Wildlife Fire Management: Reducing the Threat of Wildland Fires  
Requires Sustained and Coordinated Effort (13-JUN-02,		 
GAO-02-843T).							 
                                                                 
The over accumulation of vegetation is a serious problem,	 
particularly in the interior West, where it is causing an	 
increasing number of uncontrollable and destructive wildfires.	 
The policy response to this was the development of the National  
Fire Plan--a long-term multibillion dollar effort to address	 
wildland fire threats. GAO's work on wildland fires identified	 
three needs: (1) a cohesive strategy to address growing threats  
to national forest resources and nearby communities from	 
catastrophic wildfires, (2) clearly defined and effective	 
leadership to carry out that strategy in a coordinated manner,	 
and (3) accountability to ensure that progress is being made	 
toward accomplishing the goals of the National Fire Plan. Two	 
years ago, the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior 
developed strategies to address these problems, and recently	 
established a leadership entity to respond to the need for	 
greater contingency coordination. Whether the strategy and the	 
council will serve as the framework and mechanism to effectively 
deal with the threat of a catastrophic wildland fire will depend 
on how well the National Fire Plan is implemented. To determine  
the effectiveness of this effort, a sound performance		 
accountability framework with specific performance measures and  
data to assess implementation progress and problems is needed.	 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-02-843T					        
    ACCNO:   A03612						        
  TITLE:     Wildlife Fire Management: Reducing the Threat of Wildland
Fires Requires Sustained and Coordinated Effort 		 
     DATE:   06/13/2002 
  SUBJECT:   Emergency preparedness				 
	     Environmental monitoring				 
	     Environmental policies				 
	     Forest conservation				 
	     Forest management					 
	     Interagency relations				 
	     Land management					 
	     National forests					 
	     Natural resources					 
	     National Fire Plan 				 

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GAO-02-843T
     
WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT

Reducing the Threat of Wildland Fires Requires Sustained and Coordinated
Effort Statement of Barry T. Hill Director, Natural Resources and
Environment

United States General Accounting Office

GAO Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Department Operations,

Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry, Committee on Agriculture, House of
Representatives

For Release on Delivery Expected at 2: 00 p. m., EDT Thursday, June 13, 2002

GAO- 02- 843T

GAO- 02- 843T Wildland Fire Management 1 Mr. Chairman and Members of the
Subcommittee:

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss wildland fires and
our work to identify actions necessary to improve our nation?s response to
this significant threat. The most extensive and serious problem related to
the health of forested lands- particularly in the interior West- is the over
accumulation of vegetation, which is causing an increasing number of large,
intense, uncontrollable, and destructive wildfires. In 1999, the Department
of Agriculture?s Forest Service estimated that 39 million acres of national
forested lands in the interior West were at high risk of catastrophic
wildfire. This figure later grew to over 125 million acres as the Department
of the Interior agencies and states identified additional land that they
considered to be high risk. To a large degree, these forest health problems
contributed to the 2000 wildfires- which were some of the worst in the last
50 years. The policy response to these problems was the development of the
National Fire Plan- a long- term multibillion dollar effort to address the
wildland fires threats we are now facing. Currently, wildland fires are
blazing in 10 states, with numerous fires in Colorado, and the potential
exists for another catastrophic wildfire season. Already, the number of
acres burnt this year totals about 1.4 million- which is almost 200,000 more
acres than were burned by this time in 2000.

Mr. Chairman, before proceeding with the specifics of my testimony today, I
think it is important to set the proper tone and context for the points we
will be making. As we sit here with suburban Denver in flames and citizens
there and in other parts of the country in harm?s way as the result of on-
going wildland fires, it is tempting and understandable to seek immediate
short- term solutions to these immediate dangers. However, the problems at
hand took decades to develop; unfortunately there are no quick fixes.
Solving these problems will require a long- term commitment and sustained
effort.

Since 1997, we have issued a series of reports that discuss the extent and
seriousness of the wildland fire problem; federal efforts to prepare for,
mitigate, and suppress wildfire threats and risks; and actions needed to
improve the effectiveness of these efforts. We are here today to highlight
what our work has shown.

GAO- 02- 843T Wildland Fire Management 2 In summary, our work on wildland
fire has stressed the need for three things: (1) a

cohesive strategy to address growing threats to national forest resources
and nearby communities from catastrophic wildfires, (2) clearly defined and
effective leadership to carry out that strategy in a coordinated manner; and
(3) accountability to ensure that progress is being made toward
accomplishing the goals of the National Fire Plan. Two years ago, the Forest
Service and the Department of the Interior began developing strategies to
address these problems, and recently established a leadership entity- the
Wildland Fire Leadership Council- that is intended to respond to the need
for greater interagency coordination. Whether the strategy and the council
will serve as the framework and mechanism to effectively deal with the
threat of catastrophic wildland fire remains to be seen and will depend upon
how well the National Fire Plan is implemented. To determine the
effectiveness of this implementation effort, we continue to believe that a
sound performance accountability framework is needed; one that provides for
specific performance measures and data that can be used to assess
implementation progress and problems.

Need for a More Cohesive Strategy to Address Growing Threats

In April 1999, we reported that the Forest Service had begun, during the
1990s, to address the unintended consequences of its decades- old policy of
putting out naturally occurring wildfires, which had weakened the health of
national forests. 1 It announced its goal to improve forest health and the
resulting consequences of uncontrollable, catastrophic wildfires on national
forests by the end of fiscal year 2015. To accomplish this goal, it (1)
initiated a program to monitor forest health; (2) refocused its wildland
fire management program to increase the number of acres on which it reduces
the accumulated vegetation that forms excessive fuel; and (3) restructured
its budget to better ensure that funds are available for reducing these
fuels. However, we noted that it lacked much needed data to accurately
assess risks and plan fuel reduction activities. For example, the Forest
Service had not sufficiently mapped the extent and locations of

1 U. S. General Accounting Office, Western National Forests: A Cohesive
Strategy is Needed to Address Catastrophic Wildfire Threats, GAO/ RCED- 99-
65 (Washington, D. C., Apr. 2, 1999).

GAO- 02- 843T Wildland Fire Management 3 hazardous conditions, and the
agency said that, even when the initial mapping was

completed, the data would not be precise enough to provide a basis for
identifying, setting priorities for, and designing site- specific projects.
Without these data, it is uncertain whether the Forest Service could meet
its goal of improving forest health by the end of fiscal year 2015. We
therefore recommended that the Secretary of Agriculture direct the Chief of
the Forest Service to develop a comprehensive strategy to acquire the needed
data.

In response to our report, the Forest Service developed a strategy to
restore and maintain ecosystem health for priority areas across the interior
West. The priorities it identified for maintaining ecosystem health included
(1) wildland- urban interface areas where wildland fuels are adjacent to
homes and communities, (2) readily accessible municipal watersheds that
could be affected by wildland fire effects, (3) threatened and endangered
species habitat, and (4) areas that are currently at low risk and that
should be maintained as low risk. As part of that strategy, the Forest
Service also identified strategic actions for immediate resolution,
including the development of more precise mapping data for identifying and
setting priorities for wildland fuel risks, and developing regional
implementation plans that integrate status and risk information.

Following the issuance of our report, the large- scale wildfires of 2000
made it apparent that the problems we identified on Forest Service lands
also existed on many lands managed by the Department of the Interior, as
well as on many state and privately owned lands across the nation. As a
consequence, the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior have
worked with states and other parties to develop common comprehensive
strategies. These strategies- collectively termed the National Fire Plan-
address not only the need to reduce fuels, but also the need for more
effective approaches for wildland fire preparedness. The Congress, in turn,
has substantially increased funding for these two specific activities- by up
to $2.5 billion over the fiscal year 2001 and 2002 time period.

GAO- 02- 843T Wildland Fire Management 4

Need for Clearly Defined and Effective Leadership

In January and in March 2002, we reported that, over a year after the
Congress substantially increased funds to reduce hazardous fuels and for
wildland fire preparedness, the Forest Service and the Department of the
Interior have not established clearly defined and effective leadership for
addressing these problems and implementing the National Fire Plan. 2 ,3 With
respect to reducing hazardous fuels accumulations, we noted that the
departments did not use the same method for identifying and setting
priorities for wildland- urban interface communities at high risk for
wildland fire. The departments did not coordinate these activities, but
instead did them separately. As a result, there was no assurance that the
increased funding appropriated by the Congress for reducing hazardous forest
fuel build- ups was being allocated to the most seriously threatened
communities. Similarly, with respect to preparedness, we found the
departments did not use the same models for identifying fire- fighting
equipment or personnel needs, or for accounting for personnel costs. As a
result of this lack of coordination, there was no assurance that the
increased funding appropriated by the Congress for suppressing fires when
they do occur was being allocated in a manner that provides the necessary
capacity to respond where it is most needed.

We recommended that the Congress consider directing the Secretaries of
Agriculture and of the Interior to establish an interagency national council
recommended by the National Academy of Public Administration. 4 In April of
this year, the Secretaries of Agriculture and of the Interior established a
Wildland Fire Leadership Council composed of the Undersecretary of
Agriculture for Natural Resources and the Environment; the Chief of

2 U. S. General Accounting Office, Severe Wildland Fires: Leadership and
Accountability Needed to Reduce Risks to Communities and Resources, GAO- 02-
259 (Washington, D. C., Jan. 31, 2002). 3 U. S. General Accounting Office,
Wildland Fire Management: Improved Planning Will Help Agencies Better
Identify Fire- Fighting Preparedness Needs, GAO- 02- 158 (Washington, D. C.,
Mar. 29, 2002). 4 Managing Wildland Fire: Enhancing Capacity to Implement
the Federal Interagency Policy. A Report by a Panel of the National Academy
of Public Administration for the United States Department of Interior (Dec.
2001).

GAO- 02- 843T Wildland Fire Management 5 the Forest Service; Directors of
the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service,

and Fish and Wildlife Service; the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs;
and the Chief of the Staff to the Secretary of the Interior. The council is
to work to achieve consistent and coordinated efforts, through its members,
to implement the National Fire Plan. It is too early to determine whether
this approach to leadership will succeed in overcoming the coordination
problems we identified. However, we note that the agreement between the
departments of Agriculture and the Interior calls for them to manage their
own activities and resources in pursuing objectives and that disagreements
between the departments are to be resolved by elevating any disagreements
separately within each department rather than to a single decisionmaker.
Accordingly, there appears to be no single decision- making mechanism for
resolving disputes between the departments. This approach could potentially
allow for a continued separate, and not necessarily coordinated, effort.

Need for Improved Accountability for Managing Wildland Fire

In January and March 2002, we also reported that the Forest Service and the
Department of the Interior have not established performance measures to
account for the departments? accomplishments in such areas as hazardous
fuels reduction and wildland fire preparedness. Concerning hazardous fuels
reduction, we pointed out that a sound performance measurement framework is
needed to ensure that funds appropriated to reduce hazardous fuels are spent
in an efficient, effective, and timely manner. Because the departments have
been unable to develop performance measures for their hazardous fuels
reduction efforts, and because the implementation of a performance
accountability framework is also fragmented, (1) high- risk communities have
not been identified and numbered in order of priority, (2) multiple
strategies have been developed with different goals and objectives, (3)
quantifiable indicators of performance have not been developed to measure
progress in reducing risks, and (4) annual plans and reports that have been
developed do not describe what will be accomplished with appropriated funds.

GAO- 02- 843T Wildland Fire Management 6 We recommended that the Secretaries
of the Interior and of Agriculture jointly direct the

heads of the departments to collect the accurate, complete, and comparable
data needed to (1) better identify and set priorities for wildland- urban
interface communities that are at high risk from wildland fire on federal
lands; (2) determine if changes are needed to expedite the project- planning
process; and (3) measure the effectiveness of efforts to dispose of the
large amount of brush, small trees, and other vegetation that must be
removed to reduce the risk of severe wildland fire. The departments are now
in the process of developing performance measures, such as the number of
acres treated that are in the wildland- urban interface, and are in the
process of determining whether the data are available that could support its
performance measurement needs.

With regard to our report on wildland fire preparedness, we noted that the
departments have not yet identified the results they expect to achieve with
the additional resources they received under the National Fire Plan. It
therefore will be difficult to determine the extent to which these
additional personnel, and the additional equipment that has been purchased,
have increased the level of fire- fighting preparedness. We recommended that
the departments develop performance measures identifying the results to be
achieved with the personnel and equipment obtained with the additional
funding provided under the National Fire Plan. While the departments report
that they have developed specific performance measures for wildland fire
preparedness, more work needs to be done. For example, the departments still
need to develop common definitions of outputs and measures, validate new
performance measures with baseline data, and refine information collection
systems to ensure the right data are collected to measure results. The
departments expect to have these new performance measures fully implemented
in time for use in the formulation of the fiscal year 2004 budget.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the difficult task of effectively addressing
wildland fire- a problem that has taken decades to develop- will require a
sustained and coordinated effort to address. As our reports point out, a
single, unified approach is necessary- not each department separately
planning for and addressing wildland fire issues. To this end and to the
departments? credit, they have developed a cohesive strategy to address the

GAO- 02- 843T Wildland Fire Management 7 problem and put in place an entity
to provide for more clearly defined leadership.

However, to reduce the number and size of catastrophic destructive fires-
such as those currently occurring in Colorado and other western states- in
the long term will depend, to a large degree, on how effective the federal
government is in implementing this strategy and approach.

- - - - Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I will be happy to
answer any question that you or the other Members of the Subcommittee may
have.

Contacts and Acknowledgement

For future contacts regarding this statement, please contact me on (202)
512- 3841. Individuals making key contributions to this testimony were Paul
Bollea, Cliff Fowler, Chester Janik, Chester Joy, and Marcia McWreath.

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