**Statement for the Record**

**United States Department of the Interior**

**Before the**

**House Natural Resources Committee**

**Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands**

**H.R. 5263, Forest Landscape Restoration Act**

**July 10, 2008**

Thank you for the opportunity to testify for the Department of the
Interior (DOI) on H.R. 5263, the Forest Landscape Restoration Act, which
establishes a collaborative and science-based forest landscape
restoration program that would prioritize and fund forest-based
ecological restoration treatments. The DOI strongly supports landscape
scale restoration efforts, and believes in the goals of landscape-level
approaches to land management. While we do have concerns with the
legislation, which are discussed below, we appreciate the sponsors'
intent in introducing H.R. 5263 to manage land health on a landscape
scale.

In our view, a true ecological approach to restoration begins with a
collaborative evaluation of what is best for the health of the landscape
and is followed by the engagement of the appropriate partners. This
approach is more effective in achieving the mutual goal of improving
landscape health which, in turn, improves resiliency to the risk of
wildfires and invasive species and preserves key wildlife habitat. It
aggregates the investments of the partners and increases the
cost-effectiveness of those investments. We would like to take this
opportunity to share our current efforts to improve the ecological
health of lands through a landscape-scale collaborative approach.

**[Background]{.underline}**

Collaborative landscape-scale treatments continue to be the focus and
priority in carrying out land management objectives on DOI-administered
lands. It is important for us to look at management from a landscape
perspective beyond geopolitical boundaries and isolated ecosystems.
Forests, woodlands and rangelands are a mosaic where the lands,
resources and communities are all interconnected. From this perspective,
we see the interdependence of resources and the need to develop
interdisciplinary strategies for balanced multiple-use management across
the entire landscape.

Several current activities and proposed programs in the Administration's
FY 2009 budget request already promote landscape-level approaches to
restoring and maintaining land health that engage a number of Federal
and non-Federal partners. Examples of key DOI programs include the
Healthy Lands Initiative and the Wildland Fire Hazardous Fuels Reduction
Program.

***Healthy Lands Initiative*** -- One challenge DOI faces is meeting
land health goals that are required to integrate landscape-scale habitat
restoration and resource management. Through the Healthy Lands
Initiative (HLI), DOI is working collaboratively with our Federal and
non-Federal partners to restore, enhance, and protect habitats through
landscape-scale restoration initiatives and conservation planning,
allowing us to continue to fulfill our multiple-use mandates. HLI
considers the health of the land at a landscape scale instead of acre by
acre.

Initiated in Fiscal Year 2007, the Department's Healthy Lands Initiative
focuses on implementing landscape-scale habitat restoration and
conservation projects across both public and private lands. All of the
projects implemented under this Initiative promote the maintenance or
restoration of healthy native plant communities with the increased
ability to survive disturbance events or adapt to anticipated changes in
the environment in the future. The Healthy Lands Initiative represents a
concept for meeting emerging challenges in managing natural resources
for continued multiple-use with flexible landscape-level approaches.
Land restoration efforts are targeted toward priority landscapes to
achieve various resource objectives, including resource protection,
rehabilitation, and biological diversity. A key component of this
initiative is the partnership aspect of HLI and working closely with our
neighbors to initiate and fund landscape-scale restoration work that
allows for continued healthy, working landscapes. The BLM leverages
appropriated funding with matching funds provided by other Federal
agencies, State, local and tribal governments, philanthropic
organizations, advocacy groups, and industry partners.

The 2009 Budget includes a total of \$21.9 million within DOI to meet
land health goals, a \$14 million increase over the 2008 enacted level.
Within DOI, the BLM has the largest level of involvement in this
initiative. In FY 2009, the BLM is requesting a \$10.0 million increase
over the FY 2008 enacted level of funding of \$4.9 million, for a total
of \$14.9 million for HLI. An additional \$8.2 million in BLM base
funding also supports healthy lands. The BLM proposes to expand HLI to
California as an addition to the six initial project areas located in
New Mexico, Utah, South-central Idaho, Southwest Wyoming, Southeast
Oregon-Southwest Idaho-Northern Nevada, and Western Colorado. The
Colorado project area will be expanded to the northwestern part of the
State in 2009.

Our approach, working with our partners to maintain healthy landscapes,
sustain wildlife and maintain continued access to the public lands for
multiple uses, supports a landscape-level approach to natural resource
management and restoration.

We would like to highlight a few of the many successes and planned
efforts that illustrate our ability to conserve the diversity and
productivity of the landscape through the opportunities we have in HLI.

-   The Colorado Landscape Conservation Initiative encompasses 20.5
    million acres of mixed ownership, including roughly 4 million acres
    managed by the BLM. This area provides quality habitat for diverse
    wildlife populations, including seven of the eight remaining
    populations of Gunnison sage-grouse, as well as numerous special
    status species. The BLM, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and
    Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation
    Service, Colorado Division of Wildlife and private partners are
    working together to restore, enhance, and protect habitats through
    conservation planning efforts and partnerships. To enhance existing
    resources and restore conditions, BLM Colorado's planned actions
    include implementing habitat treatment projects, implementing
    effective weed management efforts, expanding native-seed program,
    pursuing conservation easements, and monitoring treatment
    effectiveness. This year BLM is spending close to \$400,000 to treat
    560 acres of wetlands, 12 miles of stream, 3,060 acres of shrub,
    grass, woodland, and 10 riparian projects. In the Fiscal Year 2009
    President's Budget request, the BLM is requesting almost \$2 million
    to treat 1,380 acres of wetlands, 14 miles of stream, 3,110 acres of
    forest, shrub, grass, woodland, 1,380 acres of weeds, and 27
    riparian projects.

-   In New Mexico, the BLM is working closely with private, state, and
    other Federal partners to restore desert grasslands that are being
    supplanted with invasive mesquite. Removing the mesquite from these
    landscapes reduces habitat fragmentation for important species such
    as the lesser prairie chicken and Aplomado falcon and improves the
    natural diversity of desert grasslands. The BLM treated 40,000 acres
    in Fiscal Year 2007, is planning to treat 48,730 acres in Fiscal
    Year 2008, and is requesting almost \$3.5 million to treat 132,320
    acres in Fiscal Year 2009. Additional non-BLM acreage is being
    treated using other contributed funds.

BLM also engages in comprehensive land health treatments through other
base activities. For instance:

-   The BLM plans institutionalization of landscape-level land health
    treatments that characterize HLI. In Montana, the BLM is addressing
    landscape-scale restoration on a 600,000 acre watershed in the
    southwest part of the state. A recent forest health assessment on a
    32,000 acre area, known as the south Tobacco Roots watershed, found
    that altered forest structure, density and species composition in
    the mid-elevation forests, of which both Forest Service and BLM are
    major land managers, is putting these forests at high risk to insect
    epidemic and catastrophic wildfire. The agencies have been working
    collaboratively with private landowners, conservation groups, and
    the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to
    begin restoration across the watershed. The DOI planned actions are
    4,000 acres of forest restoration sales followed by prescribed burn
    and 1,600 acres of juniper treatment by prescribed burn. These
    treatments across the entire watershed will restore the health,
    resiliency and productivity of the entire watershed and continue to
    provide high quality habitat, as well as a high quality place to
    live and work for the people who live here.

***National Fire Plan***/***Healthy Forests Initiative/Healthy Forests
Restoration Act*** - Two major challenges facing DOI are addressing
ecosystem health and the accumulation of flammable fuels on Federal
lands, a major cause of fire risk. Multiple factors contribute to
wildfire, which include weather, fuel type, terrain, location with
respect to the wildland urban interface, and other highly valued
landscapes, and managerial decisions made before and during fire
incidents. As we have noted in past testimony before this Committee, we
are seeing changing temperature and prolonged drought across many
portions of the West and Southwest along with an expansion of the
wildland urban interface resulting from an increase in the number of
people living there. Fifty-seven million people now reside within 25
miles of BLM lands, and BLM lands host approximately 58 million
recreation visits annually.

As current trends indicate wildfire seasons may be lasting longer and
the burned areas are becoming large. Continued accumulation of wood
fiber, and substantial increases in highly flammable invasive species,
are converging to increase the risk of catastrophic loss from wildland
fires. The DOI, along with the Forest Service and other partners, is
addressing cost containment measures to reduce suppression costs. We are
also working hard in developing a cohesive approach among Federal
partners, local governments, private organizations and citizens to
reduce hazardous fuels and restore and maintain forest, woodland and
rangeland health. This is being achieved through various initiatives
such as the National Fire Plan (NFP), the Healthy Forests Initiative
(HFI), and implementation of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
(HFRA). To date, we have made considerable progress.

Since 2001, the DOI has worked aggressively to reduce the amount of
hazardous fuels on Federal lands and restore the health of our public
forests, woodlands and rangelands, utilizing the authorities provided
under the HFI and the HFRA. Of the 258 million acres administered by the
BLM, 69 million acres are forests and woodlands located in the 11
western states. HFI and HFRA have provided the BLM with tools to ensure
sound management practices and to implement hazardous fuels reduction
projects and stewardship contracting.

The BLM's hazardous fuels reduction and forests, woodlands and
rangelands rehabilitation activities have also been guided by the
National Fire Plan (NFP). The goals are to reduce fuels (combustible
forest materials) in forests, woodlands, and rangelands at risk,
rehabilitate and restore fire-damaged ecosystems, and work with local
residents to reduce fire risk and improve fire protection. The NFP is
being successfully implemented under the leadership of an interagency
and intergovernmental group of Federal, state and local agencies working
cooperatively to reduce wildfire risk and restore fire-adapted
ecosystems. Investments made to restore land health today can have a
profound impact on the resiliency of the treated acres to catastrophic
and expensive wildfires in the future. Many treatments, such as thinning
in forests and woodlands, have an additional benefit of improving
watershed conditions, wildlife habitat, and species diversity. Overall,
the DOI has applied nearly 8 million acres of hazardous fuels reduction
treatments to forests, woodlands, and rangelands on the public lands
since 2001, using the tools of prescribed burns, and chemical and
mechanical fuels treatments, as well as restored 1.4 million acres
through other landscape restoration activities.

The 2009 President's budget proposes \$850 million to support fire
preparedness, suppression, fuels reduction, and burned area
rehabilitation needs for the DOI. Excluding supplemental funding, this
is a \$42 million increase over the 2008 enacted level. The DOI
continues to support the Healthy Forests Initiative. The budget proposes
\$202 million for hazardous fuels reduction program. These funds will
support more high-priority fuels treatment projects. Putting forth the
effort to cooperatively reduce wildfire risk and restore fire-adapted
ecosystems now will lead to reduced fire impacts and costs in the
future.

**[H.R. 5263]{.underline}**

The legislation calls for the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture to jointly establish a collaborative Forest
Landscape Restoration Program to select and fund ecological restoration
treatments for priority forest landscapes.

Section 4(c) discusses eligibility criteria for collaborative forest
landscape restoration proposal nominations. One criterion is for the
proposals to be comprised primarily of forested covered Federal lands,
but may also include other Federal, State, tribal, or private land.

Section 4(d) describes the nomination process, requiring the State
Director of the Bureau of Land Management or a Regional Forester to
nominate collaborative forest landscape restoration proposals for
selection by the Secretaries.

Section 4 (g) establishes a fund for the cost of carrying out ecological
restoration treatments on covered Federal lands, allowing the
Secretaries to use the fund to treat covered Federal lands for each
collaborative forest landscape restoration proposal selected. It is
unclear if the fund can be used to treat lands outside those managed by
the BLM and the National Forest System that comprise a portion of a
selected restoration project. The section also authorizes to be
appropriated \$40 million for each of fiscal years 2008-2018, to remain
available until expended, and it references interest to be credited to
the fund.

Section 4(h) states the Secretaries shall, in collaboration with
interested persons, create an implementation work plan and budget to
implement the collaborative forest landscape restoration proposal, along
with use of a multiparty monitoring, evaluation, and accountability
process for not less than 15 years after project implementation
commences. The bill also requires the Secretaries to report on
accomplishments for collaborative forest landscape projects carried out
under the authorities of this legislation.

As previously stated, we support landscape level approaches to land
health. The legislation would provide the Secretaries with an additional
tool for restoration treatments for priority forest landscapes on public
lands. As noted above, however, the Department, through the Wildland
Fire Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program and the Healthy Lands Initiative,
and the U.S. Forest Service already engage in activities proposed to be
included in the bill. Moreover, the FY 2009 budget proposes Ecosystems
Services Demonstration Projects in the Forest Service, described in
greater detail in the Forest Service's testimony today.

Of particular concern to the Administration is the creation of the
Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund. The bill requires the
Fund provide up to fifty percent of the cost of carrying out ecological
restoration. It is not clear what mechanism would require Federal
agencies to seek partner funding from non-Federal sources. Leveraging
Federal funds with non-Federal funds is a vital element to successfully
undertaking landscape level restoration projects as it facilitates
collaboration and commitment by our non-Federal partners**.** The bill
references interest earned on the fund under section 4(g)(1)(B).  The
Administration objects to this provision. Amounts available for
investment should be limited to funds collected from the public and not
to funds appropriated from the General Fund which are not made subject
to the appropriations process.  We also have concerns that
implementation of the bill may be administratively burdensome.

Finally, we are committed to working with the Committee and the
legislation's sponsor to ensure that any legislation effectively
considers the health and restoration of forests, woodlands and
rangelands.

**[Conclusion]{.underline}**

Landscape-scale restoration continues to be a high priority for DOI. In
collaboration with our partners, we have made considerable strides in
restoring thousands of acres of Federal lands along with state and
privately-owned lands under the jurisdiction of our partners. The DOI
will continue to work towards achieving priorities in an effort to make
significant improvements in the health and productivity of the public
forests, woodlands and rangelands at the landscape level. We look
forward to working with the Subcommittee on H.R. 5263. Thank you for the
opportunity to testify, I will be happy to answer any questions.