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Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, 
Committee on Resources, House of Representatives:

April 2005:

Forest Service:

Better Data Are Needed to Identify and Prioritize Reforestation and 
Timber Stand Improvement Needs:

[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-374]:

GAO Highlights:

Highlights of GAO-05-374, a report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on 
Forests and Forest Health, Committee on Resources, House of 
Representatives.

Why GAO Did This Study:

In 2004, the Forest Service reported to the Congress that it had a 
backlog of nearly 900,000 acres of land needing reforestation—the 
planting and natural regeneration of trees. Reforestation and 
subsequent timber stand improvement treatments, such as thinning trees 
and removing competing vegetation, are critical to restoring and 
improving the health of our national forests after timber harvests or 
natural disturbances such as wildland fires. 

GAO was asked to (1) examine the reported trends in federal lands 
needing reforestation and timber stand improvement, (2) identify the 
factors that have contributed to these trends, and (3) describe any 
potential effects of these trends that federal land managers have 
identified.

What GAO Found:

The acreage of Forest Service lands needing reforestation and timber 
stand improvement generally has been increasing since 2000, according 
to Forest Service officials and data reported to the Congress, as well 
as other studies. While the Forest Service data are sufficiently 
reliable to identify this relative trend they are not sufficiently 
reliable to accurately quantify the agency’s specific needs, establish 
priorities among treatments, or estimate a budget. The data’s 
reliability is limited in part because some Forest Service regions and 
forests define their needs differently, and some do not systematically 
update the data to reflect current forest conditions or review the 
accuracy of the data. Forest Service officials acknowledge these 
problems, and the agency is implementing a new data system to better 
track its needs. While helpful, this action alone will not be 
sufficient to address the data problems GAO has identified.

According to Forest Service officials, reforestation needs have been 
increasing in spite of declining timber harvests because of the growing 
acreage of lands affected by natural disturbances such as wildland 
fires, insect infestation, and diseases. In the past, reforestation 
needs resulted primarily from timber harvests, whose sales produced 
sufficient revenue to fund most reforestation needs. Now needs are 
resulting mainly from natural causes, and funding sources for such 
needs have remained relatively constant rather than rising in step with 
increasing needs. For timber stand improvement, the acreage needing 
attention is growing in part because high-density planting practices, 
used in the past to replace harvested trees, are creating needs for 
thinning treatments today and because treatments have not kept pace 
with the growing needs. 

Forest Service officials believe the agency’s ability to achieve its 
forest management objectives may be impaired if future reforestation 
and timber stand improvement needs continue to outpace the agency’s 
ability to meet these needs. For example, maintaining wildlife 
habitat—one forest management objective—could be hindered if brush 
grows to dominate an area formerly forested with tree species that 
provided forage, nesting, or other benefits to wildlife. Also, if 
treatments are delayed, costs could increase because competing 
vegetation—which must be removed to allow newly reforested stands to 
survive—grows larger over time and becomes more costly to remove. 
Further, without needed thinning treatments, agency officials said 
forests become dense, fueling wildland fires and creating competition 
among trees, leaving them stressed and vulnerable to insect attack. 
While agency officials expressed concern about these potential effects, 
the agency has not adjusted its policies and priorities for the 
reforestation and timber stand improvement program so that adverse 
effects can be minimized. Forest Service officials did, however, 
acknowledge the need to make such changes. 

What GAO Recommends:

GAO recommends that the Secretary of Agriculture direct the Chief of 
the Forest Service to take several actions to improve the agency’s 
ability to identify and prioritize its reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs.

In commenting on a draft of this report, the Forest Service on behalf 
of the Department of Agriculture agreed with GAO’s findings and 
recommendations.

[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-374].

To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on 
the link above. For more information, contact Robin M. Nazzaro at (202) 
512-3841 or [Hyperlink, nazzaror@gao.gov].

[End of Section]

Contents:

Letter:

Results in Brief:

Background:

Forest Service Reports Increasing Reforestation and Timber Stand 
Improvement Needs, but Inconsistent Definitions and Data Make It 
Difficult to Accurately Quantify Its Needs:

Agency Officials Link Natural Causes and Management Decisions to 
Increasing Reforestation and Timber Stand Improvement Needs:

Land Managers Cite Adverse Effects That Could Result If Reforestation 
and Timber Stand Improvement Needs Are Not Addressed:

Conclusions:

Recommendations for Executive Action:

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:

Appendixes:

Appendix I: Bureau of Land Management's Reforestation and Related 
Forest Health Trends in Western Oregon:

Background:

BLM Reports Eliminating Reforestation and Growth Enhancement Backlogs 
in 2002:

Agency Officials Link Past Backlogs to Timber Harvests and Funding 
Shortfall:

Agency Officials Attribute Elimination of Backlogs to Declining Timber 
Harvests, Increased Funding, and Management Actions:

BLM Reports Preventing Adverse Effects by Keeping Pace with 
Reforestation and Growth Enhancement Needs:

Appendix II: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Agriculture:

Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of the Interior:

Appendix V: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments:

GAO Contacts:

Staff Acknowledgments:

Table:

Table 1: Forest Service Reforestation and Timber Stand Improvement 
Treatments:

Figures:

Figure 1: Map of Forest Service Regions Indicating Regions Visited by 
GAO:

Figure 2: Forest Service's Reported Reforestation Needs for Fiscal 
Years 1995 through 2004:

Figure 3: Forest Service's Reported Timber Stand Improvement Needs for 
Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

Figure 4: Volume of Timber Harvested from Forest Service Lands for 
Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

Figure 5: Acres of Tree Mortality Caused by Insects and Disease on 
Forested Lands Nationwide for Fiscal Years 1997 through 2003:

Figure 6: Forest Service Appropriations Allocated to Reforestation and 
Timber Stand Improvement for Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

Figure 7: Shrubfields Persisted 40 Years after a Wildland Fire in Tahoe 
National Forest:

Figure 8: BLM Western Oregon Reforestation and Growth Enhancement Needs 
for Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

Abbreviations:

BLM: Bureau of Land Management:

NFMA: National Forest Management Act:

Letter April 15, 2005:

The Honorable Greg Walden:
Chairman, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health:
Committee on Resources:
House of Representatives:

Dear Mr. Chairman:

In March 2004, the Forest Service reported to the Congress that it had 
a backlog of about 900,000 acres of land needing reforestation. 
Reforestation--the planting and natural regeneration of trees--is 
critical to restoring and improving the health of our national forests 
after timber harvests, as well as after natural disturbances such as 
wildland fires, outbreaks of disease, or insect infestations. The 
success of reforestation, as well as the overall health of the forests, 
often depends upon subsequent timber stand improvement treatments, such 
as thinning trees and removing competing vegetation to allow seedlings 
to survive. In some parts of the country, without active intervention, 
it may take decades for disturbed land to return to a forested 
condition. In other parts, trees may naturally return soon after a 
disturbance, but the type of regrowth may not be consistent with Forest 
Service program objectives. Historically, the Forest Service's 
reforestation and timber stand improvement program focused on 
maximizing timber production. Now, however, the program is intended to 
achieve a variety of objectives, such as improving wildlife habitat, 
enhancing recreational opportunities, maintaining water quality, and 
ensuring sustainable timber production. For example, reforestation can 
improve wildlife habitat by providing forest cover for species like the 
black-tailed deer and timber stand improvement can make forests less 
susceptible to wildland fires by removing brush that fuels the fires. 
The Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture has primary 
responsibility for both reforestation and timber stand improvement 
treatments in 155 national forests. The agency manages 192 million 
acres of federal land and has a stewardship responsibility to maintain 
the health, productivity, and diversity of the national forests on this 
land.

In 1974, the Forest Service reported a reforestation and timber stand 
improvement backlog that affected 3.3 million acres of forested lands. 
To address this backlog, the Congress included a provision in the 
National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) requiring the Forest 
Service to annually report the estimated funding needed to prevent the 
recurrence of a backlog on lands available for timber 
production.[Footnote 1] The Forest Service primarily uses moneys 
generated from the sale of timber to reforest areas where timber has 
been harvested, whereas it relies primarily on annual appropriations to 
reforest areas affected by natural disturbances. In 1980, the Congress 
created the Reforestation Trust Fund, which is funded through tariffs 
on imported wood products, to provide dedicated funding for 
reforestation and timber stand improvement treatments and to help 
eliminate the backlog. In 1985, the Forest Service declared that it had 
virtually eliminated the backlog reported in 1974.

With the 2004 announcement of a new backlog, you asked us to (1) 
examine the reported trends in federal lands needing reforestation and 
timber stand improvement, (2) identify the factors that have 
contributed to these trends, and (3) describe any potential effects of 
these trends that federal land managers have identified. This report 
focuses primarily on the Forest Service's reforestation and timber 
stand improvement program because it is the largest one managed by a 
federal land management agency and covers the broadest cross section of 
the country. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Department of 
the Interior also has responsibility for reforestation and timber stand 
improvement on federal lands, but its program is much smaller than the 
Forest Service's. In 2003, for example, the Forest Service reported 
reforesting more than 160,000 acres of federal land nationwide, while 
BLM reported reforesting less than 11,000 acres, with the majority of 
this activity occurring in western Oregon. The results of our limited 
review of BLM's program are summarized in appendix I.

To examine the trends in federal lands needing reforestation and timber 
stand improvement, we reviewed and analyzed Forest Service data for the 
10 years between 1995 and 2004, analyzed applicable statutes and agency 
regulations, and interviewed agency officials and other experts about 
these trends. In addition, we reviewed and analyzed Forest Service 
documents, including database manuals and agency-wide and regional 
procedures for gathering and reporting data related to reforestation 
and timber stand improvement. To identify factors that have contributed 
to reforestation and timber stand improvement trends and describe 
potential effects identified by federal land managers, we reviewed 
internal Forest Service reports, as well as other studies, and 
interviewed agency officials in both headquarters and selected regions. 
We also visited four regions with the largest reported reforestation 
and timber stand improvement needs and national forests within these 
regions. We conducted our work from June 2004 to March 2005 in 
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 
Appendix II provides further details about the scope and methodology of 
our review.

Results in Brief:

Forest Service officials and data reported to the Congress, as well as 
expert opinions and studies, point to recent increasing trends in the 
acreage of agency lands needing reforestation and timber stand 
improvement treatments. For the decade beginning in 1995, the Forest 
Service reported that the acreage of its lands needing reforestation at 
first declined steadily between 1995 and 1999 but then increased 
through 2004. Much of this increase occurred in regions located in 
western states, where reforestation needs associated with natural 
disturbances, such as wildland fires, began to increase dramatically in 
2000. During the same 10-year period, the agency also reported that the 
acreage of its lands needing timber stand improvement generally 
increased, although trends within individual regions show considerable 
variation. The Forest Service data, when combined with other 
information, are sufficiently reliable for identifying these relative 
trends; however, we have concerns about the data's use in accurately 
quantifying the acreage of agency land needing reforestation and timber 
stand improvement treatments. These concerns arise because the agency's 
regions and forests define their needs differently and do not 
systematically update these data to reflect current forest conditions, 
nor do they review the accuracy of these data. Forest Service officials 
acknowledged these problems but explained that the agency focuses its 
efforts on undertaking reforestation and timber stand improvements and 
is less concerned about accurately collecting and reporting data on 
lands needing these treatments. Nonetheless, the Forest Service is 
implementing a new data system that will replace the individual 
regional systems with a single, agency-wide system. However, this 
change will standardize only the structure of regional reporting to 
headquarters and will not, on its own, make the data more consistent or 
accurate without changes to agency policies and practices to 
standardize how reforestation and timber stand improvement needs are 
defined, reported, and validated. While we understand the Forest 
Service's desire to carry out reforestation and timber stand 
improvements as quickly as possible, without more reliable data, it is 
difficult for the Forest Service to accurately quantify its needs, 
establish priorities among treatment needs, and estimate a budget 
accordingly.

According to Forest Service officials, despite declining timber 
harvests, reforestation needs are accumulating because the acreage 
affected by natural disturbances has increased in recent years. Since 
2000, wildland fires, insects and diseases have destroyed increasing 
amounts of forest lands. In the past, timber harvests created the 
majority of reforestation needs and generated revenue that helped pay 
for harvest-related reforestation. In contrast, reforestation needs are 
now arising largely from natural disturbances, and funding sources for 
such needs--annual appropriations and the Reforestation Trust Fund--
have not risen in step with reported needs. Instead, they have remained 
relatively stable.

For timber stand improvement, agency officials said that changing 
management practices have been the primary factor contributing to the 
increase in acreage needing treatment. Specifically, managers in some 
Forest Service regions do not emphasize timber stand improvement 
treatments because they believe reforestation treatments are more 
important. This is in part because there is no legal deadline for 
completing timber stand improvement, whereas, by law, reforestation 
generally must be completed within 5 years after trees are harvested. 
Another reason for the reported increase is that agency officials have 
identified more timber stand improvement needs as they have expanded 
the scope of the program. Reported needs also have increased because 
previously favored high-density tree planting practices to replace 
harvested trees have led to increased needs for thinning today.

If future reforestation and timber stand improvement needs continue to 
outpace the Forest Service's ability to meet these needs and treatments 
are delayed, agency officials believe the agency's ability to achieve 
its forest management objectives may be impaired; treatment costs could 
increase; and forests could become more susceptible to fire, disease, 
and insect damage. Unmet needs could prevent the Forest Service from 
achieving its forest management objectives, such as protecting wildlife 
habitat or improving forest health. For example, an area previously 
dominated by forests could become dominated by shrub fields, 
compromising wildlife habitat, recreation, and timber value. Treatment 
costs also could increase if projects are delayed. For example, 
competing vegetation often must be removed to allow newly reforested 
stands to survive; the larger the competing vegetation grows, the more 
costly it is to remove. Finally, forest susceptibility to severe 
wildland fires, disease, and insect damage could increase, according to 
officials, because without needed thinning treatments, forests become 
dense, fueling severe wildland fires and creating competition among 
trees, leaving them stressed and vulnerable to insect attack. Although 
agency officials expressed concern about the potential harmful effects 
of delaying some projects, the Forest Service has not clarified its 
policies, practices, and priorities for the reforestation and timber 
stand improvement program to reflect this concern and the current 
environment of constrained budgets. Forest Service officials 
acknowledged the need to make such changes. However, until they do so, 
it will be difficult to ensure that limited reforestation and timber 
stand improvement funds are targeted toward activities that will have 
the greatest impact in mitigating potential adverse effects.

We are making recommendations to help the Forest Service better 
identify and prioritize its reforestation and timber stand improvement 
needs and aid the Congress in making more informed funding decisions. 
In responding to a draft of this report, the Forest Service agreed with 
our findings and recommendations. The Forest Service's comments are 
reprinted in appendix III.

Background:

The Forest Service's reforestation and timber stand improvement program 
shapes our national forests as well as their associated plant and 
animal communities through treatments that establish, develop, and care 
for trees over their lifetime. Under NFMA, each national forest is 
required to have a forest management plan describing the agency's 
objectives for the forest, including those related to reforestation and 
timber stand improvement.

To achieve these management objectives after a timber harvest or 
natural event that damages forests, Forest Service staff identify areas 
needing reforestation and visit forest locations to plan a specific 
sequence of treatments needed, known as a prescription. The 
prescription directs how many young trees must be reestablished and the 
proper mix of vegetation necessary to achieve specific objectives in 
the forest plan, such as maintaining wildlife habitat. Reforestation 
prescriptions may call for planting or natural regeneration, as 
outlined in table 1. To plant a site, Forest Service staff order 
seedlings from a nursery up to 3 years in advance of planting to allow 
enough time for them to grow, then plant the seedlings when conditions 
are favorable. For natural regeneration, agency staff allow seeds from 
trees left on the site or nearby trees to germinate and grow, which 
sometimes requires removing unwanted vegetation and surface debris to 
improve the likelihood that the trees will survive or accelerate their 
growth.

As with reforestation, Forest Service staff identify areas of a forest 
needing timber stand improvement and prepare prescriptions. Timber 
stand improvement prescriptions are intended to improve growing 
conditions for trees in a stand and typically call for treatments such 
as release or thinning, as outlined in table 1. To conduct a release 
treatment, Forest Service staff remove competing vegetation to allow 
seedlings to grow; and to thin a stand, agency staff remove some trees 
to accelerate the growth of the remaining trees or to improve forest 
health.

Table 1: Forest Service Reforestation and Timber Stand Improvement 
Treatments:

Forestry treatments: Reforestation: Planting; 
Treatment description: Foresters collect or obtain seeds, and grow 
seedlings for 1 to 3 years in nurseries, then transplant the seedlings 
to the site when conditions are favorable.

Forestry treatments: Reforestation: Seeding; 
Treatment description: Foresters directly apply seed collected from 
known seed sources to prepared sites when conditions are favorable.

Forestry treatments: Reforestation: Natural regeneration with site 
preparation; Treatment description: Foresters remove vegetation that 
could compete with young seedlings, as well as other debris, then allow 
existing trees to naturally seed the area.

Forestry treatments: Reforestation: Natural regeneration without site 
preparation; Treatment description: Foresters rely on existing trees to 
naturally seed the area, and do not remove any vegetation or debris. 
This technique is sometimes used after wildland fires, which often 
create a site that is free of vegetation and debris.

Forestry treatments: Timber stand Improvement: Release treatments; 
Treatment description: Foresters remove competing vegetation near 
seedlings or young trees to improve the chances of survival and health.

Forestry treatments: Timber stand Improvement: Precommercial thinning; 
Treatment description: Foresters remove trees from forests that are 
overly dense. In such treatments, the trees removed are too small to 
sell as commercial timber.

Forestry treatments: Timber stand Improvement: Fertilizing; 
Treatment description: Foresters apply nutrients to increase tree 
growth or to overcome a nutrient deficiency in the soil.

Forestry treatments: Timber stand Improvement: Pruning; 
Treatment description: Foresters remove side branches and multiple 
leaders from a standing tree to, among other things, reduce fuel 
ladders and associated wildland fire risk or to produce economically 
valuable wood.

Source: GAO interpretation of Forest Service information.

[End of table]

Reforestation and timber stand improvement treatments are funded by 
various sources, principally congressional appropriations and trust 
funds. Congressional appropriations that fund this work include moneys 
allocated from the National Forest System appropriation to the 
reforestation and timber stand improvement program[Footnote 2] as well 
as to other Forest Service programs whose primary purposes include 
improving forest health, decreasing hazardous fuels, and rehabilitating 
burned areas. In addition to these moneys, the Knutson-Vandenberg Trust 
fund that collects receipts generated from timber sales helps pay for 
reforestation and timber stand improvement in areas harvested for 
timber.[Footnote 3] While Knutson-Vandenberg funds are a dedicated 
source of funding for reforesting harvested lands, work in areas 
destroyed by natural causes, such as wildland fire, is generally funded 
through the National Forest System appropriation and a portion of the 
Reforestation Trust Fund. Reforestation Trust Fund receipts are 
generated by tariffs on imported wood products, and by law, moneys 
transferred into this fund for the Forest Service's use are limited to 
$30 million each fiscal year. Other sources of funds, such as gifts, 
bequests, and partnerships, also fund reforestation and timber stand 
improvement treatments.

The Forest Service's implementation, management, and oversight of the 
reforestation and timber stand improvement program are decentralized. 
Forest Service headquarters and 9 regional offices establish policy and 
provide technical direction to 155 national forest offices on various 
aspects of the program. These national forest offices, in turn, provide 
general oversight to more than 600 district offices, several of which 
are located in each national forest. The district offices plan, fund, 
and manage reforestation and timber stand improvement projects, and the 
managers of these offices have considerable discretion in interpreting 
and applying the agency's policies and selecting projects to fund. 
District office staff are responsible for assessing reforestation and 
timber stand improvement needs, developing prescriptions to address 
these needs, and accomplishing the work. Figure 1 shows a map of the 
Forest Service regions and highlights the regions we visited.

Figure 1: Map of Forest Service Regions Indicating Regions Visited by 
GAO:

[See PDF for image]

Note: The Forest Service does not have a region 7. Highlighted regions 
are those we visited.

[End of figure]

The Forest Service's four organizational levels--its headquarters, 
regional, national forest, and district offices--share responsibility 
for reporting reforestation and timber stand improvement needs to the 
Congress. Although the Director of Forest Management in its 
headquarters is responsible for the agency-wide reporting of 
reforestation and timber stand improvement needs, much of the 
responsibility for establishing standards and procedures for collecting 
and reporting these data has been delegated to the regional, national 
forest, and district offices. Forest and district offices use automated 
systems to record their reforestation and timber stand improvement 
needs and accomplishments and each region collects the data in one of 
nine regional databases and transmits its total reforestation and 
timber stand improvement needs to a centralized data repository. 
Nationally, the Forest Service consolidates the regional data to 
produce agency-wide reports of reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs and accomplishments by national forest. These reports 
are submitted annually to the Congress.

Forest Service Reports Increasing Reforestation and Timber Stand 
Improvement Needs, but Inconsistent Definitions and Data Make It 
Difficult to Accurately Quantify Its Needs:

From fiscal years 1995 through 2004, the Forest Service reported to the 
Congress that the acreage of its lands needing reforestation initially 
declined and then increased during the last 5 years, with much of this 
increase occurring in regions in western states. During the 10-year 
period, the agency also reported that the acreage of its land needing 
timber stand improvement generally increased, though some regions 
reported slight decreases in these needs. These Forest Service data, 
when combined with other information, are sufficiently reliable to 
identify a general trend of increasing needs. Nonetheless, we have 
concerns about the usefulness of these data in quantifying the acreage 
of agency land needing reforestation and timber stand improvement. 
These concerns arise, in part, because the Forest Service's regions and 
forests define their needs differently, and they do not always 
systematically update the data to reflect current forest conditions or 
review the accuracy of the data. Agency officials acknowledge these 
problems but said the agency focuses its efforts on undertaking 
reforestation and timber stand improvements and is less concerned about 
accurately collecting and reporting data on lands needing these 
treatments. Although the Forest Service is developing a new national 
data system, the agency does not anticipate making significant changes 
to improve the quality of the data.

The Forest Service Reports Increasing Needs:

The Forest Service reports that the acreage of its lands needing 
reforestation declined steadily between fiscal years 1995 and 1999 but 
then increased from 2000 through 2004, as shown in figure 2. During 
this 10-year period, the primary source of the Forest Service's 
reforestation needs changed. Specifically, the agency reports that its 
reforestation needs attributable to timber harvests decreased steadily, 
while needs associated with wildland fires and other natural 
disturbances were relatively stable until 2000, when such needs rose 
dramatically with the increase in wildland fires, particularly in 
western states. Reforestation needs reported by the Forest Service's 
Northern Region--covering all of Montana and North Dakota and portions 
of some adjacent states--followed the national pattern most closely. In 
addition to the Northern Region, other regions we visited (Pacific 
Northwest, Pacific Southwest) spanning western states, such as 
Washington, Oregon, and California, reported large reforestation needs. 
These regions expressed concern about the increasing level of their 
reforestation needs relative to their future ability to meet these 
needs.

Figure 2: Forest Service's Reported Reforestation Needs for Fiscal 
Years 1995 through 2004:

[See PDF for image]

Note: This graph is presented only to illustrate trends in 
reforestation needs reported by the Forest Service. Although the Forest 
Service data, in combination with other information, are sufficiently 
reliable for this purpose, the data cannot be used to accurately 
quantify the Forest Service's reforestation needs.

[End of figure]

With respect to timber stand improvement needs, the Forest Service 
reports that the acreage of its lands needing such treatments increased 
in most years following 1995, except for 1999, 2003, and 2004, when the 
reported needs declined slightly (as shown in fig. 3). The agency 
partially attributes the decline in needs during these years to an 
emphasis on thinning treatments and additional work associated with the 
National Fire Plan during 2003 and 2004.[Footnote 4] Officials at two 
of the four regions we visited, the Northern and Pacific Northwest 
Regions, told us they were concerned about the overall increasing level 
of their timber stand improvement needs. Timber stand improvement needs 
reported by the Forest Service's Pacific Northwest region--covering all 
of Washington and Oregon--were the highest of any region during 4 of 
the last 5 years. According to officials in the Pacific Northwest 
region, timber stand improvement needs have accumulated, in part, due 
to placing a lower priority on such treatments than on reforestation 
and because many stands in which high-density tree planting practices 
were used to replace harvested trees during the early 1990s are now in 
need of thinning. While nationwide timber stand improvement needs 
generally have been increasing over time, some regions have reported 
stable or decreasing trends. For example, in the Southern Region, 
reported timber stand improvement needs have been relatively stable 
over the last 10 years, while the Pacific Southwest Region has reported 
slightly decreasing needs since 1995. According to officials in the 
Pacific Southwest Region, they have less need for timber stand 
improvement projects because they plant fewer trees as the result of 
reduced timber harvests. They have increased their ability to meet 
these needs by emphasizing projects that are eligible for funding under 
the National Fire Plan because they contribute to hazardous fuels 
reduction goals.

Figure 3: Forest Service's Reported Timber Stand Improvement Needs for 
Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

[See PDF for image]

Note: This graph is presented only to illustrate trends in timber stand 
improvement needs reported by the Forest Service. Although the Forest 
Service data, in combination with other information, are sufficiently 
reliable for this purpose, the data cannot be used to accurately 
quantify the Forest Service's timber stand improvement needs.

[End of figure]

Forest Service Data Are Inconsistent Across Regions and Inadequate to 
Accurately Quantify Needs:

The Forest Service data, when combined with other information from 
Forest Service officials and nongovernmental experts--as well as data 
on recent increases in natural disturbances such as wildland fire--are 
sufficiently reliable for identifying relative trend information. 
However, we have concerns about the use of these data in quantifying 
the acreage of Forest Service lands needing reforestation and timber 
stand improvement treatments because the reported data are inconsistent 
and insufficiently reliable for this purpose. These data are not 
sufficiently reliable because Forest Service regions define needs 
differently, influencing the volume of needs reported, and vary in 
their ability to link needs to forest locations, making it difficult to 
detect obsolete needs and update the data to reflect current on-the-
ground conditions. Additionally, the data are a mixture of actual needs 
and estimates and may not be routinely reviewed for accuracy. As a 
result, the needs reported at the regional level cannot be meaningfully 
aggregated at the national level. Many of these data problems are long 
standing and may not be adequately addressed when the Forest Service 
implements a new data system. Without better data, Forest Service 
officials said, it is difficult to provide the Congress with estimates 
of the funding needed to prevent a backlog of reforestation and timber 
stand improvement needs. Additionally, agency officials said that given 
constrained resources and competing priorities they focus more on 
performing the treatments than accurately identifying and reporting 
reforestation and timber stand improvement needs.

Regions Use Inconsistent Definitions of Need:

The Forest Service's nine regions have independently developed their 
own data collection systems and do not all use the same definitions of 
need, influencing the volume of needs reported. As shown by the 
following examples from three of the four regions we visited, we found 
inconsistent criteria for assessing the need for reforestation or 
timber stand improvement between regions, among forests within regions, 
and over time.

* The Pacific Southwest Region reports a reforestation need in areas 
where it anticipates a timber harvest, even though the forest is still 
fully stocked with trees, while other regions we visited do not report 
a need until after timber is harvested and the last log has been 
removed from the sale area.

* In the Northern Region, forests share common definitions of need and 
do not report acres of burned land as needing reforestation if they 
plan to allow these areas to regenerate naturally without any site 
preparation. In the Pacific Northwest Region, however, because 
definitions of need vary from forest to forest, some report this 
condition as a need and some do not.

* Some forests in the Pacific Northwest Region define timber stand 
improvement needs as those projects they currently need, while other 
forests in this region include projects that will not be needed until a 
future time.

* Prior to 1996, the Northern Region reported, as timber stand 
improvement needs, only those projects that would be needed within 5 
years. After 1996, however, the region expanded its definition to 
include all projects identified within the past 20 years. At the same 
time, the region redefined the methods for justifying a timber stand 
improvement need.[Footnote 5] According to Northern Region Forest 
Service officials, these changes largely were responsible for more than 
doubling the timber stand improvement needs reported by this region 
from 1995 to 1996.

Regions Vary in Their Ability to Link Needs to Forest Locations:

Forest Service regions and national forests within regions vary in the 
quality of the source data they collect and report. Specifically, some 
regions are able to link reported needs to distinct forest locations, 
while others cannot. In the Northern Region, for example, all forests 
use a common reporting system that links reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs to particular stands of trees by their mapped 
locations. Officials in the Pacific Northwest Region, however, 
indicated they had difficulty linking reported needs to specific 
geographic locations because national forests within their regions use 
different, independently developed reporting systems. Like the Pacific 
Southwest and Southern Regions, these officials indicated that they do 
not always include information describing the locations of reported 
needs. In the Pacific Southwest Region, for example, a regional 
official told us that some districts link needs to "dummy stands," or 
records that do not include information about where a need for 
treatment is geographically located. He noted that this practice speeds 
data entry but impairs data quality. Officials we interviewed 
throughout the Forest Service also acknowledge that the data include 
some obsolete needs and exclude some actual needs, in part because not 
knowing the location of all reported needs prevents the detection and 
removal of obsolete or erroneous needs.

Data Are a Mixture of Actual Needs and Estimates:

Differences in Forest Service data among locations are compounded 
because the reforestation and timber stand improvement needs reported 
are a mixture of actual needs diagnosed through site visits and 
estimates, due in part to agency guidance and variations in regional 
reporting practices. Although agency guidance generally requires that 
needs be diagnosed for a specific site and linked to a prescription for 
treatment, it also directs staff to estimate reforestation needs 
following a wildland fire or other natural disturbance and revise these 
estimates within the year. We found in our visits to four regions that 
they vary in the extent to which they report needs based on a site-
specific diagnosis or an estimate, and consequently may understate or 
overstate needs.

Forest Service guidance sets different standards for reporting 
reforestation needs that arise from timber harvest rather than those 
created by fires or other natural disturbances, in part, to promote 
timely reporting. For example, after a clear-cut harvest, the guidance 
directs regions to determine reforestation needs using a site-specific 
diagnosis and prescription for regenerating the acreage. In contrast, 
after fires or other natural disturbances, this guidance encourages 
staff to immediately estimate the acres in need of reforestation before 
they have visited forest locations to develop a site-specific 
prescription and refine their estimate while performing restoration 
activities. Forest Service officials commented that at times it is 
difficult to balance the timely reporting of needs created by natural 
disturbances with data accuracy.

Regions we visited varied in the extent to which they used site-
specific prescriptions or estimates as a basis for reporting needs. For 
example, although a Forest Service official in the Southern Region told 
us that over 100,000 acres of land there may need reforestation, in 
part due to insect damage, he said none of this acreage will be 
reported as needing reforestation until staff diagnose the needs 
through site visits and prescribe treatments. In contrast, forests in 
wildland fire-prone regions, such as the Pacific Southwest Region, 
report needs based on gross estimates after natural disturbances. In 
cases where reforestation or timber stand improvement needs are based 
on gross estimates, the reported needs may not always be adjusted after 
the actual needs are known, according to Forest Service officials. For 
example, an official from the Pacific Southwest Region indicated that 
the moist climate in some areas of the region causes vegetation to grow 
quickly, so that when an area initially needs to be reforested, staff 
generously estimate all possible treatments needed to remove unwanted 
vegetation and are unlikely to update these reforestation needs, even 
if subsequent treatments are deemed unnecessary. On the other hand, 
this official indicated that staff are likely to understate the need to 
thin trees in some areas because they do not expect sufficient funding 
to address all of the timber stand improvement needs. They therefore 
concentrate their efforts on meeting the needs rather than diagnosing 
and precisely reporting them. Officials in other regions also noted 
that they emphasize addressing needs rather than accurately identifying 
and reporting them, in part because incentives are focused on 
accomplishments and meeting treatment goals established by headquarters.

Data Are Not Reviewed for Accuracy:

The Forest Service cannot attest that the reported data on needs 
reflect actual forest conditions nationwide because the data are not 
reviewed for accuracy and when errors are found they are not always 
corrected. Forest Service officials at headquarters and in the regions 
we visited told us that data may be overstated or understated because, 
with the exception of the Northern Region, they have not conducted 
comprehensive reviews of data accuracy in recent years and because 
controls over data are decentralized. Some regions do not consistently 
update or review their data for substantive errors before reporting 
them. Although Forest Service headquarters staff conduct high-level 
checks to ensure that some data are reported consistently, they have 
not conducted reviews in the last decade to ensure that the data 
reflect on-the-ground conditions. Consequently, an official in the 
Pacific Southwest Region speculated that there is an error rate of 
approximately 20 percent in the reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs reported within the region. Even when errors are 
detected, there is no assurance that data will be corrected. For 
example, according to an official in the Pacific Northwest Region, an 
error of 10,000 acres dating from 2002 remains uncorrected. We also 
found during our visit to this region that another error in reporting 
reforestation needs in 2002, compounded by an attempt to correct the 
error, resulted in the erroneous reporting of more than 6,000 acres of 
reforestation needs in one district.

Data Problems Are Long Standing and May Not Be Resolved with New System:

The problems we identified with the Forest Service's data on reported 
needs are not new. In 1985, a congressional study of the Forest 
Service's reforestation and timber stand improvement program found that 
numbers used to report both the reforestation and timber stand 
improvement backlogs were unreliable because backlogged needs were not 
linked to specific forest locations and because data at different 
organizational levels could not be reconciled.[Footnote 6] This study 
attributed these shortcomings to a lack of centralized program 
management to standardize definitions of need and establish consistent 
reporting criteria. Subsequent reviews of the program, including a GAO 
review in 1991, found similar problems and recommended additional 
standardization.[Footnote 7] The Forest Service recognizes these 
problems and has acknowledged it has not provided the Congress 
estimates on funding needed to prevent a backlog, in part, because 
needs data are a mixture of actual needs, estimates, and obsolete 
needs. Instead, the Forest Service provides the Congress with a 
proposed program of work, outlining the amount of reforestation and 
timber stand improvement needs it will address within certain budget 
limits.

In an attempt to improve its data and integrate its reporting between 
regions and headquarters, the Forest Service is introducing a new 
agency-wide system for collecting and reporting data on reforestation 
and timber stand improvement needs. The Forest Service intends to 
implement the new system by the end of fiscal year 2005. When the new 
system replaces individual district, forest, and regional systems for 
reporting needs with a single, agency-wide database, it will 
standardize how reforestation and timber stand improvement activities 
are tracked as well as modernize data entry, system maintenance, and 
security activities. However, the agency acknowledges these changes 
will not, in and of themselves, address the data reliability issues 
that we have identified since the Forest Service intends to transfer 
regional data from the current systems to the new system without 
altering how reforestation and timber stand improvement needs are 
defined, interpreted, and reported from the initial needs assessment 
onward. Since this system does not introduce any new procedures to 
standardize how needs are defined or to check for and correct errors, 
the consistency and accuracy of the data will still be determined at 
the local level. Forest Service officials told us they do not 
anticipate making significant changes to current agency policies and 
practices that make regions individually responsible for developing 
data collection and reporting standards and ensuring that data are 
accurate. Therefore, it is likely that present data deficiencies will 
persist in the new system if existing data are incorporated into it 
without additional efforts being made to improve the data. Officials 
acknowledge that improving the data will require a significant 
investment of resources and also acknowledge that unless the work is 
done, data reliability issues will persist.

Agency Officials Link Natural Causes and Management Decisions to 
Increasing Reforestation and Timber Stand Improvement Needs:

Natural disturbances, such as wildland fires or insect infestations, 
and management decisions are the major factors contributing to the 
recent increase in reforestation and timber stand improvement needs, 
according to Forest Service officials. The officials said that 
reforestation needs are accumulating primarily because a recent 
increase in natural disturbances has created more needs, and funding to 
pay for such needs is limited. Other factors, such as reforestation 
failures, also have contributed to increasing reforestation needs, 
according to agency officials. Timber stand improvement needs have 
accumulated, in part, because some regions do not emphasize these 
projects and consequently, treatments have not kept pace with growing 
needs. At the same time, agency officials have been identifying more 
timber stand improvement needs as they have expanded the scope of work 
included in the program. In addition, timber stand improvement needs 
have been increasing because, in the 1980s and 1990s, the Forest 
Service used reforestation techniques that favored planting trees 
densely, creating stands that now need thinning.

Agency Officials Link Rising Reforestation Needs to Natural Causes 
Rather Than Timber Harvests:

Forest Service officials told us that reforestation needs have been 
rising largely because such needs have increasingly been generated by 
causes other than timber harvests, and funding to address these needs 
has not kept pace. During the early 1990s, the agency shifted its 
management emphasis from timber production to enhancing forest 
ecosystem health and, as a result, began harvesting less timber. With 
the reduction in harvests, revenue from timber sales decreased. As 
shown in figure 4, nearly 4 billion board feet of timber were harvested 
from Forest Service lands in 1995, whereas about 2 billion board feet 
were harvested in 2004. Similarly, according to the Forest Service, the 
timber harvested on its lands in 1995 was worth about $616 million, 
whereas timber harvested in 2004 was worth about $217 million. As 
timber harvests and revenue have decreased, related reforestation needs 
also have decreased, and so the Forest Service has generally been able 
to meet these needs by using timber sale revenue to help pay for 
reforestation. Forest Service officials also noted that the value of 
the wood they are now selling is typically much lower than it was a 
decade ago.

Figure 4: Volume of Timber Harvested from Forest Service Lands for 
Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

[See PDF for image]

[End of figure]

According to Forest Service reports, as timber harvests and related 
reforestation needs were decreasing, the acreage burned in wildland 
fires and damaged by insects and diseases annually began to increase 
significantly around 2000, leaving thousands of acres needing 
reforestation. Nationally, wildland fires burned over 8 million acres 
in 2000, compared with less than 6 million acres in 1999 and about 2.3 
million acres in 1998.[Footnote 8] In 2002, Colorado, Arizona, and 
Oregon recorded their largest fires in the last century. Similarly, 
figure 5 shows that the amount of land damaged by insects and diseases 
has increased significantly, with over 12 million acres of forest 
affected in 2003, compared with less than 2 million acres in 1999. As 
the acreage affected by these natural disturbances increased, so did 
reforestation needs. However, funding allocated to pay for 
reforestation did not increase at the same rate, so needs began to 
accumulate.

Figure 5: Acres of Tree Mortality Caused by Insects and Disease on 
Forested Lands Nationwide for Fiscal Years 1997 through 2003:

[See PDF for image]

Note: These numbers include all forested lands under federal, state, 
and other ownership, not just Forest Service land.

[End of figure]

While reported reforestation needs have been rising, funding allocated 
for reforestation and timber stand improvement has been relatively 
constant (as shown in fig. 6). In addition, pressure on limited funding 
was magnified in fiscal year 2001, as the Forest Service combined under 
one budget multiple programs including reforestation and timber stand 
improvement as well as range, watershed improvement, and noxious weed 
management programs, among others. Once these programs were combined, 
agency officials had to balance reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs against priorities in the other programs. On a 
broader scale, a Forest Service official said they must balance 
reforestation needs against other competing priorities when requesting 
a budget from the Congress, so they did not request more funding to 
help pay for reforestation needs during the last decade. Officials did, 
however, request additional funding for fiscal year 2006, according to 
an agency official.

Figure 6: Forest Service Appropriations Allocated to Reforestation and 
Timber Stand Improvement for Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

[See PDF for image]

Note: The Forest Service allocates funds from its National Forest 
System appropriation to pay for reforestation and timber stand 
improvement. Amounts presented for 1995 through 2000 are amounts 
allocated from enacted appropriation levels. Because the reforestation 
and timber stand improvement program was combined with several other 
programs under one budget beginning in 2001, the amounts presented for 
2001 through 2004 are estimates provided by the Forest Service.

[End of figure]

In addition to natural causes, several other factors have contributed 
to the reported increase in reforestation needs, according to Forest 
Service officials. In some areas, reforestation attempts have failed, 
creating needs where agency officials will try again to reforest the 
same lands. Reforestation efforts can fail for a variety of reasons, 
such as insufficient moisture, improper planting techniques, or animal 
damage to young seedlings. Ongoing drought conditions in the West, as 
well as the retirement of experienced foresters, may have played a role 
in recent reforestation failures, according to Forest Service 
officials. Another factor that has contributed to the reported increase 
in reforestation needs is that some national forests have recently 
acquired lands through purchase or exchange that need reforestation. 
For example, the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Arkansas acquired 
about 11,000 acres of land in 1993 and 1994 that had been harvested, 
and much of it needed reforestation. About 4,000 acres of the land have 
yet to be reforested.

Changing Management Practices Have Contributed to Reported Increase in 
Timber Stand Improvement Needs:

Nationally, timber stand improvement needs have generally been 
increasing for the 10-year period we reviewed because (1) some Forest 
Service regions emphasize reforestation over timber stand improvement; 
(2) agency officials have identified increasingly more needs as they 
have expanded the scope of timber stand improvement to include work 
needed to meet a wider range of objectives; and (3) past forestry 
practices called for dense planting, leaving a legacy of thinning needs 
to be addressed in the timber stand improvement program, particularly 
on forests that had large reforestation programs within the past 2 
decades. While these circumstances have contributed to nationwide 
increases in timber stand improvement needs, they have not always led 
to increases in individual regions.

Some Regions Emphasize Reforestation Needs over Timber Stand 
Improvement Needs:

According to Forest Service officials, one reason nationwide timber 
stand improvement needs are accumulating is that some regions 
prioritize funding for reforestation treatments over timber stand 
improvement treatments. These regions do so in part because they are 
required to complete reforestation treatments within 5 years of 
harvesting, whereas for timber stand improvement, there is no such 
requirement. In addition, agency officials said that, generally, lands 
needing reforestation change more quickly than lands needing timber 
stand improvement, so the opportunity cost of deferring reforestation 
treatments is higher than that of deferring timber stand improvement 
projects. For example, an official in the Pacific Southwest Region 
estimated that if they did not reforest an area immediately after a 
fire, brush would likely become established within a few years, and 
removing the brush could add as much as $400 per acre to the costs of 
reforestation. In contrast, deferring a thinning treatment for 1 or 2 
years has little effect on forest conditions and treatment 
requirements, agency officials said, although deferring these projects 
for longer periods can create problems, as discussed later.

Forest Service Has Expanded Scope of Timber Stand Improvement:

Another reason national timber stand improvement needs are increasing 
is that the Forest Service has expanded the scope of the program, now 
identifying lands where timber stand improvement work is needed to meet 
objectives beyond maximizing timber yield, such as improving wildlife 
habitats or thinning hazardous fuels to reduce fire danger. As the 
objectives of timber stand improvement have expanded, needs have 
expanded accordingly. For example, the Southwestern region has 
identified fuels reduction as a regional priority and consequently 
dedicates most of its reforestation and timber stand improvement 
program funding to timber stand improvement, using only moneys from the 
Reforestation Trust Fund--about 4 percent of the region's 2003 program 
funds--to pay for reforestation projects. However, the region's 
increased emphasis on fuels reduction has added to timber stand 
improvement needs rather than reducing them, because as the scope of 
timber stand improvement expands to include lands that need fuels 
reduction, officials are identifying many more needs than they can meet 
each year.

Forest Service Favored Dense Tree Planting in the 1980s and 1990s:

In addition, nationwide timber stand improvement needs are increasing 
because reforestation techniques favored in the 1980s and 1990s 
recommended planting trees much more densely than may be currently 
recommended. Consequently, many stands that were planted 15 to 20 years 
ago now need thinning, according to agency officials. For example, 
during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, the Idaho-Panhandle National 
Forest had an active timber production program, clear-cutting and 
harvesting thousands of acres each year, and replanting densely. During 
that period, officials deliberately planted seedlings densely so that 
as the trees grew, they could keep the largest and healthiest of them 
for cultivating, and thin out the others. Although the Forest Service 
has now reduced its emphasis on timber production, thinning is still 
needed in these areas to maintain forest health, according to agency 
officials.

Some Regions' Trends in Timber Stand Improvement Needs Deviate from 
National Trends for Various Reasons:

The circumstances causing the nationwide trend of increasing timber 
stand improvement needs have not always led to increases in individual 
regions. For example, the Pacific Southwest region has reported 
decreasing needs since 1994. According to agency officials, the 
decrease is largely a result of the decrease in timber harvests and 
associated planting. In some parts of the country, such as Idaho, 
timber stand improvement projects may not be needed until 20 or 30 
years after planting. However, the moist climate in some areas of the 
Pacific Southwest region causes vegetation to grow quickly, so timber 
stand improvement projects are typically needed much sooner--between 2 
and 10 years after planting. Consequently, many of the region's harvest-
related timber stand improvement needs have already been addressed and 
total needs have been decreasing. In addition, like the Southwestern 
region, the Pacific Southwest region has begun to give priority to 
timber stand improvement projects that contribute to fuels reduction 
goals. According to agency officials in the region, this emphasis has 
helped finance timber stand improvement work and reduce needs. In the 
Southern region, agency officials reported that timber stand 
improvement needs have been relatively stable during the period we 
reviewed, in part because the timber program in that region is still 
active, and timber revenues can help pay for timber stand improvement 
needs.

Land Managers Cite Adverse Effects That Could Result If Reforestation 
and Timber Stand Improvement Needs Are Not Addressed:

If reforestation and timber stand improvement needs continue to 
accumulate in the future, the Forest Service will likely have to 
postpone some projects. According to agency officials, the agency's 
ability to achieve forest management objectives may consequently be 
impaired; treatment costs could increase; and forests could become more 
susceptible to fire, disease, and insect damage. While Forest Service 
officials expressed concern about the potential harmful effects of 
delaying projects, the agency has not clarified priorities for the 
reforestation and timber stand improvement program that reflect this 
concern and the current context in which the program operates. Instead, 
regions and forests rely mainly on decision-making practices initiated 
when the agency's primary focus was timber production, and timber 
revenues allowed them to fund reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs with fewer constraints. Forest Service headquarters 
officials acknowledged this circumstance and noted that field staff 
could benefit from clarified, updated national policy.

Forest Service's Ability to Meet Forest Management Objectives Could Be 
Impaired:

The Forest Service's ability to meet the management objectives defined 
in its forest plans--such as maintaining a variety of tree species in a 
forest or appropriate habitat for certain wildlife--could be impaired 
if reforestation or timber stand improvement treatments are delayed. 
For example, at the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana and Idaho, 
agency officials have identified a management objective of establishing 
or maintaining ponderosa pine forests, which populated the area 
historically and are well-adapted to high-frequency, low-intensity 
wildland fires. Currently, the Bitterroot National Forest has thousands 
of acres that need reforestation because of wildland fires in 2000. If 
these needs are left unattended, douglas fir forests will likely become 
established instead of ponderosa pine; and, according to agency 
officials, douglas fir tends to grow into crowded stands that officials 
believe will perpetuate the cycle of dense forests, fueling severe 
fires. In addition, agency officials prefer ponderosa pine forests 
because they provide habitat for certain wildlife species, such as 
pileated woodpeckers. In other cases, an area previously dominated by 
forests could become dominated by shrubfields, compromising wildlife 
habitat, recreation, and timber value. In the Shasta-Trinity National 
Forest, an area that was cleared by logging and wildland fires at the 
turn of the century left a brushfield that persisted for over 60 years 
and only became forested when the Forest Service actively planted the 
area. Similarly, about 750 acres in the Tahoe National Forest were 
cleared by a 1924 wildland fire and replaced by shrubs (shown in fig. 
7) that remained until agency officials replanted the area in 1964--40 
years later. One Forest Service official expressed particular concern 
about leaving reforestation needs unattended because, as these needs 
are increasingly created by natural causes such as wildland fires that 
burn vast areas, adverse effects have the potential to occur on a large 
scale. Furthermore, an agency official said that if they cannot meet 
the management objectives defined in their forest management plans, it 
will be difficult to fulfill their mission "to sustain the health, 
diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests."

Figure 7: Shrubfields Persisted 40 Years after a Wildland Fire in Tahoe 
National Forest:

[See PDF for image]

[End of figure]

Similarly, if timber stand improvement needs are not addressed, it also 
will be difficult to meet forest management objectives. For example, if 
competing vegetation is not removed, the success of recently completed 
reforestation treatments can be jeopardized, hindering agency efforts 
to meet objectives such as maintaining an area in a forested condition 
or reintroducing certain species of trees. If thinning needs are left 
unattended, forest management objectives can be thwarted as well. For 
example, some forests have identified areas where timber production is 
an objective, and thinning treatments are used to increase timber 
productivity by removing trees with the least potential for growth and 
leaving those with the greatest potential. When these treatments are 
delayed, trees grow more slowly and may not reach the desired size, 
slowing progress in meeting timber production objectives.

Project Costs Could Increase:

If reforestation and timber stand improvement needs are not addressed 
in a timely manner, treatment costs also could increase because 
removing vegetation, which is required for most reforestation and 
timber stand improvement projects, will become more costly as the 
vegetation grows. For example, at the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest 
in Arkansas, insects have destroyed thousands of acres of red oak 
forests since 1999, leaving large areas that need to be reforested. As 
the Forest Service has left these areas unattended, brush that must be 
removed before new seedlings are planted is becoming established, and 
removing it will be more costly as time passes. When the brush was 
young and small, it could have been removed with inexpensive methods 
such as hand spraying herbicides; but now it will require a more 
expensive method such as cutting the brush with a chainsaw, according 
to agency officials. If these areas are left indefinitely, trees may 
become established, but a different mix of species will probably 
replace the red oak forests, which are desirable both for their 
commercial value and the habitat they provide for wildlife, such as 
large game.

In addition, some Forest Service officials said that because there has 
been recent controversy over salvage timber sales--the selling of dead 
or dying trees--the sales have been delayed, adding costs to 
reforestation projects done following salvage sales. The Forest Service 
could not, however, quantify such costs. Although salvage sales do not 
always precede reforestation, any salvage harvesting that is done is 
generally completed before reforesting begins because logging 
activities and equipment can damage young seedlings. Consequently, when 
salvage sales are delayed, reforestation projects are delayed as well, 
causing reforestation costs to increase as vegetation grows that must 
be removed before reforesting. Also, when salvage sales are delayed, 
revenue declines because over time the value of the salvage timber 
decreases as the wood decays. According to agency officials, revenue 
from salvage sales was once enough to cover administrative costs of the 
sale and also help pay for reforestation in some cases, but now it is 
not typically enough to pay for any reforestation. However, data are 
not readily available to show how common it is for salvage sales to 
delay reforestation projects or the extent to which revenues for 
salvage timber have declined, and why.

Forest Susceptibility to Wildland Fire, Insects, and Disease Could 
Increase:

If reforestation and timber stand improvement needs are not addressed, 
forests will be more susceptible to severe wildland fires and damage 
from insects and disease, according to agency officials. When 
reforestation needs are left unattended, brush can grow in place of 
forests, providing dense, continuous fuel for wildland fires. 
Alternatively, exotic plant species may become established, some of 
which are more susceptible to wildland fires than native species. Once 
such invasive species become established, it is difficult to eradicate 
them. In addition, wildland fires may weaken some trees without killing 
them, leaving them susceptible to insect attack and diseases; and if 
reforestation needs are left unattended, an insect infestation can grow 
to epidemic proportions. In contrast, when the Forest Service reforests 
such an area, agency officials typically will first remove infested 
trees, which can serve as carriers for insects and disease, and then 
plant healthy seedlings that are more resistant.

Leaving timber stand improvement needs unattended also can increase 
forest susceptibility to wildland fire, insects, and disease. Forests 
that are densely populated and need thinning tend to be stressed 
because the trees compete with one another for sunlight, water, and 
nutrients. Experts believe that when wildland fires start in such 
forests, they are fueled by the tightly spaced trees, causing the fires 
to spread rapidly and increasing the likelihood of unusually large 
fires, resulting in widespread destruction. Similarly, when insects or 
diseases infect such forests--especially when the trees are of a 
uniform species and age rather than a variety of species and ages--they 
can spread rapidly because of the stressed condition of the trees and 
because the trees are close together and of the same species.

Forest Service Is Not Well Positioned to Manage Potential Effects of 
Increasing Needs:

Although Forest Service officials expressed concern about the potential 
effects of leaving reforestation and timber stand improvement needs 
unattended, the agency has not made sufficient adjustments to address 
these concerns and adapt to changes in the context in which the program 
operates. The Forest Service has shifted its management emphasis from 
timber production to ecosystem management, sources of reforestation 
needs have shifted from timber harvests to natural causes, and budgets 
have become increasingly constrained. However, the agency has not 
adjusted the program's direction, policies, practices, and priorities 
in keeping with these changes, although agency officials acknowledged 
the need to do so. Until they do, it will be difficult to ensure that 
reforestation and timber stand improvement funds are targeted toward 
activities that will have the greatest impact in mitigating potential 
adverse effects.

While the Forest Service formally shifted its management emphasis from 
timber production to ecosystem management in the early 1990s, there 
remains a general lack of clarity about agency mission and goals, and 
more specifically, a lack of clarity about the direction and goals for 
the reforestation and timber stand improvement program, according to 
agency officials. When timber production was the emphasis, the 
direction for the reforestation and timber stand improvement program 
was clearly focused around maximizing timber production, whereas in the 
current environment, it is less clear. Reforestation and timber stand 
improvement projects now are done for multiple purposes--such as 
improving wildlife habitat, protecting streams and water quality, and 
reducing susceptibility to wildland fires--but it is unclear which of 
these purposes are more important, if any, and how to allocate limited 
funds to support such diverse purposes. The lack of clarity is apparent 
in forest management plans, where management objectives are expressed 
in language that may be vague or contradictory, according to agency 
officials. For example, one objective in a Montana forest's management 
plan calls for providing "a pleasing and healthy environment, including 
clean air, clean water, and diverse ecosystems." The forest management 
plans are intended to help guide management decisions, such as deciding 
which reforestation and timber stand improvement techniques to use, but 
agency officials said it can be difficult to interpret the plans when 
making such decisions because of the vague language, conflicting 
management objectives, or a combination of these factors. A 2004 study 
in the Pacific Southwest Region found that many agency officials 
believe forest management plans are too generic and lack clear 
priorities.

In the absence of program direction that is consistent with the current 
management emphasis, reforestation and timber stand improvement 
policies remain in place that reflect outdated direction and management 
emphasis. For example, some reforestation policies written in the 1980s 
call for tight spacing between trees consistent with the agency's 
timber focus at the time. Dense planting can increase timber production 
and decrease competing vegetation, but it is more expensive than 
sparser planting and can add costs later because dense stands need to 
be thinned. Agency officials acknowledged that in many cases, these 
standards are outdated and reflect neither the current emphasis on 
ecosystem management, nor the current environment of constrained 
budgets. Nevertheless, officials explained that they have not changed 
the standards because they are not required to comply with them. 
Rather, they have the discretion to determine the appropriate spacing 
for trees on a site-specific basis and to write a prescription that 
deviates from the standards by relying on their professional judgment. 
While reliance on professional judgment may result in actions that are 
more closely aligned with the current management emphasis, there is no 
assurance that it will have such results without clear direction and 
policies consistent with the direction.

In some places, regional culture that reflects a former management 
emphasis and budgetary situation influences current practices. For 
example, when reforesting an area, officials in the Pacific Southwest 
region almost always rely on planting--a more expensive method than 
natural regeneration--because they have always done so and, according 
to agency officials, this practice has been reinforced by the regional 
culture. When the agency-wide management emphasis was timber 
production, reforestation standards called for prompt reforestation and 
tightly spaced trees to maximize timber volume; so officials rarely 
relied on natural regeneration, which does not necessarily ensure rapid 
reforestation or result in tightly spaced trees. In addition, when 
timber revenues were higher and reforestation efforts centered on 
harvested areas, the region could always afford to plant. Now, as the 
agency's management emphasis has shifted to ecosystem and forest 
health, and as budgets have become increasingly strained, officials in 
the Pacific Southwest region said they are beginning to encourage 
greater reliance on natural regeneration, but it remains to be seen 
whether forests and districts will adjust their practices, accordingly.

Priorities for the reforestation and timber stand improvement program 
also reflect a lack of clarity about program direction in the context 
of the current management emphasis, and a continued reliance on former 
program direction. For example, among agency officials we talked with, 
there was disagreement on how funding should be allocated between 
reforestation and timber stand improvement work and on whether one 
ought to be higher priority than the other. In the Pacific Northwest 
region, agency officials wrote a 2001 report recommending that the 
region divert some of its reforestation funds to pay for additional 
timber stand improvement. The report stated that doing so is justified, 
because (1) many of the current timber stand improvement needs resulted 
from reforestation projects several decades ago that favored high 
density planting and (2) without thinning to help reduce the impacts of 
wildland fire, reforestation will continue to be needed after wildland 
fires. Nevertheless, regional officials we talked with did not all 
agree with the recommendation, and the region has not implemented it. 
Instead, the region has continued to prioritize reforestation over 
timber stand improvement, as it has done since the inception of the 
timber program. According to one regional official, the Forest 
Service's history of timber production permeates current thinking, and 
many procedures do not reflect the current management emphasis on 
ecosystem health.

Without clear program direction, not only is it difficult to determine 
priorities between reforestation and timber stand improvement, but it 
is also difficult to do so for work within each. For the most part, the 
regions and forests we visited have not established clear criteria for 
prioritizing funding decisions, and officials do not always agree with 
one another about such decisions. For example, at a forest in the 
Pacific Southwest region, after district officials replanted most of an 
area burned by a 1996 wildland fire, regional officials thought 
replanting the remaining burned area was a low priority because of the 
high per-acre cost. District and forest-level staff, however, believed 
it was a high priority because the area was harvested in a salvage sale 
after the fire, and the Forest Service is required to reforest all 
harvested lands within 5 years. The forest has continued to fund 
projects to replant the remaining area. Without clear program direction 
that reflects the current management emphasis and budget environment, 
it is difficult to identify the highest priority investments to 
minimize the potential adverse effects of accumulating reforestation 
and timber stand improvement needs.

Conclusions:

The Forest Service needs a more accurate assessment of its 
reforestation and timber stand improvement needs to reflect the 
condition of our national forests. Although emphasizing data accuracy 
may take away from resources to carry out reforestation and timber 
stand improvements in the short-term, this investment is a critical 
foundation for providing a credible picture of these needs to Forest 
Service managers and the Congress. If the agency does not have accurate 
data, it cannot clearly define the extent or severity of its 
reforestation and timber stand improvement needs or effectively channel 
efforts and resources to meet the most important needs. Currently, the 
Forest Service has difficulty estimating how much it would cost to meet 
all of its reforestation and timber stand improvement needs because 
Forest Service data are inconsistent across regions and are not 
sufficiently reliable to accurately quantify needs. With the advent of 
a new agency-wide data collection system, the Forest Service has the 
opportunity to improve the accuracy of its data. However, the new 
system will only be as good as the data that are entered into it. The 
Forest Service should take this opportunity to address the data 
reliability problems by standardizing procedures, developing a common 
definition of need, and validating the data--verifying that reported 
needs accurately reflect conditions on the ground--so that it can build 
a well-founded budget case for funding reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs. To seize this opportunity and minimize the potential 
adverse effects of unmet needs, it is important for the Forest Service 
to act soon. While it may not be possible for the agency to make all 
the necessary changes in time for its fiscal year 2006 appropriations 
request, it should aim to do so in time to support its fiscal year 2007 
request.

The Forest Service also must recognize, however, that in the current, 
fiscally constrained environment, even well-supported budget needs may 
not always be funded. The shift in management emphasis from timber 
production to ecosystem management, combined with constrained budgets 
and changing sources of reforestation needs, has changed the context in 
which the reforestation and timber stand improvement program operates. 
However, the Forest Service has not updated its goals and policies for 
the program to reflect this change. Until the agency does so, it will 
be difficult to establish criteria for prioritizing the use of 
reforestation and timber stand improvement funds. In the current budget 
environment, such criteria are crucial for identifying the best 
investments to minimize possible adverse effects so that the Forest 
Service can fulfill its stewardship responsibility and ensure the 
lasting health and productivity of our national forests.

Recommendations for Executive Action:

To enhance the ability of the Forest Service to identify its 
reforestation and timber stand improvement needs and ensure funding for 
its most critical projects, we recommend that the Secretary of 
Agriculture direct the Chief of the Forest Service to take the 
following actions:

* standardize collection, reporting, and review procedures for data on 
reforestation and timber stand improvement needs by clarifying agency-
wide guidance and developing a standard definition of need;

* require all regions to validate their reforestation and timber stand 
improvement data in time for congressional deliberation of the Forest 
Service's fiscal year 2007 appropriations request;

* clarify the direction and policies for the reforestation and timber 
stand improvement program to be consistent with the agency's current 
emphasis on ecosystem management and appropriate for the current 
constrained budget environment, and:

* require regions and forests to establish criteria for prioritizing 
the use of their reforestation and timber stand improvement funds in 
the current budget environment.

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:

We received written comments on a draft of this report from the Forest 
Service on behalf of Agriculture and from Interior. The Forest Service 
concurred with our findings and recommendations. Interior also 
concurred with our findings related to the Bureau of Land Management's 
reforestation and growth enhancement program discussed in appendix I 
and provided a technical suggestion that we have incorporated into the 
report. The Forest Service's and Interior's letters are included in 
appendixes III and IV, respectively.

As arranged with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents 
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days 
after the date of this letter. At that time, we will send copies of 
this report to other interested congressional committees. We also will 
send copies to the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior and the 
Chief of the Forest Service. We will make copies available to others 
upon request. In addition, this report will be available at no charge 
on the GAO Web site at [Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov.].

If you or your staff have questions about this report, please contact 
me at (202) 512-3841. Key contributors to this report are listed in 
appendix V.

Sincerely yours,

Signed by:

Robin M. Nazzaro:
Director, Natural Resources and Environment:

[End of section]

Appendixes:

Appendix I: Bureau of Land Management's Reforestation and Related 
Forest Health Trends in Western Oregon:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages about 261 million acres of 
land nationwide, including about 55 million acres of forest and 
woodlands, which are administered under two management programs--one 
for about 2.4 million acres in western Oregon,[Footnote 9] and another 
for the remaining 53 million acres of public domain lands, located 
mostly in the West. BLM's western Oregon lands include both lands 
managed primarily for timber and reserve forests, which are managed 
primarily to meet wildlife habitat and other objectives. The public 
domain lands consist mainly of woodlands, with some commercial forests. 
We confined our review of BLM to its western Oregon lands because the 
majority of BLM's reforestation and related efforts are focused there 
and because BLM records for its public domain lands are not in a 
centralized, automated database. (For more information on the scope and 
methodology of our review, see app. II.)

Regarding trends, BLM reports that it had backlogs of acres needing 
reforestation and growth enhancement treatments[Footnote 10] in western 
Oregon in 1993, but that such needs decreased until 2002 when the 
backlogs were eliminated. Since then, BLM reports that it has kept pace 
with these needs. According to BLM officials, the backlogs--defined by 
BLM as needs delayed 5 years or more--developed mainly because BLM was 
harvesting large volumes of timber, which created reforestation needs. 
The backlogs were eliminated through a combination of factors, 
including reduced harvest levels, increased funding, and management 
actions taken by BLM. Agency officials believe that because they are 
keeping pace with their current reforestation and growth enhancement 
needs, they are minimizing any potential adverse effects that could 
result from carrying a backlog of unattended needs.

Background:

BLM is required to administer its western Oregon lands in accordance 
with the Oregon and California Grant Lands Act of 1937. The act called 
for permanent forest production and protection of watersheds, among 
other things, on BLM's western Oregon lands. It also established an 
initial upper limit of 500 million board feet of timber that could be 
sold annually from these lands and directed BLM to adjust the limit, 
based on the capacity of the land. Accordingly, BLM has adjusted the 
limit several times--to 1,185 million board feet per year in 1983, 211 
million board feet per year in 1995 with the advent of the Northwest 
Forest Plan, and 203 million board feet per year in 1999, where it 
remains today.[Footnote 11] To fund reforestation and growth 
enhancement work, BLM relies mainly on funds it has allocated for its 
reforestation and growth enhancement program--about $25 million in 
2004. In addition, a small portion of such work is funded through other 
sources, such as appropriations allocated for wildland fire 
rehabilitation and the forest ecosystem health recovery fund.[Footnote 
12]

BLM Reports Eliminating Reforestation and Growth Enhancement Backlogs 
in 2002:

For the 10-year period between 1995 and 2004, BLM reports that its 
annual reforestation and growth enhancement needs on its western Oregon 
lands generally decreased until 2002, after which annual treatments 
kept pace with such needs, as shown in figure 8. A 1994 Interior 
Inspector General report found that at the end of fiscal year 1993, BLM 
had a backlog of over 50,000 acres of reforestation needs and over 
220,000 acres of growth enhancement needs.[Footnote 13] According to a 
BLM official, after the backlogs were identified, needs generally 
decreased (for reasons noted in the following section) until both 
backlogs were eliminated in 2002.[Footnote 14] Since 2002, BLM has kept 
pace with its reforestation and growth enhancement needs on its western 
Oregon lands, agency officials said.

Figure 8: BLM Western Oregon Reforestation and Growth Enhancement Needs 
for Fiscal Years 1995 through 2004:

[See PDF for image]

[End of figure]

Agency Officials Link Past Backlogs to Timber Harvests and Funding 
Shortfall:

BLM's past backlogs developed primarily because timber harvests on its 
western Oregon lands had risen sharply, causing related reforestation 
and growth enhancement needs to increase, while funding allocated to 
address the needs decreased rather than increasing in step with the 
needs. Timber harvests on BLM's western Oregon lands were at their peak 
in the late 1980s with over 1 billion board feet of timber sold 
annually; causing a spike in reforestation and related needs. However, 
unlike the Forest Service, BLM does not have the authority to use 
timber revenues from standard timber sales for reforestation and growth 
enhancement treatments. Instead, BLM relies on annual appropriations 
from the Congress to fund such treatments. According to the Inspector 
General's report, BLM had backlogs in its reforestation and growth 
enhancement program because it did not request or receive sufficient 
funding through the budget process to eliminate these backlogs and 
because it used about $5.4 million of its forest program funds for 
overhead costs not related to forestry. In addition, large wildland 
fires in the late 1980s and early 1990s added to BLM's growing 
reforestation needs, according to agency officials.

Agency Officials Attribute Elimination of Backlogs to Declining Timber 
Harvests, Increased Funding, and Management Actions:

Declining timber harvests, increased funding, and actions taken by BLM 
combined to help eliminate the reforestation and growth enhancement 
backlogs, according to agency officials. In the late 1980s and early 
1990s, the volume of timber sold annually on BLM's western Oregon lands 
decreased considerably--from a peak of 1,583 million board feet in 1986 
to a low of 14 million board feet in 1994--and associated reforestation 
needs decreased in parallel. According to BLM officials, the declining 
timber harvests were largely a result of growing controversy 
surrounding timber harvests and the protection of endangered species on 
public land. Related litigation and judicial decisions hindered BLM 
from harvesting timber on its lands. The controversy was addressed in 
the Northwest Forest Plan, adopted in 1994, which reduced the portion 
of BLM's western Oregon lands to be managed primarily for timber. After 
adoption of the plan, BLM reduced the upper limit on annual timber 
sales from these lands to 211 million board feet. At the same time, BLM 
modified its harvesting methods to rely less on clear-cutting and more 
on thinning. Unlike clear-cut forests, the thinned forests did not need 
to be reforested and required fewer growth enhancement treatments, 
resulting in a further reduction of needs. While reforestation needs 
were decreasing, BLM increased the funding it allocated for 
reforestation and growth enhancement from about $23 million in 1995 to 
about $26.5 million in 1996--an increase of about 15 percent. According 
to agency officials, increased funding in 1996 and subsequent years 
enabled BLM to treat more acres annually than it had done previously, 
thereby reducing the backlogs.

In addition to declining timber harvests and increased funding, BLM 
took several actions to help reduce its reforestation and growth 
enhancement backlogs in response to the 1994 Inspector General's 
report. First, officials in the reforestation and growth enhancement 
program instituted measures to improve their data collection and 
tracking so that they could accurately quantify the size of the 
backlogs, locate the source of the backlogs, and track progress in 
eliminating them. Second, BLM shifted its priorities, funding, and 
resources to target the areas where the need was greatest. BLM 
officials from all of the districts in western Oregon, as well as the 
state office, came together to agree on a list of priorities for the 
program, then targeted available funding and resources to the highest 
priority needs. For example, they decided to place a higher priority on 
maintaining existing timber stands than on planting new stands, because 
maintenance needs made up the greatest portion of the backlog. Adhering 
to the prioritization scheme helped address the backlog, according to 
an agency official, but required staff to have fluid roles. Finally, 
BLM officials analyzed treatment costs per acre in each district and 
identified best practices to optimize their investments of scarce 
resources. For example, one district identified cost-saving forestry 
techniques for thinning, while another identified lower-cost 
contracting procedures. BLM then standardized these practices across 
all western Oregon districts.

BLM Reports Preventing Adverse Effects by Keeping Pace with 
Reforestation and Growth Enhancement Needs:

Because BLM has been keeping pace with its reforestation and growth 
enhancement needs on its western Oregon lands since 2002, it is 
preventing any adverse effects that could result from a backlog of 
needs, according to agency officials.

[End of section]

Appendix II: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:

To examine the trends in federal lands needing reforestation and timber 
stand improvement, we reviewed the Forest Service and BLM programs 
because most of the nation's reforestation and timber stand improvement 
activities are managed by these two agencies. We focused our work 
primarily on the Forest Service's program because it is larger than 
BLM's and its forests cover a broader cross-section of the country. 
During 2004, we visited the following four Forest Service regions and 
one national forest in each region: Northern, Pacific Northwest, 
Pacific Southwest, and Southern. These regions were selected because 
they had the highest reported reforestation or timber stand improvement 
needs for fiscal years 2000 to 2003.[Footnote 15] We obtained and 
analyzed 10 years of national data, from fiscal years 1995 through 
2004, on the Forest Service's reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs and treatments from the agency's Timber Activity 
Control System for Silvicultural Activities (TRACS-SILVA).[Footnote 16] 
We assessed the reliability of the data by examining the TRACS-SILVA 
system as well as the regional data systems of the four regions we 
visited, which provide the source data for the national TRACS-SILVA 
system. To understand what standards, procedures, and internal controls 
are in place for collecting, reporting, and verifying needs--and to 
assess the accuracy and completeness of the TRACS-SILVA data--we 
conducted structured interviews with headquarters, regional, and forest-
level officials who enter data into the data systems, maintain the 
systems, and prepare reports using data from the systems. We performed 
basic electronic testing on some of the data and reviewed manuals and 
other documents describing the systems, such as flowcharts and data 
dictionaries. To obtain information about the new agency-wide data 
system, known as the Forest Service Activity Tracking System (FACTS), 
we interviewed agency officials involved in its implementation and 
reviewed information on the system's data management functions, 
procedures, and applications.

To corroborate the TRACS-SILVA data, we obtained information about 
trends in the Forest Service's reforestation and timber stand 
improvement needs from additional sources. Specifically, we interviewed 
agency program officials and data experts in headquarters as well as in 
each regional and forest office that we visited to discuss the trends 
in reforestation and timber stand improvement needs, and we visited 
sites where reforestation and timber stand improvement treatments were 
needed. In addition, we reviewed agency reports and testimony written 
by foresters, budget officials, and researchers. We also reviewed 
nongovernmental studies and contacted outside experts to discuss these 
trends. Based on our review, we determined that the Forest Service 
data--when combined with other information we examined--are 
sufficiently reliable to identify general trend information, but we 
have concerns about whether these data accurately quantify the acreage 
of land needing reforestation and timber stand improvement.

To identify the factors that have contributed to reforestation and 
timber stand improvement trends, we interviewed Forest Service 
officials in headquarters and the regional and national forest offices 
we visited. We also contacted an agency official in the Southwestern 
Region. We reviewed headquarters and regional reports on factors 
contributing to reforestation and timber stand improvement trends as 
well as reports from the Forest Service's research station in the Rocky 
Mountain region and supplemented this information by interviewing 
researchers there. We obtained Forest Service data on timber harvests, 
wildland fires, and insect infestations during the last decade and 
conducted limited reliability assessments on these data. We also 
interviewed experts from nongovernmental organizations and reviewed 
publications from the organizations.

To determine the potential effects of the Forest Service's 
reforestation and timber stand improvement trends identified by the 
agency's land managers, we interviewed agency officials (including 
ecologists and silviculturists) in headquarters, regional, and national 
forest offices. We visited the sites of ongoing and completed 
reforestation and timber stand improvement projects in four national 
forests and discussed the potential effects of delaying treatments with 
local Forest Service officials. We interviewed Forest Service research 
program officials as well as scientific and technical experts at Forest 
Service research stations in Arizona and Montana and at nongovernmental 
organizations. We also reviewed select governmental and nongovernmental 
publications, including scientific studies that discuss potential 
effects of delaying reforestation and timber stand improvement 
treatments and interviewed some of the authors.

We limited our review of BLM to its western Oregon lands because they 
are central to the agency's forest development program and because BLM 
does not systematically track reforestation data for its other lands. 
We obtained and analyzed 10 years of data, from 1995 through 2004, on 
the BLM's reforestation and growth enhancement needs in western Oregon. 
We performed a limited reliability assessment of these data and BLM's 
reporting system through discussions with BLM headquarters officials 
and a structured interview with officials at BLM's state office in 
Portland, Oregon, which oversees BLM's western Oregon lands. We 
supplemented these efforts by gathering other relevant documents and 
reports issued by the department of the Interior's Inspector General. 
We determined that the BLM data were sufficiently reliable to use them 
descriptively in appendix 1 of this report. To determine the factors 
contributing to BLM's reforestation and forest development trends and 
to identify potential effects of the trends identified by the agency's 
land managers, we interviewed BLM officials in Oregon and reviewed 
relevant BLM and Inspector General reports.

We conducted our work from June 2004 through March 2005 in accordance 
with generally accepted government auditing standards.

[End of section]

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Agriculture:

United States Department of Agriculture:
Forest Service:
1400 Independence Avenue, SW:
Washington, DC 20250:

File Code: 1420 
Date: March 25, 2005:

Ms. Robin M. Nazzaro:

Director, Natural Resources and the Environment:
U.S. Government Accountability Office:
441 G Street, NW:
Washington, DC 20548:

Dear Ms. Nazzaro:

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the draft 
Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report, GAO-05-374, "Forest 
Service: Better Data Are Needed to Identify and Prioritize 
Reforestation and Timber Stand Improvement Needs." The report 
recognizes that reforestation and timber stand improvement data, when 
combined with other information, are sufficiently reliable to portray a 
general trend of increasing needs. The report acknowledges the 
influence of recent severe wildfires on reforestation needs and the 
expanded scope of timber stand improvement work needed to meet 
objectives beyond maximizing timber yield, such as improving wildlife 
habitat or thinning to reduce the risk of losses from future wildfires.

The report also identifies the agency's need to standardize collection, 
reporting and review procedures, and to clarify agency-wide guidance to 
standardize the definition of needs. It also identified the need to 
require Forest Service regions to validate their reforestation and 
timber stand improvement data in time for the agency's fiscal year 2007 
appropriations request; clarify reforestation and timber stand 
improvement program direction as it relates to the agency's emphasis on 
ecosystem management under a constrained budget environment; and to 
require Forest Service regions to establish criteria for prioritizing 
the use of funds for reforestation and timber stand improvement work. 
Thus, the Forest Service concurs with the audit findings and 
recommendations. Preparation of an action plan to address GAO's 
recommendations is in progress.

If you have any technical questions regarding this audit, please 
contact Frank Burch, Ecosystem and Planning Team, at (202) 205-0946. 
For general questions regarding the audit, please contact Sandy T. 
Coleman, Agency Audit Liaison, at (703) 605-4940.

Sincerely,

Signed by

Dale N. Bosworth:
Chief:

cc: Christine Roye:

[End of section]

Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of the Interior:

United States Department of the Interior:
Office Of The Secretary:
Washington, D.C. 20240:

March 31, 2005:

Ms. Robin M. Nazzaro:
Director, Natural Resources and Environment:
Government Accountability Office:
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20548-0001:

Dear Ms. Nazzaro:

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the draft report 
entitled Forest Service: Better Data Are Needed to Identify and 
Prioritize Reforestation and Timber Stand Improvement Needs (GAO-05-
374).

Although the report focuses on the Forest Service and has 
recommendations for the Secretary of Agriculture, the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) is discussed in Appendix 1. The BLM has the following 
general and specific comments.

General Comment:

The BLM agrees with the findings and recommendations, as they relate to 
the BLM.

Specific Comment:

Page 1 of Appendix 1: The sentence, "We confined our review of BLM to 
its O&C lands because the majority of BLM's reforestation and related 
forest health efforts are focused there...", could be clarified to 
reflect that the BLM's forest health efforts encompass both the Oregon 
and California Grant Lands in western Oregon and the public domain 
forestry program on 53 million acres of BLM-managed forests and 
woodlands outside of western Oregon. The sentence could be revised by 
striking "related forest health" or replacing that phrase with "related 
forest development treatment." Either approach would clarify the 
sentence and recognize the BLM's forest health efforts outside of 
western Oregon.

The BLM and the Department of the Interior appreciate the work that you 
do to improve the management of the public land and mineral resources. 
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments.

If you have any questions, please contact Andrea Nygren, BLM Audit 
Liaison Officer, on 202-452-5153, or Kenny McDaniel, Senior Forester, 
on 202-452-5097.

Sincerely,

Signed by:

Rebecca W. Watson:
Assistant Secretary:
Land and Minerals Management:

[End of section]

Appendix V: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments:

GAO Contacts:

Robin M. Nazzaro, (202) 512-3841:
David P. Bixler, (202) 512-7201:

Staff Acknowledgments:

Other individuals making key contributions to this report were Bill 
Bates, Christy Colburn, Sandy Davis, Sandra Edwards, Omari Norman, 
Cynthia Norris, and Jay Smale.

(360482):

FOOTNOTES

[1] Shortly after the Forest Service reported its backlog, the Congress 
enacted the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 
1974, requiring the Forest Service to annually request funds for an 
orderly program to eliminate backlogs in all Forest Service renewable 
resource programs. This act was amended by NFMA, which contains more 
specific direction to address the elimination of reforestation backlogs.

[2] The National Forest System appropriation provides the funds for the 
stewardship and management of Forest Service lands.

[3] The Knutson-Vandenberg Act of 1930 (16 U.S.C. 576-576b) established 
a trust fund to collect a portion of timber sale receipts to pay for 
reforesting areas from which timber is cut. The reforestation projects 
eligible for such funding include growing trees for planting, planting 
trees, sowing seeds, removing weeds and other competing vegetation, and 
preventing animals from damaging new trees. The act was amended in 1976 
to allow the Forest Service to use these funds for other activities, 
such as creating wildlife habitat.

[4] In 2001, the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior developed 
a National Fire Plan with state and local agencies and tribal 
governments to provide technical and financial resources to reduce the 
risk to communities and ecosystems from wildland fire, in part, by 
reducing hazardous fuels by thinning trees--one type of timber stand 
improvement treatment.

[5] Prior to 1996, the Northern Region allowed use of only a single 
type of site examination--timber stand improvement pretreatment 
examination--to prescribe a timber stand improvement treatment. In 
1996, the region changed its policy to allow the use of other, less 
rigorous examinations.

[6] Surveys and Investigations Staff of House Committee on 
Appropriations, 99th Cong., A Report to the Committee on Appropriations 
U.S. House of Representatives on the 10-Year Reforestation Backlog 
Elimination Program of the U.S. Forest Service (1985).

[7] See Department of Agriculture, Performance and Accountability 
Report for FY 2003: Appendix A-Management Challenges, (Washington, 
D.C.: September 2003), p. 264; Department of Agriculture, Forest 
Service Pacific Northwest Region, Forest Density Management: Recent 
History and Trends for the Pacific Northwest Region, R6-NR-TM-TP-05-01 
(Portland, Oregon, 2001); and GAO, Forest Service: Better Reporting 
Needed on Reforestation and Timber Stand Improvement, GAO/RCED-91-71 
(Washington, D.C.: March 15, 1991).

[8] These numbers include lands under federal and state ownership, not 
just Forest Service land. 

[9] BLM manages approximately 2.1 million acres of Oregon and 
California (O&C) lands, 75,000 acres of revested Coos Bay Wagon Road 
lands, and additional intermingled public domain lands in western 
Oregon. The Forest Service manages another 492,399 acres of O&C lands 
in Oregon.

[10] BLM's growth enhancement activities are similar to the Forest 
Service's timber stand improvement activities. BLM includes thinning, 
pruning, fertilization, and one type of release treatment under the 
heading of growth enhancement, but another type of release treatment--
one that is essential for seedling survival--is included under BLM's 
reforestation program. 

[11] The Northwest Forest Plan is a long-term management plan designed 
to provide a stable supply of timber while also protecting fish and 
wildlife habitat for 22.1 million acres of federal forest in western 
Oregon, western Washington, and northern California (including 2.7 
million acres of BLM-administered forests and 19.4 million acres of 
Forest Service-administered forest).

[12] The forest ecosystem health recovery fund is a permanent operating 
account that collects revenues from timber sales held for forest health 
reasons, such as removing dead and down timber or thinning a forest to 
reduce hazardous fuels.

[13] See Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General, Audit 
Report: Forestry Operations in Western Oregon, Bureau of Land 
Management, Report No. 94-I-359 (Washington, D.C.: February 1994).

[14] According to a BLM official, there are still some deferred 
fertilization needs, but the needs cannot be addressed because the 
agency is prohibited from conducting such activities by a judicial stay 
related to restrictions on the use of fertilizer. 

[15] At the time we began our review, 2003 data were the most current 
available. 

[16] Our review of the TRACS-SILVA system was limited to the portion of 
the system that reports reforestation and timber stand improvement 
needs and accomplishments.

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