**Statement of**

**Abigail Kimbell**

**Chief, USDA Forest Service**

**Before**

**SENATE COMMITTEE on ENERGY and NATURAL RESOUCES**

**Concerning**

**FOREST SERVICE**

**FISCAL YEAR 2008 BUDGET**

**February 28, 2007**

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, it is a great privilege to be
here today to discuss the President's budget for the Forest Service in
fiscal year 2008. Let me also say, having been Chief of the Forest
Service for just a month, I am deeply honored to have this opportunity.

First, I want to express my gratitude to Secretary Johanns for his
confidence in me, and to thank the dedicated, hard-working employees of
the Forest Service for their support and encouragement. Let me also
express my appreciation in advance to you Mr. Chairman and Members of
the Committee for working with the Forest Service and me during this
transition.

I will begin by saying a few words about myself and my long-time
commitment to the Forest Service. I have worked in the Forest Service
for more than 30 years. I started as a seasonal employee and went on to
serve as Forester, Planner, District Ranger, Forest Supervisor, Regional
Forester, and Associate Deputy Chief, among other positions. I have
worked in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, and
Washington D.C. Equipped with these experiences, I am eager to lead the
Forest Service into its second century of service, and am humbled by the
duties entrusted in me as Chief.

For those new members who may be unfamiliar with our agency, the U.S.
Forest Service works to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity
of the Nation's 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands. We
not only steward the National Forest System, but also provide states,
Tribes, and private forest landowners with technical and financial
assistance. Moreover, we are the world's largest forestry research
organization.

In its second century of service, the Forest Service faces diverse
challenges. These include restoring fire-adapted forests to more
resilient conditions, providing natural resource raw materials to the
American public, providing sustainable recreation opportunities,
mitigating the loss of open space, addressing the spread of invasive
species, restoring watershed health, and more---all during a period of
rapid fragmentation, intensive development, and landscape-scale change.
These challenges occur at a time when our nation is pursuing deficit
reduction goals. The Forest Service is responding, adapting, and
modernizing in response to the complex and evolving environment in which
we operate.

Before I begin my testimony on the 2008 Budget however, I would like to
reflect on Chief Bosworth's leadership and some of his many achievements
during these past six years.

**[\
The Forest Service under Chief Bosworth]{.underline}**

When Chief Bosworth took the helm of the Forest Service, the agency's
finances were in disarray. The General Accountability Office had listed
the Forest Service among agencies at high risk for waste, fraud, and
abuse. Under Dale Bosworth's leadership, the agency progressed from
being "in receivership," to achieving five consecutive clean audit
opinions from the USDA Office of the Inspector General. Chief Bosworth
reduced overhead costs, reorganized the Deputy areas by eliminating two
Deputy Chief positions and reducing staff, and guided the agency through
the centralization and reengineering of its business processes ---whose
net cost reductions will approach \$100 million by fiscal year 2008. The
Forest Service's improved business policies, processes, and organization
have enhanced internal controls, eliminated duplication, and created
accurate and complete financial data. Under the President's Healthy
Forests Initiative, Chief Bosworth oversaw hazardous fuels reduction on
more than 8.5 million acres. Further, the Chief responded with
confidence and composure to such momentous challenges as September
11^th^; the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita; and a period of wildland fire frequency and severity heretofore
unprecedented in the modern era. Chief Bosworth skillfully ushered the
Forest Service into the 21^st^ Century's complex and demanding
environment.

**[Forest Service fiscal year 2008 Budget]{.underline}**

This budget request must be viewed in the larger context of the overall
federal budget in which it is presented. Like other non-defense domestic
discretionary programs, the Forest Service faces a constrained budget.
And the results of the Administration's policies on economic growth and
fiscal restraint include cutting the deficit in half, three years sooner
than originally predicted. The fiscal year 2008 President's Budget
request for the Forest Service is \$4.127 billion, which is
approximately the same level of funding as fiscal year 2006 and a modest
reduction below fiscal year 2007. However, within that total are some
important shifts: the budget makes important changes to the Wildland
Fire account, maintains funding for Healthy Forests including the
commitment to fully fund the Northwest Forest Plan to provide 800
million board feet of timber, and emphasizes public health and safety by
proposing a significant increase in the Law Enforcement Operations
budget. These increases are offset by reductions in other programs so
that wider administration goals of supporting the Global War on Terror
and sustaining the momentum of the economic recovery can continue. The
President's Budget addresses reductions by continuing or implementing
new cost saving measures and by enhancing efficiencies and streamlining
management and organization.

*Wildland Fire.* During the 2006 fire season the United States
experienced more than 95,000 wildfire ignitions, and more than 9.9
million acres burned. Of those 9.9 million acres burned, approximately 5
million acres were on Federal lands and the balance on non-Federal
lands. The Forest Service continued its excellent track record in
protecting lives, property, and the environment. However, as occurred in
4 of the last 7 years, in 2006 the Forest Service spent over \$1 billion
for suppression activities---a record \$1.5 billion. The increasing
frequency of "billion dollar" fire-fighting years is driving up the 10
year average suppression cost figure, which is used to determine annual
suppression funding levels.

The 2008 Budget responds to escalating fire costs in three important
ways. First, the budget provides funding for suppression at the 10 year
average level, adjusted for inflation. The 2008 Budget funds Suppression
at \$911 million---a 23 percent increase over 2007 levels of \$741
million. Further, the 2008 Budget reflects refinement of the concept of
"appropriate management response" toward a risk-informed fire
suppression approach. Under the risk-informed approach, wildland fire
will be managed on a priority basis as determined by considering private
property, infrastructure, and human values most at-risk and resource
benefits associated with the incident. In 2008 we will increase our
decision support for this refined approach. New tools, including
improved fire behavior monitoring and prediction, and costs and benefits
of alternative suppression strategies will help managers decide how to
respond to fires. In addition, the 2008 Budget pursues a more efficient
and precise budget structure by establishing a separate account for
"firefighter" expenditures. The 2008 Budget requests \$220 million for
this new appropriation, which will fund salary and training for 10,000
firefighters and 67 type I hot shot crews.

*Healthy Forests.* The Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI) was launched in
2002 to reduce administrative process delays to implementing projects,
and Congress passed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) in 2003.
The Act provides improved statutory processes for hazardous fuel
reduction projects on certain types of at-risk National Forest System
and Bureau of Land Management lands and also provides other authorities
and direction to help reduce hazardous fuels and restore healthy forest
and rangeland conditions on lands of all ownerships. The 2008 Budget
maintains funding throughout the programs that support the Healthy
Forests Initiative, including Hazardous Fuels, Forest Products, and
applied Fire Science and Silvicultural Research. At least 40 percent of
hazardous fuels funding will be used on projects that contribute to the
goal of improving condition class on at least 250,000 acres by the end
of the fiscal year through the use of HFRA and HFI authorities. In
addition, the Budget supports a hazardous fuels reduction target of 3
million acres, a timber sales target of 3.5 billion board feet, and
fully funds the Northwest Forest Plan, including a significant increase
in Capital Improvement and Maintenance (Roads) to maintain the road
infrastructure needed to support Northwest Forest Plan timber sales.

*Law Enforcement Operations*. The 2008 Budget proposes a \$13 million
increase in Law Enforcement Operations. Recent years have seen a
significant increase in crime on National Forests, causing resource
impacts and increasing risks to public and employee safety. Agency law
enforcement officers are increasingly responding to violent crimes,
including rape, homicide, domestic disputes, assault, robbery, drug
manufacturing and trafficking, and other serious felony crimes. In
addition, law enforcement officers routinely respond to traffic
accidents, search and rescue, medical or emergency assistance, hazardous
materials spills, domestic terrorist activity, large group events and
gang activity. In addition to reducing the impacts on natural resources
and avoiding the associated costs of restoration, the requested funding
increase will enable the Forest Service to maintain public and employee
security and reduce illegal occupancy of National Forests.

In order to fund these high priority programs, the Budget makes hard
tradeoffs to other programs. Moreover, efficiencies gained through the
centralization of Business Operations, Planning Rule revisions, and
renewed focus on collaborative management will help offset reductions
under the fiscal year 2008 Budget request. In fiscal year 2008 and
fiscal year 2009, the agency will further its efforts to optimize
organizational efficiency by restructuring leadership and program
management functions at its National and Regional Offices. In order to
provide additional funding for on-the-ground performance, many
headquarters and regional activities will be consolidated on a
centralized basis, and appropriate program management functions will be
zoned across multiple regions. The Forest Service will realize personnel
cost decreases of approximately 25 percent in National and Regional
Office operations by the end of fiscal year 2009. An executive Steering
team, led by Eastern Regional Forester Randy Moore, has been appointed
to oversee the reorganization effort.

I will now discuss program changes of the Research, State and Private
Forestry, National Forest System, Capital Improvement and Maintenance,
and Land Acquisition accounts.

**[Forest & Rangeland Research]{.underline}**

The Forest Service Research Program is a globally recognized leader at
exploring the fundamental ecological, biological, social, and economic
questions and issues challenging natural resource management and
conservation in the modern era. Not only do Forest Service research
efforts inform Forest Service management, conservation, education, and
outreach activities; but importantly, our Research programs inform the
conservation activities of the global community.

The 2008 Budget funds Research at \$263 million. This is a 7 percent
decrease from the 2007 funding estimate of \$280 million. The budget
eliminates funding for un-requested Congressional earmarks and employs
investment criteria to ensure alignment between research projects and
strategic priorities. Funding priorities within the request include
continued research to improve large fire decision support, particularly
with respect to improving managers' ability to predict probability of
fire occurrence and spread related to values at risk, long-term
integrated planning, successful collaboration with communities, and
further development of improved tools for integrated risk analysis. The
invasive species program area includes new funding for research on
biological control of invasive weeds. To help meet the Nation's energy
needs there is an increase of \$1.3 million to enhance research on
wood-based bio-fuels development and conversion processes, bio-refinery
applications, energy efficient housing, and processing and manufacturing
energy reduction, life cycle analysis of wood, and marketing analysis
for energy and bio-based products. The 2008 Budget also retains support
for Forest Inventory and Analysis, which is of great importance in the
context of tracking today's dramatic ecological changes and their
effects on forest resources.

Forest Service Research and Development has focused on strengthening the
conformance of its research program with the President's Management
Agenda criteria for Federal research agencies: quality, relevance and
performance. Research has identified 7 Strategic Program Areas (SPA),
and developed strategic plans for each one. Further, Research plans to
conduct national external panel reviews of each SPA, as well as reviews
of each Research Station's alignment with the SPAs. These include
periodic peer review and evaluation of all scientist positions through
the Research Panel Process, peer review of proposed study plans and
manuscripts for publication, and periodic updating of station quality
assurance and quality control plans. During 2006, a restructuring of the
Research headquarters staff was initiated to improve responsiveness,
quality, relevance, performance and efficiency.

**[State & Private Forestry]{.underline}**

The State and Private Forestry program is a critical component of the
Forest Service's conservation mission in that it connects the agency's
research and federal public lands-based programs to those of states and
private individuals and entities. State and Private Forestry programs
work across boundaries to conserve forested landscapes and open spaces,
and protect the ecological services they provide. State and Private
Forestry programs assist successful conservation of the nation's natural
resources by enhancing cooperation between individuals, non-governmental
organizations, states, and the federal government.

The 2008 Budget funds State and Private Forestry at \$203 million, an 11
percent decrease from 2007 funding levels of \$229 million. Funding will
be focused on priority activities in the Forest Health and Cooperative
Fire programs.

The Forest Health program will receive more than \$90 million and
provide for treatments of invasive and native pests on more than 600,000
acres of priority forest and rangelands. When combined with funds
received under the National Fire Plan, the total acreage will increase
by almost one-third and will yield close to 800,000 acres of treatments.
Attention will be placed on priority pests such as the southern pine
beetle, the western bark beetle and slowing the spread of gypsy moth. In
fiscal year 2008, the Forest Health program will emphasize increased
early survey and monitoring efforts against invasive species. These
activities are important and integral to the overall program -
increasing the agency's ability to prevent and detect problems early is
a more cost-effective way to deal with invasives than treatments after
wide spread infestations have occurred.

The Cooperative Fire program will receive more than \$42 million and
will help more than 9,800 communities protect themselves from disastrous
wildland fires. The majority of funds allow the Forest Service to
provide financial assistance to state and local fire agencies, which in
turn use the grant monies to develop and implement cooperative wildland
fire preparedness programs and conduct hazardous fuel treatments around
communities. A very successful program funded under the Cooperative Fire
activity is *Firewise*, which emphasizes individual responsibility for
fire hazard mitigation on community and private property. The program
provides education and support to community leaders, and assistance with
mitigating wildland fire hazards around structures. Moreover, the
program leverages \$4 dollars in local matching funds for every federal
dollar spent, allowing the program to assist more communities.

Finally, more than \$66 million in the State and Private Forestry
program will fund priority Cooperative Forestry programs including the
Forest Legacy Program, which will receive \$29 million. These funds will
be used on 14 projects and which are expected to conserve 97,000 acres
of important forest resources. To date, more than 1.4 million acres of
environmentally important private lands have been protected through the
Forest Legacy Program and with more than 429 million acres of the
Nation's forest held in private ownership this program continues to be
important to prevent critical forest lands from being converted or
fragmented.

The balance of funding in the Cooperative Forestry program will fund
Forest Stewardship and Urban and Community Forestry activities. All
State and Private programs will focus on national goals to produce
public benefit outcomes. State-developed resource plans will identify
priority response to national goals. This approach is designed to
connect with all ownerships in a collective effort to achieve healthy
forest objectives and protect human communities from wildland fire.

**[National Forest System Appropriations]{.underline}**

The National Forest System account provides funds for the stewardship
and management of National Forests and Grasslands. The 2008 Budget
requests \$1.344 billion for this account, which is a net programmatic
reduction of \$67 million or 5 percent from the fiscal year 2007
estimate. This decrease from prior year levels reflects greater
efficiencies gained through organizational restructuring of leadership
and program management functions at the National and Regional Offices.
In order to provide additional funding for on-the-ground performance,
many headquarters and regional activities will be consolidated on a
centralized basis, and appropriate program management functions will be
zoned across multiple regions. Moreover, efficiencies gained through the
centralization of Business Operations, Planning Rule revisions, and
renewed focus on collaborative management will help offset reductions
under the fiscal year 2008 Budget.

As discussed previously, the fiscal year 2008 Budget supports full
funding for the Northwest Forest Plan and emphasizes pubic safety.
Specifically, the National Forest System 2008 Budget proposes \$319
million for Forest Products, an increase of 5 percent. Funds allow for
the continued full implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan and
support an overall timber sales target of 3.5 billion board feet,
including 800 million board feet from the Northwest Forest Plan. The
Budget also proposes an increase of \$13 million to Law Enforcement for
a total of \$124 million. The increased funding will be used to hire,
train, and equip 47 new law enforcement officers and special agents.
Increased visibility of law enforcement will improve public and employee
safety and address foreign drug trafficking organizations on the
National Forests.

The 2008 Budget proposes to hold funding in Grazing Management at prior
year levels for a total of \$47 million. Maintaining this level will
enable the Agency to comply with the Rescissions Act of 1995 by
completing the backlog of NEPA-based environmental analysis.

Funds are available to other programs in the National Forest System
account to address highest priority needs. The 2008 Budget proposes
funding for Land Management Planning at \$53 million, a decrease of 6
percent. Funds will be used to support work to complete 16 Land
Management Plan revisions and continue work of another 16 plan
revisions, all of which are being developed using the new Planning Rule.
The fiscal year 2008 Budget also proposes \$146 million for Inventory
and Monitoring programs, a decrease of 10 percent. Funds will focus on
forest plan monitoring and establishing Environmental Management Systems
on 50 National Forest units, which completes the requirement of the 2005
Planning Rule. Environmental Management Systems are a comprehensive
approach to improving the management of environmental issues and
performance on individual units.

The 2008 Budget proposes funding for Recreation, Heritage, and
Wilderness at \$231 million, a decrease of 9 percent. In fiscal year
2008, the agency will continue to emphasize implementation of the travel
management rule in order to address issues of unmanaged recreation,
visitor safety and resource protection. By fiscal year end, the agency
will have 48 percent of National Forest System lands covered by travel
plans. Program funds will permit continued operation of recreation
sites, although some reduction in seasons and hours for visitor
information services may occur in some locations. National Forests are
currently undertaking a process to analyze their recreation facilities
and evaluate the future needs of the recreating public. The process, the
Recreation Site Facility Master Planning, is an analysis tool, to
encourage dialogue amongst a variety of interested communities on the
changing demands for recreation facilities on national forests and what
options may exist to respond to those changes.

The recreation program will continue to strengthen relationships with
private, volunteer-based, and nonprofit organizations to ensure some
capacity levels are maintained and more particular to make programs and
services relevant to youth in diverse and underserved populations.

The fiscal year 2008 President's Budget requests \$71 million for
Minerals and Geology Management program, a decrease of 14 percent. The
energy component of the program will focus on increasing opportunities
for environmentally sensitive development and supply of oil and gas,
coal, and geothermal resources from Federal lands in support of the
Energy Policy Act of 2005. Funding levels to support environmental
compliance and environmental restoration will continue at prior year
levels to ensure required audits are continued and to focus on cleaning
up publicly accessible abandoned mines and other contaminated sites in
high priority watersheds.

The budget also proposes funding for Wildlife and Fisheries Management
at \$118 million, a decrease of 8 percent, and for Vegetation and
Watershed Management at \$154 million, a program decrease of 12 percent.
Focus in the wildlife and fisheries program will be on improving fish
and aquatic passage, recovery of the Columbia basin salmon, and on-going
recovery efforts of other species including the Bighorn Sheep.

In addition to efficiencies garnered through organizational alignment
and greater use of the new Planning Rule, the Forest Service will
continue to achieve efficiencies by centralizing Business Operations,
utilizing email and video conferencing to lower travel costs, realigning
the Agency, and will see these efficiencies and reduced costs continue
over time. The net result is to maintain our foremost commitment to the
land and focus funding on where the work gets done.

**[Capital Improvement & Maintenance]{.underline}**

The Capital Improvement & Maintenance Program provides for, and
maintains, the infrastructure for many Forest Service programs
including; the transportation networks upon which many of our management
operations, projects, and users depend; the recreational infrastructure,
including trails that serve many diverse populations; and facilities
that house Forest Service employees.

The 2008 Budget funds Capital Improvement & Maintenance at \$422.5
million, a net programmatic increase of \$15 million. To support the
goal of selling 3.5 billion board feet of timber, the 2008 Budget
requests an additional \$17 million for Road Improvement and
Maintenance. In addition to this request, the Forest Service will
continue to receive revenues from sites conveyed under authorities
provided by the Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act, which has to
date provided \$34 million in receipts to convey unneeded administrative
sites and retain the proceeds for building maintenance, rehabilitation,
and construction.

**[Land Acquisition]{.underline}**

Land covered by urban areas has more than doubled over the last 40
years, and more than 44 million acres of private forests are at-risk of
being developed by 2030. The Land Acquisition account enables the Forest
Service to perennially stay abreast of, and act upon, the changing
land-use patterns, demographic trends, and ecological changes. The Land
Acquisition program allows us to pursue landscape connectivity, by
purchasing in-holdings and keystone habitat parcels, and to manage the
national forests as ecosystems rather than simply as real estate.

The 2008 Budget funds Land Acquisitions at \$16.99 million. This
includes \$8 million to purchase land and \$7.7 million for acquisition
management. The funding will allow us to move forward with 7 high
priority acquisitions. The funding request continues a trend of
declining budgets for land acquisition. However, the Budget also
contains a legislative proposal that permits the Forest Service to
retain upwards of \$400 million in land sales for acquisition of
national forest lands. The parcels to be sold have already been
identified as suitable for sale or exchange because they are isolated or
inefficient to manage. Lands with high environmental value will not be
offered for sale, while acquisitions would focus on parcels that enhance
the environmental integrity of our National Forests. Given the
importance of maintaining assets already in federal ownership, the
Budget strikes a good balance with the need to acquire and preserve
special places.

**[Conclusion]{.underline}**

Priority forest management issues such as reducing hazardous fuels in
the Wildland Urban Interface and prevention of property destruction by
catastrophic wildfires will be increasingly integrated with other
pressing policy issues, including sequestering carbon, preserving open
space, improving watershed health, and other mission-driven goals. We
are addressing the costs of wildland fire suppression to mitigate
constraints on other Forest Service programs. Our risk-based suppression
approach and Healthy Forests Initiative fuels reduction work---much like
our Business Operations centralization and collaborative management
efforts---will reap tremendous mid- and long-term efficiencies in the
contexts of agency budgets and reducing risk to human communities posed
by wildland fire. The 2008 Budget reflects the President's commitment to
providing the critical resources needed for our Nation's highest
priorities. The 2008 Budget also responds to the national need for
deficit reduction while preparing the Forest Service for a new, more
collaborative, era of natural resource management. With this Budget, the
Forest Service will continue to identify and support more efficient and
effective methods of pursuing its mission. This will be accomplished
through increased collaboration, the use of legislative authorities,
expanded program efficiencies, and improved organizational and financial
management. Through these efforts the Forest Service will continue to
sustain the health and productivity of the Nation's forests and
grasslands.

Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the President's Budget. I look
forward to working with you to implement our fiscal year 2008 program,
and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.