15, 2003. Publicly Released: Sep 15, 2003.
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Highlights

The density of the nation's forests, along with drought and other weather conditions, has fueled wildland fires that have required billions of dollars to suppress and has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes. The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service and the Department of the Interior (Interior) are collaborating on a long-term effort to reduce the risk these fires pose. GAO was asked, among other things, to (1) assess the agencies' efforts to determine which federal lands require fuels reduction treatments, (2) determine how lands are prioritized for treatment, and (3) assess how progress is measured and reported.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress ande the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Seceretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to fund and implement LANDFIRE so they can more accurately identify the amount and location of lands with excess fuels buildup and facilitate the prioritization of fuels reduction treatments.
Closed – Implemented
In October 2003, the Wild Fire Leadership Council endorsed the national implementation of LANDFIRE. The Forest Service is the designated lead agency for LANDFIRE and it is in the first year of a 5-year, $40 million total funding plan to implement the program.
Department of the Interior To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress ande the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Seceretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to fund and implement LANDFIRE so they can more accurately identify the amount and location of lands with excess fuels buildup and facilitate the prioritization of fuels reduction treatments.
Closed – Implemented
In October 2003, the Wild Fire Leadership Council endorsed the national implementation of LANDFIRE. The development cost for LANDFIRE is apportioned between the Forest Service (60 percent) and Department of the Interior (40 percent). The Department of the Interior's share for LANDFIRE in 2005 will be $4.5 million.
Department of Agriculture To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress and the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to develop a consistent, specific definition of the wildland-urban interface so that detailed, comparable nationwide data can be collected to identify the amount and location of lands in the wildland-urban interface which will facilitate the prioritization of fuels reduction treatments.
Closed – Not Implemented
The Forest Service has not implemented this recommendation and has no plans to do so.
Department of the Interior To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress and the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to develop a consistent, specific definition of the wildland-urban interface so that detailed, comparable nationwide data can be collected to identify the amount and location of lands in the wildland-urban interface which will facilitate the prioritization of fuels reduction treatments.
Closed – Not Implemented
The Department of the Interior has not implemented this recommendation and has no plans to do so.
Department of Agriculture To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress and the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to decide whether lands that require regular maintenance treatments are an important area needing continuous fuels reduction treatments and, if so, identify the amount and location of these lands nationwide to facilitate the prioritization of fuels reduction treatments.
Closed – Implemented
LANDFIRE data and modeling system identification of the location and amount of lands needing repeated fuels treatment is complete for the Western states and underway for the Eastern states.
Department of the Interior To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress and the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to decide whether lands that require regular maintenance treatments are an important area needing continuous fuels reduction treatments and, if so, identify the amount and location of these lands nationwide to facilitate the prioritization of fuels reduction treatments.
Closed – Implemented
LANDFIRE data and modeling system identification of the location and amount of lands needing repeated fuels treatment is complete for the Western states and underway for the Eastern states.
Department of Agriculture To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress and the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to distinguish in annual performance reports (1) acres that are treated to reduce the level of risk of wildfire from high or moderate to low; (2) acres that require multiple treatments over several years to reduce their risk of wildfire; and (3) acres being treated to maintain their low risk to wildfire, to more accurately reflect the actual progress being made under the fuels reduction program.
Closed – Not Implemented
The Forest Service has not implemented this recommendation and does not anticipate doing so in the foreseeable future.
Department of the Interior To better ensure that federal lands most in need of fuels reduction are treated, and provide the Congress and the relevant agencies with better information for making fuels reduction funding decisions, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior should direct the agencies to distinguish in annual performance reports (1) acres that are treated to reduce the level of risk of wildfire from high or moderate to low; (2) acres that require multiple treatments over several years to reduce their risk of wildfire; and (3) acres being treated to maintain their low risk to wildfire, to more accurately reflect the actual progress being made under the fuels reduction program.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOI has not implemented this recommendation and does not anticipate doing so in the foreseeable future.

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Topics

Forest conservationForest managementLand managementNational forestsPerformance measuresFuelsPublic landsWildfiresWildlifeWildland fires