Federal Agencies Announce Guidelines to
Aid Wildfire
Prevention and Restoration of Healthy Forests and Rangelands
WASHINGTON--The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Interior Department
issued field guidelines today designed to help land-managers reduce wildfire
threats on public lands. The guidance titled, “Interim Field Guide
for Implementing the Healthy Forests Initiative and Healthy Forests Restoration
Act,” will be used to address the issues managers will need to consider
while reducing hazardous fuels and planning forest and rangeland restoration
projects.
“The Bush administration is committed to protecting communities,
wildlife habitats and municipal watersheds from catastrophic fires,”
said Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman. “This guide will help
field managers conduct fuels reduction and restoration projects in a more
effective and timely process.”
The 56-page field guide will help improve analysis of certain forest
and rangeland restoration projects. Specifically, projects that have already
been determined to be necessary by states, tribes, and local communities
will qualify for enhanced National Environmental Policy Act review if
they occur on one or more of the following types of areas: at-risk communities
in the wildland-urban interface; high-risk municipal watersheds; areas
that provide habitat for threatened and endangered species; and areas
that are susceptible to insect infestation or disease epidemics.
“Severe drought and overgrown areas have contributed to unhealthy
forests, rangelands and some of the worst wildfire seasons we have ever
had,” Interior Secretary Gale Norton said. “The field guide
explains all the tools available to process urgently needed treatment
projects that will help avoid catastrophic wildfires and save lives and
property, while complying with environmental laws.”
The field guide will provide the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau
of Indian Affairs with general direction on the implementation of hazardous
fuels reduction projects under the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative
and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003.
President Bush launched his Healthy Forests Initiative in August 2002,
with an objective of improving administrative procedures that were delaying
the preparation and implementation of needed hazardous fuels reduction
and forest and rangeland restoration projects. The administration and
a bipartisan majority in Congress supported the Healthy Forests Restoration
legislation and were joined by a variety of environmental conservation
groups. President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration
Act of 2003 to reduce the threat of destructive wildfires while upholding
environmental standards and encouraging early public input during review
and planning processes.
The legislation is based on sound science and helps further the President's
Healthy Forests Initiative pledge to care for America's forests and rangelands,
reduce the risk of catastrophic fire to communities, help save the lives
of firefighters and citizens and protect threatened and endangered species.
Healthy Forests Initiative/Healthy Forests
Restoration Act
Fact Sheet
The National Fire Plan was launched after the devastating
2000 fire season, when more than 8.4 million acres burned. Americans began
to realize the problem posed by years of fuel accumulating in the nation’s
forests. The National Fire Plan laid the foundation for a long-term program
to reduce fire risk and restore healthy, fire-adapted ecosystems.
Since then, other efforts and initiatives have supplemented the general
direction of the National Fire Plan. What follows are descriptions of
some of those efforts.
The Ten-Year Comprehensive Strategy and Implementation Plan,
a collaborative product of the Western Governors’ Association, Federal
agencies, Tribes, interest groups, and local officials, calls for more
active forest and rangeland management. The Plan outlines how to protect
communities and improve the environment through restoration projects.
In August 2002, President Bush, while visiting the Squires Peak Fire
Area in Oregon, announced the Healthy Forests Initiative
(HFI). HFI concentrates on accelerating unnecessary delays and removing
barriers to forest and rangeland restoration activities. It carries out
some of the provisions of the Ten-Year Comprehensive Strategy and Implementation
Plan, including the following:
Healthy Forests Restoration Act
The Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) provides BLM and Forest Service
land managers with legislative tools to expedite forest and rangeland
restoration projects. HFRA aims to expedite the preparation and implementation
of hazardous fuels-reduction projects on Federal land and assist rural
communities, States, and private landowners in restoring healthy forest
conditions on State and private lands.
Title I of HFRA deals with hazardous fuels treatment on Federal and adjacent
private lands. The Act is meant to support and conform to community-based
wildfire planning, watershed planning and related ongoing efforts under
the National Fire Plan and Comprehensive Strategy.
The Act focuses on Federal lands:
- Near communities in the wildland urban interface
- In high-risk municipal watersheds
- In watersheds that provide habitat for threatened and endangered species
where catastrophic wildfire threatens the survival of the species
- In areas where insect and disease epidemics are destroying ecosystems
and increasing the threat of catastrophic wildfire
HFRA requires that projects be planned and conducted in a manner consistent
with applicable land and resource management plans. It also limits the
acreage available for authorized hazardous fuels-reduction projects to
twenty million acres, with no “sunset” clause.
The Act provides more timely judicial review of forest health projects
and ensures that courts consider both short- and long-term effects of
such projects before issuing injunctions to stop them.
In addition, the Act contains the following Titles:
- Title II: Helps communities more effectively use
wood, brush and other plant materials removed in forest health projects
as a fuel supply for biomass energy.
- Title III: Authorizes a program to support community-based
watershed forestry partnerships that address critical forest stewardship,
watershed protection and restoration needs at the State and local level.
- Title IV: Directs additional research focused on
the early detection and containment of insect and disease infestations.
- Title V: Establishes a private forestland easement
program focused on recovering forest ecosystem types and protecting
valuable wildlife habitat.
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance under HFI
Environmental Assessment Guidance
The Council on Environmental Quality issued new guidance for preparing
concise environmental assessments for fuels treatment projects. The Departments
of Agriculture and Interior are implementing this guidance for high-priority
forest health projects.
Two new Categorical Exclusions
New procedures that meet the requirements of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) would allow high-priority fuel treatments (e.g., prescribed
fire and thinning) and past fire restoration (e.g., reseeding and planting)
projects to proceed without the need for further individual analysis and
lengthier documentation. The new procedures are limited to projects of
a certain size and must be outside environmentally sensitive areas. The
procedures also require experts to identify fuels treatment projects in
collaboration with State, local, and Tribal governments, landowners, and
other stakeholders. Both categorical exclusions must be consistent with
agency procedures and resource management plans.
Hazardous Fuels Treatment (thinning
and prescribed fire) Categorical Exclusion
To qualify, fuels treatment projects must be:
- Collaboratively selected
- Consistent with resource management plans
- Outside wilderness areas and Wilderness Study Areas
- Fewer than 1,000 acres of mechanical treatment
- Fewer than 4,500 acres of prescribed fire treatment
- In the wildland urban interface or
- In Fire Condition class 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes I,
II, or III
- Free of herbicide or pesticide use
- Without new permanent roads or other infrastructure
- Part of timber sales that have hazardous fuels reduction
as their primary purpose.
Post-Fire Rehabilitation Categorical
Exclusion
This provides a common categorical-exclusion “floor” for all
Federal land-managing agencies. To qualify, a rehabilitation project must:
- Take place only after a wildfire
- Be smaller than 4,200 acres
Stewardship Contracting
Congress extended the authority to conduct stewardship contracting to
BLM and expanded Forest Service’s ability to enter into such contracts.
Stewardship contracts focus on desirable results on the ground that improve
forest and rangeland health and provide benefits to communities. Under
the stewardship contracting guidelines, Federal agencies may enter into
long-term (i.e., up to 10 years) contracts with small businesses, Tribes,
communities, and non-profit organizations to reduce wildfire risk and
improve forest health. In addition, contractors, community groups, and
others may keep vegetative material as partial payment for their service
while improving environmental conditions and adhering to applicable environmental
regulations. Stewardship contracting is intended to help stretch fuels-reduction
dollars by capturing the value of materials removed such as biomass, timber,
or small-diameter trees as part of fuels-reduction projects.
Full Force and Effect Regulations
The BLM has added regulations allowing the agency to make wildfire management
decisions effective immediately when the BLM determines that vegetation,
soil, or other resources on the public lands are at substantial risk of
wildfire due to drought, fuels buildup, or other reasons, or when public
lands are at immediate risk of erosion or other damage due to wildfire.
The regulations also expedite administrative review of such decisions.
Endangered Species Act (ESA) Compliance
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and NOAA Fisheries issued guidance
to improve consultation under the ESA as required by NEPA. Under the new
guidance, agencies will consider the net benefit of hazardous fuels treatment
by adopting a long-term view of impacts when consulting on fuels treatment
projects under ESA’s Section 7, which directs all Federal agencies
to use their existing authorities to conserve threatened and endangered
species. Currently, long-term threats to habitat such as catastrophic
wildfire do not receive the same level of consideration as short-term
disturbances that result from fuels treatment. This guidance is intended
to help agencies better balance the long-term benefits against short-term
impacts.
In December 2003, final joint counterpart regulations for Section 7 consultation
were published. The new regulations eliminate the need to conduct informal
consultation and set aside the requirement to obtain written concurrence
from FWS for those National Fire Plan actions that the Action Agency determines
are not likely to adversely affect any listed species or designated critical
habitat.
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