For Immediate Release
May 20, 2003
The 2003 Fire Season
The 2003 Season: Record Resources Available to Fight Wildfires;
Record Amounts of Fuels Treatment Work Underway
Threat from Catastrophic Fires Continues
Our nation's forests and rangelands are at risk. An estimated 190
million acres of federal forests and rangelands in the United States,
an area twice the size of California, face high risk of catastrophic
fire. Years of natural fuels buildup, coupled with drought conditions,
insect infestation and disease make forests and rangelands in many
areas throughout the country vulnerable to intense and environmentally
destructive fires. Many ponderosa pine forests are 15 times denser
than they were a century ago. Where 25 to 35 trees once grew on each
acre of forest, now more than 500 trees are crowded together in
unhealthy conditions.
In 2000, the United States suffered its worst wildland fires in
50 years. Last year's fire season - among the worst in the past four
decades - saw 88,458 fires burn 7.2 million acres, an area larger than
the states of Maryland and Rhode Island combined. Three states -
Oregon, Colorado and Arizona - registered their worst fires in history
in 2002.
The Bush Administration - through the Department of the Interior
agencies and the Forest Service at the Department of Agriculture - is
responding to this challenge by: proposing record levels of funding for
firefighting (up 55 percent from 2000), hiring additional fire
fighters, purchasing additional equipment, accomplishing record levels
of fuels treatment (this year's estimated 2.8 million acres being
treated is up 1,600,000 acres since 2000) and by advancing its Healthy
Forests Initiative (including four administrative reforms and proposed
legislation) as a long-term solution.
Outlook for 2003 Fire Season
Parts of the country, especially the East and the Southeast, are at
less risk of wildfires this year because of substantial winter snow and
spring rainfall. Nationally, so far this year, the number of fires
started and the number of acres burned are half of the eight-year
average.
The fire season has not yet started for several states that are at
substantial risk of wildland fire. These include parts of Alaska,
Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, California, Colorado,
Washington, Oregon, Michigan and Wisconsin. Snowpack and precipitation
is below average in many of these areas.
More Resources Available to Fight Fires
To address the wildfire situation, the Bush Administration has
worked on a bi-partisan basis to increase the resources available for
fire fighting and fire preventive fuels treatment work. The result:
federal dollars available in 2003 to fight fires have increased 55
percent since 2000.
Program |
2000 |
2003 |
2004 |
Wildland Fire Preparedness |
$547,617* |
$887,408 |
$892,472 |
Fire Suppression Operations |
197,256 |
577,273 |
799,890 |
Other Operations: |
Hazardous Fuel Reduction |
117,040 |
412,253 |
417,582 |
Rehabilitation and Restoration |
20,000 |
26,948 |
24,500 |
Fire Facilities |
0 |
1,838 |
0 |
Research and Development |
0 |
21,288 |
21,427 |
Joint Fire Sciences |
0 |
7,948 |
8,000 |
Forest Health Management |
0 |
16,824 |
11,934 |
Economic Action Program |
0 |
4,967 |
0 |
Community and Private Assistance |
0 |
0 |
0 |
State Fire Assistance |
23,929 |
71,738 |
71,840 |
Volunteer/Rural Fire Assistance |
3,240 |
23,128 |
23,283 |
Emergency Suppression Contingency |
390,000 |
0 |
0 |
TOTAL, DOI and USDA |
$1,326,088 |
$2,051,613 |
$2,270,928 |
* Dollars are in the thousands. FY 2000 and 2003 are enacted levels; FY 2004 is the President's request. |
These additional dollars have resulted in more firefighting
resources being available. As the following chart shows, there are
more firefighters, helicopters, airtankers, and heavy equipment to
fight fires. This has allowed them to continue to do an outstanding
job of fire fighting, controlling over 99 percent of wildfires on
initial attack in 2002.
Resource |
FY 2000 |
FY 2003 |
Firefighters |
12,131 |
15,330 |
Type I crews |
68 |
90 |
Engines (all types) |
2,197 |
2,581 |
Dozers/plows/tenders |
286 |
335 |
Airtankers |
64 |
72 |
Helicopters |
119 |
151 |
This year, firefighting crews and equipment will be pre-positioned
as needed in states to provide effective initial wildfire attack.
Additional helicopters and single engine airtankers will be used to
provide equivalent protection due to the reduced availability of large,
multi-engine air tankers that have been grounded for safety reasons.
Record Amounts of Fuels Treatment Work Underway
The long-term solution to catastrophic wildfires is to address
their causes by reducing fuel hazards and returning our forests and
rangelands to healthy conditions. Tree thinning and removal of dense
underbrush can ensure thriving forests while reducing risks of
catastrophic fires and the dangers they pose to firefighters, private
property and communities.
The Administration is meeting the challenge. Last year, the
Administration set a record in the amount of fuels treatment work
done. More than 2.25 million acres were treated. This is a million
acres more than were treated in FY 2000. By the end of FY 2003, even
more acres - 2,853,000 acres - are projected to be treated. So far
this year, 1.4 million acres have been treated, 133,000 acres more than
had been treated at this time last year and 531,000 acres more than had
been treated in 2001. Still, there is much more work to be done - tens
of millions of additional acres are in need of treatment.
The President's Healthy Forests Initiative Being Implemented
Over the next several weeks, the Administration will complete the
administrative reforms President Bush called for as part of his Healthy
Forests Initiative. These improvements include:
- establishing new procedures provided for under the National
Environmental Policy Act that will enable priority fuels treatment
(thinning) and forest restoration (reseeding and planting) projects to
proceed quickly. Fuels treatment projects under this procedure must be
identified by federal agency experts working in collaboration with
state, local and tribal governments and interested persons. Based on
the agencies' experience with over 2,600 projects where environmental
analyses showed no significant environmental impact, the procedures
will allow similar new projects to proceed without the need for further
individual analyses and lengthier documentation;
- amending the agencies' administrative appeal rules to expedite
appeals of forest health projects and encourage early and more
meaningful public participation. These improvements will reduce
complex procedures, provide more timely decisions and provide great
flexibility in emergency situations;
- expediting consultation by federal agencies on the impacts that
fuels treatment projects may have on endangered species; and
- implementing the Council on Environmental Quality guidance intended
to establish an improved and focused process for conducting
environmental assessments, is underway. Fifteen pilot fuels treatment
projects using the guidance are expected to be completed this summer.
On the legislative front, last year President Bush asked Congress
to expand stewardship contracting authority, which Congress granted.
These contracts allow contractors to keep wood products in exchange for
the service of thinning trees and brush and removing dead wood.
Long-term contracts foster a public/private partnership to restore
forest and rangeland health by giving contractors the incentive to
invest in equipment and infrastructure needed to productively use
material generated from forest thinning, such as small-diameter logs,
to make wood products or to produce biomass energy, all at tremendous
savings to taxpayers.
Sixty-two stewardship contracts are projected to be approved this
year up from last year's total of 26. Substantially more stewardship
contracts are expected to be approved in FY 2004.
Major Improvements to the Wildfire Program
Since taking office, the Bush Administration has implemented major
reforms to the wildfire program. It reached agreement with Governors,
state and local officials and tribes on a 10-year Comprehensive
Strategy and Implementation Plan for reducing wildland fire risks to
communities, private property and the environment. It established a
Wildland Fire Leadership Council including representatives of federal,
state, local, and tribal interests to coordinate wildland fire
management policies. It required all fuels treatment projects to be
collaborated with state and local officials. It developed common
performance measures. It developed an automated reporting system for
federal agencies to track and measure performance.
Action by Congress is Needed
The Administration commends the House Agriculture, Judiciary and
Resources Committees for passing H.R. 1904, which would provide
authorities that are largely consistent with the President's Healthy
Forests Initiative. The Administration strongly supports H.R. 1904 and
encourages the House and Senate to complete action on the bill as soon
as possible.
The legislation would provide additional tools for land managers to
help them protect lives and communities, to restore the health of
forests and rangelands, to safeguard important wildlife habitat and
watersheds. The Healthy Forest Restoration Act establishes procedures
to expedite forest and rangeland restoration projects on Forest Service
and BLM lands. It focuses on lands (1) near communities in the
wildland urban interface, (2) in high risk municipal watersheds, (3)
that provide important habitat for threatened and endangered species
where wildlife officials have identified catastrophic wildfire as a
threat to the survival of the species, and (4) where bugs or disease
are destroying the forest and increasing the threat of catastrophic
wildfire. It also provides improved timelines for judicial review to
ensure that court decisions about critical time-sensitive management
actions are completed quickly. Additionally, the bill would:
- help communities create a cost-effective use for wood, brush and
other plant materials removed in forest health projects as a biomass
energy fuel supply;
- authorize 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;
- direct additional research focused on the early detection and
containment of insect and disease infestations; and
- establish a private forestland easement program focused on
recovering forest ecosystem types and protecting valuable wildlife
habitat.
To download maps of the wildland fire outlook for 2003, insect
infestation nationwide, and charts of fuel treatments by fiscal year,
visit www.fs.fed.us.
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