Forest Service: Appeals and Litigation of Fuel Reduction Projects
(31-AUG-01, GAO-01-1114R).					 
								 
The nation's forests have undergone significant changes during	 
the last century and a half. Human activities, especially the	 
federal government's decades-old practice of suppressing all	 
wildland fires, have resulted in the dangerous accumulation of	 
hazardous fuel on federal lands. To help address this problem,	 
Congress appropriated more than $205 million to the Forest	 
Service for fiscal year 2001 to reduce these accumulated fuels.  
To put as much of this money on-the-ground as quickly as possible
in fiscal year 2001, the Forest Service identified and funded	 
those hazardous fuel reduction projects for which it had	 
completed the necessary environmental analysis. As of July 2001, 
the Forest Service had completed the necessary environmental	 
analyses and had decided to implement 1,671 hazardous fuel	 
reduction projects in fiscal year 2001. Of these projects, 20 had
been appealed and none had been litigated. Applicants included	 
environmental groups, recreation groups, private industry	 
interests, and individuals.					 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-01-1114R					        
    ACCNO:   A01708						        
  TITLE:     Forest Service: Appeals and Litigation of Fuel Reduction 
             Projects                                                         
     DATE:   08/31/2001 
  SUBJECT:   Forest management					 
	     Fuels						 
	     Environmental monitoring				 
	     National forests					 
	     Forest conservation				 
	     Appropriated funds 				 
	     Litigation 					 

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GAO-01-1114R
     
GAO- 01- 1114R Fuel Reduction Projects United States General Accounting
Office

Washington, DC 20548

August 31, 2001 The Honorable Larry Craig Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources United States Senate

The Honorable Scott McInnis Chairman, Subcommittee on

Forests & Forest Health Committee on Resources House of Representatives

Subject: Forest Service: Appeals and Litigation of Fuel Reduction Projects
The nation?s forests have undergone significant changes over the last
century and a half. Human activities, especially the federal government?s
decades- old practice of suppressing all wildland fires, have resulted in
the dangerous accumulation of hazardous fuel on federal lands. To help
address this problem, the Congress appropriated over $205 million to the U.
S. Department of Agriculture?s Forest Service for fiscal year 2001 to be
used to reduce these accumulated fuels. In an effort to put as much of these
newly appropriated monies on- the- ground as quickly as possible in fiscal
year 2001, the Forest Service identified and funded those hazardous fuel
reduction projects for which it had completed the necessary environmental
analyses.

Concerned that appeals and litigation were delaying the implementation of
these projects, you asked us to identify (1) the number of hazardous fuel
reduction projects for which the Forest Service had completed the necessary
environmental analyses and funded implementation in fiscal year 2001, (2)
the number of these projects that had been appealed or litigated, and (3)
who had appealed or litigated the project decisions.

To obtain the information, we asked officials in the Forest Service?s
headquarters and in each of the agency?s nine regional offices to provide us
with the number of hazardous fuel reduction projects, by national forest,
that were identified for implementation in fiscal year 2001. We also asked
them to provide the name of any project that had been appealed or litigated,
the national forest where the project was located, the names of appellants
or litigants, and the project?s status.

Page 2 GAO- 01- 1114R Fuel Reduction Projects

The Forest Service?s headquarters provided us with the number of hazardous
fuel reduction projects by region and national forest that were identified
for implementation in fiscal year 2001 as of July 18, 2001, the most recent
date for which this information was available (see encl. I). Each of the
agency?s nine regional offices provided us with the names of projects that
had been appealed or litigated, the national forest where the projects were
located, the names of appellants or litigants, and the project?s status as
of early July 2001( see encl. II).

In summary, as of July 18, 2001, the Forest Service had completed the
necessary environmental analyses and had decided to implement 1,671
hazardous fuel reduction projects in fiscal year 2001. Of these projects, 20
(about 1 percent) had been appealed and none had been litigated. Appellants
included environmental groups, recreation groups, private industry
interests, and individuals.

You asked that we provide you with the requested information as quickly as
possible. Therefore, as agreed, we did not verify the information that the
Forest Service provided to us.

- - - - We conducted our review in July and August 2001 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

We are sending copies of this letter to the Chairman, Subcommittee on
Forests and Public Lands, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources;
the Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Forests & Forest Health, House
Committee on Resources; interested congressional committees; and the Chief,
Forest Service. The letter is also available on GAO's home page at http://
www. gao. gov.

Please call me at (202) 512- 3841 if you or your staff have any questions
about this letter. Key contributors to this letter were Charles Cotton and
Alan Dominicci.

Barry T. Hill Director, Natural Resources

and Environment Enclosures (2)

Page 3 GAO- 01- 1114R Fuel Reduction Projects Enclosure I

Forest Service Hazardous Fuel Reduction Projects With Completed
Environmental Analyses, as of July 18, 2001

Region Forest name Fuel reduction projects with completed environmental
analyses, as of July 18, 2001

Beaverhead 26 Bitterroot 11 Idaho Panhandle 14 Clearwater 11 Custer 8
Flathead 13 Gallatin 2 Helena 35 Kootenai 38 Lewis And Clark 14 Lolo 29
Nezperce 16

1

Dakota Prairie Grasslands 1

Total Region 1 218

Bighorn 15 Black Hills 19 Grand Mesa/ Uncompaghre/ Gunnison 19 Medicine Bow/
Routt 13 Nebraska 10 Rio Grande 9 Arapaho- Roosevelt 7 Pike- San Isabel 28
San Juan 18 Shoshone 11

2

White River 12

Total Region 2 161

Apache- Sitgreaves 30 Carson 13 Cibola 24 Coconino 21 Coronado 24 Gila 12
Kaibab 16 Lincoln 27 Prescott 6 Santa Fe 35

3

Tonto 30

Total Region 3 238

Page 4 GAO- 01- 1114R Fuel Reduction Projects

Ashley 4 Boise 8 Bridger- Teton 12 Dixie 15 Fishlake 7 Manti- La Sal 1
Payette 3 Salmon and Challis 7 Sawtooth 7 Targhee 6 Humboldt- Toiyabe 8
Uinta 3

4

Wasatch- Cache 1

Total Region 4 82

Angeles 7 Cleveland 13 Eldorado 23 Inyo 18 Klamath 19 Lassen 27 Los Padres 9
Mendocino 12 Modoc 31 Six Rivers 44 Plumas 28 San Bernardino 10 Sequoia 17
Shasta Trinity 10 Sierra 26 Stanislaus 33 Tahoe 32

5

Lake Tahoe Basin Mgmt Unit 30

Total Region 5 389

Deschutes 40 Fremont 13 Gifford Pinchot 1 Malheur 22 Mt Hood 0 Ochoco 15
Okanogan 12 Rogue River 2 Siskiyou 1 Siuslaw 1 Umatilla 15 Umpqua 7 Wallowa
Whitman 27 Wenatchee 13 Willamette 2 Winema 11

6

Colville 9

Total Region 6 191

Page 5 GAO- 01- 1114R Fuel Reduction Projects

NFS Alabama 18 Daniel Boone 20 Chattahoochee and Oconee 11 Cherokee 6 NFS
Florida 51 Kisatchie 15 NFS Mississippi 18 George Washington/ Jefferson 10
Ouachita 26 Ozark- St Francis 34 NFS North Carolina 11 Francis Marion and
Sumter 13

8

NF Texas 11

Total Region 8 244

Chippewa 10 Huron Manistee 50 Mark Twain 14 Ottawa 3 Shawnee 3 Superior 5
Hiawatha 12 Hoosier 1 Chequamegon- Nicolet 6 Wayne 1 Midewin National
Tallgrass Prairie 5 Allegheny 2 Green Mountain 5 Monongahela 7

9

White Mountain 20

Total Region 9 144 10 Chugach 4

Total Region 10 4 Total in National Forest System 1,671

Source: GAO?s analysis of Forest Service data.

Page 6 GAO- 01- 1114R Fuel Reduction Projects Enclosure II

Forest Service Fiscal Year 2001 Hazardous Fuel Reduction Projects

Appealed, as of Early July 2001

Region National forest Fuel reduction project name Appellant Project status

1 Idaho Panhandle Lakeface- Lamb Ecology Center et al Ready for
implementation.

1 Kootenai Foothills Ecology Center et al Ready for implementation.

1 Helena Clancy- Unionville Ecology Center et al, Native Ecosystem Council,
Offhighway vehicle recreation groups

Environmental analysis requires more work and a new decision.

2 White River Upper Blue National Forest Protection Alliance, Colorado
Wildlife, Breckenridge Ski Area

Withdrawn pending revision of the forest plan.

3 Coconino Grand Canyon Partnership Assessment

Southwest Center for Biodiversity, Southwest Alliance, Forest Guardians

Withdrawn and replaced with smaller projects.

4 Salmon/ Challis Buck- n- Bird Ecology Center Being implemented.

4 Boise Dankskin Ecology Center Appeal withdrawn. Project to be implemented
in fiscal year 2002 because current weather conditions prevent prescribed
fire.

5 Plumas Cold Private Individual, Forest Conservation Council

Pending a decision of the appeal.

5 Plumas Kingsbury Rush Private Individual, Forest Conservation Council

Pending a decision of the appeal.

5 Plumas Lower Slate Forest Conservation Council Pending a decision of the
appeal.

5 Plumas Upper Slate Private Individual, Forest Conservation Council

Pending a decision of the appeal.

5 Plumas Waters Forest Conservation Council Ready for implementation except
on 500 acres of original 8,000- acre project.

Page 7 GAO- 01- 1114R Fuel Reduction Projects

5 Plumas Stony Ridge Forest Conservation Council, Plumas Forest Project,
National Forest Protection Alliance

Ready for implementation.

5 Lassen Pegleg A- 21 Forest Conservation Council, National Forest
Protection Alliance

Pending a decision of the appeal.

5 Tahoe End- of- the- World National Forest Protection Alliance, Forest
Conservation Council, Private Individual

Ready for implementation.

5 Tahoe Liberty Forest Health Improvement

Forest Issues Group, Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Coalition, Forest
Conservation Council, National Forest Protection Alliance, Private
Individual

Was revised and submitted as Project Liberty II.

5 Tahoe Liberty II Forest Issues Group, National Forest Protection Alliance,
Forest Conservation Council, Private Individual

Ready for implementation.

8 Daniel Boone Salvage Harvest Due to 1998 Storm Damage

Heartwood Group Being implemented.

8 Sabine Prescribed burning for wildlife habitat improvement and fuel
reduction

Texas Committee on Natural Resources

Being implemented.

9 Chippewa Storm 2000 Superior Wilderness Action Network

Ready for implementation.

Source: GAO?s analysis of Forest Service data.

(360113)
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