[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
INVESTING IN WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT, ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION, AND RESILIENT
COMMUNITIES: EXAMINING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE
LAW
=======================================================================
OVERSIGHT HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC LANDS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-17
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
or
Committee address: http://naturalresources.house.gov
___________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
47-289 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Chair
JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, IL, Vice Chair
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, CNMI, Vice Chair, Insular Affairs
BRUCE WESTERMAN, AR, Ranking Member
Grace F. Napolitano, CA Louie Gohmert, TX
Jim Costa, CA Doug Lamborn, CO
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Robert J. Wittman, VA
CNMI Tom McClintock, CA
Jared Huffman, CA Garret Graves, LA
Alan S. Lowenthal, CA Jody B. Hice, GA
Ruben Gallego, AZ Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, AS
Joe Neguse, CO Daniel Webster, FL
Mike Levin, CA Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, PR
Katie Porter, CA Russ Fulcher, ID
Teresa Leger Fernandez, NM Pete Stauber, MN
Melanie A. Stansbury, NM Thomas P. Tiffany, WI
Nydia M. Velazquez, NY Jerry L. Carl, AL
Diana DeGette, CO Matthew M. Rosendale, Sr., MT
Julia Brownley, CA Blake D. Moore, UT
Debbie Dingell, MI Yvette Herrell, NM
A. Donald McEachin, VA Lauren Boebert, CO
Darren Soto, FL Jay Obernolte, CA
Michael F. Q. San Nicolas, GU Cliff Bentz, OR
Jesus G. ``Chuy'' Garcia, IL Vacancy
Ed Case, HI Vacancy
Betty McCollum, MN
Steve Cohen, TN
Paul Tonko, NY
Rashida Tlaib, MI
Lori Trahan, MA
David Watkins, Staff Director
Luis Urbina, Chief Counsel
Vivian Moeglein, Republican Staff Director
http://naturalresources.house.gov
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC LANDS
JOE NEGUSE, CO, Chair
RUSS FULCHER, ID, Ranking Member
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Thomas P. Tiffany, WI
CNMI Louie Gohmert, TX
Diana DeGette, CO Doug Lamborn, CO
Paul Tonko, NY Tom McClintock, CA
Rashida Tlaib, MI Jody B. Hice, GA
Lori Trahan, MA Matthew M. Rosendale, Sr., MT
Ruben Gallego, AZ Blake D. Moore, UT
Teresa Leger Fernandez, NM Yvette Herrell, NM
Debbie Dingell, MI Jay Obernolte, CA
Ed Case, HI Bruce Westerman, AR, ex officio
Michael F. Q. San Nicolas, GU
Katie Porter, CA
Raul M. Grijalva, AZ, ex officio
------
CONTENTS
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Page
Hearing held on Tuesday, April 5, 2022........................... 1
Statement of Members:
Grijalva, Hon. Raul M., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Arizona........................................... 8
Prepared statement of.................................... 9
Herrell, Hon. Yvette, a Representative in Congress from the
State of New Mexico........................................ 5
Neguse, Hon. Joe, a Representative in Congress from the State
of Colorado................................................ 2
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Westerman, Hon. Bruce, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Arkansas.......................................... 6
Statement of Witnesses:
Ferebee, Brian, Chief Executive of Intergovernmental
Relations, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Washington, DC............................................. 32
Prepared statement of.................................... 21
Questions submitted for the record....................... 33
Hall-Rivera, Jaelith, Deputy Chief, State and Private
Forestry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Washington, DC............................................. 20
Prepared statement of.................................... 21
Questions submitted for the record....................... 25
Rupert, Jeff, Director, Office of Wildland Fire, U.S.
Department of the Interior, Washington, DC................. 10
Prepared statement of.................................... 11
Questions submitted for the record....................... 15
Additional Materials Submitted for the Record:
Tall Timbers, J. Morgan Varner, Director of Research,
Statement for the Record................................... 61
List of documents submitted for the record retained in the
Committee's official files................................. 62
Submissions for the Record by Representative Tiffany
Forest Service Timber Data............................... 46
OVERSIGHT HEARING ON ``INVESTING IN WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT, ECOSYSTEM
RESTORATION, AND RESILIENT COMMUNITIES: EXAMINING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW''
----------
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands
Committee on Natural Resources
Washington, DC
----------
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:11 a.m., in
room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Joe Neguse
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Neguse, Sablan, Tonko, Tlaib,
Gallego, Leger Fernandez, Dingell, Porter, Grijalva (ex
officio); Herrell, Tiffany, Gohmert, McClintock, Rosendale,
Moore, and Westerman (ex officio).
Mr. Neguse. The Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests,
and Public Lands will come to order. The Subcommittee is
meeting today to hear testimony on investing in wildfire
management, ecosystem restoration, and resilient communities:
examining implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Under Committee Rule 4(f), any oral opening statements at
hearings are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Minority
Member or their designee. This will allow us to hear from our
witnesses sooner and help Members keep to their schedules.
Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that all other Members'
opening statements be made part of the hearing record if they
are submitted to the Clerk by 5 p.m. today or the close of the
hearing, whichever comes first.
Without objection, the Chair may also declare a recess
subject to the call of the Chair. Hearing no objection, so
ordered.
As described in the notice, statements and documents or
motions must be submitted to the electronic repository at
[email protected]. Members physically present here should
provide a hard copy for staff to distribute by e-mail. Please
note that Members are responsible for their own microphones, as
with our fully in-person meetings. This is a hybrid meaning, of
course. Members can be muted by staff to avoid inadvertent
background noise.
Finally, Members or witnesses experiencing any technical
problems should inform Committee staff as soon as possible.
With that, I will now recognize myself for an opening
statement.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOE NEGUSE, A REPRESENATIVE IN CONGRESS
FROM THE STATE OF COLORADO
Mr. Neguse. First, let me say thank you to each of the
witnesses for being here today and to my fellow colleagues on
both sides of the aisle for the Subcommittee on National Parks,
Forests, and Public Lands oversight hearing on implementation
of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We are happy to be back
here in person in the Committee room to host this hybrid
hearing on a topic that I certainly know merits a high level of
interest from Members on both sides of the dais and is of
particular importance to communities in my state of Colorado.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a historic investment
in our country's infrastructure, which included billions of
dollars for the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest
Service to support natural infrastructure, to reduce wildfire
risk, restore healthy ecosystems, and build safe, resilient
communities.
In my district in Colorado, Colorado's 2nd Congressional
District, communities from the Front Range to the Continental
Divide have been deeply impacted by unprecedented wildfires in
recent years, including the Marshall Fire in December 2021, the
Cameron Peak Fire in 2020, and the East Troublesome Fire in
that year as well.
The reality that we are living with throughout the Rocky
Mountain West is that wildfires are no longer simply contained
to a season. They are year-round. There are no wildfire seasons
in Colorado or in the Rocky Mountain West. There are wildfire
years. And these fires are now occurring in larger areas at
higher intensity, and it is only projected to increase in the
coming years as a result of climate change.
In my community in Colorado, back in December on New Year's
Eve, 1,084 homes were destroyed literally within an 18-hour
time period in the most destructive wildfire that has ever
occurred in Colorado. We need more Federal firefighting
resources. We need to invest in our forests. And, ultimately,
we need to take wildfire resiliency and mitigation seriously
for our communities, for our families, and for the many people
that we represent in the western United States.
That is why, as Chair of this Subcommittee, we have
prioritized wildfire oversight and legislation, including
hearings on Build Back Better, natural disasters, climate
change, the Civilian Climate Corps, public lands management and
workforce and, yes, forest management as well. For example, the
Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Act, which I was
proud to introduce alongside Senator Bennet, was included and
funded in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
As with the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management
Strategy, and more recently, the Forest Service' ambitious 10-
Year Wildfire Plan, the goal is to promote more fire-adapted
landscapes and reduce the vulnerability of at-risk communities.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law combines investments in
hazardous fuels, prescribed fire, and fuel breaks, alongside
programs to reform the wildfire workforce and increase
firefighter pay, improve community wildfire defenses, and
support more science-based monitoring and ecosystem
restoration.
The law also funded wildfire response and pre-planning
workshops, burned area recovery, and significantly increases
funding available through the Reforestation Trust Fund. Beyond
Federal Lands, the BIL, the Infrastructure Law, also includes
critical investments to enable an `all-lands' landscape-scale
approach to wildfire preparedness.
This multi-layered approach provides land management
agencies with a generational opportunity to demonstrate a
paradigm shift away from commercial management and emergency
suppression and toward fire adaptation and ecosystem services.
In that regard, some of the primary implementation
questions for the Natural Resources Committee include:
evaluating the adequacy of these investments in the context of
annual appropriations, measuring success beyond board feet and
acres treated, and assessing if additional investments,
workforce, or policy changes may be necessary.
While I recognize that there is genuine bipartisan interest
in these issues, I would be remiss if I didn't say it's
unfortunate that my friends on the other side of the aisle
voted against this legislation that I have described and all of
the myriad benefits that I think it will have for forest
management.
But I hope that they will join us in the efforts that are
well underway to build on the success that we have achieved as
a result of that Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including
expanding compensation for wildland firefighter pay. I
understand that we can expect some clarity on the wildland
firefighter classification issue, which I have touched on in
prior hearings in May from the Administration.
And I hope that we can continue to work together on Tim's
Act, which is my legislation with Republican Representative Liz
Cheney, that establishes a minimum wage for Federal
firefighters and provides incentives and benefits needed to
support and retain an effective Federal wildland firefighter
workforce.
Finally, I'd like to thank our witnesses from the
Administration for joining us in person today. I know there is
a lot moving with the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, implementation
of the Omnibus, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, so no
shortage of pressing issues for all of you to grapple with.
We very much appreciate you taking the time to visit with
us today. As you know, these investments are of the utmost
importance to the members of this Committee on both sides of
the aisle. We all have a vested interest in transparent,
effective, and efficient implementation of the law.
With that, I look forward to your testimony.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Neguse follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Hon. Joe Neguse, a Representative in Congress
from the State of Colorado
Thank you all for being here today for the Subcommittee on National
Parks, Forests, and Public Lands oversight hearing on implementation of
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
I'm happy to be back here in the Committee room today to host this
hybrid hearing on a topic I know merits a high level of interest from
members on both sides of the aisle, and is of particular importance to
the communities in my state.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a historic investment in our
country's infrastructure, which included billions for the Department of
the Interior and U.S. Forest Service to support natural infrastructure,
reduce wildfire risk, restore healthy ecosystems, and build safe,
resilient communities.
In my district in Colorado, communities from the Front Range to the
Continental Divide have been deeply impacted by unprecedented wildfires
in recent years, including the Marshall Fire in December 2021.
The reality we're living with throughout the West is that wildfires
are not just contained to a season, but burn year-round in larger areas
at higher intensity, and this is only projected to increase as a result
of climate change.
That is why, as Chair of this Subcommittee, I have prioritized
wildfire oversight and legislation, including hearings on Build Back
Better, natural disasters and climate change, Civilian Climate Corps,
public lands workforce, and, yes, even forest management.
For example, the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership
Act, which I was proud to introduce alongside Senator Bennet, was
included and funded in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
As with the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy,
and more recently, the Forest Service' 10-Year Wildfire Plan, the goal
is to promote more fire-adapted landscapes and reduce the vulnerability
of at-risk communities.
To that end, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law combines investments
in hazardous fuels, prescribed fire, and fuel breaks alongside programs
to reform the wildfire workforce and increase firefighter pay, improve
community wildfire defenses, and support more science-based monitoring
and ecosystem restoration.
The infrastructure law also funds wildfire response and pre-
planning workshops, burned area recovery, and significantly increases
funding available through the Reforestation Trust Fund.
Beyond Federal lands, the BIL includes critical investments to
enable an `all-lands' landscape-scale approach to wildfire
preparedness.
This multi-layered approach provides land management agencies with
a generational opportunity to demonstrate a paradigm shift away from
commercial management and emergency suppression, and toward fire
adaptation and ecosystem services.
In this regard, some of the primary implementation questions for
the Natural Resources Committee include: Evaluating adequacy of these
investments in the context of annual appropriations; measuring success
beyond board feet and acres treated; and assessing if additional
investments, workforce, or policy changes are needed.
While I recognize there is genuine bipartisan interest in these
issues, it's unfortunate that every current Republican Member of this
Committee voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Committee Republicans have consistently opposed bipartisan
investments and programs to address climate change, conservation,
wildfire, biodiversity, and workforce needs, including those germane to
today's hearing.
Fortunately, there is some good news on the workforce front: I
would like to thank the Biden administration and the witnesses here for
their efforts to ensure no Federal wildfire firefighter makes less than
$15 an hour, while working to address mental health needs and other
line-of-duty hazards.
I understand we can expect some clarity on the `wildland
firefighter' classification by May, and I hope we can continue to work
together on Tim's Act--my legislation that establishes a minimum wage
for Federal firefighters, and provides incentives and benefits needed
to support and retain an effective Federal wildland firefighter
workforce.
Lastly, I'd like to thank our witnesses from the Administration for
joining us in person today. I know there is a lot moving with the FY23
budget, implementation of FY22 Omnibus, the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law and we appreciate your time today.
As you know these investments are of the utmost importance to the
members of this Committee and we all have a vested interest in
transparent, effective, and efficient implementation of the law.
I look forward to your testimony.
______
Mr. Neguse. I will yield back the remainder of my time and
recognize Ranking Member Herrell for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. YVETTE HERRELL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
Ms. Herrell. Thank you, Mr. Speaker--sorry, I just gave you
a raise.
Mr. Neguse. No, thank you. I appreciate the promotion.
Ms. Herrell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today, we meet to
discuss the implementation of the wildfire ecosystem
restoration provisions contained in the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law. This marks the very first time that our
Committee will have a chance to meaningfully weigh in on this
effort, as the House was completely shut out of the regular
order process in crafting the so-called bipartisan law.
So, while we welcome the opportunity to provide oversight,
this hearing is, at best, a half a year late. And, frankly, the
apparent lack of anger from my friends on the other side of the
aisle of this dais who are equally barred from offering
meaningful input on an infrastructure package is baffling.
The items we are discussing today are of profound
importance for our nation as a whole and especially our Western
states that have experienced historical devastation from our
seemingly endless catastrophic wildfire crisis. My home state
of New Mexico has had over 2,700 fires burn over half a million
acres over the last 5 years.
And in the last 2 years, we had record-breaking wildfire
seasons that have burned a collective 17 million acres
nationwide. Our Western communities have grown painfully
accustomed to deadly and destructive blazes wreaking havoc year
after year.
The wildfire and ecosystem restoration provisions that we
are going to discuss today do little more than light money on
fire by throwing millions of dollars at the wildfire crisis
without pairing it with meaningful regulatory reform to ensure
our lands are actually managed properly. Decades of consistent
mismanagement have shown that it is not a lack of funding that
has prevented us from properly tackling our wildfire crisis but
rather onerous regulations and endless litigation from activist
environmentalist groups.
For instance, while the Forest Service's overall budget has
more than doubled since 2014, the amount of hazardous fuel
treatments have remained frustratingly stagnant, only
addressing roughly 2 percent of their needs annually. I am
concerned that the recently announced 10-year strategy to
combat the wildfire crisis will fall short because not only are
the tools not in place to implement this strategy, but the
Forest Service is also relying on only 5 years of funding to
execute a 10-year plan. This is especially concerning
considering yesterday's release of the Department of the
Interior's wildfire strategy, which is only 5 years. If given
the chance, Committee Republicans would have offered real
improvements to the infrastructure package to truly address the
foundational obstacles that have continuously bogged down
responsible management of our fire-prone forests. This includes
the Resilient Federal Forest Act which I am proudly co-
sponsoring.
I also introduced the Wildfire Prevention and Drought
Mitigation Act, which was included in that package. That would
protect drought-affected forest communities from catastrophic
wildfire by streamlining the environmental review process for
active forest management projects aimed at protecting
watersheds, wildlife habitat, snowpack, and improving water
quality. The Resilient Federal Forest Act also included
streamlining based on firesheds, which the new 10-year strategy
is based on. These substantive pieces of legislation would
unquestionably lead to better management of our forests and
better recovery from the devastation left in the wake of past
wildfires.
I do look forward to hearing from the Administration today,
and I want to thank the witnesses for being here. And while the
so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Law undeniably falls short
on truly unleashing the type of wildfire treatments and
restoration work necessary to respond to this historic crisis,
it is vital that we do everything we can to ensure that the
increased funding is being used as wisely as possible.
Ultimately, we must rise to the unprecedented threats
facing our Western lands, and any notion that the provisions
contained in the Infrastructure Law fully address the enormity
of these dangers must be rejected. As we speak, over 100
million acres of our Federal lands remain at high risk for
wildfire and over a billion acres are at risk nationwide.
Even if the Forest Service can fully achieve the increased
targets they have set, which is a big ``if,'' it would still
not fully tackle the backlog of treatments needed on our
Federal lands. We simply must do better. And with that, I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. Neguse. The gentlewoman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the Ranking Member of the Full
Committee, Mr. Westerman, for 5 minutes. I suspect we are going
to hear about Trillion Trees, but I am not sure. I am going to
wait and see.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. BRUCE WESTERMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARKANSAS
Mr. Westerman. No Trillion Trees today. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. We are going to talk about what we need to do with
the trees that we have before we talk about planting more of
them. And we are doing a miserable job with the trees that we
have.
But Mr. Chairman, I wanted to first express my gratitude
that today's hearing is a hybrid format. It gives us a chance
to meet in person to discuss the very important wildfire
crisis. And as you know, Committee Republicans have
consistently opposed the Majority's decision to conduct
Committee business virtually. And we welcome this return to the
hearing room. Good to see you in person and other Members
around the dais.
Mr. Chairman, you have rightly said that we need to take
wildfire mitigation and resiliency seriously. And I have been
saying that since I first came to Congress. Unfortunately, I
don't think we have taken it seriously yet. Hopefully, we can
keep working on that. And someday we will take it seriously,
and we will see the results of it. I do want to echo
Representative Herrell's concerns that the so-called Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law reflects yet another example of Congress
just throwing money at a problem, trying to put a Band-Aid on
the symptoms instead of actually getting to the root problem of
the problem and in blocking the scientifically supported forest
management that is so desperately needed. And with the wildfire
and ecosystem restoration projects in this infrastructure
package, it is sadly just the latest installment of increased
funds to a system that is clearly broken.
Just 4 years ago, Congress delivered the Fire Funding Fix,
which gave the Forest Service and DOI $2.25 billion of new
budget authority. We were promised that this was the primary
obstacle to increasing the pace and scale of forest management.
Yet, hazardous fuels treatments have remained stagnant. Like
Representative Herrell mentioned, the Forest Service's budget
has more than doubled, doubled, in 10 years, and yet that still
is not enough.
Maybe we should look at changing the name of the Forest
Service to the Fire Service. Even the forest testimony today
calls the $5.5 billion provided by the BIF a mere down payment
on the actual funding that is needed. If we were serious about
wildfire mitigation and resiliency and if the BIF was an
attempt to fix that, you would think we would have had at least
one hearing in the House about the so-called Bipartisan
Infrastructure Bill. The largest infrastructure spending in the
history of the world--and not only did it not go through this
Committee, it didn't go through the Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee. And the truth is that even as the
budgets have continued to climb for our land management
agencies, we are not seeing the type of paradigm shift that we
all know needs to happen if we are ever going to truly tackle
this historic crisis.
The primary culprits bogging down responsible management
and recovery of our overgrown fire-prone forests have been and
remain onerous regulatory burdens and the continued
weaponization of our courts by activist environmental groups
that litigate even the smallest management projects. I have
said many times before, and I will keep saying it over and
over, that the forest and nature could care less what we say in
this room. They could care less how much money the Federal
Government sends to an agency. They just keep growing, and the
fires keep burning.
And as long as we are talking and throwing money at it and
not addressing the root problem, that is what they are going to
do. We are to the point that we have been for quite some time
where we need a lot less talk or a little less talk and a lot
more action. That is the only thing that is going to fix this
wildfire crisis. Representative Herrell is correct in talking
about the bills that we have introduced on the Republican side,
the Resilient Federal Forest Act and other bills that look at
the real problems that our forest land managers face.
With all this money, I am waiting to see some actions. But
it is not going to happen with the environmentalists that come
in and stop the projects. Until they quit suing, until we quit
giving them the ability to hold up the management, there is no
amount of money and no number of staff that are going to be
able to fix the problem with our forests.
If people want to truly understand how bad our catastrophic
wildfire crisis has gotten, look no further than our giant
sequoias. Over a 15-month period from 2020 to 2021, we lost
nearly one-fifth of the world's giant sequoias. Let me say that
again. These iconic trees that are thousands of years old only
grow in about 37,000 acres in California, and we lost 20
percent of them in a short period of time.
And these trees are the most fire-resilient species,
probably, on the planet. Their bark is 2 feet thick at the
base. They used to get 31 fires per century. But we started
putting the fires out, and they only had three fires in the
20th century. And now the fires get in the crowns and wipe them
out. That is unacceptable.
And if we don't act, we are going to lose all of our giant
sequoias. They will grow back. We will have little spindly
giant sequoia seedlings growing out there. But these iconic
trees, we have to do something to fix that. I want to thank the
witnesses for being here today. I appreciate your patience in
letting me go over a little bit, and I yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The Ranking Member yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the distinguished Chairman of the
Full Committee, Mr. Grijalva, for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. RAUL M. GRIJALVA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you very much, Chairman Neguse and
Ranking Member, for having me on the Subcommittee today. And I
appreciate the Biden administration witnesses joining us as we
work to implement the priorities of the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law that is an important and historic investment
not only in the nation's infrastructure but in the natural
world and the systems most impacted by climate change.
And that is why I decided to vote for it. And like any
Member that voted for it, I didn't like everything in it. I
wasn't crazy about the process. And I know some of my
colleagues had legitimate concerns about passing it while so
much was still up in the air and off the table. But at the end
of the day, I voted to support it. And I did so because it was
a tremendous benefit to my constituents.
And, of course, with that, an acknowledgment that more has
to be done. We know that. But that is why this Committee has
spent considerable time and effort on a legislative and
oversight agenda that maybe, just maybe, will be enough to
begin to address our climate, jobs, justice and public lands
needs. That is why I also voted for the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law when I had a chance. Unfortunately, not a
single Republican on this Committee can say the same except, of
course, for the late Dean of the House from Alaska,
Representative Don Young, who, in all his wisdom, recognized
that it was an important historic vote and that it would
benefit directly his people in Alaska.
I expect we will hear the usual complaints that the bedrock
environmental laws or endangered species protections are the
real problem or outside environmental extremists who are
clogging up the courts day after day and not allowing anything
to be done. But we also know what is really deeply needed:
Federal leadership in support of the long-term investments,
working with states and other partners to make those
investments as fruitful as possible, and to meaningfully
address climate change, wildfire, and biodiversity.
That is what the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law does, and
that is what the Protecting America's Wilderness Act does, and
that is what we will continue to do by any means that are
available to us to promote that.
Without continued action on climate change, communities
that rely on forests and public lands for their clean water,
recreation, and wildlife habitat will continue to be at risk
from climate impacts like drought in my state and wildfires in
my state.
The record of the Natural Resources Committee, I think,
speaks for itself. The hearing today is about making sure the
Department of the Interior or the U.S. Forest Service are
transparent, accountable, and guided by science in implementing
what needs to be the historic down payment in our efforts to
address climate change, wildfire, restoration, reforestation
and the very critical workforce needs.
So, again, Mr. Chair, Ranking Member, thank you and the
witnesses, and I look forward to the testimony. I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Grijalva follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Hon. Raul M. Grijalva, Chair, Committee on
Natural Resources
Thank you Chair Neguse and Ranking Member for having me in the
Subcommittee today. I also appreciate the Biden administration
witnesses joining us as you work to implement priorities for the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Listen, I don't care what you call it, Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act, BIL, BIF, whatever--What matters is that Congress came
together to pass a historic investment in the future of our nation's
infrastructure, including the natural world and systems most impacted
by climate change.
That is why I decided to vote for it. I didn't like everything in
it. I didn't love the process. And I know some of my progressive
colleagues had legitimate concerns about passing it while so much else
was up in the air. But at the end of the day, I voted in support
because I decided that it what would benefit my constituents.
Of course, there is an acknowledgement that more needs to be done.
That is why this Committee has spent considerable time and effort on a
legislative and oversight agenda that maybe, just maybe, will be enough
to begin to address our climate, jobs, justice and public lands needs.
That is also why I voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law when
I had the chance. Unfortunately, not a single Republican on this
Committee can say the same. Except, of course, for the late Dean from
Alaska, Rep. Don Young, who in all his wisdom recognized an important
vote that would benefit the State of Alaska.
I expect we'll hear the usual complaints that bedrock environmental
laws or endangered species protections are the real problem. But we all
know that what is deeply needed: Federal leadership in support of long-
term investments, working with states and other partners, to
meaningfully address climate change, wildfire, and biodiversity.
That's what the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law does, that's what
Protecting America's Wilderness Act does, and that's what we'll
continue to do through any means available to us.
Without continued action on climate change, communities that rely
on forests and public lands for clean water, recreation, and wildlife
habitat will continue to be at risk from climate impacts like drought
and wildfires.
The record of Natural Resources Committee Democrats speaks for
itself.
This hearing today is about making sure the Department of the
Interior and the U.S. Forest Service are transparent, accountable, and
guided by science in implementing what needs to be a down payment in
our efforts to address climate change, wildfire, restoration,
reforestation, and workforce needs.
I'd like to again thank the Chair, Ranking Member, and witnesses, I
look forward to your testimony.
______
Mr. Neguse. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman yields
back. Now I'd like to turn to our witness panel. Let me remind
the witnesses that under Committee Rules, they must limit their
oral statements to 5 minutes but that their entire statement
will appear in the hearing record.
When you begin, the timer will begin. The lights in front
of you will turn yellow when there is 1 minute left and then
red when the time has expired. For any Members and witnesses
joining remotely, it will turn orange when you have 1 minute
remaining. And I recommend that you pin the timer so it remains
visible.
After your testimony is complete, please remember to mute
yourself on the microphone in front of you, and we will also
allow the entire panel to testify before we proceed with
questions. The Chair will now recognize our first witness, Mr.
Jeff Rupert, Director of the Office of Wildland Fire at the
U.S. Department of the Interior. Mr. Rupert, you are recognized
for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JEFF RUPERT, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WILDLAND FIRE,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Rupert. Chairman Neguse, Ranking Member Westerman, and
members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to
provide testimony on the Department of the Interior's
investments in wildfire management, ecosystem restoration, and
resilient communities. The investments made in the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law provide an unprecedented opportunity to
reduce the impacts of wildfire on ecosystems and communities as
well as modernizing our wildland fire workforce.
We appreciate the Subcommittee's commitment to these
outcomes and look forward to our continued work together.
Climate change continues to drive the devastating intersection
of extreme heat, drought, and wildland fire danger across the
United States, creating wildfires that move with the speed and
intensity previously unseen.
Climate change has created a continuous fire year for our
nation and American communities continue to bear the brunt of
the resulting cycle of intensifying droughts, wildfires, and
poor air quality. Funding provided by the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law supports the Department's efforts to
mitigate the impacts of these changes on wildland fire and
better safeguard people, communities, and resources.
Current drought conditions and the drought outlook for much
of the United States is very concerning. The NOAA Climate
Prediction Center's seasonal drought outlook shows continued
drought across nearly all of the West. And even in areas that
have seen above normal rainfall this past winter, we may expect
them to experience increased spring vegetation growth and then
fast-moving wildfires during a dry, hot summer.
The United States has over 1 billion burnable acres that
are at some level of risk from wildfire. More than 250 million
of those acres are at high or very high wildfire hazard
potential. And 7.1 million of those high/very high hazard acres
are administered by Interior. Funding provided in the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allows the Department to
dramatically increase our efforts to reduce wildfire risk,
improve community resiliency, and support post-fire recovery in
these areas.
The additional investment in ecosystem restoration
amplifies this support with efforts to restore ecological
health, providing millions for restoration projects and
supporting national revegetation efforts, including
implementation of the National Seed Strategy. Today, I am happy
to announce that yesterday, Interior released its 5-year
monitoring, maintenance, and treatment plan, as required by the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. DOI's plan provides a roadmap
for increasing the pace and scale of fuels management and
rehabilitation of lands damaged by wildfires with a focus on
fire-prone Interior and Tribal Nation lands. It directly aligns
with the USDA Forest Service 10-Year Wildfire Crisis Strategy
and identifies needed investments in science, technology, and
tools to inform and empower stakeholders to work
collaboratively.
Together, both blueprints facilitate a coordinated multi-
jurisdictional approach to reducing wildfire risk over broad
landscapes. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding also
enables the Department to accelerate plans initiated in Fiscal
Year 2021 to transform the firefighting workforce. Recent
challenging fire seasons have focused attention on the
increasing threat of wildfire to people, communities, and the
natural environment.
Yesterday's fire season is today's fire year. Shifting the
fire workforce toward a more permanent, full-time appointment
supports career growth, increases retention, and more
experienced and knowledgeable firefighters. In turn, this will
have a substantial long-lasting effect in support of a more
robust, sound management, decision making, and safety for
firefighters and the public.
The Department maintains strong relationships with states,
Tribal Nations, other Federal agencies, and local governments
and stakeholders. We remain committed to work in partnership to
address wildland fire management issues and manage wildfire
risk.
Our work with elected officials, tribes, and organizations,
such as the Western Governors' Association and National
Association of Counties, are key to implementing sound
principles and wildlife fire management before, during, and
after wildfires. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also
authorizes establishment of the Wildland Fire Mitigation
Management Commission announced in December 2021.
It will play a key role in recommending Federal policies
and strategies to more effectively prevent, mitigate, suppress,
and manage wildfires, including the rehabilitation of burned
areas. The Commission is in the process of reviewing
applications for membership from individuals with a broad
spectrum of knowledge and interest to address wildfire impacts
to our nation.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to
discuss these important investments and partnerships, ecosystem
restoration, and the well-being of our wildland firefighters.
This concludes my statement. I am happy to answer any
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Rupert follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jeffery Rupert, Director, Office of Wildland
Fire, U.S. Department of the Interior
Chairman Neguse, Ranking Member Fulcher, and Members of the
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the
Department of the Interior's (DOI) implementation of the investments in
the Wildland Fire Management Program contained in Public Law 117-58,
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also referred to as the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
President Biden signed the BIL on November 15, 2021, making a once-
in-a-generation investment in the Nation's infrastructure and economic
competitiveness. This landmark investment will help rebuild America's
critical infrastructure, tackle the climate crisis, advance
environmental justice, and drive the creation of good-paying jobs. By
addressing long overdue improvements and strengthening our resilience
to the changing climate, this investment in our communities across the
country will grow the economy sustainably and equitably so everyone
gets ahead for decades to come.
The Biden-Harris Administration's strong commitment to supporting
the wildland firefighting workforce, coupled with the provisions in the
BIL, represent an historic investment in Federal wildland fire
management efforts, and DOI's Wildland Fire Management Program. The BIL
provides significant investments in wildfire mitigation work and post-
fire rehabilitation efforts that will be integral to the restoration of
ecosystems and important landscape services like reliable and clean
water supplies, clean air, biodiversity and productivity, healthy
native species habitat, and recreation opportunities.
We appreciate the Committee's interest in the Department's plans
and priorities for implementing the BIL.
Drought
Current drought conditions and drought outlooks for much of the
United States looks very concerning for communities and virtually every
resource dependent on water or precipitation. The U.S. Drought Monitor
shows some slight improvement in parts of the Eastern U.S., but
moderate degradation across many areas of the West. The NOAA Climate
Prediction Center U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook (March 17, 2022) shows
continuation of drought across nearly all the West, except for the
coastal Pacific Northwest and a part of the Northern Rocky Mountains.
Seasonal outlooks from the Center show that warmer than normal
temperatures are also likely for a good part of the West.
Wildland vegetation has not yet recovered from a long-term drought
across much of the West, where we expect to see increased drought
stress and mortality in shrubs and trees. One concern is that parts of
the West that had seen above normal rainfall for part of the past
winter, might see germination and growth of grasses that stop growing
into late spring and summer, and become fuel to spread fast moving
wildfires.
Climate Change
Drought conditions and other climate influences on wildfire that we
have seen in recent years are consistent with scientific descriptions
of climate change, including from the U.S. Global Change Research
Program and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN). For
example, we have seen more intense precipitation for shorter periods of
the winter, longer and warmer growing seasons accompanied by drought,
and earlier snowmelt in higher elevations. We are beginning to see
changes in vegetation itself, driven by drought and insect infestations
and in some instances, shorter periods of time between high severity
wildfires. These factors have contributed to increasingly devastating,
intense, and historic fire seasons in recent years.
In the near term, wildfires near communities, watersheds, critical
resources, and infrastructure are of greatest concern with climate-
induced wildfire changes, including elevated risk to human health and
the environment from unmanaged smoke. However, over the longer term,
wildfires that change vegetation types, and wildfires burning in peat
lands and tundra, may have longer lasting effects that ultimately
contribute to further warming, compounded wildfire risk and greater
carbon emissions.
Climate change is creating longer fire seasons and American
communities continue to bear the brunt of the resulting cycle of
intensifying droughts, wildfires, poor air quality, and flooding.
Wildfires can undercut the many benefits and services we receive from
lands managed by DOI, including those held in trust for Tribal nations,
such as foraging, hunting and fishing, clean water, clean air,
wildlife, recreational opportunities, and cultural resources.
Additionally, wildfires threaten drinking water and cause billions of
dollars in damages to homes and infrastructure.
Managing wildfire risk is key to the protection and stewardship of
these federal lands and honors our trust responsibilities and special
commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated Island
Communities. Addressing this challenge will require us to focus the
significant investment of resources, to scalable risk reduction
strategies informed by the best available science around changing
climate conditions and shifting demographics. As we all know, wildfire
knows no boundaries and solutions will require collaboration and
cooperation. The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy's
goals of creating resilient landscapes, promoting fire-adapted
communities, and ensuring a safe and effective wildfire response,
culminates in the vision of a Nation able to live with wildland fire.
The United States has over one billion acres at some level of risk
from wildfire. More than 250 million of those acres are at high or
very-high hazard potential, and 7.1 million acres of lands administered
by DOI are identified as having a very-high or high likelihood of
exposure to wildfires. To address this, the Department is putting
people first by working with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to recognize the efforts of
our Federal wildland firefighters who respond to ignitions, implement
fuels treatments to reduce the risk from wildfires before they start,
and administer post-fire rehabilitation efforts to reduce further
damage from severe wildfire events and set these landscapes back on the
path to recovery.
As part of this effort, with support from the BIL, the Department
in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service, Tribal Nations, and
other Federal and non-Federal partners, will increase fuels treatment
accomplishments that reduce risk to adjacent communities and
watersheds, and that align with the Department's Fuels Management
program objectives:
Integration with Resource and Land Management activities.
Stewardship-Based projects with shared stewardship values
and joint, mutually agreed upon priorities coordinated with
partners and stakeholders.
Geographic Landscape-Based projects that contribute to a
broad-scale strategy to achieve mutually agreed upon
management goals and objectives that are coordinated
locally.
Outcome Based projects that protect, maintain, and improve
resiliency to wildfire; mitigate significant wildfire risk
to Department and Tribal values; protect, maintain, or
improve resiliency to wildfire; and meet bureaus' statutory
obligations for wildland fire management responsibilities.
Over the past decade, the Department has invested more than $2
billion in pre- and post-hazardous fuels management treatments to
protect communities and ecosystems. Maintaining this investment in
areas where the Department has successfully reduced wildfire risk is an
important component of the Department's long-term success. As the
Department completes treatments in new areas we will continue to
protect and maintain these investments in pre-wildfire risk reduction,
post-fire hazard mitigation, and ecosystem restoration.
Ecosystem Restoration & BIL Overview
Under the BIL, the Department will dramatically expand its efforts
to reduce wildfire risk, improve community resiliency to wildfire,
prepare for and respond to harmful wildfires, and support post-fire
recovery, including in communities that have traditionally been
overlooked.
The BIL provides more than $5 billion to both DOI and the USDA
Forest Service Wildland Fire Management programs over the next five
years for coordinated efforts for managing wildfire risk. Of that
amount, nearly $1.5 billion is provided to DOI, including:
$255 million to support science, technology, training, and
workforce reforms including increased pay and mental health
and safety programs for firefighters.
$325 million to support recovery after a fire. These
actions will help mitigate the damaging effects of
wildfires and set landscapes on a path toward natural
recovery and climate resilience.
$878 million to manage fuels and mitigate wildfire risk
before a wildfire occurs. This work will protect vulnerable
communities from wildfire while preparing our natural
landscapes for a changing climate.
The BIL also provides the Department $905 million for ecosystem
restoration. These resources will be targeted to projects nationally to
build climate resilience, restore and connect core habitats as well as
build partnerships and leverage strategic conservation plans. The
ecosystem restoration funds include several areas where we are
coordinating internally and with the Department of Agriculture across
Wildland Fire Management and Ecosystem Restoration programs and see
opportunities to amplify our efforts such as $70 million to Interior to
support a national revegetation effort including implementation of the
National Seed Strategy.
The BIL also provides $50 million to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for sagebrush ecosystem conservation. Priority investments for
those resources include complimentary efforts of protecting sagebrush
habitat against the spread of the invasive annual grasses and the
destructive wildfires they fuel as well as restoring mesic (wet)
habitats to combat the effects of extreme drought.
Overall, this funding will directly create private sector, state,
Tribal, and local jobs in forestry, rangelands, land and water
management and related industries. This includes opportunities to
supply materials and carry out restoration work, conduct science, as
well as generate economic ripple effects as those new hires spend their
money in the local economy. Restored, fire-resilient ecosystems will
also create jobs in the tourism, outdoor recreation, and commercial
fishing sectors, as well as the many other sectors that depend on
plants, animals, and healthy landscapes.
Workforce Reform
In coordination with the Department of Agriculture and the Office
of Personnel Management, the Department is developing a new wildland
firefighter classification series and pay and compensation reforms. The
goals of this reform include:
Advancing the President's commitment to ensuring that
wildland firefighters receive a livable wage and pay that
is commensurate with the arduous work that they perform.
DOI in coordination with the Forest Service is taking steps
again this year to pay firefighters no less than $15/hour.
Additionally, both agencies are working with the Office of
Personnel Management to develop a wildland firefighter
occupational series and increase base pay, as directed by
BIL. The agencies are also exploring a long-term solution
to increase future compensation to better support the
contemporary wildland firefighter workforce. Continuing to
convert temporary wildland firefighters and support
positions to permanent, full-time positions available year-
round for fire response and risk mitigation activities. The
Department and the U.S. Forest Service began conversions in
FY 2021 and will continue converting wildland firefighters
with the support provided in BIL.
The Department's Wildland Fire Management Program is
coordinating with the U.S. Forest Service to establish
programs and capacity to recognize and address mental
health needs of firefighters and ensure access to
appropriate resources. The Department is immediately
focused on further defining firefighter mental health needs
and identifying evidence based primary prevention and early
intervention strategies. Next, adequate Critical Incident
Stress Management response capacity will be established in
every bureau. Additional responder-tailored mental health
support services that will be prioritized and made
available through interagency national contract or
contracts.
Partnerships
The Department has established and maintains strong relationships
with states, Tribal Nations, local governments, other Federal agencies,
and stakeholders. Together, we continue to work in partnership to
address wildland fire management issues and manage wildfire risk. Our
work with elected officials, tribes, and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) such as the Western Governors Association and the National
Association of Counties are key to implementing sound principles of
wildland fire management and prioritizing post-fire restoration needs
across landscapes.
The Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) remains a vital partner
and a key player in the implementation of BIL. Through WFLC, the
Department is continuing work with the Environmental Protection Agency,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Forest
Service to assess the impacts of smoke on air quality and public health
from wildfires and prescribed fires to inform future land management
and wildland fire management strategies. BIL funding provides an
opportunity to expand this innovation and implement additional smoke
exposure mitigation activities. The Department continues to partner
with WFLC to better coordinate management activities across boundaries
and jurisdictions to implement the Cohesive Strategy and support its
member agencies and organizations to better address the challenges and
needs of underserved communities.
Approximately 6.5 million acres of land managed by the Department
are adjacent or near Tribal land. The proximity and interconnectedness
necessitate close communication and collaboration on wildland fire
management. We have solidified our relationship with tribes by
establishing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Intertribal Timber
Council (ITC). The ITC is a non-profit consortium of 54 member Tribes.
All are dedicated to improving the oversight and management of
resources of interest to Native American communities. Under the
memorandum, the Department and ITC commit to work collaboratively on
reducing wildland fire risk and mitigating post-wildfire impacts.
Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission
In December 2021, USDA, DOI, and the Department of Homeland
Security through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
announced the establishment of a Wildland Fire Mitigation and
Management Commission. Authorized under the BIL, the Commission will
play a key role in recommending federal policies and strategies to more
effectively prevent, mitigate, suppress, and manage wildland fires,
including the rehabilitation of affected lands.
The commission is reviewing applications for membership from
volunteers from diverse backgrounds, with a specific focus on members
who represent non-federal interests as required by the BIL. Membership
will include state, local, Tribal, territory, and non-government
partners with experience in preventing, mitigating, and managing
wildland fires and the wildland-urban interface.
Conclusion
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss
these important investments in partnerships, ecosystem restoration, and
the mental health and well-being of our wildland fire professionals.
These investments are integral in supporting the Department's efforts
to meaningfully address wildfire risk and respond to the complexities
of longer and more intense wildfire seasons.
This concludes my written statement. I am happy to answer any
questions.
______
Questions Submitted for the Record to Jeff Rupert, Director, Office of
Wildland Fire, Department of the Interior
Questions Submitted by Representative Porter
Question 1. How much money did DOI spend on reimbursement to state
and local authorities for firefighting resources through
intergovernmental agreements or other mechanisms during FY22? What does
DOI project to spend in FY23? Please provide information disaggregated
by State and Region.
Answer. The Department of the Interior (Department) spent $90.5
million on reimbursements to state and local authorities for
firefighting resources in fiscal year (FY) 2021 and $13.5 million
through the first two quarters of FY 2022. These amounts include direct
reimbursements to state and local governments from the Department's
Wildland Fire Management program. Intergovernmental agreements with
other Federal agencies, Tribal Nations, state and local governments,
and private partners improve the interoperability and efficiency of
wildfire response by facilitating the coordination and exchange of
resources.
Approximately 7.1 million acres of land administered by the
Department and Tribal Nations are identified as having a very high or
high likelihood of exposure to wildfires. (See, www.fs.usda.gov/nnrs/
projects/firesheds-and-fireshed-registry). Additionally, climate change
is contributing to more frequent and severe wildfire activity. FY 2023
reimbursement spending will be heavily influenced by fire activity over
the next several months and is thus inherently unpredictable.
Please refer to Attachment 1 for total reimbursements to state and
local authorities for FY 2021 and for the first two quarters for FY
2022 disaggregated by state and region (Geographic Area). The National
Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC), located at the National
Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, has divided the United States
and Alaska into ten Geographic Areas for the purpose of incident
management and mobilization of resources (people, aircraft, and ground
equipment). These Geographic Areas facilitate efficient fire management
activities to ensure efficient operational wildfire response and cost-
effective sharing of resources.
Question 2. How much money did DOI spend contracting for
firefighting resources during FY22? How much does DOI project to spend
in FY23? Please provide information disaggregated by State and Region.
Answer. The Department spent a total of $166 million on contracting
for firefighting resources in FY 2021 and $102.6 million through the
first two quarters of FY 2022. These amounts include direct contracting
costs from the Department's Wildland Fire Management program. As
discussed above, given the very high or high likelihood of Department
and Tribal Nation lands exposure to wildfire and the impacts from
climate change, the Department generally anticipates that the total
contracting costs for firefighter resources for FY 2022 and for FY 2023
will be in general alignment with total contracting costs for
firefighting resources that were incurred in FY 2021.
Please refer to Attachment 2 for the total contracting costs for
firefighting resources for FY 2021 and for the first two quarters for
FY 2022 disaggregated by state and region (Geographic Area). The
National Geographic Area Coordinating Group, located at the National
Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, has divided the United States
and Alaska into ten Geographic Areas for the purpose of incident
management and mobilization of resources (people, aircraft, and ground
equipment). These Geographic Areas facilitate efficient fire management
activities to ensure efficient operational wildfire response and cost-
effective sharing of resources among public agencies and Tribes.
Question 3. DOI's Wildland Fire Management Initial Spend Plan
states that ``Beginning October 1, 2021 (no deadline for completion set
in the law): DOI and USDA Forest Service will:
Seek to convert not fewer than 1,000 seasonal wildland
firefighting positions to permanent year-round positions
that are full time and reduce hazardous fuels on Federal
land not fewer than 900 hours per year (each position);
Increase the salary of wildland firefighters by an amount
equal to the lesser of $20,000 or 50 percent of base salary
if the DOI and USDA Secretaries and the OPM Director
determine that a position is in a geographic area where it
is difficult to recruit or retain Federal wildland
firefighters.''
(3a). How many seasonal employees have DOI and USDA Forest Service,
respectively, converted to permanent year-round positions since the
enactment of IIJA?
Answer. To date, the Department had completed approximately 90
percent of the conversions with the funding that was appropriated in FY
2021 to begin its wildland firefighter workforce transformation. This
equates to a total of 498 of 568 total targeted positions for
conversion. The majority of the salaries and expenses funding
authorized in Section 40803(c)(2) of IIJA is being used to implement
the supplemental pay increases in FY's 2022 and 2023. The FY 2023
President's Budget requests additional funding to bolster firefighter
pay, convert more firefighters to permanent positions, and increase the
number of wildland fire management personnel.
(3b). How are DOI and USDA determining geographic areas for the
purposes of increasing the salaries of Wildland Firefighters? What are
the average salary increase for wildland firefighters since the
enactment of the IIJA, by GS level and geographic area?
Answer. The Department and the USDA Forest Service are committed to
providing a fair and livable wage to federal employees, and have
ensured that no firefighter makes less than $15 an hour, consistent
with President Biden's direction last year. DOI has worked closely with
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to coordinate the temporary
supplemental pay increase included in the IIJA to ensure implementation
of the law as intended and in alignment with Federal personnel
standards and guidelines. This includes an analysis comparing federal,
state, municipal, and private firefighter wages to help determine
recruitment and retention difficulty across geographic areas, as well
as assessing DOI staff across GACCs to determine the appropriate
increases in firefighter base salaries. Based on this analysis, it was
determined that it is difficult to recruit and retain wildland
firefighters in every geographic area. Please refer to Attachment 3 for
information regarding the average salary increase in pay for wildland
firefighters by GS level and geographic area.
Question 4. DOI's Wildland Fire Management Initial Spend Plan
states that ``DOI and USDA Forest Service are coordinating with OPM on
an analysis to propose a special rate request for firefighters?''
(4a). Is this analysis complete? If so, please provide the
Subcommittee with a copy. If not, when will it be completed?
Answer. President Biden recently announced the temporary
supplemental pay increases for wildland firefighters that are
authorized by IIJA. The Administration is continuing to assess long-
term firefighter workforce reforms, including a potential special
salary rate with OPM, and looks forward to working with Congress on
these important investments as they continue to evolve.
(4b). What specific criteria is/was DOI and USDA Forest Service
using to determine whether to make a special rate request to OPM for
wildland firefighters?
Answer. The Administration remains to committed to a long-term
solution to addressing firefighter pay. As discussed above, the
Department is working with its Federal partners to develop potential
long-term reforms. As part of this effort, we are assessing data in
consideration of a potential special salary rate request for wildland
firefighters. This includes criteria such as agencies' current staffing
status; cross-sector salary cost comparisons; recruitment and retention
challenges; assessment of the broader labor market; interaction with
other pay flexibilities or other non-pay solutions; and estimates of
the full staffing costs.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Neguse. Thank you, Mr. Rupert.
The Chair now recognizes Ms. Jaelith Hall-Rivera, a Deputy
Chief of State and Private Forestry at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. Ms. Hall-Rivera, you have 5
minutes.
STATEMENT OF JAELITH HALL-RIVERA, DEPUTY CHIEF, STATE AND
PRIVATE FORESTRY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST
SERVICE, WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Great. Thank you so much Chairman Neguse,
Ranking Member Herrell, and members of this Subcommittee. Thank
you for the invitation to testify before you today. I deeply
appreciate Congress' passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law, or BIL, which provides a significant down payment on the
work the Forest Service intends to accomplish under the 10-year
strategy to confront the wildfire crisis.
The Agency recognizes that the American people depend on
the nation's forests and grasslands for their social, economic,
and personal well-being. All the benefits that the nation's
forests provide are at risk, as nearly a quarter of the
contiguous United States is currently in a high to moderate
wildfire condition.
Over the last two decades, we have witnessed what has
become a now familiar pattern--bigger and more destructive
wildfires that are extremely challenging and costly to
suppress. We have experienced catastrophic fire seasons in the
last 2 years alone, devastating communities and destroying
resources in their wake. They threaten human health, water
quality, homes, jobs, local economies, communities, and
infrastructure. They also threaten key ecological values,
including carbon storage, species habitat, soil stability, and
watershed functions, in some cases, even resulting in long-term
deforestation.
We are experiencing and are prepared for another long and
arduous fire year in 2022. In fact, as we know, there was
already significant fire activity occurring in the South, and
we went nationally to preparedness Level 2 last week. Much of
the West remains in drought. A high level of hazardous fuels
across the landscape and the expanding wildland urban interface
indicate we will face an extremely challenging fire year.
Our priority, first and foremost, is to protect the health,
safety, and well-being of the fire management community and the
public we serve. The BIL supports the Forest Service's efforts
to confront this crisis by investing in hazardous fuels
reduction, fire risk mitigation across boundaries,
technological advancements, and firefighter compensation.
We are currently working on sending this money out to the
field to begin work in high-priority landscapes to reduce
wildfire risk to communities and watersheds. The over a billion
dollars in funding targeted toward hazardous fuels reduction in
Section 40803 of the BIL will allow us to begin implementing
the 10-Year Wildfire Crisis Strategy. This funding also helps
us to build new markets by providing financial assistance to
facilities that purchase and process byproducts for ecosystem
restoration projects from the $400 million that was authorized
under Section 40804 of the law.
The Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program will provide
financial assistance using the billion dollars under Section
40803(f) to be focused on at-risk communities to help them
develop community wildfire protection plans and to implement
those prevention and mitigation activities that are outlined in
those plans.
Hiring and retaining firefighters in increasingly long and
complex fire years is a challenge that we all take seriously.
Section 40803(d) of the BIL calls for the classification of the
new and unique wildland firefighter series, provides funding
for short-term salary increases, provides the ability for us
and the Department of the Interior to convert a thousand
seasonal firefighters into permanent fire managers and provides
us the ability to increase investments in programs that focus
on mental health, resilience, and well-being.
USDA, in collaboration with its partners at Interior and
the Office of Personnel Management, is working to implement
these classification, pay, and staffing conversion provisions.
The Infrastructure Law was a significant step in the right
direction in terms of wildland firefighter compensation. And,
once again, I thank you for your work on that. But we need to
continue to work together to find a permanent solution to
increasing our wildland firefighters' pay and making other
system changes that ensure that we can continue to support our
firefighters and ensure that this is a career that others will
pursue in the future.
The Infrastructure Bill also made investments in wildfire
detection through sensors, cameras, and satellite platforms.
The Forest Service has strong partnerships with NOAA, NASA, and
the Department of Defense to continue using the best remote
technology to detect and access wildfires on the landscape.
Once again, I thank you for your investments and your interest
in wildfire management, ecosystem restoration, and resilient
communities. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I
look forward to answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Hall-Rivera follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jaelith Hall-Rivera, Deputy Chief for State &
Private Forestry, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service
and
Brian Ferebee, Chief Executive of Intergovernmental Relations
Thank you for inviting us to testify about the Forest Service's
implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). We deeply
appreciate Congress's passage of the BIL, which provides a significant
down payment on the work we intend to accomplish under the 10-year
Strategy to Confront the Wildfire Crisis. Of the $5.5 billion in
funding provided by the BIL for the Forest Service, about $3 billion
will be invested over five years to reduce the risk of wildland fire to
communities and restore ecosystems.
Value of Forests to People
Since before America's founding, the health and productivity of the
continent's lands and waters supported an abundance of human life and
activity. Native peoples built some of the most enduring and advanced
civilizations on Earth and are the original caretakers of all the
beautiful lands across our nation. Traditional Ecological Knowledge
continues to be at the heart of sustainable agriculture,
environmentally sound fire management, and good land stewardship
practices.
Today, people continue to depend on the nation's forests and
grasslands for their social, economic, and personal well-being.
National forests and grasslands are critical for climate resilience,
providing benefits that include carbon storage, habitat and
connectivity for wildlife, and clean air and water. For example,
nationwide, more than 60 million people living in 3,400 communities
across 36 states depend on the national forests and grasslands for
their drinking water.
Americans also rely on their national forests and grasslands for
outdoor recreation, cultural and spiritual connections, and respite.
The benefits include physical exercise and all the mental and other
health improvements that come with it. In 2020, the National Forest
System had 168 million visitors, equivalent to more than 50% of the
United States population. For local communities, this is where they
live and gather. Outdoor activities and scenery give communities a
sense of identity and place, adding to their quality of life.
The National Forest System is also a tremendous source of jobs and
economic opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Americans. In 2020,
the National Forest System (NFS) supported more than 370,000 jobs and
contributed more than $35 billion to our nation's Gross Domestic
Product (GDP). In 2020, 66 percent of the NFS GDP contribution ($23.3
billion) was associated with direct use of forest and grassland
resources, including hunting, fishing, and other forms of outdoor
recreation, livestock grazing, energy and mineral development, and
forest products. Of this, recreation visitor use supported about
168,300 jobs and contributed $13.5 billion. In addition, 31 percent of
the GDP contribution ($10.9 billion) was tied to resource management
investments, such as construction and maintenance of infrastructure,
firefighting, ecosystem restoration, research and development, fuels
treatments, and Job Corps. Finally, 3 percent of the GDP contribution
($872 million) was derived from payments to states and counties to
support schools, roads, and other government services.
All this and more are at risk on forests and grasslands nationwide.
The Risks to Forests
Nearly a quarter of the contiguous U.S. is currently in a high to
moderate wildfire condition. Over the last two decades, we have
witnessed what has become a now familiar pattern: bigger and more
destructive wildfires that are extremely challenging and costly to
suppress due to over 100 years of fire suppression, climate change, and
expanding Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). We have experienced back-to-
back catastrophic fire seasons in the last two years, devastating
communities and destroying resources in their wake. Big destructive
wildfires threaten human health, water quality, homes, jobs, local
economies, communities, and infrastructure. They also threaten key
ecological values, including carbon storage, species habitat, soil
stability, and watershed function; and in some cases, even result in
long-term deforestation.
Conditions are only expected to worsen as the climate continues to
change, and development in the WUI continues unabated. Vast areas of
the West and across the country are at risk from huge wildfires that
can quickly spread 10 to 30 square miles or more, burning through
multiple landownerships, forest types, and communities.
This growing wildfire crisis created the need for a new land
management strategy--one designed to support strategic management and
restoration of millions of acres of land in high-risk areas to protect
forest health, ecosystem and watershed function, and human
infrastructure. The need for increased pace and scale of restoration
necessitates a holistic response in partnership with the Department of
the Interior (DOI) and other Federal agencies, State and Tribal
governments, communities, industries, organizations, and private
landowners.
This collaborative response needs to be a paradigm shift from
small-scale, independently managed treatments to strategic, science-
based landscape-scale treatments that cross boundaries and meet the
scale of the problem, starting initially with those places critically
at risk. It also needs to be paired with thoughtful reforms to address
growth into the WUI and the growing climate crisis.
The Wildfire Crisis Strategy
Our 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy would increase science-based
fuels treatments by up to four times previous treatment levels,
especially in those areas most at risk. Fuels treatments by the Forest
Service together with partners have made a difference over the years.
But the scale of treatments has been outmatched by the rapid increase
in the scale and severity of wildfires as climate change accelerates.
This strategy calls for treating up to 20 million additional acres
of National Forest System lands over the coming decade, and working
with partners, including colleagues at the Department of the Interior,
to treat up to 30 million additional acres on adjoining lands of
multiple landownerships, while building a long-term maintenance plan.
The intent for these treatments is to reduce the trajectory of wildfire
risk to people, municipal water sources, communities, and natural
resources, and restore fire-adapted landscapes so they are more
resilient.
Active management rooted in sound science and ecological principles
will remain a key tool in this work. We are using every tool and
authority we have to protect and improve the health of America's
forests. The tools we have include, but are not limited to, prescribed
fire, mechanical thinning, targeted grazing, Good Neighbor Authority
agreements, Tribal Forest Protection Act agreements, and stewardship
contracts.
It will be imperative to use fire itself for fuel and forest
management in our western landscapes because many of those ecosystems
evolved with fire. Fire is an essential and highly effective fuel
treatment to reduce wildfire risk and can have ecological benefits for
many western forest types.
Connecting landscape risk reduction and resilience with community
risk reduction and resilience at the necessary scale is a critical part
of the paradigm shift. Our tools for these connections include
community fire prevention programs, community wildfire protection plans
(CWPP), and Firewise practices for homes and communities to reduce the
risk of catastrophic wildfire.
I want to stress that the additional acres treated under the 10-
year strategy will be over and above regular appropriations. That means
the work that we have historically accomplished--in timber production,
recreation, mining, wildlife habitat management, and more--will
continue. We look forward to working with Congress on the President's
Fiscal Year 2023 budget and beyond to ensure sufficient resources are
in place to deliver on the 10-year strategy.
BIL and the Wildfire Crisis Strategy
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a down payment to begin
the critical work outlined in our 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy. To
achieve the collective impact that our forests and communities need, we
must build a coalition to work across land management jurisdictions,
leverage diverse capacities, and build broad public and community
support for the work at the scale necessary to make a difference. This
includes work across Federal, Tribal, State, local, and private lands.
Partnerships, including those beyond existing contracts and agreements,
will help identify barriers to success and ways to overcome them.
Hazardous Fuels Reduction
The Forest Service has worked closely with the regions to identify
projects within high risk fireshed landscapes designed to reduce
wildfire risk to communities and watersheds. The funding of these
projects, using the over $1.6 billion in the BIL, will allow us to
begin implementing the 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The Forest
Service is also leveraging this moment to increase funding
opportunities to work with Tribal partners, young adult, Native youth,
and veteran crews to treat hazardous fuels in firesheds on federal
lands.
The Forest Service is prioritizing investments of the $400 million
authorized under Section 40804 of the BIL to provide financial
assistance to facilities that purchase and process byproducts from
ecosystem restoration projects and the $12 million from Division J of
the BIL that support wood innovations and community wood proposals in
priority fireshed landscapes. The Forest Service will also explore
options to establish innovative new approaches for delivering financial
assistance to forest products facilities via existing authorities.
Section 40804 of the BIL provides $160 million to provide funds to
States and Tribes for implementing restoration projects on federal
lands through the Good Neighbor Authority.
Section 40808 of the BIL codifies the Joint Chiefs Landscape
Restoration Partnership Program, including criteria for evaluation of
proposals, and authorizes the appropriation of $90 million for each of
fiscal years 2022 and 2023, with not less than 40 percent allocated to
carry out eligible activities through the National Resource
Conservation Service (NRCS) and not less than 40 percent allocated to
carry out eligible activities through the Forest Service. The Joint
Chiefs program reduces wildfire threats to communities and landowners,
protects water quality and supply, and improves wildlife habitat for
at-risk species. The Joint Chiefs program also leverages technical and
financial assistance to increase the pace and scale of restoration
efforts across all lands. This multi-year partnership between the
Forest Service and the NRCS has been in place since fiscal year 2014
and has provided $335 million in funding for 110 projects.
Section 40806 of the BIL provides the Forest Service with new
National Environmental Policy Act authorities, including a new
Categorical Exclusion for linear fuel breaks. The Forest Service has
prepared guidance to assist Forests and Regions in applying the new
Categorical Exclusion and it is available for use currently. We will
update Forest Service NEPA directives to include the categorical
exclusion in the future.
Cooperative Fire Risk Mitigation
The Forest Service is working with the National Association of
State Foresters, Intertribal Timber Council, and other partners to
implement the Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program
authorized in Section 40803(f) of the BIL and funded with $1 billion to
be spent over a five-year period. The CWDG program will provide
financial assistance to ``at-risk'' communities to develop CWPPs and to
implement prevention and mitigation activities described within CWPPs
which will reduce wildfire risk. Communities that have a high or very
high risk of wildfire, are considered low-income, or have been impacted
by a severe disaster will all be given priority in the consideration
process for grants.
Division J of the BIL appropriates not less than $88 million
additional funds for State Fire Assistance (SFA) and $20 million for
Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) to be spent over a five-year period.
The additional SFA grant funding will assist State forestry agencies to
improve the capacity State forestry agencies to assist communities with
wildfire mitigation efforts and to increase local capacity to respond
to and suppress wildfires. The additional VFA funding will assist rural
volunteer fire departments to make initial attack response on wildfires
while they are small and easier to suppress.
BIL and Post Fire Recovery
Sections 70301-70303 of the BIL, the REPLANT Act, gives us a
historic opportunity to address the reforestation backlog needs from
wildfires and other disturbances. This provision removes the $30
million annual cap on the Reforestation Trust Fund, giving the Forest
Service more resources for post-fire reforestation. With the REPLANT
Act, we anticipate spending between $140 to $260 million per year for
reforestation and related work. This will enable us to ramp up
reforestation treatments to almost 500,000 acres/year, including
200,000 acres of planting--a more than 300% increase. The Forest
Service is developing policy to implement this program using existing
programmatic structures. Reforestation provides one of the main tools
for national forests to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate
change. By reforesting in the right place, at the right time, with the
right trees, we foster development of future resilient forests, and the
ecosystem benefits they provide for us and future generations.
Section 40803 of the BIL provides $100 million to the Forest
Service for burned area rehabilitation activities that must be
implemented within 3 years of containment of a wildland fire. Division
J includes $45 million each of fiscal years 2022-2026 for post-fire
recovery as well. These funds are being focused on the repair or
improvement of lands unlikely to recover naturally to a management-
approved condition and to repair and replace minor infrastructure and
facilities damaged by the fire.
Section 40804 of the BIL also provides funding for revegetation
activities which will involve interagency collaboration and
coordination in support of the National Seed Strategy.
Section 40807 of the BIL authorizes emergency determinations that
allow for proactive or post-event emergency actions to address
underlying emergency conditions. The authority can be used for single
event responses or be applied to larger landscapes as conditions
warrant. Procedures and guidance for applying the emergency
determination authority are being developed.
Division J of the BIL appropriates $300 million in additional
funding for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program to repair
damages to the waterways and watersheds resulting from natural
disasters. The Forest Service is currently working with NRCS to develop
an MOU to guide the process of using these funds to implement projects
on NFS lands.
BIL and Wildland Firefighter Compensation
Hiring and retaining firefighters in increasingly long and complex
fire years is a challenge that we take seriously. The BIL provides
targeted funds that enable the Forest Service to make significant
investments in a stable, professional, permanent wildland firefighting
workforce, and in programs that focus on mental health, resilience, and
well-being. Section 40803(d) of the BIL calls for the classification of
a wildland firefighter series, provides for possible pay increases for
wildland firefighters, and for the Forest Service and the Department of
the Interior to convert 1,000 seasonal firefighters into permanent fire
managers. USDA, in collaboration with its partners at DOI and the
Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is working to implement the BIL
classification, pay, and staffing conversion provisions.
To implement Section 40803(d)(4)(B), we are coordinating with DOI
and OPM to provide the Secretaries with analyses of ``specified
geographic areas in which it is difficult to recruit or retain a
Federal wildland firefighter'' as outlined in the BIL.
The funds allocated in the BIL are a first step in appropriately
compensating our federal wildland firefighters. We are looking beyond
the BIL to develop longer-term proposals to permanently revise wildland
firefighter pay.
BIL and Technology Investments in Wildland Fire
Section 40803 of the BIL establishes $10 million for the Forest
Service and DOI to spend on the Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES) Program to rapidly detect and report wildfire starts;
$30 million for USDA grants to States and local governments to
establish and operate Reverse-911 telecommunication systems; and $10
million shared between Forest Service and DOI for the procurement and
placement of wildfire detection and real-time monitoring equipment,
such as sensors, cameras, and other relevant equipment, in areas at
risk of wildfire or post-burned areas.
On March 9, 2022, the initial kickoff for the ground-based cameras
and sensors project was conducted and we are working with Alert
Wildfire regarding architectures and agreement structures. We have also
met with NASA and Delphire Technologies regarding sensors and
integrating sensor data. We are working with the Colorado Center of
Excellence to secure agreements and kick off pilot testing.
We have been meeting weekly with NOAA and Interagency Council for
Advancing Meteorological Services (ICAMS) to coordinate work plans and
spend plans through active public-private partnerships. We are also
working with the Thermal Working Group to build an evaluation plan of
GOES, Fire Autonomous Detection & Dissemination System (FADDS), and
other sources of data.
Wildfire Commission in BIL
In December 2021, USDA, DOI, and the Department of Homeland
Security through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
announced the establishment of a Wildland Fire Mitigation and
Management Commission. This Commission fulfills Sections 70201-70207 of
the BIL and represents a critical step in combating the wildfire crisis
and improving resilience on the nation's landscapes. The Wildfire
Mitigation and Management Commission is tasked to study and make
recommendations to improve Federal policies relating to--(1) the
prevention, mitigation, suppression, and management of wildland fires
in the United States; and (2) the rehabilitation of land in the United
States devastated by wildland fires. An announcement calling for
applications to the commission, with a focus on non-federal members,
representing State, local, Tribal, and private stakeholders, was
announced on March 10, 2022, and closed on March 25, 2022. Applications
are currently under review, with the first Commission meeting targeted
for late spring.
Conclusion
We greatly appreciate the significant resources Congress has
provided through the BIL that will allow the Forest Service, with our
many partners, to take the initial steps to address the wildfire
crisis. This work will result in resilient landscapes that have
ecologic integrity, provide essential ecosystem services including
carbon storage and habitat for wildlife, and boundless opportunities
for American citizens to recreate.
The Forest Service looks forward to working with this Subcommittee
to reduce the severity of wildfires in our country. This concludes our
testimony. We welcome any questions the Subcommittee may have.
______
Questions Submitted for the Record to Jaelith Hall-Rivera, Deputy
Chief, State and Private Forestry, U.S. Forest Service
Questions Submitted by Representative Porter
Question 1. The Subcommittee is aware that the U.S. Forest Service
recently completed a Recruitment and Retention Survey in Region 5.
Please provide the Subcommittee with the results of this survey and any
additional views USFS wishes to share with the Subcommittee.
Answer. The Pacific Southwest Region (Region 5) is in the process
of soliciting information from firefighters on what they perceive to be
the challenges for recruiting and retaining firefighters in California.
Initial data has been summarized into eight issues. While these issues
were previously identified, extensive analytical and empirical
breakdown of the barriers impacting recruitment and retention has been
lacking. The Pacific Southwest Regions' efforts to gather data will
help support agency-wide efforts to address these issues. The Region 5
Fire and Aviation Management Recruitment and Retention Survey is
included as Appendix A. [The Appendix can be viewed on the Committee
Repository at: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II10/20220405/114579/
HHRG-117-II10-20220405-SD32425667.pdf]
Hiring and retaining wildland firefighters in increasingly long and
complex fire years is a challenge that we take seriously. The BIL and
the FY 2023 President's Budget provide a significant down payment
toward Forest Service investments in a stable, professional, permanent
wildland firefighting workforce, as well as for workforce programs that
focus on mental health, resilience, and wellbeing. The BIL remedies
many issues that have been front and center for the wildland
firefighting community. We continue to hear substantial concerns from
the field, and we acknowledge that there is more work to do on issues
such as housing and work/life balance during the very stressful fire
years, as well as the need to increase firefighter capacity. We will
continue to work on these issues so that jobs with the Forest Service
remain a desirable and sought-after opportunity.
The BIL provides a $600 million investment in firefighter pay
increases to the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, as
well as conversions of temporary employees to permanent full-time
employees. These permanent firefighters will be able to respond to
wildfires as well as increase hazardous fuel treatments across
landscapes before wildfires happen. We are working diligently with the
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to identify which positions are
eligible for BIL pay increases.
The BIL also directed the development of a new Wildland Firefighter
occupational series. The Forest Service is collaborating with the
Department of the Interior and the OPM to create a wildland firefighter
occupational series that better reflects the unique responsibilities
and skillsets of our firefighters. To ensure this process is evidence-
based and objective, we are assembling and analyzing extensive
workforce data and collecting input from a diverse group of
firefighters across a range of positions, particularly from field-level
personnel.
The FY 2023 Budget requests an increase of more than $330 million
from the FY 2022 Enacted level in Wildland Fire Management Salaries and
Expenses to ensure ongoing support of these priorities, implement the
$15 per hour minimum wage for firefighters, and gradually raise base
capacity levels to enhance response to year-round fire activity.
Additionally, a $20 million increase in the FY 2023 Budget from FY2022
Enacted levels in Wildland Fire Management Preparedness will be
leveraged to supply fleet, equipment, and supplies for increased base
capacity staffing levels.
Under President Biden's initiatives to recognize and support
federal wildland firefighters, more than 11,300 firefighters received
an additional $24.3 million in pay in 2021. In January 2022, a
permanent federal minimum wage of $15/hour was implemented via
Executive Order. Creating greater pay parity commensurate with non-
federal firefighters will likely help resolve recruitment and
challenges, and result in significant cost savings in training
firefighters due to attrition.
The Forest Service continues to work through the staffing process
of our largest onboarding period for firefighters for both temporary
and permanent employees. Interviews and selections are ongoing.
Question 2. How much money did USFS spend on reimbursement to state
and local authorities for firefighting resources through
intergovernmental agreements or other mechanisms during FY22? What does
USFS project to spend in FY23? Please provide information disaggregated
by state, region, and National Forest.
Answer. Through March FY 2022, the Forest Service spent the
following on reimbursements to states and local authorities for
firefighting resources through cooperative agreements. The data is
provided by state only. Reimbursements are managed at the national
level for state payments, and we do not reconcile them at different
levels of the agency (region and national forest).
Table 1: Forest Service Fire Suppression Cooperative Agreements
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
National Support includes costs for fire suppression
activities occurring on multiple wildfires which cannot be attributed
to a specific wildfire, such as dispatch work or local cache activity.
It also includes Severity costs, which are used to adjust planning to
improve initial attack response as well as wildfire prevention
activities when extraordinary weather and/or fire conditions have the
potential to result in wildfires. Lastly, it includes costs to mitigate
the spread of the coronavirus.
The agency does not project suppression costs by individual cost
categories but instead focuses on the estimated overall need for the
upcoming year's fire activity. For FY2023, the agency requested $1.011
billion in Suppression and $2.21 billion in the Wildfire Suppression
Operations Reserve Fund (fire fix) in the President's Budget Request.
Each fire year's suppression costs are unique and driven by the
complexities of fire activity, and most significantly by locations of
fire starts, which are unpredictable.
Note that fires not only span fiscal years, but also costs
associated with a wildfire incident may take multiple fiscal years to
resolve as items like cost-share agreements, cost-recovery efforts, and
invoice submissions are reconciled. Consequently, the figures displayed
in this table reflect significant costs from fire suppression activity
from the fourth quarter of FY21 and prior.
Question 3. How much money did USFS spend contracting for
firefighting resources during FY22? How much does USFS project to spend
in FY23? Please provide information disaggregated by state, region,
National Forest.
Answer. Through March of FY 2022 the Forest Service has spent the
following on contracts for firefighting resources.
Table 2: Forest Service Fire Suppression Contracts by National Forest
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
National Support includes costs for fire suppression
activities occurring on multiple wildfires which cannot be attributed
to a specific wildfire, such as dispatch work or local cache activity.
It also includes Severity costs, which are used to adjust planning to
improve the initial attack response as well as wildfire prevention
activities when extraordinary weather and/or fire conditions have the
potential to result in wildfires extraordinary weather and/or fire
conditions have the potential to result in wildfires. Lastly, it
includes costs to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
**Non Forest Service Jurisdiction are Wildfires managed by other
agencies in which the Forest Service contributed to the efforts.
***Regional Services includes costs for suppression activities that
occur across forest boundaries within the region.
The agency does not project suppression costs by individual cost
categories but instead focuses on the estimated overall need for the
upcoming year's fire activity. For FY2023, the agency has requested
$1.011 billion in Suppression and $2.21 billion in the Wildfire
Suppression Operations Reserve Fund (fire fix) in the President's
Budget Request. Each fire year's suppression costs are unique and
driven by the complexities of fire activity, and most significantly by
locations of fire starts, which are unpredictable.
Note that fires not only span fiscal years, but also costs
associated with a wildfire incident may take multiple fiscal years to
resolve as items like cost-share agreements, cost-recovery efforts, and
invoice submissions are reconciled. Consequently, the figures displayed
in this table reflect significant costs from fire suppression activity
from the fourth quarter of FY21 and prior.
Question 4. The Subcommittee understands that Region 6 Type 1
Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHC) receive an average of $38,000 per year
to procure equipment such as PPE, chainsaws, and communications
equipment. The Subcommittee understands that most Region 5 IHCs receive
a budget of roughly $8,000-$10,000 for the same requirements.
(4a). Please explain this discrepancy.
(4b). Does the USFS believe that out-of-pocket expenses associated
with equipment may be contributing to the financial strain on wildland
firefighters in Region 5? If so, what steps is USFS taking to address
these add financial burdens?
Answer. The disparity between operating budgets of Hot Shot crews
is happening, and we are taking steps to address the issue. This
disparity occurs for several reasons but can be attributed primarily to
the way we allocate funds within the agency. All funds are initially
allocated from the national office to Regions who then distribute these
funds amongst national forest units based on national and regional
priorities. Given the range of priorities across Regions, the amount
allocated to one national forest and subsequent crews within that unit
does vary across the agency.
Given the importance of all firefighting assets, the Forest Service
recognizes the need to standardize the process for acquiring equipment
to ensure crews can operate safely and effectively. In FY 2022 the
agency established a new process that supplements the initial
allocation crews and other firefighters receive for equipment, so they
can replace, purchase and maintain existing essential equipment. This
enables all firefighting assets to maintain equipment standards
throughout the year. The agency is assessing a more robust change in
our allocation strategy that will move toward a more standardized
system for allocation of funds to Regions for IHCs and other national
fire response resources for firefighting equipment needs.
______
Mr. Neguse. Thank you, Ms. Hall-Rivera.
The Chair now recognizes Mr. Brian Ferebee, Chief Executive
of Intergovernmental Relations at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. Mr. Ferebee, you have 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF BRIAN FEREBEE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF
INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
FOREST SERVICE, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you, Chairman Neguse, Ranking Member
Herrell, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the
invitation to testify before you today. The Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, or BIL, is a critical first step in helping
the Forest Service to confront the wildfire crisis. As outlined
by Deputy Chief Hall-Rivera, the benefits that American forests
and grasslands provide are at risk from wildfire. Unless we do
something about the wildfire crisis, it would only get worse.
To protect communities and natural resources, we need to
restore healthy, resilient, fire-adapted forests. It would take
a paradigm shift to confront the wildfire crisis facing the
nation. The old paradigm is to use our limited funds and
capacity to scatter treatments randomly across the landscape to
the best of our limited ability.
The new paradigm is to step up the pace and scale of our
treatments to match the actual scale of the wildfire crisis
across the landscape while using science as an underpinning to
assist in determining where we treat. We worked with
scientists, tribes, state governments, and partner
organizations to prepare the 10-year strategy and draft
implementation plan for confronting the wildfire crisis while
also working with DOI on their 5-year strategic plan. While we
sustain current treatment levels in the South, Midwest, and
Northeast, we plan to dramatically increase fuels and forest
health treatments by up to four times the current treatment
levels in the West where the wildfire risk to homes and
communities are the highest.
Less than 10 percent of our fire-prone forests in the West
account for roughly 80 percent of the fire risk to communities.
While we will focus on high-risk firesheds where the risk to
lives, homes, communities, and natural resources are the
greatest, we will work with partners to treat an additional 20
million acres on National Forest System lands and 30 million
acres on other Federal, state, and tribal private lands.
In order to implement this nation-wide strategy, we are
building a workforce capacity in the Forest Service to match
the scale of the work. To achieve the collective impact that
our forests and communities need, we must build a coalition to
work across land management jurisdictions, leverage diverse
capacity, and build broad public and community support to work
at the scale necessary to make a difference. This includes work
across Federal, state, local, and private lands and with
nongovernmental organizations. The BIL supports the Forest
Service's efforts to confront this crisis by investing in
hazardous fuel reduction, bio-risk mitigation across
boundaries, and post-fire restoration.
The Agency is working closely with the regions to identify
projects within high-risk fireshed landscapes, designed to
reduce wildfire risks to communities and watersheds. The
funding of these projects using the over $1 billion authorized
under the Section 40803 in the BIL will allow us to begin
implementing the 10-Year Wildfire Crisis Strategy.
The REPLANT Act under Section 70301-70303 of the BIL gives
us an historic opportunity to address reforestation backlog
needs with wildfires and other disturbances. This provision
removes the cap from reforestation trust funds, giving us more
resources for post-fire restoration. This will enable us to
ramp up the reforestation treatments to almost a half a million
acres a year, including 200,000 acres of planting, a more than
300 percent increase.
The BIL provides $100 million under Section 40803 and $45
million under Division J for restoration activities that are
implemented no later than 3 years after the date of wildfires
is contained. These funds are being focused to repair and
replace minor infrastructure and facility damaged by fires and
on the repair or improvement of lands that are unlikely to
recover naturally to the management-approved conditions. The
BIL makes important investments in cross-boundary tools such as
Good Neighbor Authority by providing $160 million in Section
40804 to provide funds to states and tribes for implementing
restoration projects on Federal lands and by codifying the
Joint Chief Landscape Restoration Partnership Program in
Section 40808.
In closing, we greatly appreciate the significant down
payment Congress has provided through the BIL that will allow
us, the Forest Service, with many of our partners, to take the
initial steps to address the wildfire crisis. This work will
result in resilient landscapes that have ecologic integrity,
provide essential ecosystem services, including carbon storage
and habitat for wildlife, and boundless opportunities for
American citizens to recreate.
The Forest Service looks forward to working with you in the
Subcommittee to reduce the severity of wildfires in our
country. Thank you for this opportunity. Happy to answer any
questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Ferebee follows:]
Mr. Ferebee's prepared statement is combined with Ms. Jaelith
Hall-Rivera (see page 21).
Questions Submitted for the Record to Mr. Brian Ferebee, Chief
Executive of Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service
Questions Submitted by Representative Grijalva
Question 1. How much (or what percentage) of USFS BIL funding is
expected to support salaries and related expenses? Please provide as
much detail as possible about which positions within the agency will be
funded, including which BIL programs and appropriations accounts will
support which positions.
Answer. Implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)
will take significant staff support, both federal employees and
contract staff. However, funds were not provided specifically for
salaries and expenses (S&E). With the new Forest Service budget
structure, S&E funds needed to be transferred from the program funds
into the specific S&E accounts. The Forest Service continues to refine
these estimates as implementation continues. Below is more detail on
funding and positions:
Research and Development (R&D) account
-- Research and Development is funded at $68M, including
transfers. $26.4M or 39% of the funds will be used to support
S&E.
-- In FY 2022, the agency's investment in R&D salaries
will focus on staffing to provide science, science delivery,
and decision support to enhance the rigor and impact of the
implementation of BIL provisions.
-- Positions for science support of implementation include
field technicians, postdoctoral scientists (terms and NTEs),
technology transfer specialists, science communication
specialists, and project coordinators to leverage partnerships
with universities and to assist with delivering value to the
deputy areas implementing provisions.
Capital Improvement and Maintenance (CIM) account--The
National Forest System is analyzing the appropriate mix of
federal and contract staff prior to transferring any CIM
funds for S&E.
National Forest System (NFS) account
-- National Forest System is funded at $499M, including
transfers. $146.8M or 29% of the funds will be used to support
S&E. This may be impacted by the mix of federal and contract
staff determined for CIM.
-- For FY 2022, the agency's support to NFS salaries will
be focused on providing funds for on-the-ground staffing and
support staff needed to facilitate funding to partners for
critical project work.
-- Positions to support implementation include contracting
specialists, grants and agreement specialists, engineers, as
well as natural resource specialists providing technical
assistance, oversight, and monitoring.
State and Private Forestry (SPF) account
-- State and Private Forestry is funded at $260M,
including transfers. $9.1M or 3% of the funds will be used to
support S&E.
-- For FY 2022, the agency's support to SPF salaries will
be focused on providing funds for on-the-ground staffing and
support staff needed to facilitate funding to partners for
critical project work.
-- Positions to support implementation include grants and
agreement specialists and natural resource specialists to
provide technical assistance, oversight and monitoring.
Wildland Fire Management (WFM) account
-- Wildland Fire Management is funded at $552M, including
transfers. $499M or 91% of the funds will be used to support
S&E. Of this, $480 million, or 87% is for the wildland
firefighter pay supplement provision.
-- For FY22, the agency's support to WFM salaries will be
focused on addressing the wildfire crisis with a primary focus
on the recently announced initial landscapes at high risk of
wildfire and ongoing fire suppression needs.
-- Positions to support implementation include
firefighters for on the ground implementation and resource
specialists to provide technical assistance, oversight, and
monitoring.
Forest Service Operations (FSO) account
-- Of the funds transferred to FSO, $69M or 33% of the
funds will be used to support S&E.
-- Positions to support implementation include human
resources specialists, information technology specialists,
grants and agreements specialists, contracting specialists,
budget and management analysts, accountants and financial
analysts, work environment specialists, and communications
coordinators.
Question 2. BLM recently announced an initiative focused on hiring
hundreds of additional staff to make up for a long-standing shortfall
in workforce capacity. The Forest Service has similarly testified about
the challenges associated with addressing non-fire staffing capacity
which has significantly declined over time. Is USFS planning a similar
staffing effort focused on non-fire workforce? If so, for what
positions and where within the agency will these new hires be located?
Answer. The Forest Service is preparing a strategic staffing plan
to meet the expectations of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
With major investments in ecosystem restoration, now is the time to add
both short and long-term capacity for delivering outcomes associated
with these efforts, which requires staffing support from a variety of
occupations. With the amount of attrition estimated to exceed 20
percent over the next 5 years, coupled with historically low staffing
levels and limited Human Resource Management capacity needed to enable
the hiring and onboarding of additional Forest Service positions we
will use a collective hiring model to build capacity in priority
programs and locations.
To facilitate short-term, large-scale hiring, we are implementing a
national hiring strategy designed to target our most critical capacity
needs using expedited processes. In the first wave, we hired:
91 Grants and Agreements Specialists
149 Contract Specialists
Over 100 Human Resources Specialists and Assistants
The second, and future waves, are focused on occupations that
increase capacity to conduct critical program-level projects, including
Civil Engineers, Foresters and natural resource professionals to
design, create, and ensure agency work meets the highest standards of
natural resource management. These positions are targeted toward
locations across the spectrum of National Forest System lands,
primarily at the National Forest and Ranger District levels, for the
purpose of planning, and implementing vital ecosystem restoration and
wildfire mitigation work. Currently, we are employing traditional
advertisements and using special hiring authorities to add critical
engineering and natural resources (STEM) positions. Hiring for the
following vacant positions is well underway and we anticipate many of
the selected candidates will be onboard by the end of September, with a
handful onboarding in early FY 2023.
Approximately 150 Civil Engineers
250 Foresters, and more than 500 Forestry Technicians
1,000 Recreation Management Specialists, Recreation
Technicians, and Archaeologists (total for all three
professions)
In late July, we anticipate starting the process to hire for the
following occupations, starting with the Partnership and Community
Engagement Coordinators. Onboarding is anticipated to occur through the
first quarter of FY 2023:
Approximately 50 Partnerships and Community Engagement
Coordinators
Over 100 Lands and Special Uses Specialists
Natural Resources Specialists and Biological Scientists
(number to be determined)
This critical hiring effort includes positions at all levels of the
agency and in locations across the nation.
Additionally, State and Private Forestry programs have evolved, and
we are developing our workforce to meet these trends and future demand.
Non-fire positions are being added to assist States, Tribes,
localities, and underserved communities. The BIL limited spending for
salary and related expenses to 3% of funds within Division J. With
available funds from BIL and regular appropriations, State and Private
Forestry will focus staffing to contribute to agency goals. Our
cooperative programs protect communities from wildfire, restore and
increase resilience of non-federal forests, help create markets for
wood products, enhance urban forests, especially to advance racial
equity, and address threats to Federal and non-federal forests from
insects and disease. Positions in State and Private Forestry are being
added principally in regional and field offices to revitalize and
expand technical customer service delivery for all our programs. Demand
for technical assistance has increased due to trends in climate change
and increased invasive species introductions. Forest health technical
assistance provides support for prevention and suppression management
activities to address these issues. Positions in Cooperative Forestry
are being added to support enhanced forest conservation and retention,
urban and community forestry and wood innovations like mass timber
market development and biomass-based renewable fuels.
Question 3. The BIL requires USFS to issue a Five-Year Monitoring,
Maintenance, and Treatment Plan. This type of information is also
typically provided in annual budget submissions. Please outline how
USFS will be reporting annual accomplishments to Congress, specifically
how the agency plans to communicate metrics and programmatic
accomplishments beyond simply ``acres treated'' and board feet cleared.
For example, is there a plan to monitor metrics such as improved Fire
Regime Condition Class and expected maintenance intervals, acres
treated with prescribed fire or restored by managed fire, miles of
unneeded road removed, road to trail conversions, watersheds moved to
an improved condition class, miles of fish habitat reconnected, the
number of culverts storm-proofed, acres of critical habitat and
wildlife corridors restored? Are there other metrics USFS is tracking
or considering?
Answer. Congress passing the BIL provided the Forest Service a
unique opportunity to be more strategic in the way we approach planning
and implementation of our work. In addition, we are leveraging this
opportunity to evaluate how we define and measure success related to
reducing risk to our communities, community infrastructure and
associated economies. In short, we are developing new outcome
performance measures that better describe success while building upon
our current output measures.
The complexity of BIL funding allocation poses several unique
reporting challenges that merit special action to ensure that the
Forest Service can provide full accountability for funding use and
provide the highest possible service to the public. The agency is
establishing a centralized and comprehensive data governance model to
assist land managers in making funding decisions over the life of BIL
implementation. Accurate and precise planning and frequent reporting in
our authoritative data systems are critical foundational steps to
creating transparency, accessibility and engagement in BIL
implementation.
We are focused on outcome-based work to achieve mutually desired
priorities, including reducing risk to people, communities, natural
resources, and other values at the scale of wildfire risk. While
accomplishing this work with and through partners, we will use
prioritization tools including Potential Operational Delineations when
looking at project layout and design. The Forest Service currently uses
the Terrestrial Condition Assessment to analyze and report on
ecological outcomes in an annual key performance indicator (percent of
National Forests System landscape ecosystems improved, maintained, or
recovering due to management actions). We are also developing outcome-
based performance measures to track accomplishments and effectiveness
and inform continued work, including fireshed key performance
indicators.
In addition to reducing wildland fire risk, successful
implementation of the BIL will include a wide range of restoration
activities, including restoring fish passages; detecting and
eradicating invasive species; mitigating environmental hazards from
mined lands; and national reforestation efforts. Measures of success
with these activities may include resilience improved in watersheds and
landscapes; our ability to tackle climate change; and how we can
advance social and racial equity and accessibility during
implementation. Ecosystem restoration creates resilient landscapes that
can be managed for multiple uses and provide ecosystem services, such
as carbon storage and sequestration. Baseline metrics are often our
best tangible measure of success in these areas.
For the work under the ecosystem restoration provisions of the BIL,
the agency is working to develop guidance in collaboration with our
Research and Development Deputy Area for monitoring, reporting, and
tracking accomplishments. We are working to develop tracking approaches
to work within existing databases and reporting mechanisms (i.e.,
Biennial Monitoring and Evaluation Reports, Broad Scale Monitoring).
National level staff will summarize data for the Regions when it is
more efficient to do so. The agency is also exploring options for
displaying and communicating these outcomes to the public through our
website and other means.
For example, the Forest Service is committed to tracking and
reporting on Legacy Roads and Trails projects, requiring several
project performance metrics to be reported for all projects receiving
BIL funding, including miles of unauthorized and previously closed
roads decommissioned, miles of roads converted to trails, miles of
upstream aquatic habitat reconnected, number of Endangered Species Act
(ESA)-listed species positively impacted, number of culverts replaced,
number of road bridges and miles of road improved and others. Reports
for all completed projects will be submitted in the fiscal year the
project construction is complete.
We recognize the need for monitoring and performance metrics that
incorporate old growth conservation or restoration. The agency is in
the early stages of working with the science community to develop
monitoring protocols for the BIL. We are developing a monitoring system
for old growth that uses Forest Inventory and Analysis data, and may
incorporate small area estimation techniques and locally collected
information to allow us to track the amount of old growth on National
Forest System lands. This method will recognize the ecological
variation in regional old growth definitions. We are also evaluating
other methods to provide information on the location of old growth
forests and track the Forest Service's success conserving, restoring,
and adapting these valuable ecosystems. This effort is also consistent
with provisions in the recent Executive Order 14072, Strengthening the
Nation's Forests, Communities, and Local Economies.
Question 4. The BIL contains several grant programs and other
mechanism designed to award funds and address cross-boundary projects.
These programs and projects are of critical importance to states and
local communities. Can USFS commit to notifying Congress and the public
as funding opportunities are available, projects are selected, and
awards are granted?
Answer. The Forest Service is committed to communicating BIL grant
program opportunities on a regular basis to Congress and the public.
All competitive grant announcements will be posted to grants.gov to
ensure that the public is notified of opportunities to apply. All award
information is available to the public via usaspending.gov.
Some BIL provisions have resulted in specific programs that will
conduct national and regional competitive grant processes. For the
Community Wildfire Defense grant program, the agency is excited about
the opportunity to increase community mitigation efforts, working
closely with our partners and non-governmental organizations. Another
process relates to invasive species funding on non-federal lands. This
process will be conducted on a regional basis through State, private,
and Forest Service collaboration to determine priority issues, areas
and to select projects aimed at those priorities.
______
Mr. Neguse. Thank you. The hearing will proceed with Member
questions, and we will start with the gentleman from New York,
Mr. Tonko. You are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Tonko. Thank you, Chairman Neguse and Ranking Member
Herrell, for holding this hearing and to our witnesses for
taking meaningful action to combat wildfires and the climate
crisis that fuels them so that communities across our great
nation may continue to access clean water, recreation, and
certainly wildlife ecosystems for generations.
I am indeed proud to represent the capital region of New
York where many in our community care deeply about our nation's
public lands and forests, whether they be at home in New York
or across the nation. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law focused
on the Western forests facing the greatest wildlife risks. But
nationally, 20 percent of the nation's freshwater flows from
these Forest Service-managed lands.
Mr. Ferebee, as you mentioned in your testimony, more than
60 million people living in 3,400 communities across some 36
states depend on our national forests and grasslands for their
drinking water. It is so critical that we implement science-
based holistic restoration strategies to combat the wildfire
crisis and protect these vital forests for the benefit of
communities everywhere. Among the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law's investments was a $100 million annual increase to the
Reforestation Trust Fund, wildfire funding included for burned
area recovery, restoration programs, and significant funding
for DOI and USFS ecosystem restoration and remediation
programs. So, Mr. Ferebee, how will the Forest Service leverage
these investments to ensure reforestation and restoration are
based on science while accounting for climate change,
biodiversity loss, and ecosystem services?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congressman. As we
move out on this work, it is critically important that we
acknowledge all of our work aligned with the provisions, the
intent in the provisions of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
And to that point, we are looking at opportunities when we go
into project selections to really look at several factors in
addition to meeting the intent of the legislation itself.
To your question and point, for instance, around watersheds
and watershed health and the critical nature of them, when it
comes to, for instance, Legacy Roads and Trails Program, we are
looking at criteria such as: Do projects that we receive meet
the intent of NEPA? Are they compliant? Are they aligned, and
are they in critical watersheds that are important to our
nature? Do they help us actually connect upstream habitat for
wildlife from a reconnection perspective? Do they address some
of the challenges we have when it comes to small culverts in
place that have caused us degradation problems?
There will be a number of those kinds of criteria that we
will establish to make sure that we are receiving the kind of
outcomes that we want to on the landscape as well as outputs.
In respect to your question about tracking, we are working
closely internally to not only look at how we might allocate
these funds in the right place but also having the appropriate
mechanisms in place to really track and be transparent around
these funds for the American public.
Mr. Tonko. And then how will these investments help build
the reforestation pipeline, including efforts to address
reforestation needs in Eastern forests and urban areas with
poor tree equity?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question again, Congressman.
With respect to reforestation, the REPLANT Act provision in
legislation really provides us an opportunity from a resource
standpoint to do a number of things. One, our agency has
developed a strategy to really address the backlog that we are
experiencing with reforestation. And in that light, we are
looking at being able to treat up to a half a million acres a
year with 200,000 of that being reforestation of planting.
Alongside of that, as a part of our strategy, we were really
looking at how we can grow capacity within our nurseries
themselves to have more stock available for reforestation. And
lastly, to actually increase our capacity, we are also looking
at the opportunity to partner and collaborate more closely with
states and tribal governments.
Mr. Tonko. And lastly, Mr. Ferebee, the Forest Service has
many existing science-based tools such as the Watershed
Condition Framework to help identify restoration needs. Beyond
the wildfire funding, how is the Forest Service using these
tools and other data to identify priority restoration needs
utilizing BIL investments?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for your question, Congressman. To
your point, we have a number of tools, such as the Watershed
Condition Class Framework. We also have our National Cohesive
Strategy. We have shared steward agreements. As I mentioned in
my testimony, we also have tools like Good Neighbor Authority.
And the Agency is looking at using every tool that we have made
available to us by Congress to really show up in this space, to
really change the trajectory of wildfire and at the same time,
to make sure that the work that we do is sound, ecologically.
Mr. Tonko. Thank you so much. With that, Mr. Chair, I yield
back and thank you for your courtesy.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes Ranking Member Herrell for 5
minutes.
Ms. Herrell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for the
testimony. I have a question for Ms. Hall-Rivera. The BIL
authorized a new categorical exclusion for fuel breaks and
included a new authority for emergency actions, which would
allow for fire prevention work to go forward more quickly. So,
my question is, why did the 10-year strategy that you published
in January include no references to how these authorities will
be implemented?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Thank you for that question,
Congresswoman. We deeply appreciate the new tools that are
provided to us in the BIL. And I would say, frankly, it was
probably just a bit of a timing issue. We were in development
with the strategy during the time frame that the Infrastructure
Law was being considered because we knew that we needed to be
prepared for this crisis either way. We need a plan.
But I will say these tools are important to us, and we are
already using them. In fact, I was made aware yesterday there
are five projects that are already using this new fuel break
CE. So, it's a tool in our toolbox, and we are using it.
Ms. Herrell. Great. Thank you. And the BIL authorized the
establishment of a commission to study and provide
recommendations to Congress focused on wildland fire
management, including issues related to aerial wildland
firefighting equipment. USDA, DOI, and the Department of
Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency
announced that the establishment of the Commission would be
December 2021.
But my question to you is--when can we expect the members
to be appointed to this Commission, and how will this
Commission differ from existing agencies such as the Wildland
Fire Leadership Council or the White House Wildland or Wildfire
Resilience Interagency Working Group? How will it differ?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Sure. I will try to answer that as best I
can. The nomination process for the Commission closed last
Friday. And I understand we had a very large amount of
interest, over 500 applications. So, we, Interior, FEMA, are in
the process now of evaluating those. I would expect us to have
a list of members--there are a number of categories in the BIL
that you are probably aware of that make up the Commission, so
I would think maybe in about a month or two that we would be
able to name that and then have the Commission get started.
And you rightly point out we have many other inter-agency
groups that work in this space. Wildland Fire and Forest
Restoration is a complex, inter-jurisdictional, multi-
governmental issue. So, at least I think, from our perspective,
the more voices that we can get to weigh in on this, the
better. And what the Commission does that's a little different
than the other ones that you named is that it's really broad,
and there are a number of non-Federal entities that will be a
part of it that are not present on the other commissions, even
on WFLC, which does have non-Federal membership. So, like I
said, more voices--more and more people and more and more
citizens are being impacted by this problem. And I think that
the nature of the make-up of the Commission recognizes that.
Ms. Herrell. OK. And last, we have heard that the Forest
Service's use of an existing categorical exclusion for removing
hazard trees along roads after wildfires has been challenged in
court.
So, my question is, are you safely able to re-open roads in
places like Oregon or California, or does Congress need to
clarify that you have the authority to do so? We just want to
make sure that with the tools, you have the authority to do
some of these.
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Thank you for that question,
Congresswoman. I know we are implementing numerous hazard tree
projects throughout the West, and we are using a fair amount of
the funding that came from the disaster supplemental to do
that. And we are very appreciative of that. Certainly, we
probably do have litigation on some of those projects. I don't
have those details in front of me, but I would be happy to get
back to you on that and work with you if we are seeing some
spaces where we might need a little bit of clarification or
assistance. So, thank you for that.
Ms. Herrell. OK. And just a final question for all three.
Have all of you been out and toured our national forests? Have
you been to New Mexico, California, Oregon and seen the burn
scars or the fire, what our forests look like in terms of the
fuel on the ground? I live in the middle of the Lincoln
National Forest. Have you been out there, boots on the ground,
to see for yourselves what we are dealing with?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes, I certainly have and turn to my
colleagues.
Ms. Herrell. Sir?
Mr. Rupert. Yes. We were actually out on a trip together
just a week ago. I am looking at fuels reduction work and
impacts. And I do want to, real briefly, apologize. I misspoke
during my opening statement and am guilty of just reading and
not thinking.
Ms. Herrell. No apologies. I heard it, but it's no
apologies. I will answer to anything, so you are fine.
Mr. Ferebee. Yes. As well as my colleagues mentioned, I
have had the fortunes or unfortunes to be able to go out and
look at some of the great work that's going on but also some of
the impacts from areas we have not been able to get to scale at
this point to address the issue that we are here to talk about
today.
Ms. Herrell. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentlewoman yields back. I certainly would
concur with the Ranking Member and encourage all of you and
your staffs within the various departments to come to Colorado
and to New Mexico, to the Western states, and see the burn
scars for yourself. Clearly you all have but encourage your
teams to do so as well. The Chair will now recognize for 5
minutes the gentlewoman from New Mexico, Ms. Leger Fernandez.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you very much, Chair Neguse. And
thank you very much for holding this hearing and for having
these witnesses testify about the important work that's being
done. Wildfires have been a reality in New Mexico for
centuries, for millennia. But we know that climate change and
drought are making wildfires worse and we must address that. My
brothers, friends, and neighbors are or have been wildland
firefighters. Tribes and villages in my district send hotshot
crews to battle these life-threatening blazes and have
Indigenous ecological knowledge that the Infrastructure Bill is
actually going to help fund to utilize that.
And I really appreciate the partnerships that we are doing
with the Intertribal Timber Council. Thank you for that. I
think we need to remember that our local wildland fighters see
their work as not just a job but as a way of protecting the
watersheds that our communities depend on for our water, to
quench our thirst and grow our crops and as noted, for us to be
able to go out and enjoy that nature. So, I think we have to
recognize how deep the commitment is that our wildland fighters
have, and we must provide them with the support that we can.
My vote in support of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was
a recognition of this huge need. It was a recognition that we
had to invest in New Mexico and in this region in the reduction
of hazardous fuels and community resilience, ecosystem
restoration, and more. My community needs these resources, and
I am glad that Congress responded.
I also want to give a shout-out. In my district, we have
New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute at
Highlands University, which is located in Las Vegas, New
Mexico. We want to continue to rely on conducting that research
and then putting it into the field. I recently visited the
Carson National Forest where they are using the Collaborative
Forest Restoration Program to work with the Cerro Negro
Forestry Council, which hires local leneros and woodcutters to
help thin certain areas.
It is one of those instances where we are going to have a
great symbiotic relationship between community-led forestry.
Locals are getting in the business, shall we say, rather than
bringing in big, hot crews from elsewhere, right? It is a way
of developing local industry as well. Deputy Chief Hall-Rivera,
as the Forest Service is rolling out these investments from the
Infrastructure Law, how can we make sure we continue to
incentivize using local resources and leveraging traditional
practices?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Thank you very much for that question,
Congresswoman. And I think there are a number of ways that we
can look at that with this historic investment that we are
going to be doing. And you have named a couple of them.
Incorporating traditional ecological knowledge is going to be
critical.
And we are improving our acumen in that area. I am not
going to say that we have always been perfect at that, but what
we need to do is learn together with our tribal sovereign
partners on how we can better incorporate their knowledge they
have. They have been fire stewards for millennia in this
country. So, we are working to be able to incorporate that into
our project plans, into our fire plans, to learn from one
another as we co-develop these projects. And a great
opportunity that BIL gives us is that it names a dollar amount
that we can use for the Tribal Forest Protection Act, which is
really not something that's happened before. That's a tool that
we have had, but having funding associated with it makes it a
higher level of focus for us and ability for us to get those
funds and use those projects where we work together with tribes
where National Forest System lands and tribal lands are near
one another, and we can co-prioritize those projects. So, those
are a couple places I would name.
But we are working through roundtables to listen to and
work with all kinds of stakeholders at the state and local
level in every region of the country, and those are ongoing
now.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you very much. And I would also
point out that you have that $200 million that's available to
enter into contracts or employ labor crews. I really want to
emphasize the importance of trying to do it locally. Mr.
Ferebee, we only have a little bit of time left, but do you
want to add anything to that?
Mr. Rupert. I will say I appreciate your emphasis on tribes
and tribal contributions. In recent weeks, we have engaged in
tribal consultation around infrastructure and received lots of
feedback from many tribes identifying the support needs that
they have as we move forward with implementing BIL.
Within the Department's existing programs, there are
several programs focused on tribal support, Reserved Treaty
Land Rights Program. We have a contract support program that we
are also focusing on as we implement BIL, looking at really
efficiently and effectively moving that support to tribes. And
I am very much looking forward----
Ms. Leger Fernandez. My time is up, so thank you very much.
And, also, by looking at tribes, I want to also look at local
communities like the Lenero Program. Thank you very much. I
yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentlewoman yields back. The Chair now
recognizes the Ranking Member for 5 minutes.
Mr. Westerman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
Herrell, for having this hearing. Thank you to the witnesses.
Sometimes it might seem like we are negative about the
agencies, but I have traveled across the country and the people
that work out in the field that want to do the right thing--
it's got to be more frustrating for them than it is to me to
see how ineffective we are at managing our Federal lands. At
the end of this week, we are having the Western Caucus visit my
home of Hot Springs, Arkansas. And I am excited to take them
out on the Ouchita National Forest and show them how forest
management is actually happening on the national forests and
how resilient those forests can be.
Looking at management across the country, the vast amount
of the management done and the expenditures happens in the
Southeast and the North, definitely east of the hundredth
meridian. The wildfires happen mostly west of the hundredth
meridian. Can anybody explain to me why the management is
vastly happening in the Southeast and North and the fires are
mainly happening in the West?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Mr. Westerman, I will take a crack at that
and then turn it over to my colleagues as well. I would say
part of our aim with the Forest Service's 10-year strategy is
to take the model that we have in the Southeast, which is
managed forests, that are closer to their natural fire regime
because they also have fires. The Southeast is a leader in
prescribed fire. And we'd like to take that model and take it
into the West and be able to have our forests----
Mr. Westerman. Do they just burn in the South, or do they
do mechanical thinning before they burn?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes, sir. They do both.
Mr. Westerman. Is there a danger of doing prescribed fire
without mechanical thinning first?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. I would say in most cases, especially in
the West, we need to do mechanical treatment before we
introduce fire.
Mr. Westerman. How much mechanical treatment happens in the
West?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. In the Forest Service, a little over a
million acres a year in the West.
Mr. Westerman. Of mechanical treatment?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Westerman. How much needs to happen?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, gosh, we think at least 20 million
more acres over the next 10 years, and most of that is in the
West.
Mr. Westerman. And what's the biggest impediment to that?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, I think there are a lot of
challenges. Funding, which the BIL helps us with, capacity,
which we are building toward, not only capacity in the Forest
Service but, as you know, finding----
Mr. Westerman. What about outside litigants? Does that stop
any of it?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. We do have challenges with litigation.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Westerman. And you can't fix that. Only Congress can
fix that?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. We are always happy to work with you,
Congressman, any tools.
Mr. Westerman. We need to fix that, and we haven't. So, I
will just go down the panel. The wildfire crisis, is it caused
mostly by lack of management or by climate change, Mr. Ferebee?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congressman. I
would say that we have acknowledged that there are a number of
factors, those two being a part of it.
Mr. Westerman. Which one is the greatest?
Mr. Ferebee. I am not sure if we as the agency decided
which one is the greater. We just acknowledged that there are a
number of factors that affect our ability and how we are
showing up currently.
Mr. Westerman. Ms. Hall-Rivera?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes. I would concur with that. They are
all interwoven. They are not mutually exclusive.
Mr. Westerman. Mr. Rupert?
Mr. Rupert. I agree. Several factors I think as Interior is
clearly identifying that climate change is the leading impact
with the intensity----
Mr. Westerman. The actions tend to show that we believe it
is more climate change. So, doesn't that logically make the
reason that instead of spending money on the agencies, we
should take all the money we are putting out there to the
agencies and invest that in something to mitigate climate
change since the management side is not really happening?
Aren't you making an argument to dissolve your very agencies
and spend that taxpayer money somewhere else?
Mr. Rupert. No, I don't think so. In fact, I see our
initial work to implement with BIL, it really is that important
step. We have been talking about the need to increase support
and increase capacity on the ground.
Mr. Westerman. If we come back in a year or 2 years, and
there are not any results to show for the money that's being
spent, does that not make the argument to the American public
that it is an ineffective expenditure of their tax dollars? It
is not accomplishing or addressing the real problem?
Mr. Rupert. I think you will see increased activity on the
ground and accomplishments on the ground in Year 1 and Year 2.
And I think Year 3 and beyond is where you will start to see
the real transformative change.
Mr. Westerman. I know part of the plan that was put out
projected Year 6 through 10, but we definitely need to see some
progress like last year. We are way behind the eight ball. So,
my hope would be that we see dramatic improvements and a
dramatic amount of acreage that is being treated and not just
all in the Southeast. If you look at the numbers in the West,
where most of the fires are happening, it's almost laughable to
think that we are claiming a small amount of treatments, and
then the treatments aren't really happening where the fires
are. I am out of time, and I yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the Chair of the Full Committee,
Mr. Grijalva, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. Mr.
Rupert, just a general question, as you were giving your
testimony about how important cross-agency, cross-
jurisdictional cooperation and joint planning are going to be
in the mission, one of the areas in which I don't think there
is a lot of discussion, or needs to be some discussion, has to
deal with the jurisdiction prerogatives that exist, cities and
towns and counties to basically do their own land use plan. And
high-growth regions also happen to be high drought and wildfire
impacted regions. I know that's the case made in Arizona and
other parts of the country.
So, my question is, how do you see bridging that, beginning
with the question about people dealing with the same
information because the relationship between the watershed
protection, restoration, and the interface, I don't know that
that's always a factor. And coming from, as a former county
supervisor, it wasn't in the range.
Mr. Rupert. I will just start with the, as you described,
the importance of local community engagement. I think, in even
thinking about the Southeast and what is different in the
Southeast than perhaps some other parts of the country, that
focused work that's going on in the Southeast also includes
very active collaborative local level engagement.
That's a fundamentally important part of what happens there
to allow everything else. And I think as we talk about tensions
and conflicts around land use planning and about risk reduction
activities, in my mind, perhaps one of the most important steps
we can take, if not the most important, is to have local
community members, local unit managers, Federal, state, tribal,
all those other stakeholders in the same room at the same table
talking about shared values and coming up with collaborative
risk reduction strategies. I think that is the key.
Mr. Grijalva. Yes, and I think particularly in the Forest
Service that strengthening that role of having the Forest
Service play the necessary role of the honest arbitrator in
those kind of discussions is critical, and how you build
capacity in order to be able to do that as opposed to just
getting kind of carried along with the winds because your
comment is required in that process. And, at least my
experience, sometimes yes, sometimes no, depending. The
participation by the Forest Service and by public land agencies
was--the consistency wasn't there, on the science and the
impact and everything.
So, it's just not even a suggestion--I think it becomes
more and more critical for the agency to play that honest
arbitrator in those land use kind of discussions that happen at
the local level. With that, I yield back. Thank you.
Mr. Neguse. The Chairman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes Mr. Tiffany for 5 minutes.
Mr. Tiffany. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the
time. Mr. Rupert, you used the term ``collaborative.'' Aren't
Federal agencies supposed to coordinate with local units of
government?
Mr. Rupert. Yes, absolutely. And I think, from my
perspective, that is one of the exciting aspects of
infrastructure, is it provides the support for us to have more
capacity in that direction and also to develop those
relationships to provide the community support for that to
happen.
Mr. Tiffany. Mr. Chairman, I would just say to you that
this is a very important distinction in terms of collaborate
versus coordinate. They mean two very different things. And I
think the agency people know that. ``Coordinate'' is treating
people as equals at the table, local, state officials that they
be treated as equals when you are making that decision, rather
than where it is the all-knowing people up here in the Federal
Government that are dictating to local units of government.
That is a great frustration local and state officials have.
Mr. Rupert, you emphasize climate change in your testimony,
I believe, and then also in your questioning with
Representative Westerman. So, with us being told that it is
going to be decades in the future that this is going to
continue, why would we spend all kinds of money on this if it
is not going to do anything to fix the problem or fix the,
quote/unquote, problem?
Mr. Rupert. Well, clearly the vision and the strategy is to
make progress and to start on that progress, and the very real
experience that we see in Interior wildland fire programs
across the land. And, I mean, those effects and that
consequence are very real, this trajectory that we are on with
impacts, catastrophic intense wildfire. And we have that----
Mr. Tiffany. And you know that that's due to climate
change?
Mr. Rupert. I know that the impacts on the ground that we
are experiencing are very real.
Mr. Tiffany. Let me enter into the record here, if I may.
Here is the Forest Service timber-harvested data from the early
1900s to 2014, very easy to see the peak that we had back in
about 1990. If I may enter that--thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Tiffany. What if it says a result of lack of
harvest, the lack of management, the point our Ranking Member
has been making consistently that it is a lack of management
that is causing this problem more than anything else. I think
this is a terrific document that we should all look at very
closely because maybe that is where our problem is. I would
just also add living near Lake Superior, we were told--and I
see extensive weather data due to a job I had previously coming
to here. And from 2004 to 2011, Lake Superior was at a very low
level, historic low levels, and we were told it was climate
change. Well, Lake Superior now is back at historic high levels
as a result of the extreme precipitation or high precipitation
we have had in the last 10 years. And we are being told it is
climate change that is causing that. And for a lot of people,
you just go, ``Is there anything that climate change can't
do?''
Ms. Hall-Rivera, I think you used the term ``historic
investment'' in your testimony. I think you said significant
down payment. So, you are going to come back looking for more
money? Is that right?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Congressman, thank you for that question.
I think we have to be realistic about what this problem is
costing us as a nation. And you made an important point. We
have to do increased management, and we need to use all the
tools for doing that, and that includes timber harvest and that
includes hazardous fuels treatment. And these are not
inexpensive endeavors. It is expensive to treat fuels, it is
expensive to do that work.
Mr. Tiffany. How many jobs have we lost since 1988 as a
result of the lack of harvest on the national forests?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, I don't have that figure in front of
me, Congressman, but I can tell you that we have shifted
probably--we lost 40 percent of our non-fire workforce in the
Forest Service. So, we are having that challenge just within
the Forest Service. We have lost a lot of our capacity and our
expertise in timber harvests.
Mr. Tiffany. When are we going to reach the ASQ?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, I know we do meet allowable sale
quantities on some of our forests, but we don't meet it on all
of them. So, we have more work to do.
Mr. Tiffany. How are we going to accomplish this without
litigation reform?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, we are appreciative of the reforms
that we have received, including the fuel break CE that we
talked about earlier. And we are open to working with all of
you on additional tools that can help us increase our fuels
treatment.
Mr. Tiffany. I appreciate your answers. Mr. Chairman, I
just submit to you we have a huge litigation problem here. I
understand that there are multi-million-dollar organizations
across the country that do nothing but file lawsuits. And they
have created a real problem. And a lot of that problem you see
right in this chart that we entered into the record. But I
think we should also look at the number of jobs that we have
lost, the number of businesses that we have lost in America,
especially in the West, as a result of shutting down harvests
on our national forests.
We will not correct the problem that we have here without
having active management and getting litigation reform. If we
don't reform NEPA, it is not going to happen. We will be here
10 years from now talking about the same thing. Thank you so
much for attending today, and I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair will now recognize himself for 5 minutes of
questions.
First, let me say to my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle that attended today's hearing, I very much appreciate it.
Clearly, there is a strong interest from Members regarding
these issues to Mr. Tiffany to Ms. Herrell and to Mr. Westerman
as well as to my Democratic colleagues. I would say thank you
for participating in today's hearing. I would be remiss if I
didn't note that for the better part of the last 2 years since
I obtained the gavel, chaired this Subcommittee, I have heard
quite a few of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
talk about the need for forest management and hearings on
forest management.
And lo and behold, we have a hearing on this important
topic. Unfortunately, many of them chose not to attend. But I
credit those who did participate, and I appreciate their
questioning of the witnesses today. I would like to just take a
step back and kind of reframe where we are because I think some
of this has kind of gotten lost during the course of today's
hearing.
My objective is to follow the science. The science tells us
that we need to do more when it comes to forest management.
That is an argument that colleagues of mine on both sides of
the aisle have made. The science also tells us that the root
causes in terms of the intensity, the severity, the
pervasiveness, the frequency of these natural disasters that
have befallen much of our country and, in particular, the Rocky
Mountain West with respect to wildfires and floods is caused by
climate change.
So, we ought to take steps to do what we can to mitigate
and fight against the climate crisis. Those are not mutually
exclusive. I am not really--I guess I am unclear as to why they
are being framed as some sort of binary choice. We can and we
must do both. And that is precisely why we are gathered here
today for this important hearing, and in particular today, we
are talking about the former because as our witnesses have
expounded about in great detail today, because of the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we have a unique generational
opportunity to invest in forest management in a way that we
haven't in some time.
This bill ultimately allocates $28 billion which the
departments have now announced they will utilize by treating
upwards of 50 million acres, 20 million acres with respect to,
that is within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and
then through a variety of different grant programs enabling the
treatment of 30 million acres on private and tribal land in
coordination, as Mr. Tiffany noted.
That should be applauded. That is something that is a
unique achievement of the Biden administration. And I just,
again, have to say that for my friends on the other side of the
aisle who continually kind of pound the table about the need to
take these steps and then vote against the same measures that
propose to take those steps, it can be a bit confusing to me.
But, nonetheless, I am grateful that the Department is taking
the steps that they have announced in states ranging from
Colorado to Idaho to Utah to Nevada to Wyoming to New Mexico,
irrespective of how the Members of Congress who represent those
states voted on the ultimate law and the funding that you all
now will be implementing.
So, I thank you for your service, and I certainly thank
your respective teams back at headquarters and in states across
our country who are doing incredibly important work. I have one
question. And it relates to the private land and the grant
programs that will be set up under this particular piece of
legislation. And I'm interested in hearing a bit more about how
you anticipate the Community Wildfire Defense Grants being
deployed within our communities.
This money has to get to our communities. In my view, it
should have gotten to our communities long ago. And as I said,
I come from a district and a state that has been besieged by
wildfires as of late. And I guess I would like to get some
clarity and some representations from you all that you have the
resources that you need from a staffing perspective to deploy
these dollars as quickly as possible to communities in the
Rocky Mountain West and, of course, across the country that are
in desperate need of those resources. And I'm happy to let any
of the witnesses respond.
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Thank you, Chairman. I will start. Yes,
the Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program, a billion dollars
between both provisions is an absolutely historic investment in
community wildfire protection plans and the projects that are
named within them. And we have a spotlight on getting this
grant program up and running.
We are working--the Department of the Interior, Forest
Service, and the National Association of State Foresters--hand-
in-hand to develop the guidelines and get the program out. We
anticipate those guidelines being ready by May. We hope to have
the funding opportunity announced in June and get some of the
first grants out by September. So, less than a year to put
together a brand-new program at that level I think is really,
really important.
The other thing that we are doing is we are contemplating
what I would call kind of a base capacity level funding for
each state so that they do have their resources to be able to
carry out the program. So, I turn to my colleague, Mr. Rupert,
to add anything.
Mr. Rupert. Well, I will just add that Interior very much
appreciates the work of the Forest Service. That Community
Defense Grant support is directed at the Forest Service, and we
appreciate the collaboration and the leadership that they are
providing for that work, including us as well. Thank you.
Mr. Neguse. Thank you both, and I will just simply say we
look forward to working with you and seeing the fruits of your
labor materialize here, certainly in my communities and
communities across the country. And not to belabor the point,
but I do think Mr. Tiffany raises a good point that these
programs have to be in coordination with our local communities.
So, I suspect that that's of heavy emphasis for each of your
agencies. But it is something to keep in mind. With that, the
Chair will now recognize Mr. Gallego from Arizona for 5
minutes.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning to each of
our witnesses for your time today. As you all know, wildfire is
an issue that is always top of mind in Arizona. In the first 3
months of 2022, there have already been around 90 fires in the
state. Dry conditions indicate that the 2022 fire season will
start earlier than normal. Large parts of the state face
abnormally dry drought conditions and fine fuels are
anticipated to be above average.
Through all these issues, it is vital that we be prepared
to manage fires and increase resilience. I am hopeful that
funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help make
that happen. My first question is for Deputy Chief Hall-Rivera.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directed $20 million to the
Southwest Ecological Restoration Institute to create and
maintain a national fuel treatment database and to publish a
report every 5 years. What is the Forest Service's strategy for
ensuring that data is entered consistently and reflects
Congress' investments in our Federal lands?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Thank you, Congressman, for that question.
We actually just had a meeting with the Institutes last week
and are excited to get into this partnership together. Of
course, we work very closely with the SWERIs already, but this
is an added investment and a focus on something that the New
Mexico University piloted and that now we are going to be able
to expand to the rest of the country.
So, we are going to be working with them very closely,
primarily our research branch. And they will be co-developing
how we are going to expand that project. And then we will work
together with our regions to ensure that we have the right kind
of data and the data standards to ensure that that can be
successful across the country.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you. My next question is for Mr.
Ferebee. The Department of the Interior's wildfire spend plan
identified several different criteria to inform fuels work and
prioritize BIL funding, including the retention of large trees
and fire-resilient stands and limits on permanent and temporary
road construction. How will USFS projects ensure the protection
and conservation of wilderness and roadless areas?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congressman. As
stated in our strategy, our strategy focuses on community
exposure. So, we are in that footprint in close proximity to
those areas, which is what we consider our managed lands, which
is not in our roadless areas and our wilderness areas.
So, by the way our strategies are aligned and how we are
looking to focus, we are not looking to focus in those areas
when it comes to mitigation of exposure to our communities. In
addition to that, what I would say is our intent is to meet the
provisions in the intent of all the provisions in this
legislation. And all of our projects are designed with an
ecological frame in mind while they may also be trying to
achieve other outcomes and so very much committed to meeting
the intent of other laws like the Wilderness Act and our
requirements when it comes to managing roadless areas.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you. My final question can be answered
by either Forest Service witness. With $4.5 billion of the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act directed toward wildfire
and forest provisions, significantly new funding and important
programs are expected to be implemented by the Forest Service.
Does the Forest Service have adequate staff capacity to
fulfill the new dollars they will be responsible with
implementing, and how does the Forest Service plan to address
staffing capacities with new hiring? Thank you.
Mr. Ferebee. As a part of our strategy, we are working with
our field to really identify what we think are the skillsets
that are needed in order to deliver on this work. What I would
also like to highlight, though, is as we talked about in this
community already, this is an all-lands issue.
So, while we are the agency working on our capacity needs,
we are also having conversations with our Federal partners, our
state partners, tribes, and NGOs in this same space because if
we are going to address this issue and address it at scale from
an all-lands perspective, it is going to require all of us to
have the capacity that we need and to the degree that we don't
have it, working closely together in kind of a collaborative
form really helps us leverage our collective resources as well.
The Agency has very much developed a strategy to look at
hiring our needs but, at the same time, looking at how we show
up with the rest of our partners in this all-lands issue.
Mr. Gallego. Ms. Rivera? Ms. Rivera, do you have anything
to add?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. I don't have anything to add, sir.
Mr. Gallego. I yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman yields back. The Chair now
recognizes the gentleman from Utah, Mr. Moore.
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Chair, Ranking Member. And thank you
all for joining us today. We are rapidly approaching another
wildfire season. Like last year, and the year before, and the
year before, we have done little to nothing to fundamentally
improve the way we manage our lands to prevent catastrophic
wildfires. One key fundamental point, Utahans feel this every
day in the summer as we inhale smoke from California and
Oregon. That is at the root of what I am really trying to do
here. I am trying to improve this.
I introduced the FIRESHEDS Act and co-sponsored Ranking
Member Westerman's Resilient Federal Forests Act to
fundamentally improve the way our lands are managed. We can
prevent these out-of-control fires that threaten our
communities. We can prevent them.
For Mr. Rupert--Why do you think it is important to enhance
shared stewardship agreements, adopt fireshed research and
mapping, and extend the Good Neighbor Authority in our fight
against fire?
Mr. Rupert. Well, there has been reference to tools in the
toolbox over the course of the day and, certainly, Good
Neighbor Authority, shared stewardship and, yes, improved data
standards and using technology to inform decision making pre-
fire, during fire, post-fire. All of those are important tools
to ultimately changing the trajectory that we are on and
reducing risk of wildfire to local communities. Those were all
parts and pieces.
Mr. Moore. Yes. And our fundamental argument with the
FIRESHEDS Act is that Utah has experienced some success here.
Like, let's take what we do here and let's share this with
other states. These shared stewardship agreements, they are
designed to reduce the amount of bureaucracy to just work
together, and each state can work with their Federal agencies.
Ms. Hall-Rivera, can you describe for us what actions
private forest owners take to protect their lands against
catastrophic wildfire?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes. Thank you for that question,
Congressman. Many private forest landowners do treatment on
their landscapes and around their homes to help protect against
fire. And we have programs in the Forest Service and the
Department of the Interior that help support that, working
through our state foresters. But we also know that not every
landowner has access to those programs. Our underserved
communities may not be aware of those programs or may not have
the capacity to, say, do grant-writing. So, we are working
together with the National Association of State Foresters and
many of our other partners to ensure that private landowners
know about these programs, they have access to Service
foresters who can help them do plans for their forests and to
ensure that we can distribute funding like through the
Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program more broadly.
Mr. Moore. Thank you. I will just point out that there are
a lot of tools at private owners' disposal. And the NEPA
regulations that we do sometimes make it impossible for them to
do something good and to get past this. This is an argument
that we make. We must take a close look at how we can improve
NEPA so that it doesn't discourage the kind of management
behaviors that our Federal lands desperately need.
Mr. Ferebee, as I understand it, the Forest Service has
been contributing to help fund wildfire corridor projects in
coordination with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. As
you look to expand this engagement, what efforts, if any, are
currently underway to integrate big-game wildlife corridors in
National Forest Systems projects?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congressman. As a
part of our strategy, we acknowledge there are a number of
values that are important to us to achieve with our work. While
we are looking at mitigating exposure to communities, things
like improving habitat for wildlife species, protecting big-
game corridors, helping with recovery of T&E species,
protecting critical watersheds, all of those are values that we
are also looking to achieve as a result of our work.
Mr. Moore. Thank you. Sir, I have never officially asked
three different people three questions within my 5-minute
timeline, so this is a monumental day for me, and I want to
thank you all for being a part of this. The point that I wanted
to----
Mr. Neguse. It is not likely to happen again.
Mr. Moore. The point that I want to just reiterate is there
is a lot of good going on. And I asked people--Utah, and as I
have stepped into this role, I have seen so much good
collaboration taking place in Utah from conservation to
wildlife protection across the board. We want to limit
emissions and toxins being put into our atmosphere, into our
air.
And it is all the work that we are doing on our wildfire
work. And we have had great results. We are not perfect, but we
have had great results that I know other states can
incorporate. I encourage the Majority to take a really sincere
look at the FIRESHEDS Act to look at what the true cause of
this is, and we can get out ahead of this if we were to take an
objective and not political look at it. Thank you very much. I
yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair will now recognize for 5 minutes Ms. Porter from
California if she is on.
Ms. Porter. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Ms. Hall-
Rivera, you have testified in this Committee previously about
the challenges with wildland firefighter hiring. How many
firefighters does the Forest Service need to hire so you have
no idle engines, you have fully staffed hotshot crews, and so
on? What is the full staff number?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Thank you for that question,
Congresswoman. Our goal this year in the Forest Service is
11,300 firefighters. And that is an increase----
Ms. Porter. What do you have right now?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, I can't tell you the exact number we
have right now, Congresswoman. I can get back to you on that.
We are still bringing people on. Of course, it is the time of
year where our temporary and even our permanent seasonal
firefighters are onboarding. And we just completed an
additional fire hire event in California at the end of March,
and those numbers are still coming in.
Ms. Porter. And how did that fire hire event go? Do you
think you are on pace to have the number to be fully staffed in
California? Do you think you are on pace for that based on the
hiring event?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Congresswoman, yes. I do think we are on
pace. And by all accounts, that hiring event went very well.
And, importantly, what we are seeing is a very high acceptance
rate in our permanent and seasonally permanent firefighting
positions, which is what we want. We want to be able to convert
this workforce to have more or a larger proportion of it be
permanent and a smaller proportion of it be temporary.
We are in the same boat as a lot of sectors in this country
where hiring is difficult and labor is short. But by all
accounts, these events are going well, and we think that we
will be at the capacity that we need in the Forest Service this
year.
Ms. Porter. That is really great to hear because, as you
know, last year, according to the National Federation of
Federal Employees, about 30 percent of the Federal hotshot
crews that worked on the front lines of wildfires in California
were understaffed. Last year, the Forest Service had 60 fire
engines in California alone that were idle because of
understaffing. So, I am very heartened to hear a concrete
number or concrete goal for what full staffing looks like, the
fact that, in general, recognizing that everybody faces labor
challenges, and in general, you feel like hiring is going well.
And I am hoping to see that a year from now in the outcome. And
I am hoping to have a number of idle engines and the number of
partially staffed, unstaffed crews go down. If you don't hit
that target--I really appreciate, again, you giving that
number. Where do you get the people power when you don't have
enough firefighters? What happens when you don't have enough
Federal firefighters?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, as we have talked about,
Congresswoman, fire is an all-lands challenge. And we take an
all-lands approach or a multi-jurisdictional approach to fire
suppression as well. And we always have done that in this
country. We are able to flux our numbers of firefighters across
the country. The couple of different ways that we do that are:
One, contractors. Department of the Interior and the Forest
Service, we both employ contractors, and we can staff up using
that mechanism.
We also, in both of our agencies, have employees who are
not full-time firefighters that do have fire qualifications.
They have what is called a red card. And we can bring them on
during high periods of fire activity. We also have an authority
called ``administratively determined,'' which allows us to
bring on others. They tend to be people who are retired or
otherwise no longer engaged in the firefighting. But they are
red-carded, and we are allowed to bring them on. So, we can
surge. We had upwards of, what, 29,000 firefighters on the
landscape last year during our highest levels of activity.
Ms. Porter. Do you ever have to hire local fire departments
or CAL FIRE, and how much did you spend at Forest Service last
year on borrowing resources from local or state fire
departments?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. We have agreements with state and local
firefighters all over the country. We have a particularly
robust agreement with California. It is called the California
Fire Assistance Agreement. And Interior is part of that as
well. And we are able to activate local and volunteer fire
departments through that agreement, and it is reciprocal. They
go on our fires. We go on their fires. It is a really great
example of intergovernmental cooperation in the fire space.
Ms. Porter. Just reclaiming my time, Ms. Hall-Rivera, would
you be able to later provide the cost of those reciprocal
agreements? I know they are complicated, but if you could
provide a cost number to the Committee. Is that something you
would be able to do later?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes, Congresswoman. We would be happy to
do that.
Ms. Porter. And Mr. Rupert, could you do the same thing,
please, for the Department of the Interior?
Mr. Rupert. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Porter. Thank you. I really appreciate it. My last
question was just to ask Mr. Ferebee. Could you just say
briefly, particularly for Southern California, what you think
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill is going to be doing to
benefit our community?
Mr. Ferebee. Yes. Thank you for the question,
Congresswoman. Our strategy is really looking at critical
firesheds that are based on a lot of fire history as well as
ignition sources and vegetative communities. And the intent of
that is really to mitigate exposure to communities like those
in Southern California.
So, we want to place an effort and emphasis in those
firesheds working very closely with counties, states, and
tribal governments as well as a number of other partners in the
community to determine where we should be treating within those
firesheds to make a difference.
Ms. Porter. Thank you very much. I yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentlelady yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr.
McClintock, for 5 minutes.
Mr. McClintock. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Ferebee, the
Forest Service used to have what was called the 10 a.m. rule.
It was basically an informal policy that any fire spotted would
be put out by 10 o'clock the next morning.
We had the Tamarack Fire last year in Alpine County. A
lightning bolt struck a tree. That tree smoldered on about a
quarter of an acre for about 10 days. Every day, the Forest
Service had helicopters flying over to take pictures for
Facebook but never bothered to drop a bucket of water or put
the damn thing out. On the 10th day, it exploded, took out
70,000 acres, devastating the local community, which depends
upon tourism, cost a number of families their homes. What in
the world were you people thinking?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Mr. McClintock.
And I will allow my colleague, Ms. Rivera, to address that.
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes, I would be happy to talk about that.
Thank you, Congressman, for that question. The Tamarack Fire is
one of those challenges that we have when we have hundreds of
large fires on the landscape, and we are at preparedness
levels----
Mr. McClintock. Wait a second. Wait a second, though. This
was a fire that could have been put out with one aerial drop
and maybe a ground crew. Instead, you allowed it to explode to
70,000 acres that cost us millions and millions of dollars to
combat and did enormous damage not only to the forest but the
surrounding communities. Why aren't we getting on top of these
fires when they first break out, when we can easily put them
out, rather than waiting for them to explode? And this is not
the first time this has happened. This happened over and over
again. This happened on Park Service land as well. We had the
Reading Fire about a decade ago. Same thing. On the very same
fire footprint as the Tamarack, we had the Woodfords Fire about
30 years ago. Same thing exactly. Small fire breaks out. In
that case, the local fire department came to put it out and
were told to go away by the Forest Service.
This is insane. Please tell me that you are dropping that
policy and that you will be vigorously attacking fires on their
initial discovery rather than waiting for them to become these
massive conflagrations.
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes, Congressman. We put out 98 percent of
fires on initial attack. And the Tamarack Fire is one of those
2 percent that we were not able to do that because we were
resource-limited, and----
Mr. McClintock. But you knew about it. You deliberately sat
on it. And, again, not the first time this has happened. This
happened over and over again. That was the cause of the
disastrous Yellowstone Fires in 1988 when the Reagan
administration rescinded the let-burn policy, and then you put
it back after the Reagan administration left.
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Well, let me assure you, Congressman, we
do not have the let-burn policy in the Forest Service. We
manage every fire. We monitor every fire.
Mr. McClintock. Can you assure me that henceforth, upon
discovery of a fire, you will order an aggressive initial
attack?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes, Congressman. That is what we do.
Mr. McClintock. All right. Thank you. Next question
involves the management of our forests. We used to send
foresters out every year to mark off surplus timber. We then
auctioned that timber off for bid. We actually made money on
those timber auctions. Logging companies paid us to come in to
remove that excess timber and 25 percent of those revenues went
to the local communities directly affected. The other 75
percent went back to the Forest Service for forest management.
We passed laws in the 1970s that made the thinning of our
forests endlessly time-consuming and ultimately cost-
prohibitive. The millions of dollars that it takes to do the
environmental impact reports now costs more than the value of
the timber. So, not a lot is getting done. We got a categorical
exclusion from NEPA for the Tahoe Basin for projects up to
10,000 acres. The Forest Service has been using that very, very
effectively. I think that is what saved South Lake Tahoe from
the Caldor Fire. When that fire hit the treated portion under
that new authority, which was assigned in 2016, the fire lay
down. They were able to extinguish it before it took out the
city of South Lake Tahoe. Can't we do that throughout the
Forest Service system? It is a proven success. Why don't we
extend that throughout the Forest Service?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congressman. And
to your question, yes. We can do that across the National
Forest System lands. We are using a number of category
exclusions, if you will. And you----
Mr. McClintock. What I have been told, this categorical
exclusion takes the review process from 4 years down to less
than 4 months. Takes the EIR from about 800 pages down to about
20 pages and actually gets stuff done. Will the Forest Service
support legislation to extend this provision across all Forest
Service lands?
Mr. Ferebee. The Agency is currently using them to the
degree that we absolutely can. We would support working with
you on any future legislation that enhances the tools that we
have to really address the needs we have when it comes to
managing the national forest.
Mr. McClintock. Great. Thank you.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman's time has expired. The Chair
will now recognize Ms. Tlaib from Michigan for 5 minutes.
Ms. Tlaib. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you all for the
witnesses for today that are here. One of the things I want to
talk about is how our agencies are implementing Justice40 in
delivering benefits to disadvantaged communities, or what I
call my frontline communities like the ones I represent,
because I think many folks across our nation will wonder how
wildlife management and ecosystem restoration impacts them.
Mr. Rupert, I will start with you. How is the Department of
the Interior incorporating Justice40 Initiative into
consideration of certain projects using the infrastructure
funding?
Mr. Rupert. Yes, thank you. In Interior, up to this point,
as we have begun to focus work on implementing infrastructure,
we have taken it program by program, so many different
provisions of infrastructure crossing multiple programs in
Interior, looking at programs for opportunities to highlight
and promote Justice40. And then as the Administration has been
working at an all-of-government level to develop support and
tools, and we will interact with those tools as they come
online to provide that focused priorities for it.
Ms. Tlaib. Thank you. Mr. Ferebee or Ms. Hall-Rivera, is
the Forest Service also incorporating the Justice40 Initiative
into their 10-Year Wildlife Plan in infrastructure
implementation?
Mr. Ferebee. Yes, we are. Today, we have identified cover
programs within our organization. We have identified priorities
that would benefit tribes, underserved communities, and
disadvantaged communities as well and have developed indicators
to help us track how we are progressing in that arena and, as
well, develop implementation plan that will help modify how we
currently show up so that we can serve those communities better
as we would like.
Ms. Tlaib. Well, one of my concerns about the
Infrastructure Bill is that it did strip requirements out of
the National Environmental Protection Act, NEPA, that will
fast-track certain projects without full environmental reviews.
Are you all aware of that?
Mr. Ferebee. No. I am not--I am not sure, Congresswoman.
Ms. Tlaib. Well, Mr. Ferebee, the Department of the
Interior's wildlife spend plan identifies several different
criterias to inform its work and prioritize infrastructure
funding, the first of which is a completed National
Environmental Policy, you know, NEPA compliance. How has NEPA
worked to protect critical species habitat and conservation
areas as well as prioritize project work? Just want to show my
colleagues how important it is.
Mr. Ferebee. So, the Forest Service has equal criteria, if
you will, that we are using when it comes to implementing this
work as it relates to our strategy. One is to ensure that we
are compliant with NEPA. The other one is we meet the intent of
the BIL itself. And third, we want to make sure that the work
that we are looking to invest in aligns with the science that
we have informing where we should be investing.
Ms. Tlaib. I know NEPA is important even in frontline
community like mine. They are building an international bridge
crossing how NEPA can actually help mitigate some of the issues
regarding air quality. And I don't know if this is for Mr.
Ferebee or Ms. Hall-Rivera--But how many projects or acres have
been completed under NEPA compliance that you are all aware of?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congresswoman. I
can't give you exact acres or the number of projects. What I
can assure you is that all the projects that we implement at
the ground level have met our NEPA compliance requirement.
Ms. Tlaib. Yes. That is what I am afraid of is there are no
exceptions. So, it is clear to me that our work didn't end with
the Infrastructure Bill. To any of the witnesses, how would the
investments in the House-passed Build Back Better Act allow
your agencies to continue to address climate, wildlife, and
community needs. Do you believe the investments beyond
infrastructure might be necessary to achieve desired outcomes?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congresswoman. We
are very appreciative of the financial support and the
provisions within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. And as we
have indicated, we acknowledge that given the level of
treatment that is needed in the scale of the issue, we
acknowledge that the BIL, in and of itself, is a great down
payment toward achieving that work.
Ms. Tlaib. Thank you, Chairman. I yield.
Mr. Neguse. The gentlewoman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes Mr. Rosendale from Montana for 5
minutes.
Mr. Rosendale. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I assure you that
we in Montana are very concerned about forest management.
Mr. Neguse. And we welcome you to the Committee.
Mr. Rosendale. It impacts our air quality, our water
quality, our economy, and just our way of life. So, it is
critically important to us. Mr. Rupert and Ms. Hall-Rivera,
could you tell me how many timber sales in the Montana area or
the U.S. Forest Service Region 1 are currently stalled due to
litigation?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. I will take that question, Congressman. I
don't have that number, but I can ask our team to get that for
you.
Mr. Rosendale. And I am assuming that you wouldn't have the
acreage that that would cover as well?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. No, I don't. But I know that we can easily
get that information for you.
Mr. Rosendale. OK. Well, you might be interested to know,
it took me many months to get that, probably about 6 months to
be exact. Finally, it was provided to me. In Montana, 27 timber
sales are currently tied up, totaling 188 million board feet of
timber. In Region 1, Montana and Idaho combined, that number
jumps to 41 sales tied up or 438.35 million board feet of
timber that is being tied up and not being brought to market,
nor out of the forest to help keep our forests healthy.
That is approximately 35,162 acres that are tied up in
litigation in Region 1 completely stalling proper forest
management. I am glad to see there was funding included in the
Infrastructure Bill for forest management. But to be completely
candid with you, that money is going to do squat if it can't be
spent because all these projects are tied up with litigation. I
have attended and gone into the field and visited Lubrecht
Research Lab, which is a forest management operation, and have
seen the difference between forest that is properly managed
through mechanical treatment, through fire treatment, through
both fire and mechanical treatment and forest that has not been
touched at all.
And not only does it make for very unhealthy conditions for
the forests, and the trees themselves are unhealthy, but it
creates an incredible fire hazard. And these are some of the
things that are leading to the very fires that are out of
control that my colleagues here have been talking about. What
must I do to get the support of you folks sitting here today on
forest management litigation reform such as the legislation
that I introduced in H.R. 4579?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congressman. While
I am not aware exactly what your piece of legislation entails,
we would be more than happy to work with you. The Agency is
very interested in having all the tools possible for us to be
able to address the active management need that we see on the
landscape to mitigate or induce the kind of wildfires that we
are experiencing.
Mr. Rosendale. Again, we know what it requires, proper
management. We have seen it demonstrated in the field. It is
not rocket science. No offense. We just need it to be
implemented. And the only way that we are going to be able to
implement it is if we have proper litigation reform. And that
is where I need your support.
Does the Endangered Species Act have any impact on forest
management?
Mr. Ferebee. So, the Endangered Species Act is one of the
many legal requirements that our agency is obligated to meet
the intent of. And our agency is about the sustainability of
all of our natural resources. That includes species that are
covered under that Act.
Mr. Rosendale. I understand that. But, again, does the
Endangered Species Act negatively impact the proper management
of our forests?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, Congressman. I
can't say that it negatively impacts. I would just say it is a
condition of which we have to consider in the management of our
activities when we are planning projects.
Mr. Rosendale. So, the habitat that is located in a healthy
forest, we certainly would be able to manage the wildlife
population as well. If we have a forest that is not properly
managed, we have fuels build up. We have a wildfire take place.
It completely sterilizes the soil because it has burned so hot.
It then creates problems with erosion, water quality problems,
fisheries problems. Again, I will ask--Do you not think that
that negatively impacts the habitat and the very species that
we are trying to preserve?
Mr. Ferebee. Thank you for the question, again,
Congressman. The way that you described that lastly, I would
say, yes, we have experienced a number of post-fire situations
that is not conducive to resilient landscapes or habitat for
wildlife.
Mr. Rosendale. Mr. Chair, I see that my time has expired,
so I would yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr.
Gohmert, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Gohmert. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for
being here today. Last year, we sent a letter to the Forest
Service asking about boat ramps on Lake Sam Rayburn in my
district, which I am sure you are familiar with the history of
the national forests, but local/state governments were assured
that by providing land that could not be taxed and would not be
used for commercial purposes that the U.S. Forest Service would
share 25 percent of the proceeds of the timber harvesting with
the local government.
Back in the 1980s, for example, Sabine County had $1.6
million as their shared portion. Very rural county. But in
recent years, it has dropped as low as 60,000. And then with
the so-called stewardship program, I know, according to Mr.
Westerman, it has been helpful in Arkansas. But in East Texas,
it seems to be used to hide money from being shared with local
government.
We run into problems like, where a culvert is, a bridge
goes down. A culvert becomes impassible. But it is as if the
U.S. Forest Service likes the area being unable to traverse for
local residents. We have boat ramps that have ceased being
used. And it took over 4 months, but we got a response: ``boat
ramp is not sustainable from a structural or financial
perspective'' and that ``using volunteers is neither safe nor
practical''.
And in case you are not familiar, we don't have any
sequoias or redwoods. We have pine trees. And newer pine trees
actually sequester more carbon, if you are not familiar. So, it
ends up being one of our best renewable resources--20, 25
years, you plant pine trees, and they are back in East Texas.
They can be harvested. The older they get, the less carbon they
sequester.
But it just seems that, regardless of the administration,
the U.S. Forest Service is doing a great disservice to East
Texas and other places. The trees are not being harvested, the
resources not being renewed. And we had a deputy in San
Augustine County chase a criminal into the national forest but
stopped in order to get permission. And he was in hot pursuit.
I think it was about 5 days later, after lots of screaming by a
lot of us, that someone was sent from Arizona to come check
things out and was surprised to find the most sophisticated
marijuana growing area that they had ever experienced.
But because of the lack of assistance from U.S. Forest
Service aiding and abetting the getaway of those who
constructed the marijuana growing service, they got a little
ahead of the game of it being legalized. They were free to go
to some other national forest and again continue to engage in
criminality. So, we haven't gotten a whole lot of help, nor a
lot of cooperation, out of the U.S. Forest Service.
And if we get an Administration so amenable, I am going to
be pushing hard to get land given back to local communities so
that they don't continue in their struggle just to survive
because the U.S. Forest Service has become so blase about doing
what it originally agreed to do. I realize I have 10 seconds
left and haven't arrived at a question. But I wanted to make
sure that you knew how unpalatable the U.S. Forest Service has
become in East Texas. And we are hoping that we can bring it to
an end unless you turn about very quickly in helping the local
area instead of hurting it. I yield back.
Mr. Neguse. The gentleman yields back. I give the witnesses
an opportunity to respond if they would like to. But if not, we
will proceed.
Mr. Gohmert. I didn't realize I made a question there. So,
yes, thanks for extending my time.
Mr. Neguse. My pleasure.
Ms. Hall-Rivera. I would like to respond because I think
the points that you brought up are very important, Congressman.
And I would say all of our leaders in the field pride
themselves on their relationships that they have with their
state and local partners. But it is not always perfect, and we
can do better. So, it is important that we heard your concerns,
and I can commit that we will work on those in Texas. I think
our district rangers and our forest supervisor there are always
going to be wanting to improve their relationships. I can
assure you of that.
Mr. Gohmert. Would you understand when someone is in hot
pursuit, taking 5 days to give permission is really not
helpful, right? And when you shut down the boat ramps that
would help provide fishing tournaments, things like that, some
source for the economy, and you continue to shut them down,
shut down camping areas, that is not what the locals consider
to be extremely cooperative. You get that, right?
Ms. Hall-Rivera. Yes. I understand what you are saying,
Congressman.
Mr. Gohmert. Well, we would love to hear a better response
than, no, it's just not going to work out.
Mr. Neguse. Aren't you glad that I gave the witnesses an
opportunity to respond?
Mr. Gohmert. I appreciate it.
Mr. Neguse. Before we conclude with this witness panel, are
there any other Members who have not had their 5 minutes and
who wish to seek recognition to ask questions now. Do we have
anybody virtually?
Hearing none, I want to thank the witnesses for their
valuable testimony and the Members for their questions. Look,
these are tough issues and so no shortage of very nuanced and
difficult questions and, I think, thorough and insightful
answers. We appreciate the partnership. And we will look
forward to continuing to work with the Administration on these
issues and more.
The members of the Committee may have some additional
questions for the witnesses. And we will ask you to respond to
those in writing. Under Committee Rule 3(o), members of the
Committee must submit witness questions within 3 business days
following this hearing. And the hearing record will be held
open for 10 business days for these responses.
If there is no other further business, without objection,
the Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:08 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD]
Statement for the Record
J. Morgan Varner, PhD
Director of Research
Tall Timbers
On behalf of Tall Timbers, we thank the Committee for its interest
in prescribed fire. Management of fire in our nations forests and
rangelands is a tremendous challenge as we face the complications of a
changing climate and past land management that failed to recognize the
benefits of fire. We hope that we can work with the Committee to find
solutions to use prescribed fire as a way to reshape and restore our
forests for reduced wildfire risk and a more resilient future.
Tall Timbers is a non-governmental research organization with over
60-years of experience using prescribed fire science to solve land
management problems. From the 1960s through today, we provide key
leadership for proactive use of prescribed fire and research on how
fires behave, what their ecological effects are, and how society
interacts with fire-prone landscapes. Our unique perspective is rooted
in a long-term practice of working cooperatively to conduct research
and apply it to over a one million acres through a network of land
managers in the Southeast US. Our mission is to foster exemplary land
stewardship through research, conservation and education.
As the Director of Research at Tall Timbers, I see firsthand every
day how we can prevent extreme fire using controlled burns. I also
serve on California's Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force and share
guidance on how controlled burns can enhance firefighting efforts in
the west. In a time when there is no longer a fire season, all tools
should be deployed, and we are pleased that the Forest Service and
Department of Interior were given greater resources under the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address fire issues.
Tall Timbers is a long-time partner of the Forest Service,
Department of Interior and other federal agencies. We are working with
the Forest Service and Department of Interior on prescribed fire best
practices and are awaiting guidance on how the $500 million for
prescribed fire as authorized in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will
be implemented.
We also were pleased to hear that the members of the wildfire
commission will be announced in the coming months. Hearing perspectives
from outside the federal government is extremely helpful in providing a
holistic view on what must be accomplished across the country to keep
people safe and our ecosystems intact.
Workforce training is another critical piece of the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law that we are watching closely. We were excited to see
that the Forest Service and Office of Personnel Management will develop
a ``wildland firefighter'' occupational series. This is vital to ensure
wildland firefighters have the tools they need to operate in at times
life-threatening settings. Increasing the prescribed fire workforce via
investments in training capacity and technologies for federal and state
agencies and private land managers is critical to overcoming the
backlog of lands in need of restoration and fuels management.
And finally, funding for data science is an ongoing critical need.
Wildland fire research is a major need moving forward to enable the
increases in pace and scale of prescribed fire and managed wildfires
that federal land management agencies have prioritized. Increasing the
budget to $20 million for the multi-agency Fire and Smoke Model
Evaluation Experiment (FAASME) will have a big impact on advancing the
fire and smoke models that fire managers need for both prescribed fire
and wildland fires.
We applauded the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's focus on wildfire
and believe these funding increases and increased engagement
opportunities for non-government stakeholders will create long-lasting
benefits. Tall Timbers thanks this Subcommittee for its continued
interest in wildfire management and providing transparency throughout
implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Please view Tall
Timbers as a partner on policy related to wildfire management.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute this feedback.
______
[LIST OF DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD RETAINED IN THE COMMITTEE'S
OFFICIAL FILES]
Letter from Jessica Turner, President at Outdoor Recreation
Roundtable, expressing support for the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act dated April 5, 2022.
[all]