A Collaborative Approach for

Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to

Communities and the Environment

10-Year Comprehensive Strategy

August 2001
Contents

Summary 1

Preface 3

Core Principles, Goals, and Actions 7

Framework for Collaboration 12

Implementation Plan 13

Conclusion 14

Glossary 15

Appendix I (List of Support Documents) 17

Appendix II (Document Preparation) 19

Appendix III (Individuals Who Commented) 20

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Summary

A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities

and the Environment

10-Year Comprehensive Strategy

This strategy reflects the views of a broad cross-section of governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders. It outlines a

comprehensive approach to the management of wildland fire, hazardous fuels, and ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation

on Federal and adjacent State, tribal, and private forest and range lands in the United States. This strategy emphasizes

measures to reduce the risk to communities and the environment and provides an effective framework for collaboration to

accomplish this.

Congress directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to work with the Governors to develop this strategy in the

FY 2001 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (P.L. 106-291). The direction requires “close collaboration

among citizens and governments at all levels,” which, by extension, includes a geographically diverse group of people,

representing all levels of government, tribal interests, conservation and commodity groups, and community-based restoration groups.

A set of core principles was developed to guide the identification of goals for this strategy. These principles include such

concepts as collaboration, priority setting, and accountability.

An open, collaborative process among multiple levels of government and a range of interests will characterize the fulfillment

of this strategy. The end results sought by all stakeholders are healthier watersheds, enhanced community protection, and

diminished risk and consequences of severe wildland fires. The primary goals of the 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy are:

1. Improve Prevention and Suppression

2. Reduce Hazardous Fuels

3. Restore Fire Adapted Ecosystems

4. Promote Community Assistance

Core

Principles

Goals

1
This community-based approach to wildland fire issues combines cost-effective fire preparedness and suppression to protect

communities and the environment with a proactive approach that recognizes fire as part of a healthy, sustainable ecosystem.

The multi-faceted nature of the issues and jurisdictions addressed by this strategy necessitates communication and collaboration across Federal and adjacent State, tribal, and private forest and range lands. While the line officers of the land

management agencies are the principal decisionmakers concerning public lands, the collaborative framework, with clear

roles and responsibilities, will assist in the implementation of this strategy across all ownerships and jurisdictions.

This strategy recognizes that key decisions in setting restoration and fire and fuel management project priorities should

be made at the local level. Consequently, there should be an ongoing process whereby the stakeholders exchange information necessary to make fully informed decisions. As part of the implementation plan to be developed for the strategy,

an information system will be designed to facilitate information gathering and exchange.

Successful implementation of the 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy and the National Fire Plan is a top priority for the

Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior, as well as the Governors, tribes, and other interested stakeholders. An implementation plan will be developed to provide consistent and standard direction for each of the Federal and

State partner agencies. The plan should include approaches and processes to implement the common purposes articulated

in the strategy and the National Fire Plan in an integrated and cost-effective manner.

The Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior will develop common and consistent national performance

measures and reporting procedures for each action, identify common priorities, and set specific timeframes for accomplishments over the 10-year period. The actions in this strategy must be consistent with each agency’s Strategic Plan.

By May 1, 2002, a detailed implementation plan will be developed in collaboration with the Governors to establish detailed

and consistent operational ways of doing business between Federal and State agencies and tribal entities to ensure the Core

Principles and Goals are met; financial and other resources are available and utilized in a integrated, targeted, and cost

effective manner; legal and technical requirements are met; and a system to identify and promptly address implementation

issues is established.

This strategy reflects the views of a broad cross-section of governmental and nongovernmental interests. It was developed

in partnership among all interested stakeholders. If implemented, it will reduce the risks of wildfire to communities and

the environment and build collaboration at all levels of government.

Framework for

Collaboration

Information

Sharing

Implementation Plan

Conclusion

2
Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire

Risks to Communities and the Environment

10-Year Comprehensive Strategy

Preface

In August 2000, then-President Clinton directed the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to develop a response to

severe wildland fires, reduce fire impacts on rural communities, and ensure effective firefighting capacity in the future. The

result was the National Fire Plan, which Congress later supported through appropriations language in the FY 2001 Appropriations Act and other written direction. As part of its direction, Congress mandated several reporting requirements

including the creation of a coordinated national 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy. It also called on the Secretaries to work

collaboratively and cooperatively with Governors in the development of this strategy and as full partners in planning,

decisionmaking, and implementation.

This resulting strategy has been developed by Federal, State, tribal, and local government and nongovernmental representatives for the purpose of improving the management of wildland fire and hazardous fuels, as well as meeting the need for

ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation in the United States on Federal and adjacent State, tribal, and private forest and

range lands. In addition, this strategy outlines a new collaborative framework to facilitate implementation of proactive and

protective measures that are appropriate to reduce the risk of wildland fire to communities and the environments.

Meeting the objectives of the strategy requires a coordinated effort across landscapes to restore and maintain the health of

fire-prone ecosystems. Because of the breadth of this challenge, this strategy will be most successful if it involves collaborative input from local, tribal, State, and Federal governments, as well as interested stakeholders to best inform private and

public land managers who are actively involved in decisionmaking on their respective lands.

This strategy recognizes the importance of suppressing fires, especially those near homes and communities, however, there

needs to be a continued shift in fire management emphasis from a reactive to a proactive approach. It is designed to foster

a proactive, collaborative, and community-based approach to reducing wildland fires that works side-by-side with effective

traditional approaches to fire suppression and fire-fighting readiness. It is an effort to move from treating symptoms toward

3
addressing the underlying problems. For example, the traditional reactive approach to wildland fire considers fire a catastrophe by focusing exclusively on suppression and readiness and allocating resources on an emergency basis. This results in

short-term intense activity and impacts on the land and communities.

A collaborative, community-based approach to wildland fire combines cost-effective fire preparedness and suppression to

protect communities and environments with a proactive approach. This approach recognizes fire as part of the ecosystem;

focuses on hazardous fuels reduction, integrated vegetation management, and firefighting strategies; and allocates and

utilizes resources in a cost-effective manner over a long-term basis. A community-based approach relies on local knowledge

and develops objectives to manage long-term activities in communities and environments.

This combined and enhanced approach is reflected in many components of this strategy. This new approach assures a more

active collaboration between the fire management organizations and communities.

Background The 2000 fire season was one of the worst in 50 years. The scale and

intensity of the 2000 fire season capped a decade that was characterized

by a dramatic rise in the number of large wildland fires, the costs associated with fire suppression, and the values at risk in the wildland urban interface. Approximately 123,000 fires burned more than 8.4 million acres. The total acres burned represent more than twice the 10-

year national average. At times, nearly 30,000 personnel were on the

fire lines, including the military and firefighters from other countries.

More than $2 billion from Federal accounts was spent suppressing wildland fires in 2000. This amount does not include State and local

firefighting suppression costs, direct and indirect economic losses to

communities, loss of property, and damage to ecosystems.

The purpose of a long-term strategy for reducing wildland fire risks to communities and the environment is meant, in part,

to correct problems associated with the long-term disruption in natural fire cycles. This disruption has increased the risk of

severe wildland fires on some fire-prone ecosystems. The introduction of now pervasive invasive species, such as cheat-grass,

has also increased the wildland fire threat. At the same time, communities have grown into the forests and range lands,

increasing the risk to people, their homes, and water supplies. The States have identified many communities at risk from

wildland fire, including approximately 11,000 adjacent to Federal lands.

4
The Federal Government responded to the rise in public concern that emerged from the summer of 2000. Building on

ongoing initiatives, Congress directed the Federal land management agencies to work in partnership with Governors on a

national, long-term strategy for the restoration of fire-prone ecosystems. Congress provided this direction in the committee

report for the FY 2001 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (P.L. 106-291):

“The Secretaries should also work with the governors on a long-term strategy to deal with the wildland fire and

hazardous fuels situation, as well as needs for habitat restoration and rehabilitation in the nation. The managers

expect that a collaborative structure, with the states and local governments as full partners, will be the most efficient

and effective way of implementing a long-term program.”

“The managers are very concerned that the agencies need to work closely with the affected states, including governors,

county officials and other citizens. Successful implementation of this program will require close collaboration among

citizens and governments at all levels. The managers direct the Secretaries to engage governors in a collaborative

structure to cooperatively develop a coordinated National 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy with the states as full

partners in the planning, decision making, and implementation of the plan. Key decisions should be made at local

levels.”

The specific instructions given by Congress resulted, in part, from a proposal made by the Western Governors’ Association

and reflected agreements made between the Governors and the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior during a September 2000 meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. They agreed that, guided by good science and a goal of restoring ecosystem

health, many treatments could be done proactively. For example, conducting prescribed fire and under-story thinning may

reduce the threat of severe wildland fire while simultaneously contributing to ecosystem health. The Governors called for

full State and local involvement at all levels of planning and decisionmaking, implementation of projects on a landscape

scale across ownerships, and the establishment of, and sufficient funding for, a long-term strategic plan for the overall

restoration of fire-prone ecosystems on Federal and adjacent State, tribal, and private forests and rangelands.

Federal Actions

5

Despite increasing expenditures on wildland fire suppression over the last 20 years, the average acreage burned nationally has

not decreased. As suppression expenditures have increased, we continue to experience an increase in loss of property and

greater impacts to communities and the environment. Much of this is due to the continuing growth of wildland-urban

interface communities. In response to the scope of the increasing problem, both State and Federal agencies have begun

advocating a new approach to wildland fires—one that would address the root of the problem rather than react only when

faced with costly emergencies.
The Congressional instructions also corresponded well with the ongoing efforts of other State and Federal organizations

working on multi-year strategies to reduce the incidence and impacts of wildland fire, treat hazardous fuels, and promote

habitat restoration and rehabilitation. A list of support documents used to develop this strategy is provided in Appendix I.

To make this strategy more citizen-centered, a geographically diverse group of people, representing all levels of government,

tribal interests, conservation and commodity groups, and community-based restoration groups contributed to the development of this strategy. These individuals are listed in Appendix II.

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Core Principles, Goals, and Actions

Based on the interests and needs of all stakeholders, a set of core principles was developed to guide the identification of goals

for this strategy. Associated with each of the identified goals listed below are guiding principles that form the basis for the

goal. Finally, for each goal, a set of actions have been identified that will facilitate progress toward reaching each of these

goals. Together, the goals, guiding principles, and actions, provide the foundation for the implementation plan.

Successful implementation of this strategy requires a collaborative process among multiple levels of government and a range

of interests resulting in healthier watersheds, enhanced community protection, and diminished risk and consequences of

severe wildland fires.

The following core principles are overarching for all goals:

Collaboration – Facilitate a collaborative approach at the local, regional, and national levels.

Priority Setting – Emphasize the protection of communities, municipal, and other high-priority watersheds at risk. Longterm emphasis is to maintain and restore fire prone ecosystems at a landscape scale.

Accountability – Establish uniform and cost-effective measures, standards, reporting processes, and budget information in

implementation plans that will fold into the Government Performance and Results Act process.

The goals of the 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy are:

1. Improve Prevention and Suppression

2. Reduce Hazardous Fuels

3. Restore Fire Adapted Ecosystems

4. Promote Community Assistance

7
Guiding Principles:

Firefighting Readiness – Public and firefighter safety is the first priority in all

 fire management.

Prevention Through Education – Reduce the risks to homes and private

property through prevention education.

Goal 1.

Improve

Prevention and

Suppression

• Improve Federal, State, and local firefighting resource capability and readiness to protect communities and the

 environment from wildland fires.

• Reduce the incidence of injury to life and property resulting from catastrophic wildland fires.

• Expand outreach and education to homeowners and communities about fire prevention through use of

 programs such as “Firewise.”

• Develop a consistent preparedness planning model, among the Federal agencies and others, that analyzes cost-effective

 fire protection among all administrative boundaries. In developing the model, consider State and local protection

 needs and resources in the wildland-urban interface.

Actions

8
Guiding Principle:

Hazardous Fuel Reduction – Prioritize hazardous fuels reduction where the

negative impacts of wildland fire are greatest.

• Reduce the total number of acres at risk to severe wildland fire.

• Ensure communities most at risk in the wildland-urban interface receive priority for hazardous fuels treatment.

• Expand and improve integration of the hazardous fuels management program to reduce severe wildland fires to protect

 communities and the environment.

• Incorporate public health and environmental quality considerations in fire management activities undertaken for

 the hazardous fuels management program.

• Develop smoke management plans in conjunction with prescribed fire planning and implementation.

• Develop strategies to address fire-prone ecosystem problems that augment fire risk or threaten sustainability of

 these areas.

• Assure maintenance of areas improved by fuels treatment by managing activities permitted on the restored lands to

 maintain their resiliency.

• Conduct and utilize research to support the reduction of hazardous fuels

 in wildland urban interface communities and environments.

• Ensure local environmental conditions are factored into hazardous fuels

 treatment planning.

Goal 2. Reduce

Hazardous

Fuels

Actions

9
Guiding Principles:

Rehabilitation –Prevent invasive species and restore watershed function and biological

communities through short-term rehabilitation.

Restoration – Restore healthy, diverse, and resilient ecological systems to minimize

uncharacteristically severe fires on a priority watershed basis through long-term restoration.

Using Science and Information –Promote the development and use of the best available

science along with local and indigenous knowledge.

Monitoring – Monitor restoration and rehabilitation projects for effectiveness and share

the results in order to facilitate adaptive implementation.

• In the short-term, perform burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation work to protect life and property,

 protect municipal watersheds, and prevent further degradation of critical cultural and natural resources.

• In the long-term, restore burned areas and repair and improve lands unlikely

to recover naturally from severe fire damage.

• Place priority on at risk watersheds that have been damaged by wildland fire.

• Promote the establishment of sources of native seed and other plant material.

• Promote awareness of and training in the use of minimum impact suppression activities.

• Promote research and effective use of restoration and rehabilitation treatments.

• Eradicate or minimize the rate of spread of invasive species that negatively impact natural fire cycles and fire-adapted

ecosystems.

• Improve the capability to decrease invasive species in burned areas through research and development.

• Research interactions between fire, land management actions, and other disturbances, and apply lessons learned to

future management decisions.

Goal 3. Restore

Fire Adapted

Ecosystems

Actions

10
Guiding Principles:

Increase Local Capacity – Where appropriate, stimulate local capacity to accomplish

hazardous fuels reduction and rehabilitation work.

Incentives – Promote better fire prevention planning and actions in local communities

through technical assistance and cost-sharing incentives.

Biomass Utilization – Employ all appropriate means to stimulate industries that will utilize

small-diameter, woody material resulting from hazardous fuel reduction activities, such as

for biomass electric power, pulp and paper-making, and composite structural building

materials.

• Reduce the losses to communities and individuals from wildland fire.

• Promote markets for traditionally underutilized wood as a value-added outlet for by-products of hazardous fuel

 reduction and ecosystem restoration efforts.

• Promote opportunities to continue and enhance sustainable livestock grazing as part of protection and restoration

 strategies.

• Increase incentives for private landowners to address defensible space and fuels management needs on private

 property through local land use policies.

• Promote local government initiatives to implement fire-sensitive land use planning.

• Promote public knowledge and understanding of wildland fire,

including risks and the role of fire in natural ecosystem processes.

Goal 4.

Promote

Community

Assistance

Actions

11
Framework for Collaboration

The multi-faceted nature of the problems addressed by this strategy necessitates communication and collaboration across

private and public lands, administrative boundaries, geographic regions, and areas of interest. This strategy should enhance

collaboration among all levels and all parties for planning, decisionmaking, implementation, monitoring, and learning,

without altering the responsibilities or statutory authorities of participating Federal or State agencies. While the line officers

of the land management agencies are the principal decisionmakers concerning public lands, the following framework, with

clear roles and responsibilities, should assist in the implementation of this strategy:

National Level – The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior will implement the stated goals in full partnership with the

Governors. The Secretaries will also work closely with the Governors and Congress on policy and budget matters affecting

implementation of the strategy.

Regional Level – Regional, State, local, tribal, or area administrators or other Federal officials, tribal leaders, and Governors

will collaborate and coordinate across jurisdictions to facilitate accomplishments at the local level.

Local Level – Successful implementation will include stakeholder groups with broad representation including Federal, State,

and local agencies, tribes and the public, collaborating with local line officers on decisionmaking to establish priorities,

cooperate on activities, and increase public awareness and participation to reduce the risks to communities and environments.

Ongoing communication among these three levels should facilitate the

Information

Sharing

exchange of technical information to make fully informed decisions and

should include specific outreach and coordination efforts.

This strategy recognizes that key decisions in setting restoration and fire

and hazardous fuel management project priorities should be made by the

local land manager.

As such, there should be an ongoing process whereby the local, tribal,

State and Federal land management, scientific, and regulatory agencies

exchange the requisite technical information to make fully informed decisions. At a minimum, the information that is shared should include assessment of the communities at risk, current vegetative conditions with

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respect to the likelihood of severe wildland fire, threats to key habitat and water quality (such as post-fire erosion), air quality

and local economies, and the risks and trade-offs inherent to active management. This process should include specific

outreach and coordination efforts that:

 Allow for complete, current, and cooperative information sharing at all levels to assure maximum resource, policy,

 and scientific informational exchange.

 Coordinate with local, tribal, State, and Federal governments and agencies and others in documenting specific

 resource needs, goals and objectives.

 Conduct appropriate outreach to communicate the operational needs of implementing this strategy.

 Include as part of the Implementation Plan to be developed for the strategy, an information system designed to

 facilitate information gathering and exchange.

Implementation Plan

Successful implementation of this strategy and the National Fire Plan is a top priority for the Department of Agriculture and

Department of the Interior agencies, as well as the Governors, tribes, local governments, and other interested stakeholders.

An Implementation Plan will be developed to provide consistent and standard direction for each of the Federal and State

partner agencies, including approaches and process carried out to implement the common purposes articulated in the

strategy and the National Fire Plan.

One of this strategy’s Core Principles is “accountability – Establish uniform and cost-effective measures, standards, reporting

processes, and budget information in implementation plans that will fold into the Government Performance and Results Act

process.” The Departments of Agriculture and the Interior plan to develop common and consistent national performance

measures and reporting procedures for each performance goal, identify common priorities, and set specific timeframes for

accomplishments. Measures of success should be developed for each goal. These measures should be adjusted as appropriate

based on the results of monitoring.

To be more effective in fire prevention and suppression planning, the Department of Agriculture and Department of the

Interior agencies will continue to work together, in cooperation with the States, to develop action items in the Implementation Plan that will lead to improvements in the consistency and effectiveness of their fire management organizations and

planning models.

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The Departments expect that by May 1, 2002, a detailed implementation plan will be developed in coordination with the

Governors to ensure that goals are met; agencies establish detailed and consistent operational ways of doing business among

Federal and State agencies and tribal and local entities; financial and other resources are available and utilized in an integrated, targeted, and cost-effective manner; legal and technical requirements are met; and a system to identify and promptly

address implementation issues is established. The implementation plan will also address collaborative capacity at all levels of

governance by emphasizing the funding of projects developed through collaborative processes and implemented in a costeffective manner.

Accomplishment tracking and reporting processes should incorporate common performance goals and measures in order

for the agencies to continue their efforts to institutionalize and document learning experiences, and to improve the link

from activities and budget to performance and results. Each action must be linked to agency Strategic Plans and supported

by specific goals and objectives.

The attainment of the goals of the strategy requires an investment of resources from across the stakeholder community—

Federal, State, and local governments, landowners, and other nongovernmental interests. Market-based approaches, wherever feasible and cost effective, that offset the cost of hazardous fuel reduction are encouraged when appropriate. Where

practical and appropriate, investment decisions should follow the fundamental strategic protocol of stakeholder collaboration and place scarce dollars where there is broad agreement on priorities. As prevention, restoration, and hazardous fuels

reduction goals are accomplished, suppression needs are expected to diminish. The Department of Agriculture and the

Department of the Interior will commit funding to the strategy consistent with national priorities and within the framework of the Federal budget.

Conclusion

This strategy reflects the views of a broad cross-section of governmental and nongovernmental interests. It was developed in

partnership among interested stakeholders. The foundation of the strategy includes three core principles: collaboration,

priority setting, and accountability. The goals of the strategy are to improve prevention and suppression, reduce hazardous

fuels, restore fire-adapted ecosystems, and promote community assistance. An Implementation Plan will be developed to

provide consistent and standard direction for each of the Federal and State partner agencies including approaches and

process carried out to implement the common purposes articulated in the strategy and the National Fire Plan. When

implemented, the strategy will contribute to reducing the risks of wildfire to communities and the environment and build

collaboration at all levels of government.

Funding the

Comprehensive

Strategy

14
GLOSSARY

Ecosystem – A spatially explicit, relatively homogeneous unit of the Earth that includes all interacting organisms and

components of any part of the natural environment within its boundaries. An ecosystem can be of any size, e.g., a log,

pond, field, forest, or the Earth’s biosphere (Society of American Foresters, 1998).

Ecosystem Integrity – The completeness of an ecosystem that at geographic and temporal scales maintains its characteristic diversity of biological and physical components, composition, structure, and function (Cohesive Strategy, 2000).

Resiliency – The capacity of an ecosystem to maintain or regain normal function and development following disturbance

(Society of American Foresters, 1998).

Fire-prone ecosystem – Ecosystems that historically burned intensely at low frequencies (stand replacing fires), those that

burned with low intensity at a high frequency (understory fires), and those that burned very infrequently historically, but

are now subject to much more frequent fires because of changed conditions. These include fire-influenced and fireadapted ecosystems (Cohesive Strategy, 2000).

Firewise – A public education program developed by the National WildlandFire Coordinating Group that assists communities located in proximity to fire-prone lands. (For additional information visit the Web site at: http://

www.firewise.org)

Indigenous knowledge – Knowledge of a particular region or environment from an individual or group that lives in that

particular region or environment, e.g., traditional ecological knowledge of American Indians (FS National Resource Book

on American Indian and Alaskan Native Relations, 1997).

Performance measure: A quantitative or qualitative characterization of performance (Government Performance and

Results Act of 1993).

Burned Area Rehabilitation – The treatment of an ecosystem following disturbance to minimize subsequent effects

(1995 Federal Wildland Fire Policy.)

Restoration – The active or passive management of an ecosystem or habitat toward its original structure, natural compliment of species, and natural functions or ecological processes (Cohesive Strategy, 2000).

15
Severe wildland fire (catastrophic wildfire) – Fire that burns more intensely than the natural or historical range of

variability, thereby fundamentally changing the ecosystem, destroying communities and/or rare or threatened species/

habitat, or causing unacceptable erosion (GAO/T-RCED-99-79) (Society of American Foresters, 1998).

Wildland urban interface – The line, area, or zone where structures and other human development meet or intermingle

with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels (Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology, 1996).

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APPENDIX I

List of Support Documents

The following is a list of support documents used to build this strategy:

“Action & Financial Plans for USDA & DOI – National Fire Plan Implementation” – 2002 annual plans in draft, USDA

Forest Service (USFS) and the Department of the Interior (DOI), 2001.

“Action and Financial Plans for the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior – National Fire Plan Implementation

Strategy” – 2001 (http://www.fireplan.gov/references).

“An Agency Strategy for Fire Management” – USFS, 2000 (http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/planning/USDA_Report.pdf).

“Course to the Future: Positioning Fire and Aviation Management” – USFS, 1995.

Danks, Cecilia. 2000. Community-Based Fire Management Strategy: Integrating Social and Ecological Objectives in a

Fire-Driven Ecosystem. A Policy Report of the Watershed Research and Training Center, Hayfork, CA. Draft.

Danks, Cecilia. 2000. “The Roles of Forest Communities in Forest Fire Management: Socioeconomic Implications.” A

paper presented at the International Association for the Study of Common Property Biennial Conference, May 31- June

4, 2000, Bloomington, IN.

The Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy” – Updated and signed by all involved federal agencies and the National

Association of State Foresters (NASF) in 2001(http://www.fireplan.gov/references).

“Fire Related Considerations and Strategies in Support of Ecosystem Management” – USFS, 1993.

General Accounting Office, Western National Forests: A Cohesive Strategy is Needed to Address Catastrophic Wildland fire

Threats, April 1999, (GAO/RCED-99-65) (http://www.gao.gov).

“Integrating Fire and Natural Resource Management – A Cohesive Strategy for Protecting People by Restoring Land

Health” – DOI 2001 (http://www.fireplan.gov/references).

17
Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed Fires (http://www.epa.gov/ttncaaa1/t1/meta/m27340.html).

“Land Management Considerations in Fire-Adapted Ecosystems: Conceptual Guidelines” – USFS, 1996.

 “Managing the Impacts of Wildland fires on Communities and the Environment – The National Fire Plan” – DOI and

USFS, 2001, (http//:www.fireplan.gov/references/).

“The National Wildland Fire Policy”– in draft form by the NASF, 2001.

“Policy Implication of Large Fire Management: A Strategic Assessment of Factors Influencing Costs” – USFS, 2000,

(http:/ww.fs.fed.us/fire/planning/Large_Fire_Mgt.pdf).

“Protecting People and Sustaining Resources in Fire-adapted Ecosystems - A Cohesive Strategy” – USFS 2000 (http://

www.fs.fed.us/pub/fam/).

Western Governors’ Association (WGA) policy resolution 00-041: “Improving Forest Ecosystem Health on Federal

Lands: Next Steps,” (http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/00/00041.pdf).

WGA policy resolution 99-011: “Improving Forest Ecosystem Health on Federal Lands,” (http://www.westgov.org/wga/

policy/99/99011.htm).

WGA policy resolution 99-013: “Principles for Environmental Management in the West” (The Enlibra Principles),

(http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/99/99013.htm).

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Appendix II

Document Preparation

The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture collaborated with the Governors in the development

of this document. The Governors also consulted with and utilized input from a broader group of interested stakeholders,

including the following individuals.

Greg Aplet, The Wilderness Society

Dwight Atkinson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Enoch Bell, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Experiment Station

Chuck Burley, American Forest Resource Council

Jason Campbell, National Cattleman’s Beef Association

Stan Coloff, U.S. Geological Survey

Julia Doermann, Oregon Governor’s Office

Greg Fitch, New Mexico Department of Forestry

Gene Francisco, Wisconsin State Forester or Alternate

John Glenn, U.S. Bureau of Land Management

John Harja, Utah Governor’s Office

John Howard, National Association of Counties

Jim Hubbard, National Association of State Foresters

Jim Hull, Texas State Forester

Susan Johnson, USDA Forest Service

Lynn Jungwirth, Communities Committee of the 7th American Forest Congress

James Lawrence, Western Council of State Foresters

Paige Lewis, National Association of State Foresters

John McGee, Idaho Governor’s Office

Don Motanic, Intertribal Timber Council

Paul Orbuch, Western Governors’ Association

Bill Pierce, U.S. Department of the Interior

Steve Pedigo, USDA Forest Service

Rich Phelps, USDA Forest Service

Art Reese, State of Wyoming

Sarah Robertson, National Interagency Fire Center

Rick Sayers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Randy Tweten, National Marine Fisheries Service 19
Appendix III

Individuals Who Commented

Benes, Gene “Stan”: USDA Forest Service

Blumberg, Louis: California Department of Forestry

Brink, Steve: USDA Forest Service

Carothers, William: USDA Forest Service

Cooper, Tom

Cross, Frank J.: USDA Forest Service

Dozier, Alan: Georgia Forestry Commission

Eckert, Gregory E.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Evers Louisa: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management

Fisher, Mike: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management

Freemuth, John: Andrus Center for Public Policy

Hendricks, Robert: USDA Forest Service

Huffman, Mary: The Nature Conservancy, Florida

Hull, Jim: Texas State Forest Service

Johnson, Marlin: USDA Forest Service

Juska, Andrew: Collins Pine Company

Kuntz, Tom: Red Lodge Rural Fire District

Lawrence, Nathaniel “Niel”: National Resources Defense Council

Leenhouts, Bill: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service

Mastic, Larry: USDA Forest Service

Mobley, Melody: USDA Forest Service

National Association of State Foresters

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

Nummy, Verde: Alabama State Forest Service

United States Department of Interior (consolidated comments)

Quigley, Thomas M.: USDA Forest Service

Raftopoulos, Steve: Colorado Wool Growers Association

Robinson, Tom: Grand Canyon Trust

Samman, Safiya: USDA Forest Service

Sapsis, David: California Department of Forestry

Southard, Lou: Virginia Department of Forestry

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Stephens, Scott L.: University of California at Berkeley

Steward, Frank: Quincy Library Group

Stone, James: USDA Forest Service

Strobel, Philip: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Suriano, Elaine: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Swan, Larry: USDA Forest Service

The Watershed Research and Training Center, CA

Williams, Jerry T.: USDA Forest Service

Young, Bobby: Texas State Forest Service

21