United States

Department of

Agriculture

Forest Service

April 2005

Forest Service

Performance and

Accountability Report—

Fiscal Year 2004

Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 i

This fiscal year (FY) 2004 Performance and Accountability Report is the Forest Service’s

first chance to gauge our success and shortcomings over the past year. This report is

also our first opportunity to measure our performance against the targets set in our new

USDA Forest Service Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2004–2008. 

In 2003, the agency focused on the four threats to conservation. These threats—growing

danger of catastrophic fires due to hazardous fuel buildups; the spread of invasive species;

loss of open space; and unmanaged outdoor recreation, particularly the unmanaged use

of off-highway vehicles—increasingly keep us from delivering clean air, abundant

water, and healthy habitat for fish and wildlife. 

The new 2004–2008 Strategic Plan addresses these threats by providing six goals with

performance measures to evaluate our success: (1) reduce the risk from catastrophic

wildland fire, (2) reduce the impact from invasive species, (3) provide outdoor recreational

opportunities, (4) help meet energy resource needs, (5) improve watershed condition,

and (6) conduct mission-related work in addition to that which supports the agency goals.

As a subset of these long-term goals and their targets in the new strategic plan, this

2004 Performance and Accountability Report addresses the agency’s executive priorities.

This report presents an analysis of both our achievements and the challenges we face.

The results reported here show the dedication and passion of Forest Service employees

working shoulder to shoulder with our partners, communities, and other stakeholders for

the sustainability of the health, diversity, and productivity of our Nation’s forests and

grasslands.

In FY 2004, the Forest Service: 

• Developed new tools under the Healthy Forests Initiative and Healthy Forests 

Restoration Act to reduce process gridlock, including established stewardship contracting categorical exclusions that enable priority fuel treatment and forest restoration

to proceed quickly and revised the administrative appeals process specific to fuels

and forest health projects. 

• Achieved significant hazardous fuels reduction.

• Saved an estimated $20 million as a result of a service-wide Information 

Technology Competitive Sourcing Study.

• Initiated business process reengineering for our Human Resources and Financial 

Management Staffs. 

Message From the Chief
ii Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

• Issued a proposal for a national approach to motorized use on the national forests 

and grasslands to enhance recreational opportunities for the public and better roads,

trails, and areas.

• Adopted and used the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment 

Rating Tool to assess the performance of our wildland fire management program,

the Forest Legacy Program, programs for improving and maintaining national forest

land, programs addressing invasive species, and our land acquisition program.

• Created a Partnership Office to focus on strengthening and building partnerships 

integral to the sustainability of the Nation’s forests and grasslands. 

• Entered into an agencywide memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of 

Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and private conservation

organizations to improve access for hunting and fishing opportunities on Federal

lands and to increase the availability of information about such opportunities to better

serve hunters and anglers.

At a time when our need for performance and fiscal accountability has never been

greater or our management challenges more demanding, this report provides a powerful

new tool, a way to build organizational and individual accountability, identify achievement,

and improve effectiveness and efficiency. This report, which links to our new strategic

plan as well as to our performance budget and annual program direction, documents

results that will inform our future course.

The financial and performance data presented in this report are complete and reliable.

This report also documents our progress toward complying with the Federal Managers’

Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA). Except for areas of improvement identified in this

report, the Forest Service is providing reasonable assurance that our systems of internal

control comply with FMFIA’s objectives. Additionally, based on the work performed

during FY 2004, the agency’s financial management systems comply substantially with

the objectives of FMFIA, with the exception of any financial system nonconformities

identified in this report. The “Management Controls, Systems, and Compliance with

Laws and Regulations” section of this report presents findings from the Office of

Inspector General and the agency’s planned actions to resolve those challenges. 

Furthermore, the Forest Service is working to ensure the continued strength and focus

of our financial integrity in an effort to centralize financial operations and reengineer

many of the associated processes. The new, centralized organization, located in

Albuquerque, NM, will be fully staffed and functional in early FY 2006. 
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 iii

We have again accomplished our goal of achieving an unqualified, “clean” audit opinion

in FY 2004. This third consecutive unqualified audit opinion demonstrates that the agency

is making positive strides in financial and performance accountability and sustainability. 

We have an obligation to the American people to deliver the mission as efficiently and

effectively as possible. With continued sharp focus on financial, budgetary and performance

accountability, we will meet that obligation.

Dale N. Bosworth

Chief
iv Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 v

The Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 has been

prepared in accordance with the Report Consolidation Act of 2000 and the Office of

Management and Budget’s direction. As required by law, this document integrates the

Forest Service’s annual performance report with its annual consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2004. It also includes the resulting KPMG LLP1 report on

the agency’s financial statements, internal controls, and compliance with laws and regulations. A summary of Forest Service accomplishments and plans for addressing major

management challenges and program risks, identified through Office of Inspector

General and Government Accountability Office reports, may be found in the

Management’s Discussion and Analysis section.

All comments regarding this report are welcome. To learn more about the Forest Service

and to download the electronic version of the performance and accountability report,

visit http://www.fs.fed.us.

Address comments to:

Forest Service, USDA

Strategic Planning and Resource Assessment Staff

Mail Stop 1129

1400 Independence Avenue, SW.

Washington, DC 20250–1129

Foreword

1 KPMG LLP (KPMG) is an independent auditor.
vi Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 vii

Message From the Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .v

Management’s Discussion and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Mission Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Future Demands and Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

The President’s Management Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Management Controls, Systems, and Compliance With Laws and Regulations . .14

Forest Service’s Financial Highlights for 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Forest Service’s Performance Highlights for 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Performance Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Data Sources for the Executive Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Annual Performance Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

The Executive Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Performance Measures Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Goal 1: Reduce the Risk of Catastrophic Wildfire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Goal 2: Reduce the Impacts From Invasive Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Goal 3: Provide Outdoor Recreational Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Goal 4: Help Meet Energy Resource Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Goal 5: Improve Watershed Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Goal 6: Conduct Mission-Related Work To Support the Agency’s Goals . . . . . . .89

Other Executive Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Program Assessment Rating Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Program Evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Financial Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Message From the Chief Financial Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Report of the Office of Inspector General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Independent Auditor’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Contents
viii Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Management’s Response to Audit Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

Limitations of the Financial Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited) . . . . . . . . . . . .202

Appendixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209

A. Accomplishing the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

B. Founding Legislation and History of the Forest Service’s Traditional Role . .219

C. Acronyms and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

D. Forest Service Internet Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225

E. Feedback to the Forest Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 3

The Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) serves as a high-level overview

of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s performance in fiscal

year (FY) 2004. The report is designed for those individuals interested in the progress

and status of the agency. 

The MD&A also discusses the agency’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements,

including the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA), the Federal Financial

Management Improvement Act (FFMIA), Inspector General Act Amendments (referred

to hereafter as the Audit Follow-Up), and other key legal and regulatory requirements.

This MD&A presents financial and performance highlights and related information, as

well as the agency’s progress on the President’s Management Agenda (PMA).

Mission Statement

The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to:

Sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands

to meet the needs of present and future generations. 

The Forest Service’s commitment to land stewardship and public service is the framework

within which the national forests and grasslands are managed.

Organizational Structure

In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Forest Service program delivery,

the agency requested approval in 2004 from USDA to reorganize from six deputy areas

to five deputy areas, each reporting directly to the Office of the Chief.

The deputy areas are now Business Operations; Programs, Legislation, and Communication;

Research and Development; National Forest System (NFS); and State and Private

Forestry (S&PF).

This administrative reorganization:

• Eliminated the Budget and Finance (B&F) Deputy Area and moved B&F to the 

Business Operations Deputy Area, under the direction of the Associate Deputy 

Chief for Finance.

• Established the Regulatory and Management Services Staff.

• Separated the Forest and Rangeland Management Staff into the Forest Management 

Staff and the Range Management Staff.
4 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

• Separated the Recreation, Wilderness and Heritage Resources Staff into the Recreation

and Heritage Resources Staff and the Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Staff.

• Established the Tribal Relations Staff.

This improved organizational structure enables the Forest Service to be more agile and

to adapt its program delivery to meet the natural resources focus and initiatives of the

21st century.

Beyond the Washington Office and reporting directly to the Office of the Chief are:

• Six forest and range experimental stations.

• The Forest Products Lab in Madison, WI.

• S&PF in the Northeastern Area.

• International Institute of Tropical Forestry at the University of Puerto Rico, 

Agricultural Experimental Station.

• Nine regional offices.

Please see the FY 2004 Organizational Chart, which has been submitted to USDA for

approval, following this section.

In the later sections of this Performance and Accountability Report pertaining to the

financial statements and notes, the discussion revolves around “responsibility segments,”

rather than deputy areas. Deputy areas are administrative groupings while segments are

constructs used to assess net costs. 

The Forest Service’s mission includes the following four major segments. Previously,

the Working Capital Fund (WCF) was the fifth component listed. It was removed

because it does not meet the criteria for a major mission segment, in accordance with

the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin No. 01-09, Form and Content of

Agency Financial Statements. The WCF supports the functions of the remaining four

major segments instead of being a unique segment.

• National Forests and Grasslands. Protection and management of an estimated 192 

million acres of NFS land that includes an estimated 34 million acres of designated

wilderness areas. In addition, the Forest Service partners with other nations and

organizations to foster global natural resource conservation and sustainable development of the world’s forest resources.

• Forest and Rangeland Research. Research and development of forestry and rangeland

management practices to provide scientific and technical knowledge for enhancing

and protecting the economic productivity and environmental quality of the estimated

1.6 billion acres of forests and associated rangelands in the United States.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 5

• State and Private Forestry. Use of cooperative agreements with State and local 

governments, tribal governments, forest industries and private landowners to help

protect and manage non-Federal forests and associated rangeland and watershed areas.

• Wildland Fire Management. Protection of life, property, and natural resources on 

NFS lands and the estimated 20 million acres of adjacent State and private lands.

Some of the segment names are the same as those used for deputy areas, but the terms

are not synonymous.
6 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ASSOCIATE CHIEF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INVESTIGATIONS CIVIL RIGHTS NATIONAL FIRE PROGRAM Deputy Chief, Programs, Legislation and Communication Associate Deputy Chief Deputy Chief, Business Operations Six Forest and Range Experimental Stations Forest Products Lab Nine Regions State and Private Forestry NE Area International Institute of Tropical Forestry Acquisition Management Human Resources Management Senior, Youth, and Volunteer Programs Information Resources Management Regulatory and Management Services Associate Deputy Chiefs for Operations Associate Deputy Chiefs for Operations Finance (CFO) Deputy Chief, Research and Development Associate Deputy Chiefs Deputy Chief, National Forest System Associate Deputy Chiefs Deputy Chief, State and Private Forestry Associate Deputy Chiefs Chief of Staff U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Legislative Affairs Policy Analysis Office Communication Strategic Planning and Resource Assessment Financial and Accouting Operations Financial Policy and Analysis Program and Budget Analysis Financial Management Systems Financial Reports and Reconciliation Science Policy, Planning, Inventory and Information Resource Valuation and Use Research Vegetation Management and Protection Research Wildlife, Fish, Water, and Air Research Engineering Lands Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Rangeland Management Recreation and Heritage Resources Forest Management Wildlife, Fish, Watershed Air and Rare Plants Minerals and Geology Management Ecosystem Management Coordination Fire and Aviation Management Cooperative Forestry Conservation Education Urban and Community Forestry Forest Health Protection Tribal Relations
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 7

In FY 2003, the Forest Service defined what it saw as the four greatest threats to the

health of the Nation’s forests and grasslands: fire and fuels, invasive species, loss of

open space, and unmanaged recreation. The agency recognized that successfully addressing

these threats requires that all business and financial practices meet the highest standards.

The FY 2004 Executive Priorities—the Forest Service’s 2004 Key Performance

Indicators—not only maintain a focus on the uncertainty of wildland fires and invasive

species, but also track the agency’s performance in mitigating the effects of the loss of

open space and unmanaged outdoor recreation. 

The following external factors will challenge the Forest Service’s ability to achieve the

desired outcomes in the FY 2004 Executive Priorities and, therefore, the long-term

goals of the Strategic Plan for 2004-2008—

• Continuing regionwide drought in the Western United States and continuing local 

weather patterns leading to stressed forest vegetation, increased insect and disease

activity, and a pattern of catastrophic wildland fires.

• Continuing serious threat of catastrophic wildfires, especially near communities 

with a buildup of hazardous fuels in the wildland-urban interface (WUI).

• Continuing transfers of funds appropriated for other purposes to the wildland fire 

suppression account to pay for suppression costs. Numerous activities and projects

designed to acquire and manage forests and grasslands, conduct research, or to help

State or private landowners manage their lands are disrupted or completely forgone

because of these transfers.

• Increasing economic losses caused by the impacts to natural resources by invasive 

species, such as the Sudden Oak Death epidemic in California.

• Increasing challenges to managing wildfire risks and wildlife habitat because State 

and local planning and zoning ordinances provide limited protection for open space.

• Diminishing capability to manage ever-increasing recreation visits—more than 204 

million visits to national forests and grasslands in FY 2003—because of increasing

high-priority workload in wildland fire activities.

• Diminishing ability to conduct basic stewardship activities—for example, reforestation

needs have steadily increased for the past 4 years (primarily within wildland fire

areas) while reforestation activities have steadily declined.

Future Demands and Risks
8 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

• Challenge of timely reporting of the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes, 

a critical piece of this FY 2004 Performance and Accountability Report, while

integrating the Forest Service’s Financial Management reorganization at a highly

accelerated pace.

• Unforeseen impacts from competitive sourcing and business process reengineering 

(BPR), especially in information technology, human resources, and financial management.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 9

From its inception, the PMA has served as the focal point for the Forest Service’s

efforts to improve agency management and performance. All five PMA initiatives are

integrated thoroughly into Forest Service management plans. Agency leadership at all

levels has emphasized the initiatives.

Performance and Budget Integration

Designing and Implementing a Performance Accountability System

During the past 2 years, Forest Service leaders designed the framework of the Performance

Accountability System (PAS)—as a process and a system, integrated with the budget. 

• In December 2002, the Forest Service began designing a performance accountability

process and system to integrate planning, budget, performance accountability, and

financial management. The PAS meets agency performance management needs, the

performance and budget integration goals of the PMA, and the requirements of the

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).

• Through a series of Credibility Through Accountability (CTA) workshops, the Forest

Service has created customer-focused outcomes and performance measures for all

programs. The Alaska Region developed a model that will combine these elements

into a Regional Strategic Business Plan that will influence 2006 budget allocations.

If the model is acceptable, those metrics and the CTA model will be fully implemented

by FY 2007.

• Based on a recommendation from a contract assessment concluded at the end of FY 

2003, the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) adopted the Hyperion Performance

Scorecard System for the PAS, contingent upon a proof-of-concept presentation to

the National Leadership Team. A final decision by the ELT to fully deploy the PAS

is anticipated based on results of the pilot test in the Alaska Region and the

agency’s Information Resource Board’s recommendation.

• At the project level, the agency launched a project work-planning tool called 

WorkPlan in May 2003. WorkPlan offers a consistent approach to project planning

and tracking across the agency, replacing several variations of an older tool that has

been in use since the 1980s. The PAS and WorkPlan will bridge the gaps among the

legacy tracking and reporting systems, becoming the integration mechanisms to

plan, implement, track, and report Forest Service activities.

The President’s Management Agenda
10 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Improved Financial Management

Committed to sustaining an unqualified audit opinion in FY 2004 financial statements,

the Forest Service has focused on Business Process Reengineering (BPR) for the agency’s

financial management functions. Three permanent teams, organized around key issues

identified in the 2003 audit, were mobilized in FY 2004 to meet the accelerated timeframes. 

The financial management BPR will be fully implemented in the first quarter of FY 2006.

The results of this BPR, which will consolidate financial management, will ensure an

organizational structure that provides efficient and cost effective service on a sustainable

basis while providing substantial cost savings to the agency.

Budget and Finance

Significant efforts have been made in FY2004 to improve both the effectiveness and

efficiency of the B&F organization. B&F has been reorganized under the Deputy Chief

for Business Operations and is now led by an Associate Deputy Chief/Chief Financial

Office (CFO). Staff Directors for Budget and Finance and Accounting report to the

Associate Deputy Chief/CFO.

The key objectives in FY 2004 were to: (1) to sustain the two, consecutive unqualified

audit opinions, and (2) embark on a Financial Management Improvement Project (FMIP)

that includes an aggressive plan to centralize finance, accounting, and budget execution

functions. This effort is well underway. The Forest Service contracted for consultant

support that has assisted in developing a business case, a detailed project plan, and a

communications plan. The consultants have provided project support to design new

business processes which are now complete, and will provide continuing support to

build the new business processes, and migrate them to the centralized service center.

They will also provide change management services, such as migration planning and

execution, workforce planning and execution, risk mitigation, and on-going project

communications support.

The Forest Service has selected Albuquerque, NM, as the site for its centralized financial

service center. Teams of Forest Service and consultant resources have been designated

and will be trained prior to centralizing the functions. The center is expected to open in

February 2005 and business will be migrated during the remainder of 2005, concluding

in the first quarter of FY 2006.

In FY 2004, the Forest Service reduced the number of centralized payment centers for

emergency equipment rental agreements from four to two and centralized all casual

firefighter pay at one center in Ogden, UT. Efforts to enter incident obligations into the
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 11

Foundation Financial Information System (FFIS) within 3 days of the beginning of an

incident were highly successful in FY 2003 and have been continued in FY 2004.

In response to internal and external concerns regarding systems of internal control, the

agency initiated the Short Term Internal Control (STIC) Monitoring program with collaboration from B&F personnel in the field and headquarters. This involved ensuring

policy and procedures were adequate, developing internal control checklists for business

processes, conducting sampling on all 153 accounting centers, and analyzing results to

address noted weaknesses. Improvements are being measured and this effort will continue

in FY 2005. The STIC effort achieved only a moderate degree of success. Improvements

were achieved; however, the improvements were not sufficient to eliminate certain material

weaknesses in internal control.

The Forest Service has focused significant attention on financial data quality in FY

2004. These efforts have included analysis of individual Treasury symbol general ledger

account balances and prescribed account relationships. While material issues have been

identified, researched, and resolved as a result of these efforts, many of the corrections

were made late in the year. Forest Service is committed to a more consistent approach to

improve data quality in a timely manner. 

Competitive Sourcing

In FY 2004, the Forest Service’s competitive sourcing effort focused on completing the

3 standard studies of approximately 1,330 full-time equivalents (FTEs) that were begun

in FY 2003. For studies completed in FY 2002 and FY 2003, the agency cancelled 1

standard study involving approximately 20 FTEs and implemented 25 streamlined studies

and direct conversions of an estimated 1,150 FTEs. No new competitive sourcing studies

were initiated in FY 2004. 

Progress thus far includes the following achievements:

• A 1,200 FTE service-wide study of information technology infrastructure resulted 

in an estimated annual savings of $20 million.

• Two standard studies of maintenance functions in Region 5 (California) were 

completed in January, with an estimated annual savings to the agency of $4 million.

• The Forest Service cancelled its competitive sourcing trails maintenance competition

in Region 10 (Alaska) because no private sector or public reimbursable offers were 

received and no savings were anticipated.

• Studies completed in FY 2003 were estimated to save $419,000 in FY 2004; the 

actual savings were $520,000. 
12 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

In FY 2005, the Forest Service plans to study approximately 100 FTEs within the communications/public affairs function.

Expanded Electronic Government

The Forest Service is deeply involved in both Departmental and Government-wide

electronic government (e-Gov) activities. The Forest Service has the Government-wide

e-Gov lead in the Recreation One Stop and Safecom/Wireless programs. The

Safecom/Wireless initiative is an umbrella program to help local, tribal, State, and

Federal public safety agencies improve their public safety response through more effective,

efficient interoperable wireless communications. The program has achieved the following

accomplishments: 

• Procured the contract for the National Recreation Reservation Service.

• Served as a testing site for integrated acquisition environment.

Strategic Management of Human Capital

The Annual Workforce Planning Process continued with both field-level and agencywide

analysis of attrition and retirement trends, hiring projections, diversity profiles, and

competency needs. 

For FY 2004, each field unit incorporated results from workforce planning into unit

recruitment plans and produced an agency workforce plan summary.

The agency also undertook the following in FY 2004:

• Tied SES performance elements and GS-14 and GS-15 managers’ performance 

standards to the goals and objectives in the USDA Forest Service’s Strategic Plan

for Fiscal Years 2004–08.

• Deployed competency training through courses such as New Employee Orientation 

and Basic Supervision.

• Developed enhancements to the Forest Service’s Web-based training tracking system.

• Started the first session of Senior Leaders program.

• Produced a manager’s desk guide on human resource tools related to competitive 

sourcing.

• Continued Field Forums to expose emerging leaders to the Washington/Headquarters

environment.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 13

Knowledge Management Work in Support of the President’s Management Initiative

In FY 2004, the Forest Service Knowledge Management (KM) Working Group accomplished the following goals:

• Surveyed a range of technologies for capturing knowledge through employee 

interviews, and currently is testing the most promising candidates. 

• Developed a draft decision model for evaluating potential communities of practice 

as well as KM systems to pursue as pilot projects.

• Chose portal and software packages that provide infrastructure for KM tools.

• Worked with the USDA National Agricultural Library to further develop Forest 

Service topics in the USDA taxonomy. 

• Created Intranet-based communication tools to enhance internal communication on 

KM topics.

• Initiated an agencywide inventory of KM practices, systems, and tools.
14 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Management Controls

FMFIA requires agencies to provide an assurance statement that Federal programs are

operated efficiently and effectively. Agencies also must provide reasonable assurance

that obligations and costs comply with applicable laws and regulations; Federal assets are

safeguarded against fraud, waste, and mismanagement; and transactions are accounted

for and properly recorded.

In FY 2004, the Forest Service took the steps necessary to ensure that evaluations of the

system of internal controls for the Forest Service have been conducted in accordance with

OMB guidelines and comply with the standards prescribed by the Comptroller General.

The evaluations include assessments as to whether the financial management systems

and internal accounting and administrative controls within the Forest Service are in

compliance with the standards prescribed by the Comptroller General and provide reasonable assurance that the following objectives are met.

1. Obligations and costs comply with applicable laws.

2. Funds, property, and other assets are safeguarded against waste, loss, or mismanagement.

3. Revenues and expenditures are properly recorded and accounted for to permit the 

preparation of reliable financial and statistical reports and to maintain accountability

over assets.

The results of the evaluations indicate that the system of internal accounting and administrative control of the Forest Service in effect during the fiscal year ending September

30, 2004, taken as a whole, comply with the requirement to provide reasonable assurance

that the above mentioned objectives were achieved within the limits described in the

preceding paragraph. The evaluations identified the following material deficiencies as

fully corrected or reassessed and determined to be no longer material:

• FS-91-02: Adequacy of Financial Systems

• FS-00-01: Performance Reporting 

• FS-92-01: Administration of Lands Special Use Permits

• FS-01-01: Timber Sale Environmental Analysis

• FS-03-01: Internal Control Weaknesses

• FS-03-02: USDA Information Security Weaknesses

Management Controls, Systems, and Compliance With Laws and

Regulations
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 15

Subsequent to the Forest Service filing of the FY 2004 FMFIA Report, financial statement

audit activities and agency monitoring indicated the corrective actions related to the

material weakness in financial management controls were not fully effective. In addition,

the financial statement audit activities disclosed a new material weakness and indicated

that the three prior-year financial material weaknesses had not been fully corrected.

Accordingly, Forest Service will report a new FMFIA material weakness in financial

management controls to include compliance with accounting standards, particularly for

certification of undelivered order and reporting accruals. In addition, Forest Service has

continuing weaknesses related to system security issues, which are part of a USDA

material weakness.

The following pages contain the justification or corrective actions taken for these material

deficiencies. 
16 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Deficiency Status: Corrected.

Detailed Description of the Process Used To Verify and Validate Completion of

Corrective Actions: Management reviews and Office of Inspector General (OIG) and

Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits. 

Detailed Description of Corrective Actions or Milestones Implemented During FY 2004:

• Developed and provided a set of critical training courses to improve financial 

management.

• Performed an assessment of training needs and target audiences, in coordination 

with B&F national training coordinator. Recent training included Financial

Management (two courses), Timber Sale Financial Management (three courses),

Account Relationship, Real Property Accounting, Acquisition Management/

Property/Grants and Agreements conference, Advanced Standard General Ledger,

Basic Standard General Ledger, Project Cost Accounting System, FFIS database

(weekly February 18 to May 13, and on July 29, 2004). Financial management

training for line officers is being evaluated and pilot offerings considered through

corporate training.

• Continued the revisions of financial management manuals and handbooks to update 

policy. The system of CFO Bulletins, carrying the same force and effect as policy

incorporated into the directives system, also continued in FY 2004. Thus far, 17

CFO Bulletins have been published in FY 2004. As of August 25, 2004, published

21 revisions to the Forest Service Handbooks (FSH) / Manual (FSM), had 12 items

on hold, and had published 10 interim directives. This is approximately a 47-percent

overall completion to date. Agency emphasis leading to management changes in

Original

Material Estimated

Deficiency Year Completion Source of

Number Material Deficiency Identified Date Actual Completion Date Deficiency

FS-91-02 Adequacy of Financial FY 1989, FY 2003 4th Qtr FY 2004 Management 

Systems: The financial 1991 reviews, 

accounting system lacks (1 item remaining to complete– and OIG 

controls needed in the revisions to handbooks, and GAO 

accounting and reporting manuals–2nd quarter FY 2005) audits

subsystems to ensure 

financial information is 

reliable and funds are 

adequately controlled.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 17

the directives area greatly fostered the issuance of 20 of 21 revisions in FY 2004.

With this continued approach, the agency anticipates completion in the second

quarter FY 2005.

• Completed the Incident Obligations Pilot in FY 2003, using both manual and 

electronic transmission of obligations data from incidents to the FFIS database.

Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan Goal and Objective to Which the

Corrective Actions Apply, if Applicable: USDA Goal 5. A—Operate an efficient, effective,

and discrimination-free organization. Objective 5.2.A—Improve organizational productivity, accountability, and performance. 

Section 4 System Nonconformance to Which the Corrective Actions Apply, if

Applicable:

Note: In both FY 2002 and FY 2003, the Forest Service FFIS financial system and feeder

systems produced financial statements that subsequently received an unqualified audit

opinion.
18 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Deficiency Status: Reassessed.

Detailed Description of the Process Used To Verify and Validate Completion of

Corrective Actions: Management reviews and OIG and GAO audits.

Detailed Description of Corrective Actions or Milestones Implemented During FY 2004:

• Continued development of performance reporting and PAS. 

• Established PAS implementation plan to guide implementation of a performance-based

budgeting process. Designed and developed performance measures and a business

model in the Credibility Through Accountability process in the Alaska Region.

• Began development of prototype, completed initial market research and cost-benefit 

alternative analysis for further evaluation, and planned testing and implementation

for FY 2005 and FY 2006.

Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan Goal and Objective to Which the

Corrective Actions Apply, if Applicable: USDA Goal 5.A—Operate an efficient, effective,

and discrimination-free organization. Objective 5.2.A—Improve organizational productivity, accountability, and performance.

Section 4 System Nonconformance to Which the Corrective Actions Apply, if

Applicable: Not applicable.

Original

Material Estimated Actual

Deficiency Material Year Completion Completion Source of

Number Deficiency Identified Date Date Deficiency

FS-00-01 Performance Reporting: FY 2000 FY 2003 FY 2004 OIG audit

The Forest Service lacks effective 

internal controls over the quality 

of data included in its performance 

accomplishment report under GPRA.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 19

Deficiency Status: Reassessed.

Detailed Description of the Process Used To Verify and Validate Completion of

Corrective Actions: Management and analytical reviews.

Detailed Description of Corrective Actions or Milestones Implemented During FY 2004:

• Published final interim directive in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

handbook on July 6, 2004. OMB re-determined that the Forest Service cost recovery

rule is significant for purposes of interagency consistency with Bureau of Land

Management’s final rule (rights-of-way regulation). However, evolving changes in

the BLM rule, as well as reduced staffing levels in Forest Service Lands, have slowed

progress on finalizing the agency’s rule, which put publication of the final rule at

risk. Additionally, the pilot authority to retain and spend cost recovery fees is due to

expire September 30, 2004, and has yet to be extended. Updating the FSM and FSH

is contingent upon publication and implementation of Cost Recovery Regulations.

Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan Goal and Objective to Which the

Corrective Actions Apply, if Applicable: USDA Goal 3.A—Maintain and enhance the

Nation’s natural resources and environment. Objective 3.3.A—Provide multiple benefits

to people from the Nation’s natural resources.

Section 4 System Nonconformance to Which the Corrective Actions Apply, if Applicable:

Not applicable.

Original

Material Estimated Actual

Deficiency Year Completion Completion Source of

Number Material Deficiency Identified Date Date Deficiency

FS-92-01 Administration of Lands Special FY 1992 FY 2003 2nd quarter FY GAO audit

Use Permits: Lands Special Use 2005 projected

Permits are not being administered to 

a standard consistent with law, regulation, 

or policy.
20 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Deficiency Status: Corrected.

Detailed Description of the Process Used To Verify and Validate Completion of

Corrective Actions: Management reviews and OIG and GAO audits.

Detailed Description of Corrective Actions or Milestones Implemented During FY 2004:

• Completed revisions to FSM and FSH for standard review procedures of environmental 

assessments and published on July 6, 2004.

• Completed revisions to applicable FSM and FSH for implementing NEPA and other

environmental regulations and published on July 6, 2004. 

• Completed training and tool listing for NEPA and Endangered Species Act completed

in the fourth quarter of 2003. 

• Established new training for forest NEPA Coordinators in the second quarter of FY 

2004. 

• Awarded contract during fourth quarter of FY 2004 to identify additional NEPA 

training needs. This is a continuous process of evaluation and development of new 

tools and training.

Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan Goal and Objective to Which the

Corrective Actions Apply, if Applicable: USDA Goal 3.A—Maintain and enhance the

Nation’s natural resources and environment. Objective 3.1.A—Maintain the productive

capacity of the natural resource base for future generations; 3.2.A—Protect the quality

of the Nation’s environment; and 3.3.A—Provide multiple benefits to people from the

Nation’s natural resources.

Section 4 System Nonconformance to Which the Corrective Actions Apply, if

Applicable: Not applicable.

Original

Material Estimated Actual

Deficiency Year Completion Completion Source of

Number Material Deficiency Identified Date Date Deficiency

FS-01-01 Timber Sale Environmental Analysis: FY 2001 FY 2004 4th quarter Management

Administrative controls over the analysis FY 2004 review and OIG 

and preparation of environmental audit

documents and implementation of 

mitigation measures applicable to timber 

sales have not been effective. Heritage 

resources, water quality, and threatened, 

endangered, or sensitive species and their 

habitat may be adversely affected.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 21

Deficiency Status: Reassessed. Completion of action items underway.

Detailed Description of the Process Used To Verify and Validate Completion of

Corrective Actions: Management reviews and OIG and GAO audits.

Original

Material Estimated Actual

Deficiency Material Year Completion Completion Source of

Number Deficiency Identified Date Date Deficiency

FS-03-01 Internal Control Weaknesses: FY 2003 FY 2003 FY 2004 OIG audit 

Overall financial management controls 08401-1-FM

were not adequate to ensure that 

misstatements in amounts that would 

be material could occur and not be 

detected within a timely period.
22 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan Goal and Objective to Which the

Corrective Actions Apply, if Applicable: USDA Goal 5. A—Operate an efficient, effective, and discrimination-free organization. Objective 5.2.A—Improve organizational

productivity, accountability, and performance.

Section 4 System Nonconformance to Which the Corrective Actions Apply, if

Applicable: Not applicable.

Completion

Corrective Date of 

Action Corrective 

Description Complete Description of Corrective Action Action 

Service-level Developed service-level agreements with USDA NFC, including specific responsibilities, roles, 1st quarter 

agreements clearing timelines, and escalation procedures for resolution with the agreement terms. 2004 

Budget and Analyzed the composition of budget and clearing accounts and determined the proper disposition 4th quarter 

clearing of the balances in accounts 12F3875 and 12F3885 on at least a quarterly basis. (Analysis has 2004

accounts begun on a monthly basis.) 

Revenue Identified all revenue generating sources maintained in the budget clearing account and 4th quarter 

generating determined disposition. (Identified revenue sources and issued direction to field requiring 2004 

business monthly transfer or justification of balances in budget clearing.) 

processes 

Supervisory Implemented adequate system controls in Paycheck to ensure that employee’s supervisor of 4th quarter 

approval of record appropriately reviews and approves timesheets. (PAYCHECK7 implemented; Job Corps 2004

timesheets sites to be completed in next 2 months.) 

Accurate Developed training materials, trained the trainers, and held training classes for staffs responsible 3rd quarter 

transaction for PP&E transactions. (Completed.) 2004

recording 

for PP&E 

Supervisory Issued new policy direction requiring supervisory review of data input of property transactions. 4th quarter 

review of (Identified and issued compensating controls to ensure the accuracy of data input.) 2004

property 

transactions 

Capitalization Issued new policy guidance regarding improving the design and operation of labor cost and other 4th quarter 

controls cost capitalization controls. (Final review of Chapter 20 of PP&E Handbook completed; and 2004

approved and signed by management. Sent to Directives for issuance in August 2004.) 

Certify Determined a process where line officers certify that payroll records are correct. (Issued June 23 4th quarter 

payroll letter requiring line officers/unit managers complete a quarterly certification of all employees 2004

on payroll.)

Detailed Description of Corrective Actions or Milestones Implemented During FY 2004:
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 23

Original

Material Estimated Actual

Deficiency Year Completion Completion Source of

Number Material Deficiency Identified Date Date Deficiency

FS-03-02 USDA Information Security FY 2003 FY 2003 FY 2004 OIG audit 

Weaknesses 08401-2-FM

Completion

Corrective Date of 

Action Corrective 

Description Complete Description of Corrective Action Action 

Infra Updated the Infra application’s security plan to require management review of user activity logs. 4th quarter 

applications (Recommendations were addressed as part of Forest Service certification and accreditation 2004

of applications.)

Assess IT Developed and implemented an agency-wide IT risk assessment process. (Drafted the information 4th quarter 

security risks security risk assessment policy. The final review is in progress.) 2004

IT security Issued direction that requires that security plans be updated when there are major changes to the July 14, 

plans plan and that they be reviewed and changed, if needed, at least annually. Formally chartered 2004

Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT). Completed IT security plans for all units and in 

compliance with USDA regulations. (When new IT organization is in place, individual unit 

plans will no longer be a requirement at regional levels. There will only be one plan incorporating 

all units.)

Use of badges Required the use of badges for all employees and visitors at all data processing facilities and the 4th quarter 

use of a log in which all visitors sign in and out. (To prepare for new organization, completed 2004

draft policy on physical security requiring badges. Currently, this is under review by technical 

team. Provided all employees with access to required high-standard Security Awareness Training.)

Background Completed the servicewide "background investigations" and "security clearances" policy for IRM 4th quarter 

investigations positions and functions requiring background investigations. Policy is currently in review. Due to 2004

the new IT organization, this policy will be implemented, proactively, as the new organization 

positions are filled.

Deficiency Status: Reassessed.

Detailed Description of the Process Used To Verify and Validate Completion of

Corrective Actions: Management reviews and OIG and GAO audits.

Detailed Description of Corrective Actions or Milestones Implemented During FY 2004:
24 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan Goal and Objective to Which the

Corrective Actions Apply, if Applicable: USDA Goal 5. A—Operate an efficient, effective,

and discrimination-free organization. Objective 5.2.A—Improve organizational productivity, accountability, and performance.

Section 4 System Nonconformance to Which the Corrective Actions Apply, if

Applicable: Forest Service systems are not compliant with Federal Financial Systems

requirements; the agency is working with the USDA to address these issues.

Completion

Corrective Date of 

Action Corrective 

Description Complete Description of Corrective Action Action

Access to Established direction for reporting separation of employees and removing access privileges. 4th quarter 

separated (Direction will be implemented with new organization to facilitate enforcement and servicewide 2004

employees policy and procedures on access controls.) Made dramatic changes in computer access 

procedures to strengthen security (e.g., completed process for supervisory approval and annual 

authentication for remote access dial-up users on July 14.)

User access Implemented operational and technical improvements that enable maintenance of a servicewide 4th quarter 

lists list of users with access to the Forest Service network, e-mail system, and critical business 2004

applications. Reviewed risks posed by existing network account management procedures and 

implemented changes (e.g., new security warning banner, draft network perimeter policy.)

Internet points Developed plan to transition valid services to authorized Internet points of presences based on 3rd quarter

of presence analysis of discovery and technical solutions required. (Implemented specific access control 2004

vulnerabilities noted on FSWeb servers. Obtained waiver from USDA to enter into contract with (more to 

ISP as back-up to Internet Web servers. ISP provides additional security and firewall.) implement

with new 

organization)
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 25

Section Instance Remediation Target Date

Accounting Revenue recognition at the point of sale Implement a business process to recognize June 2004

standards for maps and the national recreation revenue at point of sale for remaining Completed 

reservations system. business processes. 

Standard Proper SGL posting at the transaction Modify posting model for special and non- December 

General level. revolving trust funds to remove improper 2003

Ledger (SGL) accounting for budgetary resources. Completed

compliance at 

the transaction 

level 

Information The four financial systems are All four systems were initially targeted to September 

security policies, undergoing Certification and be completed by September 30; however, 2004

procedures, and Accreditation (C&A) this fiscal year: due to delays with the contractors and GSA, Completed 

practices • Automated Timber Sale Accounting the C&A will be completed by October 29, 

System (ATSA) 2004.

• Travel

• PAYCHECK

• Infra

Exhibit 1. The Forest Service Remediation Plan for FY 2004

Identify, analyze, and correct invalid September

posting models. 2004

Completed

Financial Systems

Under FFMIA, agencies are required to report whether financial management systems

substantially comply with the Federal financial management systems requirements,

Federal accounting standards, and the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL)

at the transaction level. If an agency is not in compliance with the FFMIA, a remediation

plan is required to bring the agency’s financial management systems into substantial

compliance.

The Forest Service has evaluated its financial management systems under the FFMIA

for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, and certifies that the financial management

systems are not in full compliance with FFMIA. While Forest Service posting models are

now SGL compliant at the transaction level, current audit activities and agency monitoring

indicate issues with implementation of accounting standards, including those for revenue

recognition and reporting of accruals. With regards to information security policies, procedures, and practices, Forest Service completed certification and accreditation of four

agency systems; however, the auditors have not confirmed the results. The Forest Service

continues to have issues with general control environment.
26 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Forest Service’s Financial Highlights for 2004

The Forest Service produces an annual series of financial statements to summarize the

activity and associated financial position of the agency. The principal statements include

a Consolidated Balance Sheet, Consolidated Statement of Net Cost, Consolidated

Statement of Change in Net Position, Consolidated Statement of Financing, and a

Combined Statement of Budgetary Resources. In producing these statements, the

agency seeks to provide relevant, reliable, and accurate financial information related to

Forest Service activities.

In fiscal year 2004, the USDA Forest Service corrected its fiscal year 2003 financial

statements to:

A. Properly align budgetary and proprietary account relationships and correct certain

related budgetary and proprietary posting errors in:

The Wildland Fire Management Fund

The National Forest System Fund

The Roads and Trails Special Fund

The Land Between the Lakes Management Trust

Other various special and trust funds

B. Correct errors in various suspense and deposit clearing funds.

C. Correct an overstatement in Fund Balance with Treasury and associated custodial

liability.

D. Correct errors in recording certain revenue transactions.

E. Correct offsetting receipts.

Analysis of the agency’s September 30, 2004, financial statements highlights the following key points.

Assets

The Forest Service reports $7.5 billion in assets at the end of September 30, 2004. This

represents an increase of 3 percent over FY 2003 amounts. This change is attributed to

an increase in fund balance with Treasury and related to an increase in funds for firefighting. The tables below reflect the restated amounts for FY 2003.

The three major asset categories are shown in exhibit 2.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 27

2004 2003 Difference

(in millions) Dollars Percentages

General Property, Plant, and Equipment $3,807 $3,851 ($44) (1%)

Fund Balance with Treasury 3,506 3,263 243 7%

Accounts Receivable, Intragovernmental and Other 163 146 17 12%

Total of Major Categories $7,476 $7,260 $216 3%

Other Asset Categories 14 15 (1) (7%)

Grand Total Assets $7,490 $7,275 $215 3%

Exhibit 2. Assets

General Property, Plant, and Equipment (General PP&E) consists primarily of forest road

surface improvements, culverts, bridges, campgrounds, administrative buildings, other structures, and equipment. 

General PP&E also includes assets acquired by the Forest Service to be used for conducting

business activities, such as providing goods or services. General PP&E does not include

the value of heritage assets (agency assets that are historical or significant for their natural,

cultural, aesthetic, or other important attributes that are expected to be preserved indefinitely) or the value of stewardship assets (primarily land held by the agency as part of the

NFS and not acquired for, or in connection with, other General PP&E). Although heritage and stewardship assets may be considered priceless, they do not have a readily

identifiable financial value and are not recorded within the financial statements of the

Forest Service. A more indepth discussion of stewardship assets is presented in the

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information section.

Fund Balance with Treasury consists primarily of funds derived from congressional

appropriations and funds held in trust for accomplishing purposes specified by law.

Finally, accounts receivable consists of amounts due from other Federal entities or the

public as a result of the delivery of goods, services, and specific activities performed by

the Forest Service.

Fund Balance with Treasury (congressional appropriations and trust funds) is available

to the agency to pay authorized expenses and to finance purchase commitments based

on apportionments by the OMB. 

Liabilities and Net Position

The Forest Service reported $1.9 billion in liabilities at the end of September 30, 2004,

representing probable future expenditures arising from past events. This amount represents

a decrease of 16 percent from September 30, 2003, amounts. Part of this decrease was

due to a $188 million payment to Treasury Judgment Fund in FY 2004. The major liability

amounts, unfunded leave, Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) benefits, and

custodial liabilities appear in exhibit 3.
28 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

2004 2003 Difference

(in millions) Dollars Percentages

Unexpended Appropriations $1,511 $1,350 $161 12%

Cumulative Results of Operations 4,091 3,687 404 11%

Total Net Position $5,602 $5,037 $565 11%

Exhibit 4. Net Position 

Federal agencies, by law, cannot make any payments unless Congress has appropriated

funds for such payments and the OMB has apportioned the funds. A portion of liabilities

reported by the Forest Service on September 30, 2004, however, is currently not funded

by congressional appropriations. For example, the unfunded amounts needed to pay for

employees’ annual leave, earned but not yet taken, and FECA benefits that have accrued

to cover liabilities associated with employees’ death, disability, medical, and other approved

costs that have not yet been appropriated. Another major category is the Payments to

States. These represent funds held by the agency in special receipt accounts pending

transfer to the appropriate party. 

A net position of $5.6 billion is reported for FY 2004. This represents an increase of 11

percent over FY 2003 amounts. The change is attributed to numerous factors, including

a decrease in net cost of operations. Net position represents unexpended appropriations

consisting of undelivered orders, as well as unobligated funds and the cumulative results

of operations, as shown in exhibit 4. 

Unexpended appropriations reflect spending authority made available by congressional

appropriation that has not yet been used. Cumulative results of operations reflect the

cumulative effect of financing in excess of expenditures. 

Net Cost of Operations

The Forest Service’s net cost of operations was $5 billion for the year ended September

30, 2004.

2004 2003 Difference

(in millions) Dollars Percentages

Unfunded Leave and FECA Benefits $602 $634 ($32) (5%)

Payments to States 380 288 92 32%

Other Liability Categories 906 1,316 (410) (31%)

Grand Total Liabilities $1,888 $2,238 ($350) (16%)

Exhibit 3. Liabilities
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 29

Budgetary Resources

The Forest Service had budget authority of approximately $5.9 billion in FY 2004 and

$5.8 billion in FY 2003. The funding received in FY 2004 represents a slight increase

(1 percent) over that received in FY 2003. 

Earned revenue from the public includes such items as the sale of forest products (timber

and firewood); recreational opportunities (campgrounds); mineral resources; livestock

grazing; and special land-use fees for power generation, resorts, and other business

activities conducted on NFS lands. The Forest Service also performs reimbursable

activities, such as work completed mainly for other Federal agencies, in accordance with

the Economy Act.

The Forest Service distributes a portion of earned revenues to eligible States in accordance with existing laws. These payments to the States, in accordance with the Secure

Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, benefit public schools

and roads in communities hosting national forests and pays for local forest stewardship

projects.

Expenses

Forest Service program costs for the year ended September 30, 2004, are $5.9 billion.

This represents a 7-percent decrease from FY 2003. The decrease results from a much

less intense fire season, as compared to FY 2003, and less costs attributable to intragovernmental activities associated with national emergencies such as the Columbia space

shuttle recovery and containment of exotic Newcastle Disease. In addition, the agency

spent $100 million less on land acquisition in FY 2004 as a result of changing priorities.

Exhibit 5 illustrates program costs by segment for the years ended September 30, 2004

and 2003. The 2003 presentation has been reclassified to eliminate the previously

reported Working Capital Fund.

2004 2003 Difference

(in millions) Dollars Percentages

Program Costs

National Forests and Grasslands $3,444 $3,638 ($194) (5%)

Forest and Rangeland Research 342 315 27 9%

State and Private Forestry 418 382 36 9%

Wildland Fire Management 1,715 2,011 (296) (15%)

Total Program Costs $5,919 $6,346 (427) (7%)

Exhibit 5. Gross Expenses 
30 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Improper Payments Information Act of 2002

The Improper Payments Information Act1 (IPIA), the Recovery Auditing Act,2 and

OMB’s M-03-073 provide guidance to assist Federal agencies in identifying and collecting erroneous disbursements. The Forest Service is complying with these requirements

by working under a USDA pilot program through an interagency agreement with U.S.

Treasury’s FedSource. The majority of the Forest Service’s procurement data mining,

error identification, and subsequent recovery are scheduled to take place in the second

quarter of FY 2005. The following is information that USDA and the Forest Service

have shared with OMB and others regarding progress to date in carrying out the intent

of these laws.

Risk Susceptible Area 

Wildland Fire Suppression Management.

Statistical Sampling Process Estimating Program Error Rate Analysis

The risk for erroneous payments in the Wildland Fire Suppression Management program

is through the procurement contracts. To fulfill the requirements of both IPIA and the

recovery-audit initiative, the Forest Service entered into a contract with a recovery-audit

contractor. In addition to the procurement contracts, the recovery auditors will have

access to disbursement data to find possible disbursing errors. The number of erroneous

payments detected through the recovery-audit work will determine the erroneous-payment

rate for this program. The Forest Service will work with OMB and USDA’s Office of

the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) to ensure that the program is fully tested and meets

the goals of IPIA.

Corrective Actions Planned

The recovery auditing contract includes recommendations for control improvements, if

any, to mitigate future overpayments. Management improvement plans will be developed

based on the type and number of erroneous payments found and the control improvements

recommended by the recovery auditor. Data mining activity is expected to begin in

November 2004, with preliminary results available by December 31, 2004. The first

recoveries are expected to occur in the second quarter of FY 2005.

1 IPIA was authorized in Public Law 107-300.

2 The Recovery Auditing Act was authorized in 31USC 3561-3567, Section 831.

3 This report is OMB’s FY 2004 Performance and Accountability Reports and Reporting Requirements for the Financial 

Report of the United States Government, July 22, 2004.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 31

Forest Service’s Performance Highlights for 2004

The Executive Priorities

The ELT of the Forest Service selected the FY 2004 performance measures included in

this MD&A. These measures, termed Executive Priorities, were identified as key performance measures aligned to the USDA Forest Service Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years

2004-2008.

The measures dealing with associated national and unit commitments were communicated

to the regions, stations, and area (RSAs) line officers, as well as Washington Office

staff, through the annual program direction. These measures were confirmed and final

commitments provided for each RSA in the mid-year review letter. The RSAs responded

to this letter by providing a forecast as to whether they expected to meet, exceed, or fall

short of their commitments.

Starting this year, the Executive Priorities were also included in individual performance

plans for all members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) and for supervisory GS-14s

and GS-15s.

To meet accelerated reporting timelines, the Forest Service used 9-month actual and

3-month estimated or projected4 accomplishments for the commitment associated with

the performance measures in the MD&A. These items are reported through various

databases and consolidated for review and analysis by the Program and Budget Analysis

Staff. Actual results for projected performance information will be available midDecember 2004.

The following Forest Service Performance Scorecard highlights the agency’s achievements

toward the FY 2004 Executive Priorities, as identified by desired strategic outcomes.

All achievements are projected and may change based on 12-month actual performance

information, due mid-December 2004. Three of the Executive Priorities do not have

specific measurement protocols. 

For a discussion on the projected results and a schedule of planned actions for actual

unmet or exceeded Executive Priorities, refer to the section following the Performance

Scorecard.

4 Projected results for FY 2004 (9-month actuals and 3-month estimates) come from P&BA’s Essbase (version dated 

October 1, 2004 at 12:45).
32 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Projected Accomplishments by Executive Priorities RESULTS 

Reduced risk from catastrophic wildland fire 

1,294,598 acres of hazardous fuels within the WUI that are treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars5 EXCEEDED

313,770 acres of hazardous fuels within the WUI that are treated with Other (Not Direct Hazardous Fuels) dollars EXCEEDED

100 percent of acres of hazardous fuels treated within the WUI are identified as high priority through MET

collaboration consistent with the 10-year Comprehensive Strategy Implementation Plan 

398,319 acres treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars that are in Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes UNMET6

1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI 

253,114 acres treated with Other (NOT Direct Hazardous Fuels) dollars that are in Condition Classes 2 or 3 UNMET 

in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI 

100 percent of acres treated are in Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI that MET 

are identified as high priority through collaboration consistent with the 10-year Plan 

29,711 acres brought into stewardship contracts New Baseline 

Communities at risk with completed and current fire management plans or risk assessments No specific 

measurement

protocol in 

FY 2004 

125,000 acres covered by partnership agreements New Baseline 

Reduced impact from invasive species 

85,081 acres of noxious weeds acres treated EXCEEDED

1,046,482 acres treated for selected invasives species MET

High-quality recreation provided 

64,866 miles of road maintained to standard (high clearance and passenger) EXCEEDED

22 percent of road maintained to standard (high clearance and passenger) EXCEEDED

19,743 facilities maintained to standard EXCEEDED

49.2 percent of facilities maintained to standard EXCEEDED

22,657 miles of trail maintained to standard EXCEEDED

17 percent of trail maintained to standard EXCEEDED

215 rights-of-way acquired to provide public access UNMET

USDA Forest Service’s Performance Scorecard for FY 2004

5 This Executive Priority is also a performance measure reported at the Department level.

6 For all UNMET or EXCEEDED Executive Priorities, please see the following section on Notes to the FY 2004 

Performance Scorecard.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 33

Projected Accomplishments by Executive Priorities RESULTS 

National Forest System lands covered by travel management implementation plans No specific 

measurement 

protocol in 

FY 2004

Improved watershed condition

130 watershed assessments completed EXCEEDED

1,618,000 acres of nonindustrial private forest land under approved stewardship management plans7 MET

217,999 acres of terrestrial habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions UNMET

14,771 acres of lake habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions EXCEEDED 

1,797 miles of stream habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions MET

Improved productivity and efficiency 

76 percent of the Nation for which forest inventory and analysis (FIA) information is accessible to external New Baseline

customers 

86 percent of performance data were current and complete New Baseline 

640,481 acres of land adjustments to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality UNMET

(sum of next three rows)

54,896 acres adjusted (exchanged) to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality UNMET

50,954 acres acquired to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality UNMET

534,632 acres protected by Legacy Program to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality EXCEEDED

12 Land Management Plans (LMPs) revisions completed UNMET

9 percent of LMPs revisions completed UNMET

Proportion of data within information systems that are current to standard No specific 

measurement 

protocol in 

FY 2004 

112 forest plan monitoring reports completed EXCEEDED

94 percent of forest plan monitoring reports completed EXCEEDED

7 Data from States for this Executive Priority are for July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004.
34 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Notes to the FY 2004 Performance Scorecard

The Forest Service developed a process that enables the agency to project annual

accomplishments, prior to the close of the fiscal year, using existing data sources and

tools. For FY 2004, the Forest Service developed and tested a report that compared the

planned accomplishments with the projected accomplishments in WorkPlan or other

databases of record, such as NFPORS, Infra, and TIMS/STARS. These reports were

available for the field to use in validating accomplishment data for the Executive Priorities.

By July 23, 2004, all field units recorded actual performance numbers for the first 9 months

of the fiscal year in WorkPlan8 or other data sources of record. In early August, the

Washington Office pulled the field units’ data for the first 9-month accomplishments to

consolidate the data and making reports available by unit and Executive Priority for validation.

In late August, the field units provided their 3-month estimates, providing explanations

for all UNMET or EXCEEDED accomplishments that deviated more than 5 percent

below or above the planned FY 2004 numbers. The regional offices summarized their

units’ data and each regional forester certified that performance information for the first

9 months and the year-end projections for the Executive Priorities had been validated,

with supporting documentation that was available upon request. 

Finally, in mid-September, Washington Office program staffs completed their review,

validation, and analysis of the FY 2004 projected performance information. The 12-

month actual performance data will be available in early December 2004, as field

units update WorkPlan and the other data sources to reflect the actual accomplishments

for FY 2004. All Executive Priorities with an UNMET or EXCEEDED achievement

will be handled as discussed below.

Planned Actions and Schedule for Achieving an Unmet Executive Priority

For every Executive Priority whose projected FY 2004 performance was unmet or

exceeded, OMB Circular A-11 requires the agency to develop planned remedial actions

and a schedule for these actions. The actions and schedule, which will occur in FY

2005, will be addressed in the FY 2005 performance budget. 

OMB states that a description of the actions being taken, and the accompanying schedule,

may be omitted for an unachieved performance measure where external factors, such as

a natural disaster, were the sole cause for non achievement, and the agency lacks the

8 Roads data will be recorded in WorkPlan for the 9-month actual performance, but full-year actual performance will be 

recorded in the Roads Analysis Report (RAR).
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 35

capacity or authority to affect these factors or entities. There have been instances in the

past several years where catastrophic wildland fires affected the Forest Service’s capacity

to accomplish its targets. This has not been the case in FY 2004.

Also, the Forest Service may conclude that it is not practical or feasible to report

accomplishments for a performance measure. In this case, the agency may choose to

discontinue or adjust the Executive Priority in the future.
36 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Performance Trends

The Forest Service’s FY 2004 Executive Priorities are the key performance measures for

the agency in this Performance and Accountability Report. For several Executive Priorities,

this is the first year for reporting these measures as they may be the result of OMB’s

PART findings or are important to our stakeholders. Consequently, there will be no

trend information for these first-year Executive Priorities.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 37 Exhibit 6. Performance Trends for 2000-2004 Projected Actual 2003 2004 Trends in Performance Measures 2000 2001 2002 Performance Performance Goal 1: Reduce the risk from catastrophic wildland fire Number of acres of hazardous fuels within the WUI that are treated -- -- -- -- 1,294,5989 with Direct Hazardous Fuels (FN) dollars Number of acres of hazardous fuels within the WUI that are treated NA10 611,551 764,367 1,114,106 313,770 with Other (FNOTH) dollars Number of acres treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels (FN) dollars -- -- -- -- 398,31911 that are in Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI Number of acres treated with Other (FNOTH) dollars that are in 772,375 750,146 493,536 339,239 253,114 Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI Goal 2: Reduce the impacts from invasive species Noxious weeds acres treated 121,946 143,938 130,868 138,742 85,081 Goal 3: Provide high-quality recreation while sustaining natural resources Miles of road maintained to standard (high-clearance (69,984+51,733) (51,576+30,056) (49,299+27,499) (56,696 + 53,980) 64,86612 and passenger) Miles of trail maintained to standard 24,065 40,800 30,649 30,608 22,657 Goal 5: Improve watershed condition Watershed assessments completed 130 154 134 115 130 Acres of nonindustrial private forest land under approved stewardship 1,437,360 1,616,986 1,640,000 1,717,000 1,618,000 management plans Acres of terrestrial habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological 192,373 241,123 209,472 230,528 217,999 conditions Miles of stream habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions 1,687 2,193 2,001 1,375 1,797 Acres of lake habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions 18,147 18,428 18,217 16,429 14,771 9 In FY 2003, two measures were combined, and performance by funding categories FN and FNOTH was not broken out. 10 Not applicable. 11 In FY 2003, two measures were combined, and performance by funding categories FN and FNOTH was not broken out. 12 In prior years, high-clearance road miles and passenger car miles were reported separately. The trend numbers are reported above as (high-clearance miles and 

passenger miles).
38 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Exhibit 6. Performance Trends for 2000-2004 Projected Actual 2003 2004 Trends in Performance Measures 2000 2001 2002 Performance Performance Goal 6: Improve productivity and efficiency Acres adjusted (exchanged) to conserve the integrity of undeveloped 139,445 128,913 42,817 29,171 54,896 lands and habitat quality Acres acquired to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and 139,445 128,913 42,817 75,476 50,954 habitat quality Acres protected by Legacy Program to conserve the integrity of 31,263 84,709 57,009 128,349 534,632 undeveloped lands and habitat quality13 Number of forest plan monitoring reports completed14 87 104 92 91 112 13 This performance measure was previously reported as “Conservation of environmentally important forests threatened by conversion to non-forest uses.” 14 This performance measure was previously reported as “LMP monitoring and evaluation reports.”
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 39

Data Sources for the Executive Priorities

The following discussion describes the data sources used for the Executive Priorities.

Management of invasive species and accessibility of Forest Service programs and facilities had incomplete or unreliable data sources.

WorkPlan

At the project level, the Forest Service launched a work-planning tool—WorkPlan—in

May 2003. Full implementation of WorkPlan occurred at the beginning of FY 2004.

WorkPlan continues to make significant enhancements to improve functionality; providing

timely and useful planning, financial, and accomplishment information for managers at

all agency levels; and integrating data from a number of systems.

WorkPlan offers a consistent approach to project planning and tracking across the

agency, replacing several variations of an older tool used since the 1980s. The PAS and

WorkPlan will bridge the gaps among the legacy tracking and reporting systems,

becoming the integration mechanisms to plan, implement, track, and report Forest

Service activities.

Infra

The Forest Service uses Infra as an integrated data management tool to manage and

report accurate information and associated financial data on the inventory of constructed

features, such as buildings, dams, bridges, water systems, roads, trails, developed recreation sites, range improvements, administrative sites, heritage sites, general forest areas,

and wilderness.

Forest Service tracks NEPA analysis and recent decisions using Infra’s Range Module.

This Range Module, which is used on all national forests with a livestock grazing program,

contains current information for nearly all grazing allotments on NFS lands.

Database queries are used to report the number of allotment acres administered to standard. The Forest Service’s Wilderness Program continued its national upward reporting

exercise using Infra-WILD, first conducted in FY 2002. Infra-WILD data is used for

program management and public information dissemination and forms the basis for the

State of the Wilderness Report, currently under development.

Most roads, trails, and facilities data are obtained through the Forest Service Infra corporate database system. Infra data entry takes place at the field level; therefore, limitations

or inconsistencies exist in the data’s accuracy. Currently, the only active process for data

verification and validation are condition surveys throughout the year. The facilities
40 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

program began reviewing existing data for accuracy and will edit the data as needed.

These surveys provide a look at the progress of the performance measures.

Although trail data are currently incomplete, the Forest Service expects the Infra trails

module, complemented by cost information, and assessment and condition data from the

trails Assessment and Condition Survey, to provide complete trail information by local,

regional, and national levels, as well as by State and political divisions.

The facilities program uses the facilities condition index in Infra as a measure to assess

the condition of every building.

Performance Measures Accountability System

The Performance Measures Accountability System (PMAS) is the S&PF Deputy Area

performance management system. It relates measurements to the corresponding national

and unit commitments. 

The PMAS is used by S&PF staff to meet reporting requirements of GPRA for year-end

accomplishment reporting, to meet legal requirements (i.e., Title VI), and in accordance

with Forest Service directives. Data are captured from the States, forests, and other

cooperators to generate these reports. 

National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting

The National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System (NFPORS) is an interagency

system mandated by Congress. The Forest Service is the primary owner of this system,

but it partners in its use with the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service.

The following exhibit identified the data source for the Executive Priorities and how the

accomplishments were measured in FY 2004.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 41 Exhibit 7. Accomplishment Reporting for the Executive Priorities Executive PriorityData Source How Accomplishments Are Reported Hazardous fuels treated within the WUI NFPORS The Forest Service tracked this performance measure as two separate Executive Priorities: one was treating acres using Hazardous Fuels Program funds (FN), and one treating acres using other funding (FNOTH). Accomplishment data are entered by field units (districts or forests) as accomplishments are contracted (for contracts) or carried out (for force account). Hazardous fuels treated within the WUI NFPORS This accomplishment is reported as what percent of acres of hazardous fuels treated were identified as high priority through collaboration consistent with the 10-year Comprehensive Strategy Implementation Plan. Hazardous fuels treated outside WUI NFPORS The Forest Service tracked this performance measure as two separate Executive Priorities: one was but in condition class 2 or 3 in fire treating acres using Hazardous Fuels Program funds (FN), and one treating acres using other funding 

regimes 1, 2, or 3 (FNOTH).

Accomplishment data are entered by field units (districts or forests) as accomplishments are contracted (for contracts) or carried out (for force account). 

Hazardous fuels treated outside WUI NFPORS This accomplishment is reported as what percent of acres of but in condition class 2 or 3 in fire hazardous

but in condition class 2 or 3 in fire regimes 1, 2, or 3 fuels treated were identified as high priority through collaboration consistent with the 

regimes 1, 2, or 3 10-year Comprehensive Strategy Implementation Plan.Stewardship contract improvements WorkPlan This is the number of contract-awarded acres brought into stewardship contracts that improve the 

health of NFS land having the greatest potential for catastrophic wildland fire. For accomplishment reporting in FY 2004, the measure is equivalent to applicable contract/agreement.

Communities at risk with completed Washington Completed projects should meet the standard as identified in the NFP. The number of communities 

and current fire management plans Office Staff, at risk will be published in the Federal Register.or risk assessments NFPORS

The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) and State Foresters are responsible for providing Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) performance information to Forest Service regional office contacts or NFPORS.

Lands covered by partnership Washington This is a new indicator. The measure is the number of acres of non-Federal hazardous fuels treated agreements Office S&PF through partnership. State Foresters Staff report accomplishments to Forest Service regional office 

Staff contacts or NFPORS directly.

Noxious weeds treated WorkPlan This accomplishment is reported when the treatment of noxious weed infestations was completed by 

the Forest Service. If contracted, report treated acres contracted. Work plans or maps of project areas including project descriptions should document the treatments completed. Units reported all acres actually treated by an acceptable method for the specific objective of controlling noxious weed spread and/or reducing noxious weed density and area of occupation. For biological control methods where a population of biocontrol agents was to be established (e.g., insects, fungus, bacterium, etc.), units report 5 acres of accomplishment for each release of a biocontrol agent. Separate 5-acre accomplishments are reported for releases of biocontrol agents that are separatedfrom each other by at least 1/4 of a mile. Accomplishments for biological control agents are claimed for the year of release only. Natural expansions of the biocontrol agent’s population are not considered additional accomplishments.
42 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Exhibit 7. Accomplishment Reporting for the Executive Priorities (continued) Executive Priority Data Source How Accomplishments Are Reported Selected species treated Washington Acres treated for Gypsy moth, Hemlock woolly adelgid, White pine blister rust, and invasive plants Office FHP from FHP and NFS programs. and NFS Staffs Miles of trails maintained to standard WorkPlan The Forest Service tracked miles of trails maintained to standard as identified in Meaningful Measures trails component. This accomplishment is reported in miles and as percent of total. Miles of high clearance and passenger WorkPlan This accomplishment is reported in miles and percent and is the sum of the following:

roads maintained to standard (12-month 

actual Miles of objective maintenance level 1 and 2 roads that are maintained in accordance with standards performance for the applicable maintenance level at year-end.reported in the Roads Miles of objective maintenance level 3, 4, and 5 roads that are maintained in accordance with Accomplishment standards for the applicable maintenance level at year-end.Report)

Number of facilities maintained to Infra Facilities to standard have a FCI rating of .10 or less which is good and fair buildings added together. standard Units assumed total number of facilities to be 40,100 to calculate percent for SP. This accomplishment 

is reported as number of facilities and percent of total.

Rights-of-way acquired WorkPlan The Forest Service tracks the total number of road and trail right-of-way easements acquired, resolved 

through other lands activities, or by cooperative effort. These activities coincide with Categories I, II, and III on the existing annual Rights-of-Way Acquisition Report (FS-5400-25 4/92). 

Percent of NFS lands covered by travel WorkPlan The Forest Service tracks the percentage of acres of NFS land that is covered by contemporary access 

management implementation plans and travel management (ATM) decisions that address OHV management and are consistent with the 

revised forest plan direction. This accomplishment is reported by regional offices after compilation of what the field units reported in WorkPlan for acreage covered by travel management plans.

Watershed assessments completed WorkPlan Watershed (landscape scale ecosystem) assessments are characterizations of ecosystems at the landscape or watershed scale thatprovide integrated assessment of information relevant to a broad range of

possible resource management activities. These assessments identify resource management opportunities necessary to implement land management plans and achieve desired conditions, as well as ForestService strategic goals and other policy requirements. Assessments do not produce decision documents, but do identify options that managers can evaluateduring formal planning activities, including identifying current and reference conditions, addressingchanges in conditions and explaining their significance, identifying management issues, and making recommendations based on the assessment. They are based on existing information and do not includeadditional resource inventories. 

This accomplishment is reported as the number of watershed or landscape assessments completed using guidelines for ecosystem analysis at the landscape or watershed scale.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 43 Exhibit 7. Accomplishment Reporting for the Executive Priorities (continued) Executive Priority Data Source How Accomplishments Are Reported

Terrestrial wildlife habitat restored WorkPlan This accomplishment is the sum of acres of terrestrial habitat and acres of TES terrestrial habitat.

or enhanced

Terrestrial habitat: Units report total number of acres restored or enhanced to achieve desired future condition of habitat. Improvements were through application of a variety of management techniques,such as prescribed burns, seeding to improve foraging habitat for game and nongame species, ormanipulating vegetation to obtain desired habitat condition for the benefit of wildlife. Units count an acreonly once for the current fiscal year and only if it achieved desired future condition. TES terrestrial habitat: Units reported acres of TES terrestrial habitat that were restored or enhancedusing nonstructural improvements in the reporting year using appropriated funds for the explicit purposeof improving TES habitat.Accomplishments are reported when improvements are completed. If work was contracted, units reportedaccomplishments when the project work was obligated. Work plans or maps of project areas, includingproject descriptions, should document the improvements completed.

Streams restored or enhanced WorkPlan This accomplishment is the sum of miles of inland fish streams and anadromous fish streams restored 

or enhanced.

Inland fish: Units report the miles of inland fish-bearing rivers and streams that were restored or enhancedusing structural or nonstructural improvements in the reporting year (using inland fish appropriated funds).It is assumed that restoration/enhancement activities addressed environmental features limiting the productive capability of the particular river/stream. Units Included the portion of streams that were measurablyimproved through implementation of habitat improvement measures. For example: If stabilization of an active slump may eliminate a major sediment source impacting spawning and rearing habitat in a 3-mile stream reach, then units reported the entire 3 miles of river withimproved production capability.Anadromous fish: Units report the miles of anadromous fish-bearing rivers and streams that were restoredor enhanced using structural or nonstructural improvements in the reporting year (using appropriatedfunds used for the explicit purpose of improving fish habitat). It is assumed that restoration/enhancementactivities address environmental features limiting the productive capability of the particular river/stream.Units included the portion of streams that were measurably improved through implementation of habitatimprovement measures. Accomplishments are reported when improvements are completed. If work is contracted, units report theaccomplishment when the project work is obligated. Work plans or maps of project areas including projectdescriptions should document the improvements completed.

Lakes restored or enhanced WorkPlan This accomplishment is the sum of: Inland fish-bearing lakes, ponds, and reservoirs and anadromous

fish-bearing lakes, ponds, and reservoirs.

Inland fish: Units report the surface acres of inland fish-bearing lakes, ponds, and reservoirs that wereenhanced with structural or nonstructural improvements in the reporting year. It is assumed that restoration/enhancement activities address environmental features limiting the productive capability of theparticular water body. The units include the portion of the water bodies that were measurably improvedthrough implementation of habitat improvement measures. For example, if placement of an aerator
44 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Exhibit 7. Accomplishment Reporting for the Executive Priorities (continued) Executive Priority Data Source How Accomplishments Are Reported provides for over-winter survival in a 10-acre lake, then report the entire 10 acres of lake with improved production capability. Anadromous fish: Units report the surface acres of anadromous fish-bearing lakes, ponds, and reservoirs that were enhanced using structural or nonstructural improvements in the reporting year with appropriated funds used for the explicit purpose of improving anadromous fish habitat. It is assumed that restoration/ enhancement activities address environmental features limiting the productive capability of the particular water body. Units include the portion of the water bodies that were measurably improved, through implementation of habitat improvement measures. For example, if placement of a fish weir provides access to a 10-acre lake, then report the entire 10 acres of lake with improved production capability. The accomplishment is reported when improvements are completed. If work is contracted, units report accomplishment when the project work is obligated. Work plans or maps of project areas including project descriptions should document the improvements completed. Nonindustrial private forest land under PMAS NOTE: FY 2004 data is not available from States until November 19, 2004. Acres reported are for FY 2003. approved stewardship management plans. This accomplishment is reported as the number of acres of land under approved Forest Stewardship Plans in FY 2003. Percent of the Nation for which forest FIA Staff FIA data available to the public are quality assured and current, less than 2 years old. The accomplishment inventory and analysis information is was reported in the FIAReport 9 and by FIA Staff. accessible to external customers Land adjustments to conserve the WorkPlan Accomplishments are reported when the documents of conveyance are recorded within the fiscal year. integrity of undeveloped lands and Documentation consists of the official land status files. The accomplishment is the sum of acres adjusted habitat quality exchanged), acres acquired, and acres protected by purchase or conservation easement. Acres adjusted: The total number of acres that are acquired and conveyed through land exchanges, ransfers, interchanges and conveyances, excluding Sisk Act (December 4, 1967) acquisitions and excluding S&PF Legacy acquisitions. Partial interests acquired through the previously mentioned adjustments are included in this code and can include, but are not limited to, mineral interests, conser- vation easements, etc. Acres acquired: The number of acres that are acquired through land purchase or donation, including conservation easements or interest in land, for NFS purposes. Acres protected: The number of acres that are protected by purchase or by conservation easements. Land Management Plan (LMP) WorkPlan This accomplishment is reported when a Record of Decision (ROD) based on the Final Environmental 

revisions/new plans completed Impact Statement (FEIS) is signed by the regional forester. A number larger than 1 is acceptable for a 

unit only when multiple land management plans exist for that administrative unit.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 45 Exhibit 7. Accomplishment Reporting for the Executive Priorities (continued) Executive Priority Data Source How Accomplishments Are Reported Land Management Plan (LMP) WorkPlan This accomplishment is reported when a NFS unit completes an "Annual Monitoring and Evaluation monitoring and evaluation reports Report" in accordance with respective plan requirements; regional direction; FSH, FSM, and planning regulation guidance on what to monitor; and associated Washington Office policy direction. Reports are based on monitoring data and information gathered during the previous fiscal year; focus on evaluation of plan implementation; and provide an overview of resource conditions and trends as they relate to indicators and criteria for sustainability, with specific attention to the effects of management on ecological system structure and function. Performance data are current and Washington The accomplishment is the percent of RSAs providing certification forms that their unit’s accomplishment complete Office P&BA data is current and complete. Staff Proportion of data within information Washington A team is continuing to work through definitions and how the measurement may be operationalized. systems that are current to standard Office Business Operations Staff Grazing allotment decisions signed Infra Units report grazing allotments that were analyzed and completed during the fiscal year. Analysis and (analyzed/NEPA) project level decisions are issued in conformance with provisions of NEPA. Accomplishments are reported once a decision was signed. One decision may be prepared for several grazing allotments, so the reportable item was the number of allotments for which analyses were completed and decisions signed.
46 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Projected 2004 9-month 3-month 2004 Percent (%) 2004 Performance Measures Planned Actual Estimate Performance Accomplished Goal 1: Reduce the risk from catastrophic wildland fire Number of acres of hazardous fuels within the WUI that are treated with 1,016,759 1,180,870 113,728 1,294,598 127% Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars Number of acres of hazardous fuels within the WUI that are treated with 292,720 150,485 163,285 313,770 107% Other (Not Direct Hazardous Fuels) dollars Percent of acres of hazardous fuels treated within the WUI that are 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% identified ashigh priority through collaboration consistent with the 10-year ComprehensiveStrategy Implementation Plan Number of acres treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars that are in 590,876 372,417 25,902 398,319 67% Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI Number of acres treated with Other (NOT Direct Hazardous Fuels) 317,084 135,583 117,531 253,114 80% dollars thatare in Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI Percent of acres treated that are in Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI that are identified as high priority through collaboration consistent with the 10-year Plan Number of acres brought into stewardship contracts 90,00015 9,160 20,551 29,711 New Baseline Percent of communities at risk with completed and current fire management NA NA NA No specific NA plans or risk assessments measurement protocol in FY 2004 Number of acres covered by partnership agreements NA NA NA 125,000 New Baseline Goal 2: Reduce the impacts from invasive species Noxious weeds acres treated 67,438 36,912 48,169 85,081 126% Number of acres treated for selected invasives species 1,046,482 784,862 261,620 1,046,482 100% Exhibit 8. 2004 Planned and Actual Performance for the Executive Priorities 15 Planned performance for this measure was adjusted to 55,000 acres based on mid-year reviews, but the correction was not made to the master performance reporting data.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 47 Projected 2004 9-month 3-month 2004 Percent (%) 2004 Performance Measures Planned Actual Estimate Performance Accomplished Goal 3: Provide high-quality recreation while sustaining natural resources Miles of road maintained to standard (high clearance and passenger) 54,800 43,238 21,628 64,866 118% Percent of road maintained to standard (high clearance and passenger) 18% 15% 7% 22% 118% Number of facilities maintained to standard 15,465 15,871 3,872 19,743 128% Percent of facilities maintained to standard 38.5% 39.6% 09.6% 49.2% 128% Miles of trail maintained to standard 19,630 12,471 10,186 22,657 115% Percent of trail maintained to standard 15% 9% 8% 17% 115% Number of ROW acquired to provide public access 244 123 92 215 88% Percent of NFS lands covered by travel management implementation NA NA NA No specific NA plans measurement protocol in FY 2004 Goal 5: Improve watershed condition Watershed assessments completed 122 41 90 130 107% Acres of nonindustrial private forest land under approved stewardship 1,618,000 1,213,000 405,000 1,618,000 100% management plans Acres of terrestrial habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological 232,350 123,531 94,468 217,999 94% conditions Miles of stream habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions 1,860 930 868 1,797 97% Acres of lake habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions 10,953 10,335 4,436 14,771 135% Exhibit 8. 2004 Planned and Actual Performance for the Executive Priorities (continued)
48 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Projected 2004 9-month 3-month 2004 Percent (%) 2004 Performance Measures Planned Actual Estimate Performance Accomplished Goal 6: Improve productivity and efficiency Percent of the Nation for which forest inventory and analysis information NA 76% 0 76% New Baseline is accessible to external customers Extent to which performance data are current and complete NA NA NA 86% New Baseline Acres of land adjustments to conserve the integrity of undeveloped 699,461 606,111 34,370 640,481 84% lands and habitat quality to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality (sum of next 3 rows) Acres adjusted (exchanged) to conserve the integrity of undeveloped 341,536 42,315 12,581 54,896 16% lands and habitat quality Acres acquired to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and 57,925 38,985 11,968 50,954 0% habitat quality Acres protected by Legacy Program to conserve the integrity 300,000 524,811 9,821 534,632 178% of undeveloped lands and habitat quality Number of Land Management Plans (LMPs) of revisions completed 14 9 3 12 86% Percent of LMPs of revisions completed 11% 7% 2% 9% 86% Proportion of data within information systems that are current to standard NA NA NA No specific NA measurement protocol in FY 2004 Number of forest plan monitoring reports completed 105 29 82 112 106% Percent of forest plan monitoring reports completed 88% 25% 69% 94% 106% Exhibit 8. 2004 Planned and Actual Performance for the Executive Priorities (continued)
Annual Performance Report

Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 51

The Executive Priorities

The Executive Leadership Team of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest

Service selected the FY 2004 performance measures included in the Forest Service

Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 (P&AR). These measures,

termed Executive Priorities, were identified as key performance measures aligned to the

USDA Forest Service Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2004-2008. 

To meet accelerated reporting timelines, the Forest Service used 9-month actual and 3-

month estimated or projected accomplishments for the commitment associated with the

performance measures in the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section. These

items were reported through various databases and consolidated for review and analysis

by the Program and Budget Analysis Staff.

Meeting the Accelerated Congressional Timeline

The Forest Service developed a process that enables the agency to project annual accomplishments, prior to the close of the fiscal year, using existing data sources and tools. 

For FY 2004, the Forest Service developed and tested a report that compared the planned

accomplishments with the projected accomplishments in WorkPlan or other databases of

record, such as the National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System (NFPORS) and

the Infrastructure database (Infra). These reports were available for the field to use in

validating accomplishment data for the Executive Priorities.

By July 23, 2004, all field units recorded actual performance numbers for the first 9

months of the fiscal year in WorkPlan1 or other data sources of record. In early August,

the Washington Office pulled the field units’ data for the first 9-month accomplishments to

consolidate the data and make reports available by unit and Executive Priority for validation.

In late August, the field units provided their 3-month estimates, providing explanations

for all accomplishments that deviated more than 5 percent above or below the planned

FY 2004 numbers. The regional offices summarized their units’ data. Each regional

forester certified that performance information for the first 9 months and the year-end

projections for the Executive Priorities had been validated, with supporting documentation

available upon request. 

1 Roads data will be recorded in WorkPlan for the 9-month actual performance, but full-year actual performance will be 

recorded in the Roads Analysis Report (RAR).
52 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Finally, in mid-September, Washington Office Program Staffs completed their review,

validation, and analysis of the FY 2004 projected performance information. The 12-month

actual performance data will be available in mid-December 2004, as field units update

WorkPlan and the other data sources to reflect the actual accomplishments for FY 2004.

Planned Actions and Schedule for Achieving an Unmet Executive Priority

For every Executive Priority whose projected FY 2004 performance was unmet or

exceeded, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11 requires the

agency to develop planned remedial actions and a schedule for these actions. The

actions and schedule, which will occur in FY 2005, will be addressed in the FY 2005

performance budget.

OMB’s direction states that a description of the actions being taken, and the accompanying

schedule, may be omitted for an unachieved performance measure where external factors,

such as a natural disaster, were the sole cause for nonachievement and the agency lacks

the capacity or authority to affect these factors or entities. There have been instances in

the past several years where catastrophic wildland fires affected the Forest Service’s

capacity to accomplish its targets. This has not been the case in FY 2004.

Also, the Forest Service may conclude that it is not practical or feasible to report

accomplishments for a performance measure. In this case, the agency may choose to

discontinue or adjust the Executive Priority for the future. 
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 53

Performance Measures Matter

Over the past year, the Forest Service Executive Leadership Team determined priorities

to help focus agency programs on the most critical issues requiring concentrated effort.

The team focused these priorities into a common strategic direction embodied in the

Strategic Plan. This new plan addresses the four greatest threats to conservation—growing

fire danger due to the buildup of hazardous fuels; the spread of invasive species; loss of

open space; and unmanaged recreation, particularly use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs).

These four threats increasingly keep the Forest Service from delivering clean air, abundant

water, and healthy habitat. The plan addresses these threats through six strategic goals,

with performance measures and 2008 targets to meet these goals.

The PA&R uses the new Strategic Plan as the foundation for its performance reporting,

with a strong emphasis on accountability. The agency’s executive leadership has worked

to develop Executive Priorities to further help the Forest Service address those issues of

greatest concern. These Executive Priorities were adopted as national commitments with

targets allocated to the regions. In addition, the allocated commitments and targets formed

a key part of the performance expectations for the Forest Service’s Senior Executive

Service performance evaluations and agreements. These measures support the agency’s

new Strategic Plan, as well as the President’s Management Agenda for Budget and

Performance Integration.

The FY 2004 P&AR gauges how the Forest Service is meeting the targets set by its new

Strategic Plan, and reflected, in part, in the USDA Strategic Plan. The results reported

here will be used by the agency to make any needed corrections and adjustments to stay

on its planned course. 

The goals and measures of the Strategic Plan, the annual performance budget proposal

and program direction, and a continued focus on the measures in this P&AR all help

approximately 32,000 employees create and deliver the programs and services on the

ground at the local level. They help employees fulfill the mission mandates for research

and assistance to other Federal entities, States, and private landowners, as well as the

stewardship responsibilities for the millions of acres of magnificent forest and rangeland

resources entrusted to the Forest Service.
54 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Goal 1: Reduce the Risk of Catastrophic Wildfire 

Strategic Outcome

Reduced risk to communities and the environment from catastrophic wildland fire.

In FY 2004, the Forest Service minimized the harmful effects of wildland fires to communities and natural resources by reducing the flammability of hazardous fuels in forests,

woodlands, shrublands, and grasslands. To accomplish this, the agency sought landscapescale improvements in hazardous fuels by prioritizing vegetative treatments across

national forests for Condition Classes 2 and 3 in Priority Fire Regimes (1, 2, and 3). 

In addition to hazardous fuels reduction, these treatments may have also included:

• Invasive species mitigation.

• Insect and disease prevention or control.

• Watershed improvement.

• Fish and wildlife enhancement.

• Range betterment.

• Stand density management.

For information on condition classes and fire regimes, or on approaches to reducing risk

from wildland fire, refer to: A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks

to Communities and the Environment: 10-Year Comprehensive Wildland Fire Strategy

(Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture, 2001).

Achieving the outcome of this goal requires focusing on the following objectives:

Strategic Objective: Improve the health of National Forest System (NFS) lands that

have the greatest potential for catastrophic wildland fire.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 55

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Hazardous Fuels Reduction

The Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program oversees the first six performance measures

listed above. 

Hazardous fuels reduction, funded with direct Hazardous Fuels (FN) dollars, was

accomplished in the WUI, or outside the WUI, in Condition Classes 2 or 3 and in the

Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 through two activities: prescribed fire and mechanical thinning.

Prescribed fires are conducted primarily in the spring, with additional activity in the late

fall. Mechanical thinning is used throughout the field season.

Each Forest Service region developed an integrated 5-year strategy for restoring firedependent ecosystems, the compilation of which serves as a framework to implement

meaningful change at the landscape scale. The national strategy is to integrate the Forest

Service programs to achieve the collective goal for FY 2004. As such, the regional

strategies are not limited to the Hazardous Fuels Reduction program, but also address

ways in which NFS programs—Forest Products, Wildlife, and Vegetation

Management—contribute to ecosystem restoration. 

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Number of acres of hazardous fuels treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels (FN) 1,016,759 1,294,598 127%

dollars that are in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) 

Number of acres of hazardous fuels treated with Other (FNOTH) dollars that are 292,720 313,770 107%

in the WUI

Percent of acres of hazardous fuels treated that are in the WUI that are identified 100% 100% 100%

as high priority through collaboration consistent with the National Fire Plan (NFP) 

10-Year Comprehensive Strategy and Implementation Plan

Number of acres treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels (FN) dollars that are in 590,876 398,319 67%

Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI

Number of acres treated with Other (FNOTH) dollars that are in Condition 317,084 253,114 80%

Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI

Percent of acres of hazardous fuels treated that are in Condition Class 2 or 3 in Fire 100% 100% 100%

Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI that are identified as high priority through 

collaboration consistent with the NFP 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy and 

Implementation Plan

Number of acres brought into stewardship contracts 90,0002 29,711 New 

Baseline

2 Planned performance for this measure was adjusted to 55,000 acres based on mid-year reviews, but the correction was 

not made to the master database for performance reporting data. As a new measure, the projected results will serve as a 

new baseline.
56 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

A standardized interagency tool, Fire Regimen Condition Class (FRCC), determines the

degree of departure from natural vegetation and disturbance regimes. Assessing FRCC

for an area guides management objectives and helps set priorities for treatments.

Allowing naturally ignited wildland fires to reduce hazardous fuels depends on weather,

drought, and the fire season. If the fire season is severe, as it has been with drought

conditions in the past few years, it may not be possible to use wildland fires as a treatment

option because of the higher risk of escaped fires. If the Western United States experiences

favorable weather conditions throughout the summer, however, it will be possible to

meet or exceed the target.

For fuels reduction activities funded with Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars—

Results within the WUI were projected at 1,294,598 acres, or 127 percent of the

planned amount. 

Results outside the WUI, in Condition Classes 2 or 3 and in the Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3,

were projected at 398,319 acres, or 67 percent of the planned amount.

Nonnatural factors can also contribute to the success of the program. Litigation and

appeal of National Forest Fire Management Plans and individual hazardous fuels treatment

projects may impede the agency’s ability to complete planned projects.

Hazardous fuels reduction not funded with direct Hazardous Fuels (FNOTH) dollars is

accomplished within the WUI or outside the WUI in Condition Classes 2 or 3 and in the

Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 using activities such as timber sales, wildlife habitat restoration,

watershed improvements, and noxious weed treatments. Stewardship contracting allows

the Forest Service to support local communities, exchanging needed services for material

removed from the treatment area. The agency is evaluating methods of identifying the

larger benefits of strategically treating selected areas to achieve a wider area of “protected”

acres. This effort will be quantified in future performance and accountability reports.

These projects also depend on weather conditions and ultimately on the severity of the

fire season. In recent years, the transfer of program funds to fire suppression caused the

postponement of many of these activities.

Appeals and litigation also have been significant factors in delaying or stopping these

types of projects. The new Categorical Exclusion and other tools should expedite completion of projects and aid the Forest Service in achieving or exceeding the planned FY

2004 targets.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 57

For fuels reduction activities not funded with Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars—

Results in the WUI were projected at 313,770 acres, or 107 percent of the planned

amount. 

Results outside the WUI, but in Condition Classes 2 or 3 and in the Fire Regimes 1, 2,

or 3 were projected at 253,114 acres, or 80 percent of the planned amount.

All hazardous fuels treatments within the WUI or within Condition Class 2 or 3 and Fire

Regime 1, 2, or 3 outside of the WUI are, by definition, high priority as stated in the NFP

10-Year Plan. These projects account for more than 90 percent of the total hazardous

fuels accomplishment. More than 75 percent of the total acres treated are within the

WUI, while an additional 15 percent are high-priority, non-WUI acres. The remaining

acres of accomplishment are located outside the WUI in Condition Class 2 or 3, Fire

Regime 4 or 5, and account for less than 10 percent of the total treatment acres. These

acres are not high priority and are treated based on need and opportunity at the discretion

of the management unit. 

Stewardship Contracts

The number of acres brought into stewardship contracts in FY 2004 was projected at

29,711 acres, and is a new baseline for coming years. 

The Forest Service measured the number of acres brought into stewardship contracting

as the number of contract or agreement-awarded acres. This measure gauges how effective

the Forest Service has been in meeting the agency’s goal of reducing the risk from catastrophic wildland fire by improving the health of the Nation’s forests and grasslands. 

Stewardship contracting is a relatively new tool available for widespread use within the

Forest Service. Due to this limited history, no trend data are available. 

The following factors affect stewardship contracts:

• Appeals and litigation of planned and/or approved projects.

• Reallocation of resources and personnel for emergency wildfire suppression.

• Increasing demands on the agency’s human and financial resources and the resulting

reduced ability to work with and through other jurisdictions and stakeholder groups.

Strategic Objective: Assist 2,500 communities and those non-NFS lands most at risk

with developing and implementing hazardous fuels reduction and fire prevention plans

and programs.
Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

58 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Communities at Risk and Partnership Agreements

No national commitment and no specific measurement protocol were established for FY

2004. The State Fire Assistance Program is responsible for the percent of “communities

at risk with completed and current fire management plans or risk assessments” and the

number of “acres covered by partnership agreements.” 

State governments coordinate the “communities at risk”’ measure, but the information is

not available to the Forest Service at this time. The National Association of State

Foresters (NASF) is working to provide a baseline this year. 

Research and Development’s Results in Reducing the Risk of Catastrophic Wildfire

Forest Service scientists released maps of the WUI and communities in proximity to it

for the lower 48 States. This is the first consistent representation of the WUI, as defined

in the Federal Register, across the Nation, enabling analysis at the national, State, or local

levels. Maps are available at http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/Library/WUILibrary.asp. 

Researchers completed flight-testing the newly developed FireMapper thermal-imaging

radiometer technology. In one of its first tactical applications, FireMapper provided critical

fire-spread intelligence to the southern California interagency fire operations center

during the October 2003 fire emergency in southern California. FireMapper uses new

night-vision technology to measure thermal radiation from spot fires and intense flaming

fronts alike. Resulting data provided a detailed and synoptic view of fire spread that has

not previously been available. Fire managers and researchers use FireMapper to improve

fire suppression operations, fire-fighting safety, and our understanding of the behavior

and impacts of wildland fire. 

Research scientists developed a computer model to aid the public in protecting their

property from wildfire in the WUI areas. The model helps to evaluate landscaping

choices, such as retaining native vegetation, providing privacy, conserving water, and

saving energy, while providing options for fire safety.

No specific

Percent of communities at risk with completed and current fire management plans NA measurement NA

or risk assessments protocol in 

FY 2004

Number of acres covered by partnership agreements. New

NA 125,000 Baseline
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 59

Forest Service scientists developed predictive tools (http://www.firelab.org) that assess

the effects of fuel and restoration treatments on buildings and structures; fish, wildlife,

and threatened and endangered species habitat; air quality; carbon sequestration balances

and dynamics; water resources and hydrological processes; and invasive species populations. Target audiences include fuels management specialists, resource specialists,

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planning team leaders, and line officers in

the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior; community leaders; and educators.

Research scientists developed the FERGI (Fire enhanced runoff and gully initiation)

model to determine where treatments can be useful and where they may not be. The

model predicts changes in runoff and erosion given the topography, soils, fire severity,

weather, and proposed treatments. This new source of information will help managers

understand the costs, benefits, and alternatives of fuel and restoration treatments. A

Web-based application is in development.

Forest Service researchers provided post-fire mitigation and restoration assistance to the

White Mountain Apache Tribe that helped them restore riparian wetlands and sources of

plants used by the Tribe for religious and medicinal purposes. Research scientists provided

extensive training and synthesis of science on the effects of fire on watershed processes

and native fishes and aquatic habitats. Research scientists also provided models of

aquatic systems response to changing fire regimes at scales relevant to management. 

Forest Service scientists, cooperators, and managers from the Bitterroot National Forest

gathered and mapped information about the complex interrelationships that exist between

the natural resources of the Bitterroot Front and the local community residents who live

and work in this area. This information is being used to select fuel treatment sites and

methods in a manner that achieves fuel reduction goals in ways that are sensitive to

local community values.

A team of Forest Service scientists and staff from S&PF analyzed several millions dollars worth of NFP grants intended to stimulate utilization and marketing of small diameter woody biomass. Economic Action Program managers are using the study results to

adjust their funding strategies and better focus their efforts to enhance the utilization

and marketing of small-diameter woody biomass in the future.

Researchers provided critical information to fire managers regarding evacuations and

fire strategies in western Montana and southern California using aircraft-borne remote

sensing instruments. Scientists used maps of fire perimeters based on satellite data in

conjunction with fire behavior prediction models to estimate fire spread under various

weather scenarios in Montana.
60 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Changes in Smoke Management Regulations

In 2004, the Air Resource Management Program of the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region worked closely

with the State of Colorado to revise the State’s smoke management regulation (CO-Regulation 9) to provide

more flexibility for using prescribed fire as a management tool. One highlight of this effort was the State’s

adoption of a Forest Service proposal to allow the use of air curtain destructors (ACDs) to burn clean wood

waste from hazardous fuel reduction projects. ACDs offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to the

currently approved method of open pile burning.

ACDs introduce controlled, high velocity air across the upper portion of an enclosed combustion chamber

containing clean wood waste. The powerful curtain of air traps unburned particles under the curtain in the high

temperature zone. This reduces the number of escaping particulates, resulting in a cleaner burn with less air

pollution emissions.

Pile burning on Colorado’s Front Range and near other sensitive communities in the wildland-urban interface

has become more restricted recently due to air pollution concerns and other issues such as fire escape risk. ACD

use is expected to provide greatly expanded opportunities for wood waste combustion, reduce air pollution

emissions, allow the option for outsourcing of wood waste disposal operations, further mitigate pile burn escape

risks, and demonstrate to the public that the Forest Service is using every tool it has to reduce hazardous fuels

while protecting air quality.

For more information on the Forest Services’ Air Resource Management Program, visit

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/aq/natarm/r2/r2home.html.

Computer Software Helps Homeowners Assess Threat from Wildfires

Millions of homes are at risk from wildland fires each fire season. The Center for Urban Forest Research at the

Pacific Southwest Research Station announced the development of a new software application that helps residents in urban-wildland interface zones to protect their property from wildfire. The software is designed to

guide residents in evaluating landscaping placement and management options to make fire safety choices, as

well as enhance the beauty of their property, retain native vegetation, provide privacy, conserve water, and saving energy. 

This program provides a computer model that enables residents (users) to visually place their home on their lot

and interactively add, remove, grow, and prune vegetation. They can then evaluate changing risk of their home

burning as an indicator bar on the monitor turns from green (low risk) to yellow (moderate risk) to red (high

risk) in response to varying amounts of radiant heat on the house. Research conducted at the National Institute

of Standards and Technology provided the fire behavior principles behind the software. 

The fire module is currently being coupled with a similar energy assessment module (EnergyWise) and water

model (WaterWise) to estimate the effects of vegetation placement on storm-water runoff, landscape water use,

and energy use. The fire module portion of the software is available for use at http://www.ecosmart.gov.

For more information on the Center for Urban Forest Research, visit http://wcufre.ucdavis.edu
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 61

Model to Evaluate Tradeoffs in Management of Postfire Runoff and Erosion

Large wildfires can profoundly influence mountain

watersheds, leading to increased erosion, debris torrents, and negative effects on water quality and sensitive species. Postfire Burned Area Emergency

Rehabilitation (BAER) focuses considerable effort to

mitigate these events, but controversy exists about its

effectiveness and expense. 

Scientists at the Rocky Mountain Research Station’s

laboratory in Boise, ID, have developed new information to help managers understand the costs and benefits

of and alternative methods to BAER. A new model

called the Fire Enhanced Runoff and Gully Initiation

(FERGI) Model predicts changes in runoff and erosion

for specific topography, soils, fire severity, weather,

and proposed treatments. In application, FERGI

enables managers to determine where treatments may

or may not be useful. A Web-based application is in

development. 

In fiscal years 2003 and 2004, Rocky Mountain

Research Station scientists worked with the Boise

National Forest to analyze data from three wildfires

that took place in Idaho. Using information supported

by FERGI, the scientists decided to forgo contourfelled log treatments over much of the area because

marginal benefits could not be justified. Decisions like

this can save literally millions of dollars by enabling

managers to focus on work that supports more resilient aquatic systems. Subsequent thunderstorms produced

massive debris flows leaving no obvious watershed treatments to choose from, underscoring the utility of

FERGI and its effectivness in this decisionmaking process.

To learn more about fire and aquatic ecosystems, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/teams/fisheries/fire/

firehome.htm 

Evaluating burned hill slopes common in BAER analysis.

Research has led to new models that allow managers to

more effectively prioritize limited resources.
62 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Invasive Species

An important component of the Forest Service invasive species program is to interrupt

the increasing trend and begin to reduce the impacts and spread of invasive species

across all forests and rangelands. 

To address the invasive species threat to our native ecosystems, the economy, and human

health, the agency developed a National Strategy and Implementation Plan for Invasive

Species Management that will guide Forest Service invasive species work through four

program elements: prevention, early detection and rapid response, control and management,

and rehabilitation and restoration.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Noxious Weeds Acres Treated 67,438 85,081 126%

Number of acres treated for selected invasives species 1,046,482 1,046,482 100%

Goal 2: Reduce the Impacts From Invasive Species

Strategic Outcome

Fewer impacts from invasive species due to healthier forests and grasslands.

Invasive species—particularly insects, pathogens, plants, and aquatic pests—pose a

long-term risk to the health of the Nation’s forests and grasslands by interfering with

natural and managed ecosystems, degrading wildlife habitat, reducing the sustainable

production of natural resource-based goods and services, and increasing the susceptibility

of ecosystems to other disturbances, such as fire and flood. 

Economic impacts to forests and grasslands from invasive species exceed $4 billion per

year, without considering the “cost” of environmental consequences, such as loss of

native plants and animals in large areas. 

Achieving the outcome of this goal requires focusing on the following objectives:

Strategic Objective: Improve the effectiveness of treating selected invasive species on

the Nation’s forests and grasslands.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 63

The Forest Service will align the following program objectives to the invasive species

strategy:

• Work jointly with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

to prevent, detect, and promptly eradicate new introductions of invasive species into

terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including nonnative insects and pathogens of

forests and trees of America.

• Manage populations of established invasive species using prevention, suppression, 

and restoration tactics to reduce impacts and restore ecosystems.

• Involve partners in developing a nationally consistent risk-modeling approach that 

enhances the use of risk maps at national, State, regional, and local scales.

• Implement risk-based detection surveys to identify forest vulnerability to invasive 

species based on availability of susceptible hosts, suitable environmental conditions

for invasion, and likely movement pathways of invasive species.

• Cooperate with other Federal, State, tribal, and nongovernmental partners in conservation education efforts that increase public awareness of invasive species and

encourage support and participation in management actions.

The following factors outside the control of the Forest Service might affect progress:

• Increasing demands on the agency’s human and financial resources and the resulting

reduced ability to work with and through other jurisdictions and stakeholder groups.

• Accelerated susceptibility and mortality of forest trees from drought, insects, and 

pathogens.

• Introduction of new species of insects, pathogens, and invasive plants into the 

United States.

• Legal and regulatory constraints limiting the full range of plant, animal, insect, and 

disease management treatments.

Acres Treated for Noxious Weeds

On NFS lands, noxious weeds:

• Weaken natural and managed ecosystems.

• Degrade wildlife habitat.

• Reduce the sustainable production of natural resource-based goods and services.

• Increase the susceptibility of ecosystems to other disturbances, such as fire and flood.
64 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Regarding invasive plants, the FY 2004 national commitment for noxious weed control

was increased by approximately 11 percent over FY 2003. FY 2004 results were projected

at 85,081 acres treated, for 126 percent of the planned acres.

Since invasive plants know no boundaries, noxious weeds impact State and private forests

in the same way they impact national forests and grasslands. 

The FY 2004 national allocation for invasive species was doubled over FY 2003, contributing to the agency meeting this target.

Acres Treated for Selected Invasive Species

The Forest Health Protection (FHP) staff is responsible for measuring the percent of

acres treated for selected invasive species (gypsy moth and white pine blister rust) on all

forested lands, including NFS and cooperative lands.

FHP seeks to achieve the following intended outcomes:

• Implement and support actions to detect and prevent introduction of invasive species

into recently disturbed ecosystems, such as those affected by high-intensity wildland fires. 

• Eradicate new infestations of highly damaging invasive species (Asian longhorned 

beetle, sudden oak death (SOD), and emerald ash borer).

• Manage populations of established targeted invasive species using prevention, 

suppression, and restoration tactics to reduce impacts and restore ecosystems. 

• Develop and test better methods to prevent, detect, control, and monitor invasive 

species and implement these techniques to restore forest and range ecosystems.

To achieve the intended outcomes, FHP is implementing comprehensive, collaborative

plans to manage gypsy moth, hemlock wooly adelgid, and invasive plants. These strategies

include activities to prevent, eradicate, and suppress spread of the pests, as well as projects

to restore damaged forest lands. 

FHP fully funded the gypsy moth program including the “Slow the Spread” program.

Results for FY 2004 were projected at 1,046,482 acres treated, or 100 percent of the

planned acres.

In addition to the Forest Service invasive species strategy, the agency completed specific

strategies to deal with invasive plants, SOD, and white pine blister rust. These strategies

are at different stages of implementation. For example, efforts in managing the white
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 65

pine blister rust have focused on development of resistant stock and intensive management

of plantations. The availability of resistant material will enable the Forest Service to

implement restoration activities on acres impacted by this pest. 

Treatment activities for newly introduced invasive species, such as SOD and emerald

ash borer, are not yet well developed. For these species, survey and monitoring programs

have been implemented. For example, the agency conducts surveys for SOD in 37 States.

Pests are eradicated where new infestations are detected, such as the eradication effort

of SOD in Oregon on 60 acres. 

Effective treatments and strategies are in place for gypsy moth and some of the invasive

plants. The agency report acres treated for these selected invasive species. The strategies

include prevention, eradication, slow-the-spread, and restoration of impacted ecosystems.

Implementing one or more elements of the strategy depends on the extent and spread of

the pest population, drought, wildfire, and other environmental conditions. Treatments

are then planned and prioritized to achieve the most effective and efficient outcomes.

For some invasive plant species and hemlock wooly adelgid, biological control agents

are being developed and tested; the effectiveness of these agents is not yet proven. Thus,

treated acres are not reported. In other cases, treatments may not be implemented because

of collapse of the pest population, wildfires, or litigation and other administrative priorities.

For new introductions of pests, limited knowledge of the biology and mode of the spread

of the invasive species may prevent the agency from implementing an effective treatment.

To assess overall program effectiveness, the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)

will be used in conjunction with the FY 2006 program development process.

Research and Development’s Results in Reducing the Impact of Invasive Species

SOD could have global economic implications for forests, horticultural, and agricultural

industries. Because of the large number of susceptible host species, many of which are

popular ornamental plants shipped internationally from production nurseries, there is a

great potential to spread the pathogen. Forest Service researchers and cooperators identified the cause of the disease, provided national insight to tree species affected or at

risk, served as the basis for national and international regulatory policy, and delivered

possible management and control options. The Forest Service is continuing to provide

support to existing (and potential) management actions and regulatory policy as the

potential range of the SOD expands.
66 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Scientists developed a new tool to predict which species are most likely to cause ecological and economic damage. This tool, based on an Australian/New Zealand Weed Risk

Assessment protocol, provides a reliable, documented, and scientifically based method

of assessing potential impacts of exotic species on natural and agricultural ecosystems.

It provides agencies and managers with a basis for setting priorities for control and

prevention. It is being used by the State of Hawaii to develop outreach programs to the

horticultural industry to reduce sale of potentially invasive species. 

Forest Service scientists provided their understanding of bark beetle-fungal interactions

in a recent publication of Science. Their findings will improve the ability to accurately

assess the risk of Southern pine beetle leading to improved on-the-ground management

decisions. Scientists also developed improved detection strategies for the banded elm

bark beetle, a recently detected exotic bark beetle.

The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) threatens to destroy hemlock ecosystems in the

eastern United States and no effective control measures have been developed. Forest

Service scientists recently released the Chinese lady beetle, Scymnus sinuanodulus, in

Pennsylvania and Southern Appalachia in an effort to biologically control HWA. Agents

such as lady beetles are the most promising approach to controlling HWA. 

Forest Service led the attack on the new invasive pest, Emerald Ash Borer, providing

methods for detection, control, quarantine, and eradication to protect the Nation’s

forests with minimal disruption to international trade.

Researchers developed a national strategic logic model for invasive species research that

illustrates linkages between Forest Service goals and outputs. The model identified output

and outcome performance measures that are specific, measurable, accountable, resultsoriented, and time-bound. The model also provided a framework for the development of

the Forest Service National Strategy and Implementation Plan for Invasive Species and

was an exhibit for Forest Service Research performance and accountability in OMB’s

assessment tool, PART.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 67

The Emerald Ash Borer “Creates” Valuable Products

The emerald ash borer (EAB), an exotic woodboring beetle, has killed more than 6 million ash trees in

Michigan, Canada, and parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland. Damage is estimated at $10 million and climbing.

State, Federal, and international governments are implementing quarantine on EAB infested wood, in an effort

to halt the spread of EAB.

In southeastern Michigan, the Forest Service, the Michigan Department of Agriculture, and the Michigan

Department of Natural Resources are cooperating to contain the EAB. Healthy and infested ash trees are being

removed in a “fire break” zone around the infested area. Millions of infested and healthy ash trees will be

removed. As these trees are removed, they are felled, chipped, and either burned or sent to landfills. 

Although the beetles kill ash trees by cutting off their water supply, most of the material in the trees is not damaged

and can be used for value-added products. These products include flooring, cabinets, furniture, and implement

handles. Most material currently being landfilled or burned can be recycled into value-added products. Removal

and disposal costs are reduced by recycling this material.

The Forest Service Economic Action Program and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources are working

with the Southeastern Michigan Resource Conservation and Development Council to demonstrate how recycled

infested ash trees can be turned into value-added products. 

For more information on Region 9 activities, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r9.

This 32-inch diameter ash log will be processed into

lumber and railroad ties. EAB galleries can be seen

on the log’s surface.
68 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Thwarting Invasive Species in the Monongahela National Forest

Monongahela National Forest employees and volunteers removed hundreds of pounds of garlic mustard in June

and July 2004 in an effort to slow the spread of a noxious weed invader. 

One mustard “pull” was conducted on 11/

3 miles of decommissioned road. When Forest Service geologist

Linda Tracy discovered an entire length of road with a vigorous stand of the invasive plant, she contacted a

State agency to alert them of her find. Working on steep slopes over the course of 3 days, just less than 5 acres

of garlic mustard were pulled and carefully bagged. This amounted to 115 plastic garbage bags, each weighing

about 35 pounds, or a total of 2 tons of material. 

Approximately 180 person-hours were spent pulling and bagging garlic mustard. The bags were then hauled

down the mountain by hand or on crude sleds. Great care was taken to avoid ripping the heavy-duty plastic

bags, which could have loosed any ripe seeds and led to another infestation.

Another significant pull occurred in the virgin spruce area of Gaudineer Knob. Although the patch pulled was

only about 1/10 acre in size, it was growing in an ecologically sensitive area. A third pull cleared about 5 acres

of the invasive plant. Before the “pull,” parts of the cleared area were estimated at 90-percent mustard coverage.

As demonstrated here, invasive species will spread and ultimately alter ecosystem functionality by pushing out

and replacing native vegetation, causing loss of biodiversity. As noted under the Chief’s four threats, these invasives require immediate attention. To put the situation into context, our country spends approximately $138 billion per year in total economic damages and control costs.

To learn more about Monongahela National Forest activities, please visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 69

Goal 3: Provide Outdoor Recreational Opportunities

Strategic Outcome

High-quality outdoor recreational opportunities exist on the National Forests and

Grasslands

The Forest Service continued to provide high-quality recreational experiences for the

American public, especially in the national forests near the growing urban centers.

To provide benefits for all recreation users, the Forest Service maintained public

access to its facilities, roads, and trails, and acquired new rights-of-way (ROWs) for

public access to NFS lands.

Achieving the outcome of this goal requires focusing on the following objectives:

Strategic Objective: Improve public access to NFS land and water and provide opportunities for outdoor health-enhancing activities.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Miles of trail maintained to standard 19,630 22,657 115%

Percent of trail maintained to standard 15% 17% 115%

Number of facilities maintained to standard 15,465 19,743 128%

Percent of facilities maintained to standard 38.5% 49.2% 128%

Number of ROW acquired to provide public access 244 215 88%

Miles of road maintained to standard (high-clearance and passenger)3 54,800 64,866 118%

Percent of road maintained to standard (high-clearance and passenger) 18% 22% 118%

3 This performance measure will not be found, as worded, in the Forest Service Strategic Plan 2004-2008. It is most 

closely related to Performance Measure 3.1.b: The 3-year average of fatalities on the passenger car network because 

the condition of the road surface is related to the likelihood of fatalities.

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Trails Maintained to Standard

The agency projected 22,657 miles of trail maintained to standard, or 115 percent

accomplishment. This is 17 percent of the total miles of trail.

Roads Maintained to Standard

The National Forest Road System is one of the foundations for the achievement of the

agency’s strategic plan and goals. The road system provides access for public use, man-
70 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

agement activities, and protection of NFS lands. The Forest Service Manual (FSM) provides

direction for maintenance planning and responsibilities, requiring development of comprehensive annual maintenance plans using available resources for the highest priorities.

Servicewide appropriations for road maintenance have been less than annual maintenance

needs for many years. On a year-to-year basis, deferred maintenance backlogs have

increased while the amount of roads maintained in accordance with applicable standards

has decreased. As expected, these trends continued in FY 2004. Consequently, much of

the road system is in poor condition and continues to deteriorate, affecting resources,

resource programs, and public recreation.

In FY 2004, the agency achievements were projected at 64,866 miles of roads maintained

to standard, for 118 percent of the planned target. While this planned accomplishment

was met, it is for only 18 percent of the total miles of road on NFS lands.

Facilities Maintained to Standard

Those facilities maintained to standard have a Facility Condition Index (FCI) rating of

.10 or less, which equates to buildings that would be considered in good and fair condition.

A total of 40,100 buildings are used to calculate percent to standard.

The Forest Service facilities program maintains buildings, developed recreation sites,

dams, and other facilities. These facilities provide the work environment for approximately

32,000 employees and have the capacity to serve the recreation needs of nearly 2.1 million

people at one time. More than half of these facilities have exceeded their design life and

are more than 40 years old.

Annual maintenance includes work performed to preserve the serviceability of a facility,

such as preventive maintenance, repairs, and replacement of damaged or worn out components. It includes work needed to meet laws, regulations, codes, best management

practices, and other applicable standards, as long as the original intent or purpose of the

facility remains unchanged. Annual maintenance also includes demolition, dismantling,

and disposing of unneeded facilities. Proper maintenance is essential to providing efficient

public service and maintaining the value of the Government’s infrastructure investment. 

Maintenance that is not performed as needed or scheduled is defined as deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance causes deterioration of facility performance, increased

repair costs, and a decrease in facility value. Forest Service facilities currently have a

deferred maintenance backlog of approximately $400 million. Annual maintenance costs

are estimated at $75 million.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 71

To meet this challenge, the Forest Service has taken the following actions:

• Developed a warehouse view in the Infra for the regions to review progress on a 

monthly basis.

• Improved the definition of the standard across all units because it was not consistently

interpreted. 

• Removed deferred maintenance figures from Infra on completed projects.

To make significantly more progress, the Forest Service must also take the following

actions:

• Monitor performance in monthly conference calls with regional engineering staff.

• Update or populate deferred maintenance and replacement value figures in Infra to 

complete the FCI calculation.

• Monitor expenditures and Infra data to identify if regions are making progress or 

lagging behind.

Typically, each wildfire season affects units across the Forest Service, impeding the

agency’s ability to perform current condition surveys and update and revise replacement

value data in Infra. 

For FY 2004, the agency’s accomplishments were projected at 19,743 facilities maintained

to standard, achieving 128 percent of the planned number.

Acquiring Road and Trail Rights-of-Way

ROW support effective public service by providing appropriate access to NFS lands for

the public’s use and enjoyment. Legal ROW enable needed maintenance and improvements

to the road and trail system to address health and safety, resource degradation, and fire

issues. Secure ROW enhance the ability to improve and protect watersheds and habitat,

sustaining viable populations of desired species. Timely acquisition of needed ROW is a

primary objective for successful management of NFS lands. 

To accomplish these objectives, the agency proposed to take the following actions:

• Develop a long-term strategy for acquiring priority ROW.

• Continue to improve the skill base of realty staff to facilitate economical case processing.

For FY 2004, the Forest Service acquired a projected 215 ROW, or 88 percent of the

planned number.
72 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

The following significant underlying factors outside the control of the Forest Service

affected progress toward this long-term goal in FY 2004:

• Increasing relocation of the public into the rural landscape.

• Increasing unwillingness by private and non-Federal governmental entities to grant 

access, particularly through non-Federal lands within the urban interface.

• Increasing cost of agency efforts and cost pool assessments.

Strategic Objective: Improve the management of OHV use to protect natural resources,

promote safety of all users, and minimize conflicts among various uses through the collaborative development and implementation of locally based travel management plans.

Travel Management Plans

The Travel Management Planning strategy has progressed more slowly than anticipated.

No national commitment and no specific measurement protocol were established in FY

2004. A firm schedule will be established in FY 2005.

Research and Development’s Results in Providing Outdoor Recreation

Opportunities

Forest Service researchers synthesized a previously unorganized body of knowledge to

develop fundamental principles providing the theoretical and conceptual foundation for

recreation ecology and its management impacts.

Scientists and Alaska cooperators surveyed nonresident recreational anglers for information

needed to plan for management of the Situk River. Analysis from this survey enabled

creation of management alternatives across multiple land classifications and State and

Federal jurisdictions.

Researchers and cooperating Federal agencies published Outdoor Recreation for 21st

Century America, an assessment of public demand for recreational opportunities on the

Nation’s forests and other natural lands. This research formed the basis for the recreation

analyses in the National Report on Sustainable Forests—2003, the RPA Forest and

Rangelands Assessment, national forest plan updates, State comprehensive outdoor

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

No specific

Percent of NFS lands covered by travel management implementation plans NA measurement NA

protocol in

FY 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 73

recreation plans, and a number of private organizations’ strategic plans. Information is

available at http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/trends.

Scientists cooperated with national and regional recreation managers to complete a 5-year

study of recreational use on all national forests. The National Visitor Use Monitoring

system was developed for monitoring of national forest recreation, employing innovative

national-to-ground level sampling strategies and statistical estimation procedures to provide

reliable measures of the recreation benefits being provided by the national forests. More

information can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvum/reports/.

Forest Service and university scientists jointly completed the first national assessment

of the status of the National Wilderness Preservation System and its associated values.

This broad-scale assessment employed the latest technology for using regional and

nationwide spatial data to examine the social values, economic uses, and natural conditions

of the wilderness system within a landscape context. This work was part of the RPA

Forest and Rangeland Assessment and will be published as a book entitled The Multiple

Values of Wilderness.

Forest Service scientists examined the management and use of OHV on the national

forests in California. Results of this research are now available for use by OHV managers,

community members, and OHV groups and organizations. 

Scientists completed a study of the recreation fee demonstration program for a southeastern forest. Findings highlighted ways to strengthen the program through a greater

focus on customer service and by targeting the expenditure of fee revenues.
74 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Enhancing the South Fork Salmon River Fishing Experience 

During the summer Chinook salmon fishing season, thousands of

anglers gather along the South Fork Salmon River and the adjacent

road on the Boise and Payette National Forests. A unique partnership

between the two forests, Valley County Idaho Sheriff’s Department,

Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Nez Perce Tribe, and

Southwest Idaho Resource Advisory Committee has improved fishing access and reduced resource damage to enhance recreational

opportunities for anglers. 

Critical actions taken by the partnership include constructing stairways

to the river to ease erosion problems caused by angler-created trails,

creating and designating specific parking areas away from streambanks,

adding trash bins and sanitation facilities, and prohibiting overnight

camping. Because glass containers often break and become a safety

hazard, the improved fishing conditions also restricted possession

and storage of glass containers in the river corridor. These changes

have increased public safety and enhanced access for emergency

vehicles and residents of the nearby community of Yellow Pine.

The forest representatives and their partners also created a facility

where anglers could obtain information about fishing and camping areas, and posted signs outlining safety

measures appropriate use of the area for the purpose of protecting anglers and reducing resource damage. 

With resources provided by the project’s partners, further improvements to access, parking, and camping

opportunities are planned. Measures taken by this partnership has helped the Forest Service provide enhanced

recreational opportunities for constituents.

For more information on the Boise National Forest, please visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/boise. 

An angler’s prize—a Chinook Salmon.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 75

Wayne National Forest’s Wheelin’ Sportsmen

Ohio’s Wayne National Forest hosted the first “Wheelin’ Sportsmen Fishing Day” on April 9, 2004. The

National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) partnered with the Wayne National Forest to host a fishing event

designed to introduce the public to the new accessible boardwalk at Lake Vesuvius. The Wheelin’ Sportsmen

group is an outreach program established by the NWTF to provide physically challenged individuals with

opportunities to participate in outdoor activities such as fishing, hunting, bird watching, and other sports. 

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife stocked the lake with approximately 1,300

rainbow and golden trout. Miranda Cremeans, a local teenager actively involved with the project since its

planning stage, was given the honor of

releasing the first fish.

This outing brought together family and

friends to enjoy the beautiful day outdoors.

Even Smokey Bear visited, reminding

everyone of the importance of fire prevention.

NWTF furnished food, and the Ohio University

Southern Nature Center provided drinks for

participants. Over the course of the day,

almost 400 people attended Fishing Day. 

Although originally planned as a one-time

event, the first Wheelin’ Sportsmen Fishing

Day was so successful that it will become an

annual occurrence. 

For more information on the eastern region,

please visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r9. The new boardwalk on Lake Vesuvius enables visitors of all ages

and abilities to try their hand at fishing.

Cultural Celebration in Perry County, Tennessee

Perry County Family Trees is a recreational event that celebrates family history and cultural heritage in

Tennessee. This event was inspired by the linkage of forests and rivers to the area’s early settlers and features

local music and utilitarian arts talent. The concept for this cultural celebration was developed by the BuffaloDuck River Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Council, partnering with local communities, the

Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Forest Service’s Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. A

partnership grant from the Forest Service and the National Endowment for the Arts funded the June 2004 activities that included folk plant workshops, Native American pow wows, bluegrass and gospel music concerts, and

heritage exhibits. More than 3,000 people attended these activities in a county with a population of 7,700.

This newly created tourist destination has boosted the economies of local communities, enabling towns in Perry

County to improve their downtown areas, fund a chamber of commerce, preserve historic sites, and develop

tourism-based businesses. The success of this program has provided recreation and enhanced community arts and

music programs. This partnership also fosters economic viability, making a significant positive impact in this

rural area.

For more information on the Southern Region’s activities, please visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r8.
76 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Goal 4: Help Meet Energy Resource Needs

Strategic Outcome

Consider opportunities for energy development and the supporting infrastructure on

forests and grasslands to help meet the Nation’s energy needs.

A specific strategy is currently being developed to address this strategic goal and objectives

within the context of the Forest Service’s multiple use mandate. The new strategy will

be implemented within the 2004 to 2008 Strategic Plan window. 

The strategic objectives are:

Strategic Objective: Work with other agencies to identify and designate corridors for

energy facilities, improve the efficiency of processing permit applications, and establish

appropriate land tenure (including transferability clauses) in easements and other

authorizations to provide for long-term project viability.

Strategic Objective: Stimulate commercial use of small-diameter trees from NFS

lands for biomass energy.

Research and Development’s Results in Helping Meet Energy Resource Needs

Forest Service researchers released the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) BioSum

computer model, demonstrating the potential use of fire hazard reduction treatments to

meet energy needs. It was specifically designed to address policy issues, such as the

effectiveness of a transportation subsidy for woody biomass, and could be used to compare

the effectiveness of this type of subsidy versus a subsidy on the production of electricity

generated from biomass (including agricultural or municipal wastes). 

Researchers developed a Life-Cycle Assessment Model of the use of wildland biomass

for electrical generation. The model analyzes the costs, benefits, and environmental impacts

associated with alternative policy scenarios for directing low-value woody biomass

obtained from hazardous fuels treatments into energy applications.

For the Department of Energy’s Biomass Vision, research scientists developed the Fuel

Treatment Evaluator, a Web-based tool to help assess the biomass potential from forests.

The tool allows users to identify and prioritize hazardous fuel reduction opportunities in

forests based on their departure from historic natural fire regimes, their need for thinning,

and their proximity to the WUI.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 77

Research evaluation of a new biomass bundling machine indicates biomass bundling

can be a cost-effective forest management tool. Biomass bundling reduces fire risk,

avoids prescribed fire limitations, improves storage life of residues, and improves the

recovery of biomass for utilization.

In northern Minnesota, researchers provided technical and logistic support to two public

utilities commissions implementing a large-scale biomass project. The project, using

hybrid poplar as a renewable and sustainable supply of green energy, has the potential to

provide 35 megawatts of renewable power, more than $700 million in gross revenues

(and the creation and retention of more than 170 jobs) for 20 years to Hibbing and

Virginia, MN.
78 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Olguin’s Sawmill Retrofits For Small Diameter Materials

Olguin’s, Inc., in Taos, NM, operated as a large diameter sawmill from 1964 to 2003. In August 2003, the

Carson National Forest awarded Olguin’s two Economic Action grants totaling $114,000. These grants helped

update the company’s business marketing plan and procure equipment to expand its capability for producing

value-added products from small diameter trees. The equipment enabled the company to diversify its existing

set of products—traditional vigas, latillas, fuel wood, and rough lumber—and add five new product lines—

including posts, poles, and finished lumber and mouldings—that all use small diameter trees and reduce fire

risk to communities. By July 2004, Olguin’s had produced 10,000 posts and poles. The planer/molder enabled

the mill to produce finished dimensional lumber for the first time. Olguin’s is one of the few mills in the State

capable of producing finished lumber. 

The mill works in partnership with 10 suppliers that remove material from hazardous fuel projects in communities

adjacent to the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests. The Economic Action grants also contribute to a sustainable

economy in an area that has long been economically depressed. The mill added 2 new employees in 2004 and

provides 11 jobs. 

For more information on the Carson National Forest, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/carson.

Olguin’s, Inc., welcoming committee.

Mill workers remove bark from small-diameter trees.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 79

Wood Chips Have the Power

What does a business do with woody material removed for the purpose of reducing hazardous fuels? One solution—

use wood chips for energy. The Forest Service’s State and Private Forestry Technology Marketing Unit is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and

one of its subcontractors, Community Power Corporation, to demonstrate the BioMax 15, a state-of-the-art,

transportable, and environmentally friendly biopower system

that uses forest residues to produce electricity and heat

suitable for small enterprises, rural homes, and schools. 

Two businesses in New Mexico and one school in

Colorado fired up modular biopower systems in 2004 that

use wood chips from forest restoration activities to produce

electricity and heat for their facilities. 

Small, modular biopower technology holds tremendous

opportunities for offsetting some local energy needs, using

low-value forest thinnings and as an “in-the-woods” processing operation capable of grid connection. Although

biopower technology is still in the precommercial phase,

these projects are important in the efforts to reduce the risk

from catastrophic wildland fire and help meet energy

resource needs locally. 

For more information on the Forest Service’s State and

Private Forestry Technology Marketing Unit, please visit

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu/welcome.htm.

Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth congratulates

partner Walt Robb of Community Power Corporation

on successfully getting several “BioMax 15” sites

up and running in 2004 to use wood chipped from

hazardous fuel materials removed from the wildlandurban interface.
80 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Conservation Silviculture: Management of Koa Forests in Hawaii

Working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and Kamehameha Schools, Forest Service

scientists have developed new insights into the silviculture of koa (Acacia koa). Koa is one of the world’s most

valuable woods for high-end furniture and accessories, and contribute tens of millions of dollars to Hawaii’s

economy. 

Following a disturbance, such as fire or substrate scarification (breaking of the ground surface), koa regenerates

prolifically from long-lived seeds in the soil. Where seedlings are protected from grazing, the result is a dense

stand of young koa trees with an understory of alien grasses. Thinning and grass control enhance the survival

and growth of koa, leading to more valuable trees and improved conditions for native plants.

By demonstrating benefits to private

landowners that sound forest management is both economically and ecologically rewarding, they are encouraged to

grow and maintain valuable trees and

native plants for economic gain and

ecosystem health. These long-term benefits will provide incentive to slow the

conversion of privately held forested

lands to suburban development and pastures. Ultimately, maintaining these ecologically sound forests will result in

landscape-scale conservation for forests

in the State of Hawaii, the home of onethird of the Nation’s threatened and

endangered species.

To learn more about Hawaii’s resources

through the Pacific Southwest Research

Station, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/psw.

Koa trees, indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands, are a valuable resource

for this State. Photo courtesy of Jack Jeffrey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 81

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Watershed Assessments Completed

Assessments evaluate current land and resource conditions at, or above, the watershed

scale. The Forest Service uses assessments to increase the knowledge base of the agency

for subsequent decisionmaking at the forest plan level and project level.

Watershed-scale assessments help identify and prioritize projects to implement forest

plans, resulting in improved and protected watershed conditions, ecological conditions

that sustain viable populations, and restored and maintained forest and grassland ecosystems. Assessments consider information on ecosystem function, vegetation structure,

ecosystem capabilities, and the limits to sustained production, and thus improve the

agency’s capability to provide sustainable levels of uses, values, products, and services.

Goal 5: Improve Watershed Condition

Strategic Outcome

Fully functional and productive watersheds

Many Americans depend on NFS watersheds for their public water supplies at home and

while enjoying outdoor recreation as they visit the national forests and grasslands.

Sustaining functional watershed conditions over time maintains the productive capacity

of the Nation’s land and water. 

In FY 2004, the Forest Service worked toward achieving the desired ecological conditions

of the Nation’s watersheds through enhancements to stream, lake, and terrestrial habitat,

as well as completing over 100 watershed assessments for future enhancements of these

habitats. The agency also provided technical, educational, and planning assistance through

State forestry agency partners, thus ensuring the long-term management of important

private forest resource areas.

Achieving the outcome of this goal requires focusing on the following objectives:

Strategic Objective: Assess and restore high-priority watersheds and maintain riparian

habitat in these watersheds.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Watershed assessments completed 122 130 107%

Acres of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) land under approved stewardship 1,618,000 1,618,000 100%

management plans
82 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

The agency continued the transition toward meeting its long-term goal of a shorter

watershed assessment cycle by projecting completion of 130 high-priority watershed

assessments.

The timeliness of watershed assessments affects forest plan revision and amendment

efforts and projects. The planning efforts may also be affected by possible reductions in

the scope and analysis associated with the assessments.

To accomplish these objectives, the Forest Service will take the following actions:

• Continue transition to a shorter watershed assessment cycle to meet forest plan 

development and plan implementation.

• Improve the capacity to provide the scientific and technological information needed

to address the agency’s priorities in assessing watershed conditions.

• Digitally store, characterize, and display the current hydrologic and associated 

watershed conditions of five field hydrologic unit watersheds within a corporate 

database.

• Implement and track watershed restoration and improvement activities in an integrated

and financially efficient manner to achieve desired conditions.

Nonindustrial Private Forest Land (NIPF) under Approved Stewardship

Management Plans

The Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) provides technical, educational, and planning

assistance through State forestry agency partners to NIPF owners to encourage and

enable the active long-term forest management of important private forest resource areas.

The primary focus of the FSP is the development of comprehensive, multiresource management plans that provide landowners with the information they need to manage their

forests for a variety of products and services.

The FSP is shifting from its historic delivery of assistance to landowners on a first-come,

first-served basis to a more strategic or focused approach that directs assistance to affect

targeted forest resource areas. The program is also investing in the development of spatial

assessment tools to enable partner forest agencies to track accomplishments in terms of

forest resource outcomes through time, and to strategically focus program assistance in

the future. 

In FY 2004, actual results were 1,618,000 acres of NIPF under approved stewardship

management plans, or 100 percent of the planned acres. This performance information

reflects actual results due to the States’ June 30 – July 1 fiscal year. 
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 83

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Enhancement of Terrestrial, Lake, and Stream Habitats

The enhancement of terrestrial habitat includes actions to restore, recover, and maintain

habitat and ecosystem conditions necessary for healthy populations of wildlife. Providing

appropriate ecological conditions for these species is integral to meeting the agency mission

and its legal requirements to provide for plant and animal community diversity, species

recovery, and to avoid new listings of threatened or sensitive species. Improvements

include, but are not limited to, maintaining early successional habitats, regenerating

aspen and oaks, seeding to improve forage conditions, and developing water sources for

wildlife in arid habitats.

In FY 2004, terrestrial habitat restored or enhanced on NFS lands was projected at

217,999 acres, or 94 percent of the acres planned for the year.

A significant portion of these acres also contributed to improved forest health conditions

and reduced risks of catastrophic wildfires. With better integration of wildlife specialists

into the analysis of hazardous fuels, the Forest Service can now also meet wildlife

objectives during those treatments.

Also benefiting wildlife objectives are the anticipated 2,000 partnerships that form an

integral part of this program.

Several factors affect the success of the wildlife habitat management program. Support

to other program activities requires the skilled services of journey-level biologists, leaving

them with less time to spend in core wildlife habitat management activities. Redirection

of funds to wildfire suppression, along with reassignment of personnel into suppression

activities, has caused an erosion of partnerships and program accomplishments. Salary

and cost pool assessment increases have reduced the amount of funds available to

accomplish on-the-ground improvements. These improvements will largely be accomplished

with funding other than from Wildlife and Fisheries Management.

Strategic Objective: Restore and maintain native and desired nonnative plant and animal

species diversity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and reduce the rate of species

endangerment by contributing to species recovery.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Acres of terrestrial habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions 232,350 217,999 94%

Miles of stream habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions 1,860 1,797 97%

Acres of lake habitat enhanced to achieve desired ecological conditions 10,953 14,771 135%
84 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

In FY 2004, the Forest Service projected that it restored or enhanced 14,771 acres of lake

habitat and 1,797 miles of stream habitat, or 135 percent and 97 percent, respectively.

Lake habitat was restored or enhanced to desired ecological condition by taking the 

following actions:

• Adding spawning gravel, structural habitat, liming, and fertilization to improve and 

maintain productivity for both warmwater fish (e.g., bass and bluegill) and coldwater fish (e.g., trout and salmon).

• Attracting the interest and support of many small rural communities located near 

national forest lakes, resulting in the support of volunteer efforts and matching

funds from local angling groups, nearby communities, and businesses. 

Stream habitat was restored or enhanced to desired ecological condition by taking the

following actions:

• Connecting fragmented habitats at human-made barriers.

• Restoring habitat parameters and functional processes to a normal range of variability

for the channel type using watershed restoration techniques.

• Reducing sediment input and streambank erosion through structural and nonstructural

in-stream, riparian, and upland treatments.

• Restoring riparian habitat functions for natural recruitment of large wood.

• Creating pools within streams to provide hiding cover and increased spawning gravel

for fish.

Several factors have combined to reduce the success of the fisheries and the aquatic staff

at meeting national commitments. Program staffing and funding have remained flat, or

declined, over the past 5 years while program costs have increased. The challenge of

eradicating aquatic invasive species while protecting and restoring native species has

increased the complexity and cost of projects throughout the Nation.

In recent years, the need to transfer budgeted funds from the wildlife and fish habitat

management programs into wildfire suppression and the diversion of aquatic staff and

contracting specialists from stream and lake project work during the summer months

into fire suppression tasks have resulted in a reduction of achievements in relation to

planned accomplishments.

Project planning also has become increasingly complex. The Land Management Plan

(LMP) revision schedule and work required to comply with Section 7 of the Endangered
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 85

Species Act to support other programs (i.e., biological assessments and consultation)

require the skilled services of journey-level biologists who are then not available for

habitat enhancement activities. The transfer of resources to support the suppression of

wildfires, hazardous fuels reduction, and land management planning will likely increase

and persist at high levels throughout the decade. 

A comprehensive fisheries and watershed program review was completed during FYs

2003 and 2004. The review team recommended 39 action items to strengthen aquatic

program performance and accountability. Among those items was a recommendation to

conduct a national assessment of fisheries and watershed staffing and professional

development needs to better align the workforce with current needs. In addition, programmatic consultations were completed in two regions that will facilitate completion

of watershed restoration planning activities. 

Research and Development’s Results in Improving Watershed Condition

Wetlands are a major source of dissolved organic carbon and other elements. Forest

Service scientists studied the movement of carbon, compounds, and other elements from

terrestrial to aquatic zones in watersheds with significant wetland acreage. This research

established basic values for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous that forest managers will

use to develop methods for evaluating watershed conditions. 

Research scientists developed a model to assess the potential of streams to support

selected species of salmon and trout to help managers identify which watersheds are

highest priority for restoration. 

Scientists developed standardized forest carbon stock tables and guidelines to predict

carbon storage and dynamics in forest systems, providing a basis for consistent estimation

of the quantity of carbon sequestered, and the emissions reduced, by different forestry

activities. This work contributes to the Department of Energy’s 1605(b) Voluntary

Greenhouse Gas Accounting Rules and Guidelines program, and, in the future, may be

used to determine carbon credits. Scientists, policymakers, and land managers will use

these data and models to mitigate potential climate change effects and help quantify the

added value that carbon credits can bring to traditional forestry.

Sedimentation from soil erosion degrades water systems and sites. To improve the effectiveness of mitigation treatments and provide management options for sedimentation,

the Forest Service developed Web-based modeling tools to determine management options.

These modeling tools were used more than 45,000 times during FY 2004 via the Web.
86 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Conserving Wetlands After Wildfires

In June 2002, the Rodeo-Chediski wildfire, the largest in Arizona history, burned hundreds of thousands of

acres of White Mountain Apache tribal lands. Postfire stabilization efforts initially focused on protecting life

and property in the tribal villages that lie downstream from the fire, but attention soon turned to the dozens of

springs, wet meadows, and sinkhole lakes that dot the scorched landscape. These wetlands retain runoff; recharge

groundwater; provide habitat for turkey, deer, frogs, and medicinal plants; and have cultural significance. Many

local tribal members were gravely concerned about the effects of the fire to these places.

Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists in Flagstaff, AZ, developed a technique to reverse the wetlands

degradation process by placing rock riffle formations within the carved channels to encourage the deposition

and retention of fine sediments, which in turn speeds the growth of wetland plants, such as sedges and bulrushes.

Although the rock formations mimic natural streambed features, the enormous scale of modern wildfires causes

incisions to occur too quickly and over too large an area for the natural recovery processes to stabilize the

streams. Replacing these formations and removing structures, such as culverts, that encourage scour rather

than deposition can speed the recovery of streams and prevent wetlands from being lost. 

For more information concerning watersheds and riparian ecosystems in Flagstaff, AZ, visit

www.rmrs.nau.edu/lab/4302.

This photo demonstrates the recognition of adverse effects of post-fire flood flows in important wetlands and how

restoration technology can be applied to conserve wetlands that are ecologically critical and culturally significant to

Native Americans.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 87

Off-Highway Vehicle-Ravaged Landscape Transformed

The Lefthand Canyon Restoration Project is located on the Boulder Ranger District of the Arapaho and Roosevelt

National Forests. The Forest Service, Colorado State Parks Trails Program, Wildland Restoration Volunteers,

Trailridge Runners, Walsh Environmental, and Northern Colorado Trail riders banded together to transform a

landscape ravaged by off-highway vehicles into an ecologically restored watershed and recreation area.

The partnership used $250,000 in grants to post travel routes, provide visitor information, and staff on-the-ground

management. Soil stabilization and runoff control measures were installed.

One of the group’s greatest accomplishments was the restoration of a 4-acre meadow, once a barren and rutted

wasteland, into an aesthetically pleasing, higher quality wildlife habitat. Although only 4 acres were restored,

the restorative effects cover an area twice that size. The Forest Service is developing a long-term plan for using

and restoring the entire area. The goal of the plan is to manage the area for recreation while maintaining a

healthy watershed.

This restoration project is designed to combine management practices that protect newly restored areas and

prevent further damage to the Lefthand watershed, which provides water to 15,000 people in the Lefthand

Water District.

For more information on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, please visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf.
88 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Lime Creek Prescribed Fire on the Boise and Sawtooth National Forests

As part of the Lime Creek prescribed burn project, fire managers on the Mountain Home and Fairfield Ranger

Districts and Boise and Sawtooth National Forests burned nearly 2,700 acres in October 2003 to enhance aspen

growth. Aspen is critical to many Idaho ecosystems because it provides nesting for 13 species of cavity-nesting

birds on the Boise and Sawtooth National Forests, big game forage, aspen buds for grouse, species diversity, fall

scenery, and fire-resistant vegetation during part of the tree’s life cycle.

The Lime Creek project, a series of prescribed fires to be carried out on 9,000 acres over 4 to 6 years, burned

more than 1,750 acres in 2002 during the project’s first phase. Because the project treats aspen stands over a large

landscape and will help improve big game summer range, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has contributed

$10,000 towards the next phase of Lime Creek burning to help support aerial ignition.

“We have lost about 60 percent of the aspen acres in this area, as Douglas fir, sagebrush, and other species have

encroached,” said Forest Service fuels planner Bill Powlishen. “Many of the aspen stands in this area are not

regenerating, and once aspen disappears, it can take centuries to be restored.”

For more information on prescribed burns in Region 4, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/boise.

Low humidity, warm temperatures, and generally dry

conditions created the right mix to rejuvenate the aspen

stands.

A Ruffed Grouse—one of the many species benefiting

from the Lime Creek prescribed fire.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 89

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Forest Inventory and Analysis Data Accessible to External Customers

The Research and Development (R&D) Deputy Area is responsible for the percent of

the Nation’s forested lands for which FIA information is accessible by external customers. 

During congressional hearings in April 1999, Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands were

exempted from the annualized inventory because they required special approaches, costing

$21 million a year for Alaska alone under the existing system. Consequently, in the

early years of FIA, these areas were excluded from the “percent of Nation” calculation.

However, many believed these areas should be included to more accurately reflect the

area of United States inventoried under new funding, regardless of approach. In FY

2004, the Forest Service adjusted the calculation and included a table in the FIA annual

report to reflect both calculations—the 48 States or the entire Nation.

In FY 2003, the Forest Service made FIA data accessible for 40 of the 48-State base

(not including Alaska and Hawaii), providing a 100-percent accomplishment of the

planned amount. But in FY 2004, with the implementation of the four new States, FIA

data is now available for external customers in 44 States, which is 76 percent of the

Goal 6: Conduct Mission-Related Work To Support the Agency’s Goals

Strategic Outcome

Productive and efficient agency programs support the mission of the Forest Service

The Forest Service provides direction for natural resource stewardship through direct

land management practices, indirect management under partnership agreements, and

research and development programs. The agency also provides many goods and services—

such as recreational opportunities, clean water, and wood products—to the American

people. The agency consistently strives to maintain the organizational structure and

capacity to deliver the necessary mission-related work.

Achieving the outcome of this goal requires focusing on the following objectives:

Strategic Objective: Provide current resource data, monitoring, and research information

in a timely manner.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Percent of the Nation for which FIA information is accessible to external customers NA 76% New 

Baseline
90 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Nation’s (now including Alaska and Hawaii) forested lands. This will serve as a new

baseline for FY 2005.

Forest Service FIA data was accessible for external customers for 53 percent of the

Nation in FY 2001 and 62 percent in FY 2002.

To store and process the annualized inventory data, FIA completed the development of

the National Information Management System (NIMS). R&D also provides the FIA

annual business report with a full accounting of program funding and accomplishments,

including the number of peer-reviewed and other publications produced.

R&D compiles and disseminates information on a wide array of ecological attributes,

while continuing to serve traditional customers who require timely information on forest

resources. Keeping this information current is one of the chief interests of FIA customers.

FIA objectives include providing annual updates for all forested lands sampled as part

of the annual inventory and producing complete analytical reports for each State. A total

of $56,653,000 in Forest Service funding was made available in FY 2004 for the FIA

program. These funds were combined with approximately $10 million in partner contributions, primarily States and other Federal land managers, to provide more than 400

employee-years of effort. 

The FIA program consists of a remote sensing phase (sampling forest plots at approximately 1 plot per 6,000 acres) and a subsample of forest plots measured for a broader

suite of forest ecosystem indicators (enhanced samples). The program seeks to implement

an annual FIA program that measures at least 10 percent of forest plots per year in the

Western United States and 15 percent in the East, as well as 20 percent of the enhanced

sample locations in all States. Annual compilations of the most recent information will

be provided along with full reporting at 5-year intervals. FIA is not currently fully funded

to achieve its goal of annualized inventory in all 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the Trust

Territories as mandated by law and agreed to by the agency. 

In severe fire seasons, the redirection of funding to emergency fire suppression activities

forces the Forest Service to suspend many nonfire work activities. This suspension can

affect the number of people available for fieldwork and cause delays in annualized

implementation in all States. To achieve full implementation of annualized inventory at

current funding levels, FIA will consider the use of single-person crews where safety

issues can be resolved, relying more heavily on remote sensing options where potentially

reduced data detail and quality will not compromise the integrity of the results. FIA

may also lengthen the remeasurement cycle on its field samples. One-person crews may

not be feasible in the West because of terrain and access issues.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 91

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Extent to which Performance Data are Current and Complete

This measure is the percent of regions/stations/area providing certification forms to the

Program and Budget Analysis Staff, certifying that their unit’s accomplishment data is

current and complete. For FY 2004, accomplishment for this performance measure was

86 percent and will serve as a baseline for the future.

In the past, these data were collected through manual input of performance data by individual units into standardized reporting spreadsheets for submission to the Washington

Office. The spreadsheets were collected, consolidated, and validated at the regional level.

Beginning in FY 2003, to ensure data integrity and their review by leadership, certification

of the data by the regional forester was required before submission to the Washington

Office. This certification states, “Information as reported has been validated and supporting

documentation is available upon request.” 

During FY 2004, the Forest Service has been converting to a more systematic process in

which most performance data will be collected through the WorkPlan program, which

tracks project management, day-to-day operations, and fiscal data at the unit level. The

agency anticipates that this new process of routinely collecting performance data will

yield more accurate and timely performance data to leaders at every organizational level,

while providing an information base to match costs with outputs. For those reporting

areas where the performance data reside in an automated system other than WorkPlan,

the agency is working with system owners to extract needed information directly into

reporting worksheets rather than requiring manual input. 

Concerns include: potential unforeseen technical glitches in WorkPlan as data fields are

populated; and possible interoperability issues as WorkPlan is integrated with other systems.

Because the national headquarters historically collected performance information only

in July and October from every unit, it is likely that some units relied on institutional

memory and informal records to complete the data call. The agency anticipates that by

using WorkPlan to integrate data collection into normal operations, the data received

will be more accurate and complete. In addition, the agency anticipate that direct links

to other data sets will reduce human errors from re-entering data into the reporting system.

Strategic Objective: Meet Federal financial management standards and integrate

budget with performance.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Extent to which performance data are current and complete NA 86% New

Baseline
92 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Acres of Land Adjustments

Land consolidation through acquisition or exchange enables the agency to better manage

Federal lands within, or adjacent to, NFS administrative boundaries. Securing land through

acquisition or exchange helps reduce future management costs; responds to urban and

community needs; addresses fragmentation; promotes conservation; and improves

aquatic, forest, and rangeland ecosystems. 

Many areas within or immediately adjacent to existing national forests contain important

resources that, if acquired, will help the agency meet critical objectives related to public

outdoor recreation opportunities, critical wildlife habitat, and wilderness or other congressionally designated areas. Acquisition of inholdings can substantially reduce boundary

management costs and reduce the impacts associated with converting use of adjacent

lands, such as trespass and resource degradation or fragmentation.

Over the next several years, key opportunities are expected for exchange or purchase of

lands from industry and other private landholders for the national forests. Many areas

within or immediately adjacent to existing national forests contain important resources.

These purchases will also improve management efficiency and decrease property management administration costs. 

To accomplish the above objective, the Forest Service planned the following actions:

• Conduct land adjustments to protect the public benefits that are provided by private 

forests and conserve contiguous forest areas.

• Conduct statewide planning, working collaboratively with other Federal, State, and 

local governments to develop a land-adjustment strategy that meets the strategic 

goals and objectives of the Forest Service, as well as these other entities.

Strategic Objective: Maintain the environmental, social, and economic benefits of

forests and grasslands by reducing their conversion to other uses.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Acres of land adjustments to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and 699,461 640,481 92%

habitat quality. This measure is the sum of the following three measures:

• Acres adjusted to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality 341,536 54,896 16%

• Acres acquired to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality 57,925 50,954 88%

• Acres protected by the Forest Legacy Program (FLP) to conserve the integrity 300,000 534,632 178%

of undeveloped lands and habitat quality
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 93

• Identify opportunities for acquiring properties at highest risk for conversion of use 

and habitat degradation and that can provide access for public acquisition.

• Consider acquiring less-than-fee interests (conservation easements) when fee ownership is not needed to meet agency goals.

• Continue to improve the skill base of realty staff to facilitate economical case 

processing. 

The Forest Service adjusted (exchanged) a projected 54,896 acres for 16 percent of

planned acres in FY 2004. There were 50,954 acres acquired in FY 2004, for 88 percent of planned acres.

Several factors outside the control of the Forest Service affected its progress in FY

2004, including the following challenges:

• Intermingling of non-NFS lands, and the increase in the subsequent parcelization of

these lands.

• Funding transfers to cover firefighting expenditures. 

• Increasing cost of agency efforts and cost pool assessments.

On State and private lands, the Forest Service’s FLP conserves environmentally important

forests threatened by conversion to nonforest uses through the acquisition of land or

interests in land. The program operates on a willing buyer–willing seller basis and is a

nonregulatory, incentive-based private forest land conservation program. This ensures

that both traditional uses of private lands and the public values of America’s forest

resources are protected for future generations. 

Acquisitions are based on a project-selection process that uses national criteria to assess

critical resource values, development threats, unique environmental features, traditional

forest uses, potential leverage of non-Federal funds, and the history of ongoing efforts.

The Forest Service, together with the States, prioritizes potential acquisitions into a

national FLP project list for Administration approval. The program requires cost-share

participation and leverages Federal investments to accelerate accomplishments.

The FLP protected 534,632 acres in FY 2004. This significant increase over the planned

acres is due to the closing of one large project that received 3 years of funding—the

Maine West Branch project, which protected 329,000 acres. Results for FY 2004 were

178 percent of the planned acres.

In acquisition process, there may be a lag of 18 to 24 months between FLP project

selection and successful acquisition, making reporting difficult to calculate against a

planned number of acres. This lag is caused not only by the usual real estate transaction
94 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

Development or Revision of Land and Resource Management Plans

The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) requires that each unit of the NFS have

a LMP that may be amended, as appropriate, but formally revised every 10 to 15 years

to address changing conditions related to natural resources, management goals, and public

use. Designed to improve the agency’s knowledge base, LMPs document the results of

forestwide analyses and decisionmaking.

Results are accomplished when a revision is completed, based on the Chief’s National

LMP Revision Schedule. This schedule identifies a timetable for the revision of all

existing national forest, grassland, prairie, and other NFS unit LMPs.

process, but also an average 12-month delay between project selection (through the agency

and State process) and the confirmation of funding through the appropriations cycle.

For this reason, FLP accomplishment targets are based on a formula that tracks past performance and applies those results to predict the next year’s target. In addition, due to

the willing buyer–willing seller nature of FLP projects, a transaction may not be accomplished. The FLP has emphasized a readiness factor to increase the due diligence that a

project undergoes before it is proposed for Federal funding, and thus reduce uncertainty,

but some landowner circumstances and decisions are beyond the agency’s control and

can result in expected accomplishments failing to come to fruition.

The total accomplishment for acres of land adjustments in FY 2004 was 589,528 acres,

or 84 percent of the planned acres.

Strategic Objective: Develop and maintain the processes and systems to provide and

analyze scientific and technical information to address agency priorities.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Number of LMP revisions completed 14 12 86%

Percent of LMP revisions completed 11% 9% 86%

Proportion of data within information systems that are current to standard NA No specific NA

measurement

protocol in

FY 2004

Number of forest plan monitoring reports completed 105 112 106%

Percent of forest plan monitoring reports completed 88% 94% 106%
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 95

Revisions were projected at 12 LMPs or 86 percent of those scheduled for completion

in FY 2004, in accordance with the Chief’s National Revision Schedule.

Performance numbers for FY 2004 have decreased because of a reduction in the budget

for Land Management Planning. The reduction has a direct influence on the length of

time it takes to complete a revision, thereby reducing the number of completed plans.

To develop or revise LMPs, the Forest Service: 

• Continues to emphasize that all LMP revisions are to be completed within the 

timeframe in the Chief’s National Revision Schedule.

• Ensures that the Chief’s National Revision Schedule is appropriate, given funding 

and resource information availability.

• Revises planning regulations. Regulations at 36 CFR 219 for the development, 

amendment, and revision of NFS LMPs are being revised. The revised regulations

are expected to make substantial changes to forest, grassland, and prairie planning

procedures to expedite the planning process. 

Factors affecting the agency’s progress in FY 2004 included the following challenges:

• The increasing amount of the agency’s budget spent on planning, analysis, resolution

of challenges, and congressional earmarks.

• The average amount of time to get from project initiation to project completion 

under the 1982 Planning Rule.

• Uncertainty associated with publication of the New Planning Rule and its effect on 

transition requirements for revisions under way.

Proportion of Data within Information Systems That Are Current to Standard

No national commitment and no specific measurement protocol for this performance

measure were established for FY 2004. A team is continuing to work through definitions

and how this measure may be operationalized in the future.

Forest Plan Monitoring Reports

The Forest Service’s monitoring and evaluation activities provide information that supports

improving watershed conditions; providing ecological conditions to sustain viable populations of fish, wildlife, and plant species; and restoring forest and grassland ecosystems.

The program focuses on identifying changing conditions over time and monitoring the

implementation, effectiveness, and validity of forest plans. This monitoring information
96 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

improves the agency’s capability to provide sustainable levels of uses, values, products,

and services; provides valuable information on the effectiveness of management activities;

and leads to suggestions for cost-effective improvements.

Completed forest plan monitoring reports were projected for 112 forests, which is 106

percent of the planned number. 

In FY 2004, 105 NFS units were targeted to initiate a monitoring plan. Undercutting this

accomplishment, however, is a decrease in monitoring effectiveness because of a lower

number of activities monitored on each forest. Individual forest plans do not specify the

number of monitoring activities that must occur. As a result, the total number of monitoring activities may actually be less than in the past, but still provide the same level of

accomplishment for this measure. In effect, the number of monitoring activities has

decreased even as the forests continue to produce the same number of monitoring reports.

To accomplish monitoring and evaluation activities and improve the future capabilities

of national forests and grasslands, the Forest Service:

• Identified, conducted, and distributed research that enables better management of 

national forests and grasslands.

• Identified minimum monitoring requirements associated with resource conditions, 

objectives, and standards in forest plans.

• Continued to establish baseline and long-term trends for an expanded suite of 

nationally significant monitoring indicators of forest and rangeland health.

• Conducted several thousand survey days of national visitor use monitoring.

The factors affecting the agency’s progress in FY 2004 include the following challenges:

• Increased costs associated with monitoring and evaluation.

• Uncertainty over future monitoring and evaluation requirements contained in the 

New Planning Rule.

Research and Development’s Results in Contributing to Mission-Related Work

The Forest Service led a multiagency effort to produce the National Report on Sustainable

Forests—2003, providing analysis of the condition of forests in the United States using

the Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management. This

report identifies data gaps and offers recommendations for the state-of-the-art analyses

needed for sustainable forest management. The report and its supporting document,
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 97

Data Report—A Supplement to the National Report on Sustainable Forests – 2003 are

available online at http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/.

For more information on the Montreal Process and sustainable forest management, visit

http://www.mpci.org.) 

Forest Service researchers reached out to small business owners in an effort to promote

the local use of small diameter lumber, removing it from fire-prone forests. Cooperating

with Evergreen Magazine, the Forest Service hosted a series of entrepreneur workshops

and tours in January and March of 2004, with approximately 20 small business owners

and industry associations from the West in attendance.

Research scientists designed several treatments to inhibit common mold fungi on cellulose-based building materials.
98 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Eastern Region Reaches Out in Detroit, Michigan

The Forest Service’s Eastern Region expanded its community outreach efforts this fiscal year with a commencement meeting to introduce a new urban connections partnership with the city of Detroit. Objectives for this

new urban partnership between the Forest Service and the urban communities of Detroit, MI, included outreach

and recruitment strategies for urban youth to expose them to higher education opportunities in natural sciences,

the availability of community workshops to teach new skills, and the promotion of the newly formed Summer

Reading Program in which approximately 1,600 city youth participated in the first year.

Urban Connections Program Manager Daryl Pridgen

provided the program details and contact information.

As a student at Wayne State Community College and a

Student Conservation Association Diversity Program

Intern with the Forest Service, DeAndre Oliver served

as an example of the many opportunities available

through this urban partnership. Oliver was a liaison

between Urban Connections and three Michigan

National Forests (Ottawa, Hiawatha, and Huron-Manistee)

this summer. This type of liaison experience, coupled

with higher education, will give urban youth and

typically underrepresented students an opportunity

to consider a career in the natural sciences field.

For more information on other Eastern Region

activities, please visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r9.

(L to R) Shirley Parker, Lurine Carter, and Daryl Pridgen

are the primary facilitators for the Forest Service Urban

Connections partnership in Detroit, Michigan.

Flames Improve Habitat for Endangered Mountain Plover

Employees of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National

Forests and Pawnee National Grassland, along with

other fire personnel, burned 5,500 acres in April

2004. The purpose of this prescribed burn was to

improve the nesting habitat of the mountain plover, a

threatened bird species. The Colorado Division of

Wildlife contributed a portion of the funding to the

effort, and U.S. Geological Survey biologist Fritz

Knopf conducted the plover-response monitoring.

This project also safely reintroduced fire into the

short grass prairie ecosystem. 

For more information on Arapaho and Roosevelt

National Forest activities, visit

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf. Mountain plover guarding nest. Photo by Fritz Knopf.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 99

Telling Fire Stories: Conservation Education in Northern Arizona

In 2004, fire was the theme for several Forest Service conservation education efforts in northern Arizona.

Public understanding is critical to the effective management of wildland fire and fuels treatments. 

Kaibab National Forest representatives visited classes in Williams, AZ, in spring 2004 and delivered programs

from their newly developed curriculum that is both age-appropriate and aligned with State academic standards.

Kindergartners learned about “Good Fires, Bad Fires” while fifth-graders experienced “What It Takes To Be a

Wildland Firefighter.” High school students gained insight into the “Science of Firefighting.” 

The Coconino National Forest Conservation Educator teamed up with a Student Conservation Association Fire

Educator in summer 2004 to reach out to youth groups. Northern Arizona University’s (NAU’s) Institute for

Tribal Environmental Professionals in Flagstaff hosted “Summer Scholars” for Native American students and

teachers from middle and high schools in the Four Corners region. Outings hosted by the Fire Education team

included visiting the site of a 1977 wildfire and lookout tower. Discussions included the “Story of the Radio

Fire,” fire behavior triangles, and prescribed fire. The conservation professionals also shared educational presentations with NAU’s Junior Forester Academy and a summer youth camp.

To learn more about fire danger on the Kaibab National Forest, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/kai.

Jackie Denk of the Kaibab National Forest enlists interest

from Williams, Arizona, third graders.

Sharon Waltrip, a Forest Service employee, demonstrates

the fire triangle to Williams, Arizona, students.
100 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Strategies, Resources, and Underlying Factors

For FY 2004, the Forest Service planned NEPA analysis for 368 allotments, with a final

decision on grazing allotment management. The accomplishment was projected to be

472 signed decisions, which was 128 percent of the target.

Other Executive Priorities

NEPA Decisions for Grazing Allotments

One of the Forest Service’s Executive Priorities is not a performance measure in the

Strategic Plan. It is an Executive Priority, however, because the agency is committed to

delivering NEPA-based grazing allotment decisions in accordance with the schedule

provided to Congress in response to Public Law 104-19, Section 504. Since it reflects a

high level of accountability to Congress and our stakeholders, it is reported in this

P&AR. Guidelines to streamline the process of allotment planning, NEPA work, and the

final decisionmaking were revised and released to the field March 2004. 

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Grazing allotments analyzed with decisions signed (NEPA) 368 472 128%
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 101

Program Assessment Rating Tool

OMB’s Recommendations and Forest Service’s Actions Taken in FY 2004

OMB is assessing the effectiveness of Federal programs using the PART. Agencies

complete these prior to budget formulation so FY 2006 PART assessments are actually

completed in FY 2004.

The following section lists OMB recommendations, Forest Service actions toward

resolving those recommendations, and milestones for the future. 

Invasive Species Strategy—FY 2006

OMB conducted a PART on the Forest Service’s Invasive Species Strategy across three

deputy areas—NFS, R&D, and State and Private Forestry (S&PF). OMB’s findings for

this assessment were rated as “Results Not Demonstrated” for this newly created strategy.

OMB determined that the Forest Service did incorporate the complex issue of invasive

species into its Strategic Plan, with a supporting national strategy and implementation

plan to address this issue. But the Forest Service did not articulate whether a scientific

or policy basis was used to:

• Determine if the selected species measured, i.e., gypsy moth, is a valid subset by 

which to measure the total invasive species population and impacts.

• Include species within the plant kingdom, particularly Division Magnoliophya (the 

flowering plants).

• Provide for the measurement of the environmental and economic effects of treatments. 

Recommendations and Actions

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones 

Need to develop national The Strategic Plan addressed invasive species nationwide through

programmatic priorities Goal 2.

The Forest Service will integrate invasive species efforts across

USDA to minimize redundancy and maximize financial effectiveness

by February 15, 2005.

The Forest Service National Strategy and Implementation Plan for

Invasive Species Management provided the means to use limited

resources at all organizational levels to prioritize problem areas,

collaborate on the solutions, and improve the accountability for the

results. The agency will begin implementation of the national strategy

at the field, regional, and national levels by March 31, 2005.
102 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones 

Need to develop The national strategy defined four program elements for the Invasive

meaningful outcome- Species Program: Prevention; Early Detection and Rapid Response;

based performance Control and Management; Rehabilitation and Restoration.

measures By March 31, 2005, the Forest Service will:

• Specify the scientific or policy basis that will be applied to evaluate whether a selected species measured is a valid subset to

measure the total invasive species population and their

impacts.

• Develop an outcome-based measurement of species within the

plant kingdom, particularly Division Magnoliophyta.

• Develop measurements of the environmental or economic

effects of treatments (efficiency measures).

• Improve the capability to measure performance-based effectiveness within each program element of the National Strategy and

Implementation Plan for Invasive Species Management and to

better address OMB recommendations.

Need to provide Grantees (States and localities) will establish their own program

complete financial priorities and meet the criteria for effective financial management

obligation and by March 31, 2005.

expenditure data to be 

evaluated accurately 
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 103

Forest Legacy Program—FY 2005

The FLP was designed to identify and protect environmentally important private forest

lands that are threatened by conversion to nonforest uses. Land is acquired to protect

important scenic, cultural, fish, wildlife, and recreation resources; riparian areas; and

other ecological values using conservation easements and full fee purchase. Both purchase and donation are used to acquire forest land meeting FLP purposes from willing

sellers or donors only.

Recommendations and Actions

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones 

Need to develop national The Forest Service initiated an effectiveness study in November 2003

programmatic priorities to assess progress FLP has made in meeting the broad array of various

State goals over the last 10 years. The milestone date for completion

is December 1, 2004.

States establish priorities in the State Assessment of Need (AON)

Plans. Each AON follows national program guidelines and provides

focus on areas for protection based on local analysis of the threats

for conversion to nonforest users while supporting long-term program

goals with specific emphasis on critical watershed stabilization and

protection.

The agency initiated development of FLP focus on private forestry to

prioritize watersheds nationwide requiring support. Milestone date is

January 30, 2005.

Need to develop Goal 6 of the Strategic Plan included the performance measure:

meaningful outcome “Acres of land adjustments to conserve the integrity of undeveloped

based performance lands and habitat quality.” 

measures This measure is also one of the Forest Service Executive Priorities

and a key performance measure in FY 2004 for Senior Executives

and supervisory GS-14s and GS-15s.

The agency will implemenet output, outcome, demand, and efficiency

measures in the Performance Accountability System (PAS), with a

milestone date of January 30, 2006. 

Need to provide complete The FY 2004 financial audit of Forest Service will assess whether 

financial obligation and the agency met this recommendation.

expenditure data to be

evaluated accurately The Forest Service developed an appraisal and appraisal review 

policy and service.

States approve projects based on selection criteria established in

their AONs, and then projects are funded and obligations tracked on

a State, regional, and national level. 
104 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

As a result of the PARTs for FLP and the Land and Water Conservation Fund (L&WCF)

Program, which follows, the Forest Service adapted its Executive Priorities for performance

reporting. 

FLP underwent a PART reassessment during FY 2004 for the FY 2006 budget cycle. All

changes proposed to the program were accepted by OMB, particularly new efficiency

measures, with a resulting programmatic assessment (score) improvement.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result 

Acres of land adjustments to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and 699,461 640,481 92%

habitat quality. This measure is the sum of the following three measures: 

Acres adjusted to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality 341,536 54,896 16% 

Acres acquired to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and habitat quality 57,925 50,954 88% 

Acres protected by the FLP to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and 300,000 534,632 178% 

habitat quality
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 105

Land Acquisition—FY 2005

The L&WCF Program acquires lands that meet certain criteria, including:

• Enhance goods and services. 

• Protect and improve the quality of renewable and historic, cultural, and natural 

resources.

• Provide recreation.

• Improve administrative efficiency and effectiveness of NFS lands.

The L&WCF program is commonly implemented through partnerships between the

Forest Service and other governments, private landowners, and nongovernmental organizations. Guidance in the Forest Service Directive System reflects preference for projects

that are characterized by local support and input from other resource areas within the

agency. 

Recommendations and Actions

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones

Need to establish either The Strategic Plan included an annual performance measure that links

annual performance to the performance of the Land Acquisition Program: “Acres of land

measures or how the adjustments to conserve the integrity of undeveloped lands and

addition of land habitat quality.” 

acquisitions advances in

a measurable way to 

This measure is also one of the Forest Service Executive Priorities

agency strategic plan and a key performance measure in FY 2004 for Senior Executives

milestones and supervisory GS-14s and GS-15s.

The program needs In FY 2002, the program acquired only 63 percent of the planned

to meet its annual amount of acreage due to transfer of program funds (wildland fires).

acquisition targets In FY 2003, the program acquired 75,476 acres for 114 percent 

accomplishment.

In FY 2004, the planned amount of acres transferred was 57,925. By

September 30, 2004, the projected total for the year is 50,954 acres.

Need to implement The LAPS program is under use on the regional level.

L&WCF program unit

cost comparisons as an An efficiency measure—cost per acre acquired—will be implemented

efficiency measure and for the Land Acquisition Program in PAS, with a milestone date of

explore other potentially September 30, 2005.

beneficial measures Currently cost information is not collected for individual projects.

Tracking by project will require additional tools not yet developed. 
106 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Wildland Fire Management—FY 2004

The Forest Service faces the challenge of managing wildland fire within its natural

place on the Nation’s landscape, while reducing the risk of catastrophic loss to the

Nation’s rural communities and watersheds. The Wildland Fire Management Program

consists of five major activities: fire preparedness, fire suppression, hazardous fuels

reduction, burned area rehabilitation, and State and community fire assistance.

This program underwent a PART assessment in 2002, as part of the Forest Service’s FY

2004 budget formulation process, with and overall rating of “Results Not Demonstrated.”

Specifically, while the program had a clear purpose and design, it contained deficiencies

in strategic planning, financial management, and performance evaluation. OMB’s findings

and the Forest Service’s remedial actions are listed below.

Recommendations and Actions

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones 

Develop a real time Forest Service now requires fiscal staff at fire incidents to enter

obligation system to accrual data into the Federal Financial Information System within

improve the accountability 72 hours after the start of the incident and update the information

of firefighting costs and at least every 24 hours.

accuracy of wildland fire 

obligations Also, the agency continues to test an automated incident accrual 

entry system to further increase the timeliness of incident accrual

reporting, ensuring obligations are tracked efficiently and accurately.

Testing occurred during summer 2003 and 2004 fire incidents.

Milestone date was September 30, 2004, milestone.

Improve accountability In 2003, the Forest Service issued the Chief’s Incident Accountability

for firefighting costs Report Action Plan. The plan created standard suppression cost 

review teams and assigned accountability and due dates to implement initiatives designed reduce suppression costs.

The agency will continue ongoing implementation of strategies to

minimize costs without compromising safety.

The Fire and Aviation Management Staff issued an Operating Action

Plan for 2003 and 2004, assigning accountability for suppression

costs to line officers.

Ensure that States pay Some progress was made in Region 5, as the agency continued to

their fair share of work with the NASF to determine and refine criteria regarding fair

firefighting costs share. An interagency group, working with the National Wildfire 

Coordinating Group and State, and local governments, is charged

with developing cost responsibility matrices. Milestone date was

September 30.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 107

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones 

Develop a new fire The agency is collaborating with Department of the Interior on 

preparedness model that the development of the new preparedness model—FirePlan. 

focuses on efficient Expected completion dates:

allocation of available

resources Phase 1A of FPA was September 30, 2004.

Phase 1B of FPA is December 30, 2004.

Phase 1C of FPA is March 30, 2005.

Phase 2 of FPA is September 30, 2008.

Establish project criteria The Forest Service and the Department of the Interior are 

consistent with the 10-Year developing a national protocol to ensure that fuel reduction projects 

Implementation Strategy to are strategically placed on the landscape to better mitigate the 

ensure that hazardous fuel effects of catastrophic fires. Agencies are also developing a 

reduction funds are common performance measure to better measure the area 

targeted as effectively as influenced by fuel reduction activities.

possible to reduce risks to

communities in the WUI 

Through the budget-development process for FY 2006, the Wildland Fire Management

Program underwent a PART reassessment in April 2004. The reassessment demonstrated

that, based on the recommendations from the 2 years earlier, changes had occurred in

the Wildland Fire Management Program, including:

• Developed new performance measures in the Strategic Plan, which are linked to the

10-year Comprehensive Strategy and Implementation Plan.

• Established hazardous fuels reduction goals that provide the key linkage to the 

Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003.

As a result of the PART for the Wildland Fire Management Program, the Forest Service

adapted its Executive Priorities for performance reporting. 
108 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Number of acres of hazardous fuels treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars 1,016,759 1,294,598 127%

that are in the WUI 

Number of acres of hazardous fuels treated with Other (NOT Direct Hazardous 292,720 313,770 107%

Fuels) dollars that are in the WUI 

Percent of acres of hazardous fuels treated that are in the WUI that are identified 100% 100% 100%

as high priority through collaboration consistent with the NFP 10-Year 

Comprehensive Strategy and Implementation Plan

Number of acres treated with Direct Hazardous Fuels dollars that are in Condition 590,876 398,319 67% 

Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI

Number of acres treated with Other (NOT Direct Hazardous Fuels) dollars that are 317,084 253,114 80%

in Condition Classes 2 or 3 in Fire Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI

Percent of acres of hazardous fuels treated that are in Condition Class 2 or 3 in Fire 100% 100% 100%

Regimes 1, 2, or 3 outside the WUI that are identified as high priority through 

collaboration consistent with the NFP 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy and 

Implementation Plan

Number of acres brought into stewardship contracts 90,0004 29,711 New

Baseline

4 Planned performance for this measure was adjusted to 55,000 acres based on mid-year reviews, but the correction was not made to the master database for 

performance reporting data. As a new measure, the projected results will serve as a new baseline.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 109

National Forest Capital Improvement and Maintenance—FY 2004

The purpose of the Capital Improvement and Maintenance Program is to improve, maintain, and operate facilities, roads, trails, and infrastructures to facilitate recreation,

research, fire, administrative, and other uses on Forest Service lands.

Recommendations and Actions

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones

Establish a more coherent Beginning with the FY 2006 projects, the agency will use a national

prioritization process screening criteria to select the projects and to highlight the 

connection between project proposals and the strategic goals. The 

criteria will be reflected in the agency priority project lists with 

emphasis on reducing the deferred maintenance backlog and 

facility rehabilitation. 

To ensure that projects can be initiated immediately upon receipt of

funding, the agency will define the business practices and critical

milestones used to screen projects prior to their inclusion in the proposal to Congress. Milestone date is January 15, 2005. 

Improve annual The agency will implement new measures—demand, efficiency, output

performance and outcome—for each business activity in PAS. Milestone date is

measures November 1, 2004.

The Executive Leadership Team will use these performance measures

to base programmatic allocation decisions in accomplishing the

strategic goals. Milestone date is April 15, 2005. 

Increase incentives aimed The Forest Service:

at decommissioning • Completed Facility Master Plans (FMP) for every unit to identify

obsolete and underutilized future use of all buildings. Buildings that are unneeded or cannot 

infrastructure be maintained in the future will be identified for disposal.

• Completed Road Analysis Process (RAP) to identify road standards,

roads to close or decommission, and future road needs for all

national forests. 

• Completed Recreation Site Facility Master Plans (RSFMP) for 

Region 8. Other regions are nearing completion. These plans

enable the Forest Service to build and retain only the number of

developed sites that can be sustained. Decisions to abandon

sites and change capital improvement priorities based on this

effort are ongoing.

• Began reviewing long-term solutions toward infrastructure reduction and cost offsets using temporary conveyance authority. The

agency will select FY 2005 pilot conveyance projects by June 15,

2005, if authorization for pilot program is continued. 

• Provided monthly infrastructure data reports to the field units,

which have been implemented as an accountability tool. The

agency will continue to improve data quality.
110 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Recommendation Action Taken and Milestones

Financial Management The Forest Service shared monthly reports of Infrastructure data

still needs improvement with field units as an accountability item. The agency will continue

as the Forest Service has to improve data quality.

had difficulty collecting

timely, reliable, and WorkPlan enhancement will collect accomplishments for 9-month

complete financial data actual and 3-month estimated FY 2004 performance.

on its physical assets

The program has The Forest Service slowed the growth of the deferred maintenance

significant deferred backlog through conveyance authorities and the infrastructure 

maintenance backlog planning documents—FMP, RAP, RSFMP.

(estimated at $13 billion) 

and the Forest Service Through the FMP, RAP, and RSFMP processes, the Forest Service

has been unable to continues to identify for decommissioning any infrastructure that no

demonstrate that it can longer contributes to the accomplishment of its mission.

maintain its current

infrastructure needs

The agency uses RSFMP to prioritize facilities for closure, when 

resources are not available to operate that facility to standard.

As a result of the PART for the C&IM Program, the Forest Service adapted its

Executive Priorities for performance reporting.

Performance Measure Planned Projected Result

Miles of trail maintained to standard 19,630 22,657 115% 

Percent of trail maintained to standard 15% 17% 115% 

Number of facilities maintained to standard 15,465 19,743 128% 

Percent of facilities maintained to standard 38.5% 49.2% 128% 

Number of ROW acquired to provide public access 244 215 88% 

Miles of road maintained to standard (high-clearance and passenger) 54,800 64,866 118% 

Percent of road maintained to standard (high-clearance and passenger) 18% 22% 118%
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 111

Outstanding OIG Audits

The Forest Service continues to make progress towards closing its outstanding OIG audits.

During FY 2004, the agency was successful in closing 14 outstanding audits. Twelve of

the closed audits were carryovers from FY 2003. Many of the audits were old. Currently,

there are 21 outstanding audits, representing 129 open audit recommendations. Note

that 81 of the 129 open audit recommendations were added to the inventory in 2004.

See below for a listing of the outstanding audits and the status regarding their closure. 

Program Evaluations

The following definitions are used by USDA and the Forest Service in their followup to

the Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommendations.

Definitions

Audit Followup A process used to ensure prompt and responsive action is taken once 

management decision has been reached on recommendations contained in 

final audit reports.

DC A disallowed cost is a questioned cost that management sustains or agrees is

not chargeable to the Government.

FTBU Funds to be put to better use (FTBU) are funds that OIG has recommended 

could be used more efficiently if management took the following actions to 

implement and complete the recommendation:

• Reductions in outlays.

• A deobligation of funds from programs or operations.

• A withdrawal of interest subsidy costs on loans or loan guarantees, 

insurance, or bonds.

• Costs not incurred by implementing recommended improvements related 

to the operations of the establishment, a contractor, or grantee.

• An avoidance of unnecessary expenditures noted in preaward reviews of 

contract or grant agreements.

• Any other savings, which are specifically identified.

Management Management’s evaluation of the audit findings and recommendations and the

Decision issuance of a final decision by management concerning its response to the 

findings and recommendations, including necessary actions and an estimated

completion date. 

Outstanding Audits and audit recommendations remaining unresolved 1 year or more past

Audits or Audit the management decision date. Reportable Audit Audits with management

Recommendations decision but without final action 1 or more years past the management decision

date. 

Reportable Audit Audits with management decision but without final action 1 or more years 

past the management decision date.
112 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Explanations for OIG Audits Behind Schedule

Estimated

Completion 

Audit Number Audit Title Date Issued Date FTBU ($)

Pending system development, implementation, or enhancement 

08001-1-HQ Forest Service’s Implementation of the Government 6/28/2000 3/31/05 — 

Performance Results Act (GPRA) 

08401-1-FM FY 2002 Financial Statement Audit 1/9/2003 06/30/05 — 

Pending issuance of policy/guidance 

08001-2-HQ Review of Forest Service Security Over Aircraft and 3/29/2002 04/30/05 —

Aircraft Facilities 

08002-2-SF Valuation of Lands Acquired in Congressionally 11/28/2000 12/31/04 —

Designated Areas 

08003-2-SF Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Land Adjustment Program 8/5/1998 12/31/04 27,900,000 

08099-6-SF Security Over USDA IT Resources 3/27/2001 03/31/05 — 

08099-42-AT FY 1992 Financial Statement Audit 11/16/1993 10/29/04 — 

08401-12-AT FY 2001 Financial Statement Audit 8/12/2002 12/31/04 — 

08601-27-SF National Land Ownership Adjustment Team 3/28/2002 12/31/04 — 

08601-30-SF Review of Security Over Explosives/Munitions Magazines 3/31/2003 12/31/04 —

located within the NFS 

08801-3-AT Real and Personal Property Issues 5/18/2001 12/31/04 — 

08801-6-SF Forest Service Land Adjustment Program San Bernardino 1/19/2000 12/31/04 — 

National Forest and South Zone 

Pending receipt and/or processing of final action documentation 

08003-5-SF Land Acquisition and Urban Lot Management 12/15/2000 12/31/04 10,329,300 

08401-4-AT FY 1995 Financial Statement Audit 5/18/2001 12/31/04 — 

08401-7-AT FY 1997 Financial Statement Audit 5/18/2001 12/31/04 — 

08401-11-AT FY 2000 Financial Statement Audit 5/4/2001 12/31/04 — 

08601-1-AT Hazardous Waste at Active and Abandoned Mines 9/15/1996 10/29/04 — 

08601-25-SF Working Capital Fund Enterprise Program 8/29/2001 6/30/05 2,600,000 

08801-2-TE Forest Service Assistance Agreements with Nonprofit 9/24/1998 12/31/04 1,314,422

Organizations

50099-13-AT Oversight and Security of Biological Agents at 3/29/2003 12/31/04 —

Laboratories Operated by USDA 

Pending contract appeal 

08017-11-KC Omni Development Corporation Claim to Department 7/11/2002 6/30/05 2,049,653

of Agriculture
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 113

Major Management Challenges and Program Risks

The following are the planned actions to address management challenges and program

risks identified by OIG.

Department-wide Challenge Planned Actions for Addressing the Challenges

Financial Management— The Forest Service will:

Improvements Made but • Eliminate material weaknesses/reportable conditions and 

Additional Actions Still Needed obtain an unqualified opinion on the FY 2004 and FY 2005

Financial Statements.

President’s Management Agenda • Initiate Financial Management Improvement Process to 

standardize and centralize the Forest Service’s Budget and

Finance (B&F) processes through a business process 

reengineering.

• Migrate the redesigned B&F processes to the centralized 

Albuquerque Service Center (ASC) in Albuquerque, NM,

beginning January 2005.

• Publish all remaining financial management policy and 

procedures updates by June 30, 2005.

• Continue focus on data quality improvement, the resolution 

of abnormal balances, and verification of general ledger

account relationships at the Treasury Symbol level.

A Strong Internal Control The Forest Service will:

Structure is Paramount to the • Develop and implement a national schedule of internal

Delivery of Forest Service program reviews for FY 2005 and 2006 that ensures highPrograms priority agency-wide issues are addressed.

USDA Strategic Objective 5.1 • Conduct comprehensive risk assessment for Forest Service

programs and develop plans to address identified risks.

• Provide consolidated report of review findings to Forest 

Service management by July 31, 2005 and 2006, and

develop process to monitor actions to address “significant”

review findings.

• Conduct annual reviews/analyses to ensure funding is spent

as intended for higher priority agency programs (e.g., NFP,

fire rehabilitation program).

• Continue making progress towards implementing the 

agency-wide, comprehensive, PAS; thereby, improving

implementation of GPRA in the Forest Service.

• Develop procedures within the existing acquisition management review process to readily address new, higher

priority, issues identified via internal and external

reviews/audits in the “Procurement” and “Grants and

Agreements” arena.
114 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Other Assessments and Reviews

Risk Assessment of Pesticide Toxicology 

The Forest Service uses pesticide risk assessments to provide an estimate of the potential

exposure and chance of resulting injury (considering human health and impact on other

nontarget species) from a proposed pesticide use. This permits an informed, scientifically

defensible basis for decisionmaking as to which chemical control to select, as well as

the most favorable conditions of use. 

In FY 2004, 15 risk assessments were finalized or near completion.

These were either new efforts or updates of earlier assessments and were primarily in

support of the gypsy moth and the Region 6 Invasive Plants Control Programs. For the

gypsy moth, four chemical agents and two biocontrol agents were assessed, and seven

herbicides were assessed for the Region 6 programs. These efforts also supported risk

reduction efforts from forest fires.

Risk assessment projects on-going into FY 2005 include:

• Finalizing the borax fungicide risk assessment.

• Continuing assessment of ethoxylated nonyl phenol surfactants.

Two planned risk assessments are imidoclorprid (insecticide for hemlock wooly adelgid)

and oxyfluorfen herbicide.

A risk assessment workshop will be offered in Mesa, AZ, for FHP staff and other interested parties in November 2004. 

Go to http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/pesticide/risk.shtml for more information on

pesticide risk assessments. 

To read regional and national reports on pesticide usage, visit

http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/pesticide/reports.shtml.

Hazardous Fuels and Restoration of Fire-adapted Ecosystems

USDA is evaluating the integration of the Forest Service’s Hazardous Fuels Program

with other vegetation management programs on national forest lands through a national

integrated review on implementation of regions’ 5-year strategies for hazardous fuels

and restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems. As of September 30, preliminary findings

were in review.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 115

The Government Accountability Office is auditing USDA programs on the uses of biomass.

While not directly evaluating USDA’s hazardous fuel treatment programs, the use of

woody biomass (Job # 360489) as a raw material for energy or forest product production

is a guiding principle of the 10-year Comprehensive Strategy, a focus of the President’s

Healthy Forest Initiative. This audit is in progress and has an estimated completion date

of May 30, 2005.
116 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Financial Section

Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 119

Message From the Chief Financial Officer

As the newly designated Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) Forest Service, I present the consolidated financial statements of the USDA

Forest Service for fiscal year (FY) 2004 and 2003. For the third consecutive year, the

Forest Service has received an unqualified, “clean,” opinion on its statements. I want to

extend my appreciation to all individuals and organizations whose dedication and resolve

made the FY 2004 unqualified opinion possible. Receiving an unqualified opinion verifies that the Forest Service’s financial statements are fairly presented and demonstrates

accountability in the execution of our responsibilities.

During FY 2004, the Forest Service continued agencywide improvement efforts to

effectively and efficiently manage public funds and property through “Sustainable

Financial Management” activities. Strategic goals for financial management continue to

be focused on creating an effective, efficient, and economic financial management

organization; establishing financial management performance accountability; sustaining

financial management improvements; resolving open audit recommendations and material

weaknesses; and integrating financial processes and systems.

For FY 2005, our goals will center on maintaining an unqualified audit opinion; eliminating new and existing material weaknesses, reportable conditions, and compliance

issues; and improving our ability to provide timely, accurate, and useful financial information. The Forest Service is aggressively pursuing business process reforms that will

be implemented at the newly realigned Albuquerque Service Center beginning the second quarter of FY 2005 to ensure that the financial position of the agency remains solid

over the long term.

JESSE L. KING

Chief Financial Officer
120 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 121

Report of the Office of Inspector General
122 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 123
124 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 125

Independent Auditors’ Report

Chief, USDA Forest Service and

Office of Inspector General, United States Department of Agriculture:

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of the United States Department of

Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service as of September 30, 2004 and 2003 and the related consolidated

statements of net costs, changes in net position, and financing and the combined statements of budgetary

resources for the years then ended, hereinafter referred to as the “financial statements”. The objective of

our audits was to express an opinion on the fair presentation of these financial statements. In connection

with our audits, we also considered the USDA Forest Service’s internal control over financial reporting and

tested the USDA Forest Service’s compliance with certain provisions of applicable laws, regulations,

contracts, and grant agreements that could have a direct and material effect on its financial statements.

SUMMARY

As stated in our opinion on the financial statements, we concluded that the USDA Forest Service’s

financial statements as of and for the years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 are presented fairly, in all

material respects, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of

America.

As discussed in Note 12 to the financial statements, the USDA Forest Service restated its fiscal year 2003

financial statements.

Our consideration of internal control over financial reporting resulted in the following new reportable

conditions. The first one is considered a material weakness.

 Accountability for Undelivered Orders (UDOs) is Lacking

 A Segregation of Duties Policy related to Electronic Data Processing Must be Developed and

Implemented

 The Review of Purchase Card Transactions Needs Improvement

 The Internal Controls Related to Recording, Classification and Accounting for Information Related to

Leases Need Improvement

 The Design and/or Implementation of Controls Related to the Accurate Recording of Revenue Related

Transactions Need Improvement

We also consider the following reportable conditions identified in our report dated December 18, 2003 to

be open. The first four are considered material weaknesses.

KPMG LLP

2001 M Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036

Independent Auditors’ Report
126 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

 The USDA Forest Service Needs to Improve its Financial Management and Accountability

 Implementation of the USDA Forest Service Accrual Methodology Needs Strengthening

 Controls Over Purchase Order System (PRCH) Data Access, Input, Integrity, and Segregation of Duties

Need Improvement

 The USDA Forest Service Needs to Improve Its General Controls Environment

 The USDA Forest Service Needs to Continue to Improve its Internal Controls over its Reconciliation

and Management of Fund Balance with Treasury

 The Design and/or Implementation of Controls Related to the Accurate Recording of Personal Property

Transactions Need Improvement

 Posting of Certain Transactions Needs to Contain the Proper Reference Data to Link Related

Transactions

 Compilation of the USDA Forest Service’s Required Supplementary Information and Required

Supplementary Stewardship Information Needs Improvement

 The USDA Forest Service Application System Controls Need Improvement

The results of our tests of compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant

agreements, disclosed instances of noncompliance or other matters that are required to be reported herein

under Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, or Office

of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin No. 01-02, Audit Requirements for Federal Financial

Statements:

 The USDA Forest Service does not Obligate all Transactions as Required by Appropriations Law

 Instances of Non-compliance with Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) were

Identified that related to Federal Accounting Standards

The following sections discuss our opinion on the USDA Forest Service’s financial statements, our

consideration of the USDA Forest Service’s internal control over financial reporting, our tests of the

USDA Forest Service’s compliance with certain provisions of applicable laws, regulations, contracts, and

grant agreements and management’s and our responsibilities.

OPINION ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of the USDA Forest Service as of

September 30, 2004 and 2003 and the related consolidated statements of net costs, changes in net position,

and financing and the combined statements of budgetary resources for the years then ended.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the

financial position of the USDA Forest Service as of September 30, 2004 and 2003 and its net costs,

changes in net position, budgetary resources, and reconciliation of net costs to budgetary obligations for

the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of

America.

As discussed in Note 12 to the financial statements, the USDA Forest Service restated its fiscal year 2003

financial statements.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 127

The information in the Management Discussion and Analysis, Required Supplementary Stewardship

Information, and Required Supplementary Information sections is not a required part of the financial

statements, but is supplementary information required by accounting principles generally accepted in the

United States of America or OMB Bulletin No. 01-09, Form and Content of Agency Financial Statements.

We did not audit this information and, accordingly, express no opinion on it. However, we have applied

certain limited procedures, which consisted principally of inquiries of management regarding methods of

measurement and presentation of the supplementary information. As a result of such limited procedures,

we believe that the Required Supplementary Stewardship Information and the Required Supplementary

Information related to deferred maintenance may not be reliable since preparation controls have not been

effectively designed to ensure the existence, completeness, accuracy and timeliness of the reported

information.

INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

Our consideration of internal control over financial reporting would not necessarily disclose all matters in

the internal control over financial reporting that might be reportable conditions. Under standards issued by

the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, reportable conditions are matters coming to our

attention relating to significant deficiencies in the design or operation of the internal control over financial

reporting that, in our judgment, could adversely affect the USDA Forest Service’s ability to record,

process, summarize, and report financial data consistent with the assertions by management in the financial

statements.

Material weaknesses are reportable conditions in which the design or operation of one or more of the

internal control components does not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that misstatements, in

amounts that would be material in relation to the financial statements being audited, may occur and not be

detected within a timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their assigned functions.

In our fiscal year 2004 audit we noted certain matters, described in Exhibits I and II, involving internal

control over financial reporting and its operation that we consider to be new reportable conditions. We

believe that the reportable condition presented in Exhibit I is a material weakness. Exhibit II presents the

other reportable conditions.

A summary of the status of prior year reportable conditions, including those open conditions on which we

are making no further recommendations in this report, is included as Exhibit III.

We also noted other matters involving internal control over financial reporting and its operation that we

will report to the management of USDA Forest Service in a separate letter.

INTERNAL CONTROL OVER REQUIRED SUPPLEMENTARY

STEWARDSHIP INFORMATION

We noted certain significant deficiencies in internal control over Required Supplementary Stewardship

Information that, in our judgment, could adversely affect the USDA Forest Service’s ability to collect,

process, record, and summarize Required Supplementary Stewardship Information. Specifically,

preparation controls have not been effectively designed to ensure the existence, completeness, accuracy

and timeliness of the reported information.

COMPLIANCE AND OTHER MATTERS

Our tests of compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements

described in the Responsibilities section of this report, exclusive of those referred to in FFMIA, disclosed

no instances of noncompliance or other matters that are required to be reported under Government Auditing

Standards and OMB Bulletin No. 01-02.
128 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

The results of our tests of compliance with certain provisions of other laws and regulations, exclusive of

those referred to in FFMIA, disclosed instances of noncompliance with appropriations law, described in

Exhibit IV, that are required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards or OMB Bulletin No.

01-02.

The results of our tests of FFMIA disclosed instances, described in Exhibits IV and V, where the USDA

Forest Service’s financial management systems did not substantially comply with Federal financial

management systems requirements or applicable Federal accounting standards. The results of our tests of

FFMIA disclosed no instances in which the USDA Forest Service’s financial management systems did not

substantially comply with the United States Government Standard General Ledger at the transaction level.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Management’s Responsibilities

The Government Management Reform Act of 1994 (GMRA) requires each Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Act agency to report annually to Congress on its financial status and any other information needed to fairly

present its financial position and results of operations. GMRA also authorizes the Office of Management

and Budget to identify additional agencies to prepare financial statements. To meet the GMRA reporting

requirements, the USDA Forest Service prepares annual financial statements.

Management is responsible for the financial statements, including:

 Preparing the financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the

United States of America;

 Establishing and maintaining internal controls over financial reporting, and preparation of the

Management’s Discussion and Analysis (including the performance measures), required supplementary

information, and required supplementary stewardship information; and

 Complying with laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements, including FFMIA.

In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the expected

benefits and related costs of internal control policies. Because of inherent limitations in internal control,

misstatements due to error or fraud may nevertheless occur and not be detected.

Auditors’ Responsibilities

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the fiscal year 2004 and 2003 financial statements of the

USDA Forest Service based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards

generally accepted in the United States of America, the standards applicable to financial audits contained in

Government Auditing Standards, and OMB Bulletin No. 01-02. Those standards and OMB Bulletin No.

01-02 require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial

statements are free of material misstatement.

An audit includes:

 Examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements;

 Assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management; and

 Evaluating the overall financial statement presentation.

We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 129

In planning and performing our fiscal year 2004 audit, we considered the USDA Forest Service’s internal

control over financial reporting by obtaining an understanding of the USDA Forest Service’s internal

control, determining whether internal controls had been placed in operation, assessing control risk, and

performing tests of controls in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our

opinion on the financial statements. We limited our internal control testing to those controls necessary to

achieve the objectives described in OMB Bulletin No. 01-02 and Government Auditing Standards. We did

not test all internal controls relevant to operating objectives as broadly defined by the Federal Managers’

Financial Integrity Act of 1982. The objective of our audit was not to provide assurance on internal control

over financial reporting. Consequently, we do not provide an opinion thereon.

OMB Bulletin No. 01-02 requires auditors to consider the USDA Forest Service’s internal control over

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information by obtaining an understanding of the USDA Forest

Service’s internal control, determining whether these internal controls had been placed in operation,

assessing control risk, and performing tests of controls. We did not perform these procedures on the

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information because preparation controls have not been effectively

designed to ensure the existence, completeness, accuracy and timeliness of the reported information.

As further required by OMB Bulletin No. 01-02 with respect to internal control related to performance

measures determined by management to be key and reported in the Management Discussion and Analysis,

we obtained an understanding of the design of significant internal controls relating to the existence and

completeness assertions. Our procedures were not designed to provide assurance on internal control over

performance measures and, accordingly, we do not provide an opinion thereon.

As part of obtaining reasonable assurance about whether the USDA Forest Service’s fiscal year 2004

financial statements are free of material misstatement, we performed tests of the USDA Forest Service’s

compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements, noncompliance

with which could have a direct and material effect on the determination of financial statement amounts, and

certain provisions of other laws and regulations specified in OMB Bulletin No. 01-02, including certain

provisions referred to in FFMIA. We limited our tests of compliance to the provisions described in the

preceding sentence, and we did not test compliance with all laws, regulations, contracts, and grant

agreements applicable to the USDA Forest Service. Providing an opinion on compliance with laws,

regulations, contracts, and grant agreements was not an objective of our audit and, accordingly, we do not

express such an opinion.

Under OMB Bulletin No. 01-02 and FFMIA, we are required to report whether the USDA Forest Service’s

financial management systems substantially comply with (1) Federal financial management systems

requirements, (2) applicable Federal accounting standards, and (3) the United States Government Standard

General Ledger at the transaction level. To meet this requirement, we performed tests of compliance with

FFMIA Section 803(a) requirements.

DISTRIBUTION

This report is intended for the information and use of USDA’s Forest Service’s management, USDA Office

of the Inspector General, OMB, the Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Congress, and is not

intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than these specified parties.

November 10, 2004
130 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit I

6

INTRODUCTION

The internal control weaknesses discussed in this report are discussed in the context of the USDA Forest

Service’s existing decentralized organizational structure. Although the USDA Forest Service has progressed in

correcting certain prior year weaknesses under this structure, it has recognized that the decentralized nature of the

existing organizational structure makes it difficult to implement sustainable corrective action for certain

weaknesses due to the large number of separate reporting units. As a result, the USDA Forest Service has begun

a project whereby, upon completion, many of the accounting processes will be centralized. The project is

scheduled for completion in late fiscal year 2005.

For each weakness identified, we believe we have performed appropriate substantive procedures as applicable to

enable us to issue our unqualified opinion. In addition, we continue to recognize that certain recommended

information technology (IT) control enhancements pertaining to the USDA Forest Service’s operations cannot be

implemented solely by the USDA Forest Service, because the USDA Forest Service’s applications are in many

cases hosted on systems managed by the USDA. As a result, several of the IT control weaknesses identified in

this report will require the combined effort of USDA and the USDA Forest Service management.

Exhibits I and II describe the new material weakness and reportable conditions, respectively, as of and for the

year ended September 30, 2004, and our recommendations. Exhibit III summarizes prior year reportable

conditions, including those open conditions on which we are making no further recommendations in this report.

Exhibit IV describes new instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations and other matters. Exhibit V

describes prior year instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations, including those open instances on

which we are making no further recommendations in this report. USDA Forest Service management’s response

is presented in Exhibit VI.

MATERIAL WEAKNESS

Material Weakness Number 1: Accountability for Undelivered Orders (UDOs) is Lacking

During fiscal year 2004, the USDA Forest Service experienced sporadic lack of compliance with its policies and

procedures to review and certify the accuracy of UDOs. In addition, the USDA Forest Service was in its first full

year of implementation with its new accrual (i.e., accounts payable) policy. During fiscal year 2004, it became

apparent that field offices were not correctly recording accruals, which ultimately had an impact on the UDO

balance as well. All of the above noted conditions led to an audit adjustment to increase the UDO balance by

$105 million as of September 30, 2004.

The Review and Certification of UDOs Needs Improvement and the Frequency of UDO Reviews Needs to be

Revised

During our audit, we noted that:

• Certain locations did not properly comply with USDA Forest Service’s semiannual certification policy

related to the review of UDOs. Certain UDOs were not reviewed as required and certain questionable

UDOs were not researched at all.

• The semiannual review and certification policy is as of March 31 and September 30 each year. The

September 30 review may not be timely enough for the new reporting deadlines.

• In addition to the semiannual reviews and certifications, the USDA also requires monthly reviews and

certifications, which may not be an efficient use of resources.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 131

Exhibit I

7

CFO Bulletin 2004-001, Review of Undelivered Orders, requires all obligations that exceed the threshold of

$10,000 or are 120 days or older be reviewed as of the end of March and September. All obligation amounts

determined no longer valid shall be deobligated.

Treasury Financial Manual 2004-05, Yearend Closing, paragraph 19. Reconciliation of Obligations, states that

before the yearend closing, agencies that have not reviewed their unliquidated obligations during the year should

do so. This ensures agencies properly record transactions meeting the criteria of valid obligations set forth in 31

U.S.C. 1501. Agencies should retain work papers and records on verifications to facilitate future audits.

Also, USDA requires monthly “cookbook” certifications from its components.

The semiannual review and certification requirement was not fully complied with due to lack of resources and

the large number of transactions required to be reviewed.

As a result of the competing UDO review requirements, USDA Forest Service personnel did not always

complete the semi-annual UDO review or complete it accurately. The following table summarizes the types of

exceptions noted during our July 31 and September 30 testing.

July 31 Testwork September 30 Testwork

Number of Exceptions

(Sample of 170)

Type of Error Number of Exceptions

(Sample of 180)

Type of Error

9 Invalid UDO 9 Invalid UDO

4 Overstatement of UDO 5 Overstatement of UDO

3 Understatement of UDO 6 Understatement of UDO

Recommendation Number 1:

We recommend that USDA Forest Service management:

• Require all locations to fully comply with review and certification requirements and follow up to resolve

questionable items.

• Work with USDA to begin performing quarterly reviews and certifications as of November, February,

May, and August to both save the resources needed to perform the monthly certifications and help

ensure that the UDO balances are properly adjusted in time for the quarterly and annual reporting

deadlines.
132 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit I

8

Inaccuracies Existed in the Year-end UDO Balance

During our year-end testwork over UDO transactions, 34 of 180 sample items were noted as having abnormal

balances. The abnormal balances caused the overall UDO balance to be understated and required an audit

adjustment.

These abnormal balances occurred because the USDA Forest Service did not have adequate controls and

procedures in place to prevent the over-accruing of UDOs when field offices used accrual documents that did not

reference the original obligation document. For example, when a UDO contains an accrual transaction that not

referenced, it decreases the UDO balance, but the transaction does not appear on the general ledger inquiry

history screen. On the other hand, if the accrual transaction is referencing, it decreases the UDO balance and also

appears on the general ledger inquiry history screen.

Specifically with regards to the above condition, the UDOs contained accruals using a non-referencing standard

voucher document (SV) that was either subsequently paid and not removed from the general ledger or the UDO

contained the same accrual twice, which was erroneously recorded using another SV document during a

subsequent closing period that required USDA Forest Service personnel to review and update its accruals. These

two actions caused certain ULOs to have abnormal debit balances.1

Treasury Financial Manual 2004-05, Yearend Closing, paragraph 19. Reconciliation of Obligations, states that

before the yearend closing, agencies that have not reviewed their unliquidated obligations during the year should

do so. This ensures agencies properly record transactions meeting the criteria of valid obligations set forth in 31

U.S.C. 1501. Retain work papers and records on verifications to facilitate future audits.

In addition, CFO Bulletin 2004-001, Review of Undelivered Orders, requires that all FS obligations that exceed

the threshold of $10,000 or are 120 days or older shall be reviewed by end of March 31, and by September 30.

All obligation amounts determined no longer valid shall be deobligated.

Recommendation Number 2:

We recommend that USDA Forest Service management:

• Require the use of only referencing SV documents to accrue or modify UDO balances.

• Review its entire UDO transaction population to ensure that all improper SV accruals are removed and all

abnormal balances are corrected.

 

1 Note that although this finding is related to accrual issues, accrual implications are not discussed herein as they are

addressed in the open FY 2003 Material Weakness number 2 in Exhibit III.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 133

Exhibit II

9

REPORTABLE CONDITIONS

Reportable Condition Number 1: A Segregation of Duties Policy related to Electronic Data Processing

(EDP) must be Developed and Implemented

During our audit, we noted that, although a number of the controls around segregation of duties related to EDP

were in place, we found at least one of the following conditions at the sites we visited:

• No segregation of duties policy;

• No clearly defined operating procedures for data center operations;

• The same individual may perform distinct systems support functions;

• No segregation of duties training;

• No active management review of staff functions; and

• No controls in place to ensure financial management reporting data accuracy.

Although USDA Forest Service has an interim directive in place, no formal enterprise-wide policy or procedures

have been developed or implemented.

Without proper controls or segregation of duties in place, unauthorized personnel can have the ability to access,

edit or delete critical data or files, thus compromising data integrity and accuracy.

Recommendation Number 3:

We recommend that USDA Forest Service management develop and implement a formal enterprise-wide

segregation of duties policy that encompasses the weaknesses identified above.

Reportable Condition Number 2: The Review of Purchase Card Transactions Needs Improvement

During our audit, we noted that:

• 5 of 20 quarterly supervisory reviews of purchase card transactions were not accomplished as required.

• Certain purchase card transactions were not reconciled within 30 days as required.

OMB Circular A-123, Management Accountability and Control requires:

• Transactions should be promptly recorded, properly classified and accounted for in order to prepare

timely accounts and reliable financial and other reports. The documentation for transactions,

management controls and other significant events must be clear and readily available for examinations.

• Managers should exercise appropriate oversight to ensure individuals do not exceed or abuse their

assigned authorities.

Departmental Regulation 5013-6 requires that supervisors of purchase cardholders monitor the purchasing

activity of cardholders in their units. On April 19, 2004, the Director of Acquisition Management reminded the

various USDA Forest Service activities of the emphasis placed on the supervisor’s review of purchase

cardholders. A supervisory review checklist was provided to document the reviews starting with the second

quarter review (January – March 2004). Documentation of these reviews should be maintained for 3 years.
134 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

10

The reviews were not performed and the transactions were not reconciled because of lack of adherence to the

criteria described above.

Without effective review and reconciliation of these transactions, the USDA Forest Service could pay for

inappropriate purchases.

Recommendation Number 4:

We recommend that USDA Forest Service management reinforce its policies in this area and incorporate

procedures to test the reviews of purchased transactions in its Acquisition Management reviews.

Reportable Condition Number 3: The Internal Controls Related to Recording, Classification and

Accounting for Information Related to Leases Need Improvement

The USDA Forest Service has not implemented automatic posting models for proper recording of leases. The

requirement for lease reporting and disclosure in the financial statements is met by periodically compiling

information from the regions based on data calls. This method is prone to errors. The USDA Forest Service plans

to implement programming changes and new procedures in FY 05, which should result in better reporting and

data quality.

In a sample of 15 real property and 15 personal property capital leases, we identified the following errors:

• 13 real property leases did not have acceptable support for their value and/or their estimated economic

life.

• 3 personal property leases did not have acceptable support for their value.

We also tested the mathematical accuracy of certain calculations to determine if capital lease assets should be

capitalized and determined that capitalized leases were understated by at least $8 million at September 30, 2004.

These errors could cause an overstatement or an understatement of asset values. These errors can be attributed to

the of lack of policy and procedures, lack of training and/or lack of monitoring of reporting units for compliance

with USDA Forest Service lease transaction recording policies.

Recommendation Number 5:

We recommend that USDA Forest Service management establish policies and procedures for the accurate

recording of leases, appropriately train reporting unit personnel on such policies and procedures, and monitor

reporting units for compliance with its policies and procedures.

Reportable Condition Number 4: The Design and/or Implementation of Controls Related to the Accurate

Recording of Revenue Related Transactions Need Improvement

During our audit, we noted various exceptions related to revenue transactions including:

• Failure to appropriately record prior year transactions or corrections to them;

• Failure to recognize revenue in the correct month and/or year;

• Insufficient or no documentation supporting amounts recorded;

• Failure to reduce unbilled receivables upon the issuance of actual billings; and

• Erroneous receivable balances caused by systemlinking problems.

OMB Circular No. A-123, Management Accountability and Control, states that transactions should be promptly

recorded, properly classified and accounted for in order to prepare timely accounts and reliable financial and
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 135

Exhibit III

11

other reports. The documentation for transactions, management controls, and other significant events must be

clear and readily available for examination. This condition can be attributed to a lack of policies or procedures

and/or lack of trained personnel and/or lack of monitoring of reporting units for compliance with the policies and

procedures.

The effect of these deficiencies results in an over or understatement of revenue.

Recommendation Number 6:

We recommend that USDA Forest Service management review and update its policies and procedures for the

accurate recording of revenue, appropriately train reporting unit personnel on such policies and procedures, and

monitor reporting units for compliance with its policies and procedures.
136 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

12

STATUS OF PRIOR YEAR’S REPORTABLE CONDITIONS

As required by Government Auditing Standards and OMB Bulletin No. 01-02, Audit Requirements for Federal

Financial Statements, we have reviewed the status of the prior years’ reportable conditions. The following table

summarizes these issues and provides our assessment of the progress USDA Forest Service made in correcting

these reported conditions. We have also provided the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report where the

issue is monitored for audit follow-up. This table contains only those reports that are open.

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

Material Weakness #1:

The USDA Forest

Service Needs to

Improve its Financial

Management and

Accountability

1. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

provide Standard General Ledger (SGL) training

to selected employees and appoint them to be

“resident” SGL experts responsible for preparing

as well as reviewing and approving the adjusting

journal vouchers (AJVs).

2. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

modify its AJV form to specifically identify

management personnel responsible for reviewing

and approving certain aspects of each AJV.

3. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

identify those business processes that are causing

irregularities in the general ledger and develop an

expedited corrective action plan to resolve and

correct any deficiencies identified.

4. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

strive to limit the use of AJVs to only those

accounting situations that require their use.

5. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

analyze the composition of its budget clearing

accounts and make proper disposition at least on

a quarterly basis.

6. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

identify all revenue generating business

processes that are currently maintained in the

budget clearing accounts and work with OMB

and U.S. Department of the Treasury to establish

a separate receipt and expenditure Treasury

symbol so that revenue collections will not reside

in the 12F3875 clearing account.

Open

Closed

Open

Closed

Closed

Open
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 137

Exhibit III

13

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

7. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

revise its posting model for special and nonrevolving trust funds to appropriately recognize

these resources as transfers-in instead of

appropriations received, in accordance with SGL

guidance.

8. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

follow its procedures in order to perform monthly

review, identification, research and correction of

all abnormal balances and report the status of all

abnormal balances of $5 million or more to the

USDA Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

9. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

ensure proper entries, especially AJV’s, at the

Treasury Symbol level for all adjustments so as

not to cause abnormal balances in related general

ledger accounts.

10. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

institute an effective management review of the

USDA Forest Service identified and corrected

abnormal balances.

11. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

implement an effective monthly process to

review general ledger account relationships. The

process must include the research, reconciliation,

and resolution of all significant differences in a

timely manner.

12. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

require an effective documented manager review

and quality assurance review of the account

relationship analysis.

Closed

Open

Open

Open

Open

Open
138 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

14

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

Material Weakness #2:

Implementation of the

USDA Forest Service

Accrual Methodology

Needs Strengthening

13. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service’s

Washington Office (WO) Office of Finance

revise the accrual spreadsheet to prevent the

USDA Forest Service units from changing data

fields or recording “negative” accruals.

14. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

WO Office of Finance provide adequate

communication and/or training of the accrual

methodology, as well as, a summary of lessons

learned from the fiscal year 2003 audit to all of

the USDA Forest Service reporting units.

15. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

WO Office of Finance perform management

oversight of the accrual methodology through

analysis and follow up on large or unusual items,

as well as the USDA Forest Service units that do

not report any data.

16. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

WO Office of Finance establish and implement

policies and procedures to perform period end

reviews of rejected transactions to ensure that all

transactions that are in reject status are corrected,

recorded, and properly reflected in the general

ledger.

17. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

WO Office of Finance and the USDA Forest

Service reporting units perform a comprehensive

review of its accrual implementation efforts

during the second quarter of fiscal year 2004 to

identify and resolve any additional deficiencies in

the accrual methodology.

Closed

Open

Open

Closed

Open
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 139

Exhibit III

15

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

Material Weakness #3:

Controls Over PRCH

Data Access, Input,

Integrity, and

Segregation of Duties

Need Improvement

18. USDA Forest Service management has

acknowledged the weakness of the PRCH

system, and the USDA plans to migrate to a new

department-wide Integrated Acquisition System

(IAS). We recommend that USDA Forest

Service work with the USDA to implement an

appropriate information technology capital

planning strategy and acquire IAS in a timely

manner. In planning for the acquisition, USDA

Forest Service and USDA should take steps to

ensure the information technology architecture

that will replace the PRCH system remedies these

control weaknesses. Until completion of the IAS

acquisition and migration away from legacy

applications, USDA Forest Service management

should take steps to ensure the existence and

operating effectiveness of compensatory controls

to mitigate the effects of noted application

control weaknesses.

Open
140 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

16

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

Material Weakness #4:

The USDA Forest

Service Needs to

Improve Its General

Controls Environment

19. For USDA Forest Service-managed systems, it is

recommended that FS management immediately

perform Certification and Accreditation processes

for all application and general support systems

material to the USDA Forest Service financial

statements or at least give remediation of this

situation one of its highest priorities for IT

resources with the objective of achieving at least

interim authority to process for all its major

application and general support systems within

FY 2004. Management must then address the

lack of controls in place to ensure compliance.

For USDA-managed systems, recommendations

regarding certification and accreditation of

financial management systems used by USDA

Forest Service have been issued to USDA

management by OIG. USDA Forest Service

should follow-up with USDA management on

planned actions regarding accreditation of these

application systems and their general support

systems and monitor progress on these actions.

Appropriate compensatory controls must be put

in place by FS management, until accreditation of

USDA-managed application and general support

systems.

20. We recommend that USDA Forest Service

management develop and implement a structured

risk assessment policy and process for use by all

regions and offices within USDA Forest Service.

The risk assessment process should address

milestones such as:

A. Assignment of roles and responsibilities for

undertaking assessment of security-related risks,

reporting results to appropriate stakeholders,

developing plans for remedial action, and

following up on plans for remedial action.

B. Documentation and analysis of threats and

vulnerabilities that expose FS to risk.

Open

Open
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 141

Exhibit III

17

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

C. Development of steps to mitigate risks and

improve controls.

D. Definition of action plans for carrying out

steps to mitigate risks and improve controls.

E. Linkage of steps to mitigate risks and

improve controls with a mechanism for

monitoring the effectiveness of information

security management.

21. USDA Forest Service management should

develop and implement entity-wide policy and

procedures for IT security planning for all

offices. The policy should state that the

management of regional offices and National

Forests must ensure that their IT security plans

are updated to reflect current conditions and

include incident response procedures, are

approved and reviewed at least once a year with

appropriate adjustments made based on changing

conditions and risks, and that they comply with

all enterprise-wide guidance.

22. USDA Forest Service management should

develop and implement enterprise-wide system

architecture standards for Internet-facing

services. These standards should ensure agency

compliance with USDA regulations and should

address firewall configuration, proper use of demilitarized zones, and limiting the use of

unsecured services to ensure protection of

internet-accessible data. USDA Forest Service

management should also eliminate access to all

unnecessary services from the Internet and

implement strong authenticated access control to

those services that are necessary.

Open

Open
142 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

18

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

23. It is recommended that management develop and

implement enterprise-wide policies and

procedures regarding software management.

These policies and procedures should address:

 Installation of the latest software versions,

service packs, and security patches (and removal

of out-dated versions)

 Software configuration standards (with defined

images that specify what software applications

should be in use and on what kinds of machines

these applications should be installed on)

 Use of automated tools to detect and eliminate

unused or unauthorized applications (including

the use of ISS Internet Scanner in accordance

with USDA Cyber Security Policy CS-007).

 System software access controls

 System software change controls

Open
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 143

Exhibit III

19

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

24. It is recommended USDA Forest Service

management to develop and implement

enterprise-wide policies and procedures for

contingency planning, business resumption,

and disaster recovery and ensure that all data

processing support facilities:

 Identify the criticality and sensitivity of USDA

Forest Service information, systems, and

facilities

 Implement consistent backup and recovery

procedures (including off site storage of key

documentation and frequent offsite data

rotation based on the criticality of data being

stored on backup media)

 Implement mandatory training on and periodic

testing of recovery procedures

 Implement adequate controls at key data

processing support facilities, e.g., automated

alert systems to notify data center employees

about system and environmental control

failures

 Have documented and executed service

level agreements with a backup data

center(s)

 Develop, test and maintain comprehensive

continuity of operations and Critical

Infrastructure Protection Plans for its critical

information system operations

 Periodically review and update all related

procedures and documentation at each site

Open
144 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

20

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

25. USDA Forest Service management must sign a

memorandum of understanding (MOU) with

USDA to address the service levels and

controls to be provided by NITC. Included in

the MOU should be controls to prevent the

recurrence of conditions noted in this finding.

Recommendations for these conditions have

been issued to USDA management by OIG.

26. USDA Forest Service management must sign a

memorandum of understanding (MOU) with

USDA to address the service levels and

controls to be provided by NFC. Included in

the MOU should be controls to prevent the

recurrence of conditions noted in this finding.

Recommendations for these conditions have

been issued to USDA management by OIG.

Open

Open

Reportable Condition

#1: The USDA Forest

Service Needs to

Continue to Improve

its Internal Controls

over its Reconciliation

and Management of

Fund Balance with

Treasury

27. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

perform complete and timely resolution of

reconciling items for all FBWT accounts

within 60 days of report receipt.

28. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

establish a system of controls to accurately and

timely record Treasury warrants.

Open

Open
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 145

Exhibit III

21

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

Reportable Condition

#2: The Design and/or

Implementation of

Controls Related to the

Accurate Recording of

Personal Property

Transactions Need

Improvement

29. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

continue to train reporting unit personnel on

accurate property transaction recording.

30. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

WO improve its monitoring of reporting units

for compliance with the USDA Forest Service

property transaction recording policies.

31. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

ensure the continued, timely performance and

refinement of WO compensating controls

procedures

Open

Open

Closed

Reportable Condition

#3: Controls Related to

Physical Inventories of

Capitalized Assets

Need Improvement

32. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

implement the proper physical inventory

procedures.

33. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

monitor reporting units for compliance with

the USDA Forest Service written physical

inventory instructions.

Closed

Closed
146 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

22

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

Reportable Condition

#4: Postings of

Certain Transactions

Needs to Contain the

Proper Reference

Data to Link Related

Transactions

34. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

develop a methodology to link transactions that

are currently in the financial systems.

35. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

work with the USDA and FFIS contractor to

incorporate edit checks that would disallow

processing of transactions that do not provide

the required data.

36. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

establish direction and quality assurance

protocols to ensure that appropriate data be

entered in the system.

Open

Open

Open

Reportable Condition

#5: Compilation of

the USDA Forest

Service’s Required

Supplementary

Information (RSI) and

Required

Supplementary

Stewardship

Information (RSSI)

Needs Improvement

37. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

revise its current control structure for data

collection and reporting of RSI and RSSI to

ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the reported

information.

Open
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 147

Exhibit III

23

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

Reportable Condition

#6: The USDA Forest

Service Application

Systems Controls

Need Improvement

38. We recommend that USDA Forest Service

management complete the System Security Plan

(SSP) for the Automated Timber Sale

Accounting (ATSA) system. SSP should

include finalized USDA Forest Service security

policies; and be approved by management and

reviewed and updated at least annually to reflect

any changes to the current environment and the

risks associated with those changes. USDA

Forest Service management should incorporate

in the ATSA SSP required management review

of activity logs. Currently, the Security Plan

identifies that audit trails exist but does not

indicate the frequency with which they should

be reviewed and who should review them.

These reviews should be performed on a

consistent basis regardless of whether potential

unusual activity is detected. USDA Forest

Service should also take steps to ensure required

management reviews of ATSA activity logs are

carried out and according to the updated

security plan.

ATSA should be modified to distinguish

duplicate entries from legitimate, separate

accounting events with the same data.

Alternatively, the ATSA system could

incorporate the capability to identify and print

transactions with the same exact values. This

would allow field units to perform error checks

on these entries. KPMG realizes there is

occasionally a business need for transactions

with duplicate entries/values, but having a list of

possible erroneous transactions would serve as a

sufficient compensatory control.

Open
148 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit III

24

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

USDA Forest Service management should develop

and implement procedures for conducting risk

assessments of the ATSA application system. This

risk assessment approach should take into

consideration key risk factors to include:

determining the value of the application, exposures,

threats, vulnerabilities, and the effectiveness of

current or proposed alternatives and safeguards. The

National TSA staff should be timely in finalizing

the ATSA Administrator’s User Guide. This

handbook should become official policy and contain

all administrative functions in a centralized

location. We recommend that the National TSA

staff develop and implement a policy regarding a

central repository of key system documentation and

an off-site storage plan.

ATSA should be modified to distinguish duplicate

entries from legitimate, separate accounting events

with the same data. Alternatively, the ATSA

system could incorporate the capability to identify

and print transactions with the same exact values.

This would allow field units to perform error checks

on these entries. KPMG realizes there is

occasionally a business need for transactions with

duplicate entries/values, but having a list of possible

erroneous transactions would serve as a sufficient

compensatory control.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 149

Exhibit IV

25

COMPLIANCE AND OTHER MATTERS

The USDA Forest Service does not Obligate all Transactions as Required by Appropriations Law

Obligation testwork performed over approximately 160 transactions disclosed that the following transactions

were not obligated as required by appropriation law:

 19 transactions were not obligated prior to payment. The transactions that were not obligated included

temporary travel, GSA automobile leases, and utility type transactions.

 1 transaction was not obligated until 6 months after the acquisition occurred.

It is USDA Forest Service policy not to obligate for temporary travel related transactions because of limitations

within USDA’s travel system. For all other transactions not obligated, several USDA Forest Service offices did

not obligate for GSA automobile leases and utility type transactions because of the variability in determining the

estimated cost for these types of transactions.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), publication GAO/OGC-92-13, Appropriations Law, defines an

obligation in very general terms as, “an action that creates a liability or definite commitment on the part of the

government to make a disbursement at some later time. The obligation takes place when the definite

commitment is made, even though the actual payment may not take place until the following fiscal year.”

Furthermore, GAO’s Appropriations Law cites 9 criteria for recording obligations. When one criterion is met,

the agency not only may, but also must record that transaction as an obligation. Criterion 7 addresses travel

expenses. With regard to the timing, Appropriation Law states that, “the obligation is not incurred until the

travel is actually performed or until the ticket is purchased.” While the precise amount of the liability should be

recorded, the precise amount is not always known immediately. When this takes place, “the obligation should be

recorded on the basis of the agency’s best estimate.”

Without obligating all required transactions, obligations are understated at any one point in time. Also as

existing obligations are used in determining accruals, these types of unobligated transactions are not considered

in the accrual determination process.

Recommendation Number 8:

We recommend that the USDA Forest Service management develop policy and procedures to obligate funds for

transactions as required by Appropriations Law.

Instances of Non-Compliance with FFMIA were Identified related to Federal Accounting Standards

In addition to the open FFMIA recommendation noted in Exhibit V, instances of FFMIA non-compliance

relating to compliance with applicable Federal accounting standards were identified during the fiscal year 2004

audit.

The following table lists those Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Concepts (SFFAC) and Statements of

Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) that the USDA Forest Service did not comply with during the

audit period.
150 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Exhibit IV

26

FFMIA Non-compliance with Federal Accounting Standards

SFFAS/SFFAC

Number Accounting Deficiencies Noted

SFFAC 2  Unliquidated Obligation errors

 Problems with preparing proper note disclosures (e.g., dedicated

collections, custodial revenue, SBR to Presidents Budget

reconciliation, and restatement)

 Not assessing the impact of remaining abnormal balances

SFFAS 5  Incorrect accruals

SFFAS 6  Improper accounting for leases

 Improper accounting for internal use software

SFFAS 7  Errors with recording timber and non-timber revenue

SFFAS 8  Improper stewardship reporting

SFFAS 21  Incorrect conclusions regarding treatment of prior period

adjustments

 Variances existed in Cumulative Results of Operations that were

not detected

Although the USDA Forest Service continues to improve its accounting operations, deficiencies still exist in the

processing of various transactions. The deficiencies noted in the above table resulted in additional time and

effort of the USDA Forest Service to research and resolve the deficiency.

Recommendation Number 9:

We recommend that the USDA Forest Service management identify the business process causes for the noted

instances of non-compliance, develop adequate policies and procedures, and if necessary, modify existing

policies and procedures to ensure that transactions are processed and reported in accordance with Federal

accounting standards.

Recommendation Number 10:

We recommend that the USDA Forest Service management develop a remediation plan within the required time

frames that includes extensive training of personnel specifically addressing the deficiencies noted above.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 151

Exhibit V

27

STATUS OF PRIOR YEAR’S NONCOMPLIANCE FINDINGS AND OTHER MATTERS

All Reported Conditions In this Table are Referenced

to the USDA OIG Audit Report No. 08401-3-FM January 2004

Reported Condition Recommendation Status

The USDA Forest

Service Systems are

Not Compliant with

Federal Financial

Management System

Requirements

1. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service,

working with the NFC, as necessary, take steps

to certify and accredit the PONTIUS, ATSA,

and Paycheck 7 systems and their general

support environment or replace these legacy

systems.

Open

The USDA Forest

Service Revenue

Collections from

Certain Business

Processes Are Not

Recognized As

Revenue When

Earned

2. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

develop a posting model to ensure that revenue

is recognized when earned.

3. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

notify and train the USDA Forest Service

personnel on the new revenue-posting model.

Closed

Closed

Improper Accounting

for Budgetary

Resources in Special

and Non-Revolving

Trust Funds

4. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

revise its posting model for special and nonrevolving trust funds to appropriately recognize

a transfer-in instead of appropriations received

in accordance with SGL guidance.

Closed

Other Accounting

Errors and Lack of

Budgetary/Proprietary

Synchronization

5. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

revise its posting models to properly record

transactions initially and avoid excessive AJVs.

6. We recommend that the USDA Forest Service

 analyze its business data to determine the nature

 of, and if necessary correct, transactions that are

 causing out of balance conditions between

 budgetary and propriety accounts.

Closed

Closed

Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 153

Management’s Response to Audit Report
154 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 155

Limitations of Financial Statements

The Forest Service has prepared its financial statements to report its financial position

and results of operations pursuant to the requirements of the Chief Financial Officers

Act of 1990 and the Government Management Reform Act of 1994.

The Forest Service statements have been prepared from its books and records in accordance with the formats prescribed by OMB. The statements, however, are in addition to

the financial reports used to monitor and control budgetary resources, which are prepared from the same books and records.

These statements should be read with the understanding that they are for a component

of the U.S. Government, a sovereign entity. Liabilities not covered by budgetary resources

cannot be liquidated without the enactment of an appropriation by Congress. The Federal

Government can abrogate the payment of all liabilities, other than for contracts.
156 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 157

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Consolidated Balance Sheets 

As of September 30, 2004 and 2003 

(in millions)

Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Assets: 

Intragovernmental:

Fund Balance with Treasury (Note 3) $ 3,506 $ 3,263 

Investments 4 3

Accounts Receivable (Note 4) 62 36

Total Intragovernmental 3,572 3,302

Accounts Receivable, Net (Note 4) 101 110

General Property, Plant, and Equipment, Net (Note 5) 3,807 3,851

Advances 10 12

Total Assets (Note 2) $ 7,490 $ 7,275 

Liabilities:

Intragovernmental (Note 7):

Accrued Liabilities $ 118 $ 69 

Treasury Judgment Fund 7 192

Deposit Liabilities 90 201

Other Liabilities 152 98

Total Intragovernmental 367 560

Accounts Payable 47 112

Federal Employee Benefits (Note 7) 343 390

Environmental and Disposal Liabilities 8 8

Other (Note 7)

Accrued Liabilities 859 820

Annual Leave Liability 194 178

Other Liabilities 70 170

Total Liabilities (Note 6) 1,888 2,238

Commitments and Contingencies (Note 7)

Net Position:

Unexpended Appropriations 1,511 1,350

Cumulative Results of Operations 4,091 3,687

Total Net Position 5,602 5,037

Total Liabilities and Net Position $ 7,490 $ 7,275

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
158 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Consolidated Statements of Net Cost 

For the years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Program Costs

Intragovernmental Gross Cost:

Benefit Program Costs $ 350 $ 326 

Imputed Costs 244 229

Reimbursable Costs 613 392

Total Intragovernmental Gross Cost 1,207 947

Less: Intragovernmental Earned Revenues 121 315

Intragovernmental Net Costs 1,086 632

Gross Costs With the Public:

Grants and Indemnities 887 681

Stewardship Land Acquisition (Note 10) 87 191

Other:

Operating Costs 3,212 3,962

Depreciation Expense 286 306

Reimbursable Costs 240 259

Total Other 3,738 4,527

Total Gross Costs with the Public 4,712 5,399

Less: Earned Revenues from the Public 538 482

Net Costs with the Public 4,174 4,917

Net Cost of Operations (Note 9) $ 5,260 $ 5,549

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 159

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Consolidated Statements of Changes in Net Position 

For the years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Cumulative Results Unexpended Cumulative Results Unexpended

of Operations Appropriations of Operations Appropriations

Beginning Balances $ 3,473 $ 1,517 $ 2,899 $ 1,762 

Prior Period Adjustments (Note 12) 214 (167) 258 (154)

Beginning Balances, as adjusted 3,687 1,350 3,157 1,608

Budgetary Financing Sources:

Appropriations Received – 5,368 – 5,036

Appropriations Transfer - in/out – 88 – 65

Other Adjustments (recissions, etc.) – (56) – (22)

Appropriations Used 5,239 (5,239) 5,337 (5,337)

Donations and Forfeitures of Cash 1 – 1 –

Transfers -in/out without Reimbursement 172 – 511 –

Other Financing Sources:

Donations and Forfeitures of Property 4 – 1 –

Transfers In (Out) without Reimbursement 4 – – –

Imputed Financing from Costs Absorbed 

by Others 244 – 229 –

Total Financing Sources 5,664 161 6,079 (258)

Net Cost of Operations (5,260) – (5,549) –

Ending Balances $4,091 $1,511 $3,687 $1,350

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
160 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources 

For the years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Budgetary Resources:

Budget Authority:

Appropriations Received $ 5,923 $ 5,845 

Net Transfers (12) 70

Unobligated Balance:

Beginning of Period 1,256 834

Net Transfers, Actual 4 (129)

Spending Authority from Offsetting Collections:

Earned:

Collected 428 710

Receivable from Federal Sources (13) 100

Change in Unfilled Customer Orders:

Advances Received (10) (1)

Without Advance from Federal Sources 20 (46)

Subtotal 425 763

Recoveries of prior year obligations 97 113

Permanently/Temporarily Not Available Pursuant to Public Law (54) (26)

Total Budgetary Resources $ 7,639 $ 7,470 

Status of Budgetary Resources:

Obligations Incurred: (Note 11)

Direct $ 5,632 $ 5,583 

Reimbursable 269 631

Subtotal 5,901 6,214

Unobligated Balance:

Apportioned 1,262 823

Exempt from Apportionment – 28

Unobligated Balances not Available 476 405

Total Status of Budgetary Resources $ 7,639 $ 7,470 

Relation of Obligations to Outlays:

Obligated Balance, Net, Beginning of Period $ 1,597 $ 1,401 

Obligated Balance, Net, End of Period:

Accounts Receivable (213) (227)

Unfilled Customer Orders from Federal Sources (120) (100)

Undelivered Orders 1,232 1,099

Accounts Payable 594 825

Outlays:

Disbursements 5,900 5,851

Collections (418) (710)

Subtotal 5,482 5,141

Less: Offsetting Receipts 384 438

Net Outlays $ 5,098 $ 4,703

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 161

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Consolidated Statements of Financing 

For the years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Resources Used to Finance Activities:

Budgetary Resources Obligated:

Obligations Incurred $ 5,901 $ 6,214 

Less: Spending Authority from Offsetting 

Collections and Recoveries 522 876

Obligations Net of Offsetting Collections 

and Recoveries 5,379 5,338

Less Offsetting Receipts 384 438

Net Obligations 4,995 4,900

Other Resources:

Donations and Forfeitures of Property 4 1

Transfers in/out without reimbursement 4 –

Imputed Financing from Costs Absorbed by Others 244 229

Net Other Resources Used to Finance Activities 252 230

Total Resources Used to Finance Activities 5,247 5,130

Resources Used to Finance Items not Part of 

the Net Cost of Operations:

Change in Budgetary Resources Obligated for Goods,

Services and Benefits Ordered but not yet Provided 131 184

Resources that Fund Expenses Recognized 

in Prior Periods 244 29

Budgetary Offsetting Collections and Receipts that 

do not Affect Net Cost of Operations – (223)

Resources that Finance the Acquisition of Assets 214 220

Total Resources Used to Finance Items not Part of the

Net Cost of Operations 589 210

Total Resources Used to Finance 

the Net Cost of Operations 4,658 4,920
162 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

2003 

2004 (As Restated)

Components of the Net Cost of Operations that will 

not Require or Generate Resources in the Current 

Period:

Components Requiring or Generating Resources 

in Future Periods (Note 15):

Increase in Annual Leave Liability 16 8

Increase in Environmental and Disposal Liability – 1

Decrease (Increase) in Exchange Revenue 

Receivable from the Public 10 (56)

Increase in Accrued Liability for Payments to States 92 180

Other 70 94

Total Components of Net Cost of Operations that 

will Require or Generate Resources in Future Periods 188 227

Components not Requiring or Generating Resources:

Depreciation and Amortization 286 306

Revaluation of Assets or Liabilities (6) 17

Allocation of Transfers and Other (Note 16) 134 79

Total Components of Net Cost of Operations 

that will not Require or Generate Resources 414 402

Total components of Net Cost of Operations that 

will not Require or Generate Resources in the 

Current Period 602 629

Net Cost of Operations $ 5,260 $ 5,549

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Consolidated Statements of Financing 

For the years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 

(in millions) (continued)
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 163

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Note 1. Significant Accounting Policies

A. Reporting Entity

B. Basis of Presentation 

and Accounting

The USDA Forest Service was established on February 1, 1905, as an agency of the United

States Federal Government within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), for the purpose

of maintaining and managing the Nation’s forest reserves. It operates under the guidance of

the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment. The USDA Forest Service policy

is implemented through nine regional offices, six research offices, one State and Private

Forestry area office, the Forest Products Laboratory, and the International Institute of Tropical

Forestry, with 868 administrative units functioning in 46 States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin

Islands. 

The USDA Forest Service’s mission includes the four major segments described below. 

• National Forests and Grasslands—Protection and management of approximately 192.5 

million acres (unaudited) of National Forest System (NFS) land that includes 34.8 million

acres (unaudited) of designated wilderness areas. In addition, the USDA Forest Service

partners with other nations and organizations to foster global natural resource conservation

and sustainable development of the world’s forest resources;

• Forest and Rangeland Research—Research and development of forest and rangeland 

management practices to provide scientific and technical knowledge for enhancing and

protecting the economic productivity and environmental quality of the 1.6 billion acres

(unaudited) of forests and associated rangelands in the United States;

• State and Private Forestry—Cooperation with and assistance to State and local governments, tribal governments, forest industries and private landowners to help protect and

manage non-Federal forests and associated rangeland and watershed areas; and

• Wildland Fire Management—Protection of life, property, and natural resources on the 

192.5 million acres (unaudited) of NFS lands, and extending to an additional 20 million

acres (unaudited) of adjacent State and private lands.

The accompanying financial statements of the USDA Forest Service account for all funds

under the USDA Forest Service’s control.

The financial statements were prepared to report the financial position, net costs, changes in

net position, budgetary resources, and reconciliation of net costs to budgetary obligations of

the USDA Forest Service. The financial statements have been prepared from the books and

records of the USDA Forest Service in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Bulletin 01-09, Form and Content of Agency Financial Statements. All material intra-agency

transactions and balances have been eliminated for presentation on a consolidated basis.

However, the Statement of Budgetary Resources is presented on a combined basis in accordance with OMB Bulletin 01-09. 

These financial statements present proprietary and budgetary information. The accounting

structure of Federal agencies is designed to reflect both accrual and budgetary accounting

transactions. Under the accrual method of accounting, revenues are recognized when earned,

and expenses are recognized when incurred, without regard to receipt or payment of cash. The

budgetary accounting principles, on the other hand, are designed to recognize the obligation

of funds according to legal requirements, which in many cases is prior to the occurrence of

an accrual-based transaction. The recognition of budgetary accounting transactions is essential

for compliance with legal constraints and controls over the use of Federal funds. 
164 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

The USDA Forest Service recognizes budgetary resources as assets when cash (funds held by

Treasury) is made available through the U.S. Department of Treasury General Fund warrants

and other transfers. In addition to appropriated funds, the USDA Forest Service is authorized by law to retain specific earned revenues primarily from sales of forest products and

services and to spend these monies on resource management activities identified in the governing legislation. Some examples of the USDA Forest Service earned revenues are monies

collected from timber sales or recreation use fees. The USDA Forest Service, pursuant to

OMB directives, prepares additional financial reports that are used to monitor and control

the USDA Forest Service’s use of budgetary resources. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury processes cash receipts and disbursements on behalf of

the USDA Forest Service. Funds on deposit with the U.S. Department of the Treasury are

primarily appropriated, trust, and other fund types such as special funds that are available to

pay current liabilities and finance authorized purchase commitments. 

Payments made by the USDA Forest Service in advance of the receipt of goods and services

are recorded as advances at the time of payment and recognized as expenditures/expenses

when the related goods and services are received. 

Costs associated with nursery stock are expensed as incurred.

General property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) includes real and personal property used in

ordinary business operations. Real and personal property is recorded at cost or estimated

fair market value and must have a useful life of 2 years or more. The USDA Forest Service

capitalization threshold for acquisition of real property is $25 thousand or more, effective

fiscal year (FY) 2002. The capitalization threshold for personal property is $25 thousand or

more, effective FY 2003. The capitalization threshold for both real and personal property was

$5 thousand prior to these changes. Effective FY 2001, internal use software is capitalized

in accordance with Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard (SFFAS) No. 10,

Accounting for Internal Use Software, if the value meets or exceeds $100 thousand. Prior to

that period, software was not capitalized. Effective FY 2003, USDA Forest Service reported

the liability at lease inception, present value or fair market value, for capital leases in accordance with SFFAS No. 6, Accounting for Property, Plant, and Equipment.

Liabilities represent the amount of monies or other resources that are likely to be paid by the

USDA Forest Service as a result of a transaction or event that has occurred. However, the

USDA Forest Service cannot satisfy a liability without an appropriation. Liabilities for which

there is no appropriation and for which there is no certainty that an appropriation will be

enacted, are classified as unfunded liabilities. The U.S. Government, acting in its sovereign

capacity, can abrogate liabilities. 

The USDA Forest Service’s estimated Government related environmental liabilities are principally associated with the future remediation of certain landfills, buildings, and other related

sites in accordance with all applicable Federal, State and local laws. Such estimates do not

consider the effect of future inflation, new technology, laws, or regulations. 

The USDA Forest Service is a party in various administrative proceedings, legal actions,

environmental lawsuits, and claims. In the opinion of the USDA Forest Service management

and its legal counsel, the ultimate resolution of most of these proceedings is currently indeterminable. Where determinable, the full value of probable amounts related to unsettled

litigation and other claims against the USDA Forest Service is recognized as a liability and

expense. Expected amounts related to litigation and other claims include amounts to be paid

C. Fund Balance with the 

U.S. Treasury

D. Advances

E. Inventory and Related 

Property

F. General Property,

Plant and Equipment

G. Liabilities

H. Environmental and 

Disposal Liabilities

I. Commitments and 

Contingencies

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 165

by the Department of the Treasury on behalf of the USDA Forest Service from a permanent

appropriation for judgments and from other appropriations. 

The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) provides income and medical cost protection to Federal civilian employees injured on the job, employees who have incurred a work

related occupational disease, and beneficiaries of employees whose death is attributable to a

job-related injury or occupational disease. Benefit claims incurred for the USDA Forest

Service’s employees under FECA are administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

and are ultimately paid by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Consequently, the USDA

Forest Service recognizes a liability for this compensation comprised of: (1) an accrued

liability that represents money owed for claims paid by USDA through the current fiscal

year and (2) an actuarial liability that represents the expected liability for USDA approved

compensation cases to be paid beyond the current fiscal year. 

Annual and other vested leave such as compensatory, credit hours, and restored leave is

accrued as it is earned, and the accrual is reduced as leave is taken. Each quarter, the balance

in the accrued annual leave account is adjusted to reflect the latest pay rates and unused

hours of leave. Sick leave is generally nonvested. Funding will be obtained from future

financing sources to the extent that current or prior year appropriations are not available to

fund annual and other types of vested leave earned but not taken. Sick leave and other types

of nonvested leave are expensed when used.

USDA Forest Service employees participate in either the Civil Service Retirement System

(CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The employees who participate in CSRS are beneficiaries of the USDA Forest Service’s matching contribution, equal

to 7 percent of pay, distributed to their annuity account in the Civil Service Retirement and

Disability Fund.

FERS went into effect on January 1, 1987, pursuant to Public Law 99-335. FERS and

Social Security automatically cover most employees hired after December 31, 1983.

Employees hired prior to January 1, 1984, could elect to join FERS and Social Security, or

to remain in CSRS. FERS offers a savings plan to which the USDA Forest Service automatically contributes 1 percent of pay and matches any employee contribution up to an additional 4 percent of pay. For FERS participants, the USDA Forest Service also contributes

the employer’s matching share for Social Security. 

The USDA Forest Service recognizes the imputed cost of pension and other health and life

insurance retirement benefits during the employees’ active years of service. Office of

Personnel Management (OPM) actuaries determine pension cost factors by calculating the

value of pension benefits expected to be paid in the future and communicate these factors

and information regarding the full cost of health and life insurance benefits to the USDA

Forest Service for current period expense reporting. 

The USDA Forest Service is funded principally through Congressional appropriations and

other authorizations from the Budget of the United States. The USDA Forest Service

receives annual, multi-year, and no year appropriations that are used, within statutory limits,

for operating and capital expenditures. Other funding sources are derived through reimbursements for services performed for other Federal and non-Federal entities, sale of goods

to the public, gifts from donors, cost-share contributions, and interest on invested amounts.

Appropriations are used at the time the related program or administrative expenses are

incurred or when the appropriations are expended for capital property and equipment. Other

revenues are recognized as earned when goods have been delivered or services rendered. 

J. Workers’ Compensation 

Liability

K. Employee Annual, Sick,

and Other Leave

L. Pension and Other 

Retirement Benefits

M. Revenues and Other 

Financing Sources

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
166 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

In accordance with Federal Government accounting guidance, the USDA Forest Service

classifies revenue as either “exchange revenue” or “non-exchange revenue.” Exchange revenue arises from transactions that occur when each party to the transaction sacrifices value

and receives value in return. An example of exchange revenue is the income from the sale of

forest products. In some cases, the USDA Forest Service is required to remit exchange revenue receipts to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In other instances the USDA Forest

Service is authorized to use all or a portion of its exchange revenues for specific purposes.

Non-exchange revenue is revenue the Federal Government is able to demand or receive

because of its sovereign powers. An example of non-exchange revenue is the cash donations

received from private citizens and organizations.

The USDA Forest Service reports the full cost of products and services generated from the

consumption of resources. Full cost is the total amount of resources used to produce a product or provide a service unless otherwise noted. In accordance with SFFAS No.7,

Accounting for Revenue and Other Financing Sources, the USDA Forest Service’s pricing

policies are set to recover full cost except where mandated by law or for the public good

such as in the case of grazing fees.

The USDA Forest Service recognizes as imputed financing the amount of accrued pension

and post-retirement benefit expenses for current employees. The assets and liabilities associated with such benefits are the responsibility of the administering agency, the OPM. Amounts

paid from the Treasury Judgment Fund in settlement of claims or court assessments against

the USDA Forest Service and claims paid for workers’ compensation under the Federal

Employees Compensation Act (FECA) are also recognized as imputed financing. Imputed

financing for the years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003, was $244 million and $229

million, respectively.

The USDA Forest Service receives two transfer allocations from appropriations of other

agencies—the Department of Labor, Job Corps Civilian Conservation, and the Department

of Transportation, Federal Aid to Highways. Job Corps Civilian Conservation is a Department

of Labor residential training program for unemployed and under-employed young people.

The training programs are conducted on campuses on national forest land and supervised by

USDA Forest Service employees. Federal Aid to Highways provides emergency funding for

the repair of National Forest System roads damaged by natural disaster. In accordance with

OMB Bulletin number 01-09, Form and Content of Agency Financial Statements, the USDA

Forest Service does not include these allocation transfers in its Combined Statement of

Budgetary Resources. However, as the transfer allocations are considered material, the

financial activity is reported in the Consolidated Statements of Net Cost and as a reconciling

item in the Consolidated Statement of Financing. 

Management has made certain estimates and assumptions when reporting assets, liabilities,

revenue, and expenses. Actual results could differ from these estimates. Significant estimates

underlying the accompanying financial statements include the majority of accrued liabilities,

environmental and disposal liabilities, and Federal Employee Benefits liabilities.

N. Imputed Financing

O. Combined Statements 

of Budgetary Resources

P. Use of Estimates

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 167

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

A. Fund Balances:

(1) Trust Funds $533 $400 

(2) Revolving Funds 139 134 

(3) Appropriated Funds 2,757 2,575 

(4) Other Fund Types 77 154 

Total $3,506 $3,263 

B. Status of Funds:

(1) Unobligated Balance

(a) Available $1,262 $851 

(b) Unavailable 476 405 

(2) Obligated Balance not yet Disbursed 1,493 1,597 

(3) Other Balances 275 410 

Total $3,506 $3,263

Note 2. Non-Entity Assets

Total assets consist of both entity and non-entity. Non-entity assets are those assets not

available for use in the operations of the USDA Forest Service and consist primarily of

contractors’ performance bonds, amounts held for others in the Fund Balance with Treasury

suspense accounts and fines and penalties recorded as General Fund Proprietary Receipts

that will be transferred to the U.S. Treasury at fiscal year-end. These business transactions

occur primarily from the USDA Forest Service’s timber operations and its law enforcement

activities. As of September 30, 2004 and 2003, total non-entity assets consisted of:

Note 3. Fund Balance With Treasury 

Funds with the U.S. Department of the Treasury are primarily appropriated (general and

special funds) and trust funds that are available to pay current liabilities and finance authorized

purchase commitments. The category of other fund types includes deposit and clearing

accounts. Fund balances with the U.S. Department of the Treasury include both entity and

non-entity fund balances. It is the USDA Forest Service’s policy to ensure the Fund Balance

with Treasury reported on the Consolidated Balance Sheets are consistent with the records

of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

Fund Balance with Treasury as of September 30, 2004 and 2003, consisted of the following:

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Intragovernmental:

Fund Balance with Treasury:

a) Balance in Receipt Accounts $168 $171 

b) Balance in Clearing Accounts 61 168 

Total Intragovernmental 229 339 

Accounts Receivable 10 27 

Total Non-Entity Assets 239 366 

Total Entity Assets 7,251 6,909 

Total Assets $7,490 $7,275

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
168 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Note 4. Accounts Receivable

Intragovernmental accounts receivable represent amounts due under reimbursable and cooperative agreements with Federal entities for services provided by the USDA Forest Service.

An allowance for receivables deemed uncollectible is not established for these amounts because

monies due from other Federal entities are considered fully collectible. As of September 30,

2004 and 2003, the intragovernmental accounts receivable balances were $62 million and

$36 million (as restated), respectively.

Non-intragovernmental accounts receivable are comprised primarily of timber harvest and

reimbursements and refunds owed to the USDA Forest Service for fire prevention and suppression activities. An allowance for receivables deemed uncollectible is established at 20

percent or 80 percent, depending upon the age of the receivable. The allowance for receivables

transferred to an outside agency for collection (e.g., Department of Justice, Department of

the Treasury, etc.) is established at 100%. Non-intragovernmental accounts receivable as of

September 30, 2004 and 2003, consisted of the following:

Note 5. General Property, Plant and Equipment, Net

Depreciation of general property, plant and equipment (PP&E) for the USDA Forest Service

is recorded on the straight-line method based on the useful lives listed below. Capitalization

thresholds are provided in Note 1, Section F.

As of September 30, 2004 and 2003, the USDA Forest Service’s PP&E consisted of the

following:

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Accounts Receivable $ 212 $ 202 

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts (111) (92)

Accounts Receivable, Net $ 101 $ 110

September 30, 2004 (in millions)

Useful Life Cost Accumulated 

Property Class (Years) Depreciation Book Value

Personal Property 4-20 $ 974 ($673) $ 301 

Real Property 10-50 7,474 (3,968) 3,506 

Total $ 8,448 ($4,641) $3,807 

September 30, 2003 (in millions)

Useful Life Cost Accumulated 

Property Class (Years) Depreciation Book Value

Personal Property 4-20 $ 1,024 ($696) $ 328 

Real Property 10-50 7,345 (3,822) 3,523 

Total $ 8,369 ($4,518) $ 3,851

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 169

Note 6. Liabilities Not Covered by Budgetary Resources

Liabilities not covered by budgetary resources as of September 30, 2004 and 2003, consisted

of the following:

Note 7. Intragovernmental and Other Liabilities

The following table segregates other liabilities between those covered and not covered by

budgetary resources and between intragovernmental and other as of September 30, 2004 and

2003.

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Intragovernmental:

Treasury Judgment Fund $ 7 $ 192 

Unfunded FECA (Note 7) 65 66 

Total Intragovernmental 72 258 

Federal Employee Benefits 343 390 

Annual Leave Liability 194 178 

Contingent Liabilities (Note 7) 1 8 

Accrued Liability for Payments to States (Note 7) 380 288 

Environmental and Disposal Liabilities 8 8 

Total Liabilities Not Covered by Budgetary Resources 998 1,130 

Total Liabilities Covered by Budgetary Resources 890 1,108 

Total Liabilities $ 1,888 $ 2,238

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Other Liabilities Covered by Budgetary Resources Non-Current Current Total Non-Current Current Total

Intragovernmental 

Employer Contributions & Payroll Tax - $ 12 $ 12 - $ 8 $ 8 

Accrued Liabilities - 118 118 - 69 69 

Advances from Others - 17 17 - 25 25 

Deposit Liabilities - 90 90 - 201 201 

Custodial Liabilities - 58 58 - (1) (1)

Total Intragovernmental - 295 295 - 302 302 

Accrued Liabilities - 479 479 - 532 532 

Advances from Others - 30 30 - 30 30 

Deposit Liabilities - (2) (2) - (25) (25)

Purchaser Road Credits - 16 16 - 21 21 

Capital Leases (Note 8) - 23 23 - 23 23 

Custodial Liabilities - 2 2 - 113 113 

Total Other Liabilities Covered by Budgetary Resources - $ 843 $ 843 - $ 996 $ 996 

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
170 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

As of September 30, 2004 and 2003, the USDA Forest Service’s major components of other

liabilities are as follows:

Intragovernmental Other Accrued Liabilities Covered by Budgetary Resources:

Intragovernmental accrued liabilities covered by budgetary resources consist primarily of

accruals for receipt of goods and services. 

Advances from Others: Advances from others consist primarily of monies on deposit for

cooperative work project agreements with the public.

Deposit Liabilities: Deposit liabilities consist primarily of collections deposited in

deposit funds and clearing accounts, including suspense accounts, awaiting disposition

or reclassification.

Custodial Liabilities: Custodial liabilities consist of amounts held in special receipt

accounts that belong to non-USDA Forest Service entities.

Accrued Liabilities Covered by Budgetary Resources: Accrued liabilities covered by budgetary resources consist primarily of accruals for payroll and for receipt of goods and services.

Purchaser Road Credits: Under the terms of certain timber sales contracts, timber purchasers

are required to construct roads to gain access to the timber sold under the contract. Each

month as the road is being completed, the timber purchaser is given a credit (referred to as a

purchaser road credit or PRC), based on an engineer’s estimate of the percentage of the roads

that have been completed. These PRCs may be used to offset above-base timber stumpage

value or may be transferred to another timber sale to the same purchaser on the same proclaimed national forest. Unused PRC is reported on the financial statement as a liability.

Effective April 1, 1999, in accordance with 16 U.S.C. § 535a, PRC’s are prohibited on

newly issued timber contracts.

Treasury Judgment Fund: Consistent with the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act,

the USDA Forest Service pays small tort claim awards ($2.5 thousand or less) out of its own

funds. Tort claim awards exceeding $2.5 thousand, however, are paid from the Claims,

Judgments, and Relief Acts Fund (Judgment Fund) maintained by the Department of the

Treasury. Absent a specific statutory requirement, the USDA Forest Service is not required

to record a liability or reimburse the Judgment Fund for tort claims paid on its behalf.

These payments, however, are recognized as an expense and an imputed financing source in

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Other Liabilities Not Covered by Budgetary Resources Non-Current Current Total Non-Current Current Total

Intragovernmental

Treasury Judgment Fund $ 7 - $ 7 - $ 192 $ 192 

Unfunded FECA 36 29 65 39 27 66 

Total Intragovernmental 43 29 72 39 219 258 

Accrued Liability for Payments to States - 380 380 - 288 288 

Annual Leave Liability 18 176 194 14 164 178 

Contingent Liabilities 1 - 1 8 - 8 

Total Other Liabilities Not Covered by Budgetary Resources 62 585 647 61 671 732 

Total Intragovernmental and Other Liabilities $ 62 $ 1,428 $1,490 $ 61 $ 1,667 $1,728

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 171

the Consolidated Statements of Net Cost and Changes in Net Position. Payments reported

from torts and court claims as of September 30, 2004 and 2003, amounted to $2.4 and $6.5

million, respectively.

The Contract Disputes Resolution Act (CDRA) governs litigation arising from contract disputes (such as those from timber sales contracts). Subsection 612(c) provides that CDRA

payments made on behalf of Federal agencies by the Judgment Fund shall be reimbursed to

the Fund. As of September 30, 2004 and 2003, the USDA Forest Service owed the Judgment

Fund $7 million and $192 million, respectively, for such payments.

Federal Employees’ Compensation Act Liabilities: Liabilities under the Federal Employees’

Compensation Act (FECA) are incurred as a result of workers’ compensation benefits that

have accrued to employees but have not yet been paid by the USDA Forest Service. Workers’

compensation benefits include the current and expected future liability for death, disability,

medical, and other approved costs. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) actuarially determines the expected future liability for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a whole, including

the USDA Forest Service. The USDA Forest Service is billed annually as its claims are paid

by the DOL. Payments to the DOL are deferred for 2 years so that the bills may be funded

through the budget. Payments to the DOL are also recognized as an expense when billed and

recorded in the Statement of Net Cost. The amounts of unpaid FECA billings constitute the

accrued FECA payable.

The total components of accrued FECA payable as of September 30, 2004 and 2003,

consisted of the following:

Accrued Liability for Payments to States: The Act of May 23, 1908, as amended (16

U.S.C. 500), authorized the Payments to States, National Forest Fund program. This program requires revenue generated by the sale of goods and services on the national forests to

be shared with the States for public schools and public roads in the county or counties in

which the national forests are located. 

Pending Litigation and Unasserted Claims (Contingent Liabilities): As of September 30,

2004, the USDA Forest Service had four legal actions pending. Based on information provided by legal counsel, management believes some adverse decisions are probable. The

estimated loss for these claims is $1 million.

No amounts have been accrued in the financial statements for claims where the amount or

probability of judgment is uncertain. The USDA Forest Service’s potential liability for these

claims is approximately $57 million.

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Not Covered by Budgetary Resources, 

Intragovernmental Liability for FECA $ 65 $ 66

Not Covered by Budgetary Resources, 

Expected Future Liability for FECA 343 390

Total $ 408 $ 456

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
172 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Note 8. Lease Liabilities 

The USDA Forest Service enters into leasing agreements through the General Service

Administration (GSA) and through leasing authority delegated by GSA for general facilities

(buildings and office space), equipment, and land. Leases may include renewal options for

periods of 1 or more years. Most leases are cancelable upon certain funding conditions. The

USDA Forest Service’s assets under capital leases as of September 30, 2004 and 2003, and

future capital and operating lease agreement payments as of September 30, 2004, consisted

of the following: 

(in millions)

Capital Leases: 2004 2003

Summary of Assets Under Capital Leases

Land, Building Machinery,

& Equipment $ 40 $ 40 

Accumulated Amortization (17) (17)

Total $ 23 $ 23

Future Payments Due:

Fiscal Year Land & Buildings

2005 $ 11 

2006 11 

2007 11 

2008 11 

2009 10 

After 5 Years 88 

Total Future Lease Payments $ 142 

Less: Imputed Interest 38 

Less: Executory Costs 48 

Subtotal $ 56 

Less: Lease Renewal Options 33 

Net Capital Lease Liability, covered by Budgetary Resources $ 23 

Operating Leases: (in millions)

Future Payments Due:

Fiscal Year Machinery &

Land & Buildings Equipment Total

2005 $ 66 $ 1 $ 67 

2006 61 1 62 

2007 56 1 57 

2008 50 - 50 

2009 45 - 45 

After 5 Years 257 - 257

Total Future Lease Payments $ 535 $ 3 $ 538

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 173

Note 9. Program Costs by Segment

The USDA Forest Service reflects costs through four primary responsibility segments:

National Forests and Grasslands, Forest and Rangeland Research, State and Private Forestry,

and Wildland Fire Management. 

The following tables illustrate program costs by segment for the years ended September 30,

2004 and 2003. The 2003 presentation has been reclassified to eliminate the previously

reported Working Capital Fund and incorporates the restatement disclosed in Note 12.

National Forest and State and

Forests and Rangeland Private Wildland Fire

Grasslands Research Forestry Management Total

USDA Forest Service Program Costs by Segment for the year ended September 30, 2004 (in millions)

Intragovernmental Gross Costs:

Benefit Program Costs $ 338 $ 1 $ - $ 11 $ 350 

Imputed Costs 244 - - - 244 

Reimbursable Costs 308 35 121 149 613 

Total Intragovernmental Gross Costs 890 36 121 160 1,207 

Less: Intragovernmental Earned Revenue 80 24 7 10 121 

Intragovernmental Net Costs 810 12 114 150 1,086 

Gross Costs With the Public :

Grants and Indemnities 699 2 169 17 887 

Stewardship Land Acquisition 87 - - - 87 

Other:

Operating Costs 1,401 274 126 1,411 3,212 

Depreciation Expense 255 4 1 26 286 

Reimbursable Costs 112 26 1 101 240 

Total Other 1,768 304 128 1,538 3,738 

Total Gross Costs with the Public 2,554 306 297 1,555 4,712 

Less: Earned Revenues from the Public 458 5 1 74 538 

Net Costs with the Public 2,096 301 296 1,481 4,174 

Net Cost of Operations $ 2,906 $ 313 $ 410 $ 1,631 $ 5,260

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
174 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

National Forest and State and

Forests and Rangeland Private Wildland Fire

Grasslands Research Forestry Management Total

USDA Forest Service Program Costs by Segment for the year ended September 30, 2003 (in millions)

Intragovernmental Gross Costs:

Benefit Program Costs $ 316 $ 1 $ - $ 9 $ 326 

Imputed Costs 229 - - - 229 

Reimbursable Costs 201 21 12 158 392 

Total Intragovernmental Gross Costs 746 22 12 167 947 

Less: Intragovernmental Earned Revenue 129 48 10 128 315 

Intragovernmental Net Costs 617 (26) 2 39 632 

Gross Costs With the Public:

Grants and Indemnities 431 6 237 7 681 

Stewardship Land Acquisition 191 - - - 191 

Other:

Operating Costs 1,904 258 126 1,674 3,962 

Depreciation Expense 270 3 1 32 306 

Reimbursable Costs 96 26 6 131 259 

Total Other 2,270 287 133 1,837 4,527 

Total Gross Costs with the Public 2,892 293 370 1,844 5,399 

Less: Earned Revenues from the Public 328 29 2 123 482 

Net Costs with the Public 2,564 264 368 1,721 4,917 

Net Cost of Operations $ 3,181 $ 238 $ 370 $ 1,760 $ 5,549 

Apportionment Apportionment

Category A Category B Total

Obligations Incurred - Direct $ 3,431 $ 2,201 $ 5,632 

Obligations Incurred - Reimbursable 210 59 269 

Total Obligations Incurred $ 3,641 $ 2,260 $ 5,901

Note 10. Cost of Stewardship Property Plant and Equipment

Stewardship assets acquired through purchase in fiscal years 2004 and 2003 amounted to

$87 and $191 million, respectively, and consisted of land, easements, and rights-of-way.

Stewardship land is all land that is not general-purpose land (i.e., land that does not have a

general purpose building on it). Stewardship land costs include purchase costs and any salary

costs, survey costs, title costs, closing costs, restoration costs, and any other expenses necessary to prepare the land for its intended use. 

Note 11. Apportionment Categories of Obligations Incurred

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) usually distributes budgetary resources in

an account or fund by specific time periods, activities, projects, objects, or a combination

of these categories, a process called apportionments. Apportionments by fiscal quarters are

classified as category A and all other apportionments are classified as category B. Presented

below is the amount of direct and reimbursable obligations incurred by apportionment category for FY2004. All obligations incurred for FY2003 were category B apportionments.

For the year ended September 30, 2004 (in millions)

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 175

Note 12. Restatements and Reclassifications

Restatements

In fiscal year 2004, the USDA Forest Service corrected its fiscal year 2003 financial statements to:

A. Properly align budgetary and proprietary account relationships and correct certain related

budgetary and proprietary posting errors in:

• The Wildland Fire Management Fund

• The National Forest System Fund

• The Roads and Trails Special Fund

• The Land Between the Lakes Management Trust

• Other various special and trust funds

B. Correct errors in various suspense and deposit clearing funds.

C. Correct an overstatement in Fund Balance with Treasury and associated custodial liability.

D. Correct errors in recording certain revenue transactions.

E. Correct offsetting receipts.

Reclassifications

The USDA Forest Service reclassified certain fiscal year 2003 amounts to conform to the

fiscal year 2004 financial statement presentation primarily to provide more detail regarding

liabilities and intragovernmental gross costs.

The following tables summarize the fiscal year 2003 restatements and reclassifications

described above by financial statement.

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
176 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

As Originally Restated

(dollars in millions) Reported Restatements Ref. Reclassifications 2003

Consolidated Balance Sheet (Affected Line Items)

Assets: 

Fund Balance with Treasury $ 3,294 ($31) C $ - $ 3,263 

Intragovernmental Accounts Receivable $ 56 ($20) A $ - $ 36 

$ 18 D

(4) B

Accounts Receivable, Net $ 96 $ 14 $ - $ 110 

Total Assets $ 7,312 ($37) $ - $ 7,275 

Liabilities:

Accrued Liabilities $ - $ - $ 69 $ 69 

Treasury Judgement Fund $ - $ - $ 192 $ 192 

Deposit Liabilities $ - $ - $ 201 $ 201 

($39) C

15 A

Intragovernmental Other Liabilities $ 584 ($24) ($462) $ 98 

Federal Employee Benefits $ - $ - $ 390 $ 390 

Accrued Liabilities $ - $ - $ 820 $ 820 

Annual Leave Liabiity $ - $ - $ 178 $ 178 

($88) A

(1) B

30 C

Other Liabilities $ 1,617 ($59) ($1,388) $ 170 

Total Liabilities $ 2,321 ($83) $ - $ 2,238 

Net Position:

Unexpended Appropriations $ 1,517 ($167) A $ - $ 1,350 

$ 221 A

(3) B

(23) C

18 D

Cumulative Results of Operations $ 3,474 $ 213 $ - $ 3,687 

Total Net Position $ 4,991 $ 46 $ - $ 5,037 

Total Liabilities and Net Position $ 7,312 ($37) $ - $ 7,275 

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 177

As Originally Restated

(dollars in millions) Reported Restatements Ref. Reclassifications 2003

Consolidated Statement of Net Cost (Affected Line Items)

As Originally Restated

(dollars in millions) Reported Restatements Ref. 2003

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Positions (Affected Line Items)

Program Costs

Intragovernmental Gross Costs $ 955 $ - ($955) $ -

Benefit Program Costs $ - $ - $ 326 $ 326 

Imputed Costs $ - $ - $ 229 $ 229 

Reimbursable Costs $ - $ - $ 392 $ 392

Total Intragovernmental Gross Costs $ 955 $ - ($8) $ 947 

Intragovernmental Earned Revenues $ 331 ($16) A $ - $ 315 

Intragovernmental Net Costs $ 624 $ 16 A ($8) $ 632 

Gross Costs With the Public:

Grants $ 670 $ - ($670) $ -

Indemnities $ 11 $ - ($11) $ -

Grants and Indemnities $ - $ - $ 681 $ 681 

$ 49 A

(9) C

Operating Costs $ 3,920 $ 40 $ 2 $ 3,962 

Total Gross Costs with the Public $ 5,357 $ 40 $ 2 $ 5,399 

($19) A

$ 18 D

Earned Revenues from the Public $ 489 ($1) ($6) $ 482 

Net Costs with the Public $ 4,868 $ 41 $ 8 $ 4,917 

Net Cost of Operations $ 5,492 $ 57 $ - $ 5,549

Cumulative Results of Operations

Beginning Balance $ 2,899 $ 258 A $ 3,157 

Budgetary Financing Sources:

Appropriations Used $ 5,323 $ 14 A $ 5,337 

Net Cost of Operations $ 5,492 $ 57 $ 5,549 

Ending Balances $ 3,472 $ 215 $ 3,687 

Unexpended Appropriations

Beginning Balance $ 1,762 ($154) A $ 1,608 

Budgetary Financing Sources:

Appropriations Used ($5,323) ($14) A ($5,337)

Ending Balances $ 1,518 ($168) $ 1,350

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
178 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

As Originally Restated

(dollars in millions) Reported Restatements Ref. 2003

Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources (Affected Line Items)

Budgetary Resources:

Unobligated Balance:

Beginning of Period $ 842 ($8) A $ 834 

Net Transfers, Actual (115) (14) A (129)

Spending Authority from Offsetting Collections:

($12) A 

18 D 

Receivable from Federal Sources $ 94 $ 6 $ 100 

Recoveries of prior year obligations $ 101 $ 12 A $ 113 

Total Budgetary Resources $ 7,474 ($4) $ 7,470 

Status of Budgetary Resources:

Obligations Incurred:

Direct $ 5,438 $ 145 A $ 5,583 

Reimbursable $ 697 ($66) A $ 631 

Unobligated Balance:

Apportioned $ 832 ($9) A $ 823 

Unobligated Balances not Available $ 479 ($74) 405 

Total Status of Budgetary Resources $ 7,474 ($4) $ 7,470 

Relation of Obligations to Outlays:

Obligated Balance, Net, Beginning of Period $ 1,378 $ 23 A $ 1,401 

Obligated Balance, Net, End of Period

$ 12 A 

(18) D 

Accounts Receivable (221) ($6) (227)

Undelivered Orders $ 962 $ 137 A $ 1,099 

Accounts Payable $ 873 ($48) A $ 825 

Less: Offsetting Reciepts $ 404 $ 34 E $ 438 

Net Outlays $ 4,737 ($34) $ 4,703

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 179

As Originally Restated

(dollars in millions) Reported Restatements Ref. Reclassifications 2003

Consolidated Statement of Financing (Affected Line Items)

Resources Used to Finance Activities:

Obligations Incurred $ 6,135 $ 79 A $ - $ 6,214 

Less: Spending Authority from Offsetting 

Collections and Recoveries $ 858 $ 18 A $ - $ 876

Less Offsetting Receipts $ 404 $ 34 E $ - $ 438 

Total Resources Used to Finance Activities $ 5,103 $ 27 $ - $ 5,130 

Change in Budgetary Resources Obligated for Goods, 

Services and Benefits Ordered but not yet provided $ 51 $ 133 A $ - $ 184 

($5) A

($31) C

($34) E

Budgetary Offsetting Collections and Receipts that do 

not affect Net Cost of Operations ($153) ($70) A $ - ($223)

Total Resources Used to Finance the Net Cost

of Operations $ 4,956 ($36) $ - $ 4,920

Components of the Net Cost of Operations that will not 

Require or Generate Resources in the Current Period

Increase in Exchange Revenue Receivable from the Public ($41) ($15) A $ - ($56)

Increase in Accrued Liability for Payments to States $ - $ - $ 180 $ 180

$ 97 A ($180)

($9) C ($77)

$ 18 D $ -

Other $ 245 $ 106 ($257) $ 94 

Total Components of Net Cost of Operations that will 

Require or Generate Resources in Future Periods

Allocation Transfers and Other $ - $ 2 $ 77 $ 79 

Net Cost of Operations $ 5,492 $ 57 $ - $ 5,549

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
180 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Note 13. Permanent Indefinite Appropriations

The USDA Forest Service has permanent indefinite appropriations, authorized by specific

legislative acts, to fund Recreation Fee Collection Costs, Brush Disposal, License Programs

for Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl, Restoration of Forest Lands and Improvements, Roads

and Trails for States, National Forest Fund, Timber Roads Purchaser Elections, Timber

Salvage Sale Operations, and Maintenance of Quarters. Each of these permanent indefinite

appropriations is funded by receipts made available by law, and is available until expended. 

Note 14. Explanation of Differences Between the Statement of Budgetary

Resources and the Budget of the United States Government

The differences between the fiscal 2003 Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR) as restated

and the fiscal 2003 actual numbers presented in the fiscal 2005 Budget of the United States

Government (Budget) are summarized below.

Certain amounts in the SBR as restated differ from those presented in the Budget primarily

because the following items were not properly recorded in the accounting records at the

time the USDA Forest Service completed its budget submission:

a. An expenditure transfer for $110 million to the Wildland Fire Management Fund. 

b. Reductions in new customer orders (i.e., reimbursable agreements) for the State and 

Private Forestry and National Forest System funds in the amount of $45 and $52 million,

respectively. 

c. Obligations at the beginning and end of the fiscal year in the amount of $437 and $141 

million, respectively. This also caused the beginning unobligated balance and total new

obligations to be overstated by $302 million and ending unobligated to be overstated by

$115 million.

d. Transfer of $115 million from a special fund receipt account to the Payments to States 

expenditure account. 

(in millions)

SBR Budget Dollar Percentage

SBR Line Description Amount Amount Variance Variance Note

Total Budgetary Resources/Status of Resources $ 7,470 $ 7,887 ($417) -5%

New Budget Authority 5,845 5,838 7 - 

Net transfers, current year authority 70 52 18 35%

Offsetting Collections - Earned 810 708 102 14% a

Change in Unfilled Customer Orders (47) 66 (113) -171% b

Unobligated Balance-Beginning of Year 834 1,136 (302) -27% c

Net transfers, prior year balances, actual (129) 20 (149) -745% d

Recoveries of Prior Year Obligations 113 94 19 20%

Permanently not Available (26) (27) 1 -4%

Total New Obligations 6,214 6,516 (302) -5% c

Unobligated Balance-End of Year 1,256 1,371 (115) -8% c

Obligated Balance-Beginning of Year 1,401 964 437 45% c

Obligated Balance-End of Year 1,597 1,456 141 10% c

Outlays 5,141 5,149 (8) -

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 181

Also, the SBR includes balances in expired accounts no longer available for obligations.

Note 15. Explanation of the Relationship Between Liabilities Not Covered by

Budgetary Resources and the Change in Components Requiring or Generating

Resources in Future Periods

The USDA Forest Service’s fiscal year 2004 and 2003 differences between the liabilities not

covered by budgetary resources and the change in components requiring or generating

resources in future periods result from liabilities not covered by budgetary resources being

recorded in current year to the Consolidated Statements of Net Cost; while liabilities not

covered by budgetary resources are cumulative over fiscal years. The components of the

Consolidated Statements of Net Cost that will require or generate resources in the future are

as follows:

Note 16. Description of Transfers That Appear as a Reconciling Item on the

Consolidated Statement of Financing

The USDA Forest Service has the following routine transfers without reimbursement that are

reconciling items on the Consolidated Statement of Financing:

Transfers In

Trading Partner Account Title Purpose 

Department of Labor Job Corps Civilian Provide training for under-employed youths.

Conservation

Department of Federal Highway Maintenance and upkeep of Federal highways

Transportation Trust Fund traversing national forest lands.

Note 17. Dedicated Collections

The USDA Forest Service recognizes the following funds as dedicated collections. These

funds finance the enhancement and maintenance of National Forest System lands including

reforestation. Donations are handled on the cash basis and all other collections are accounted

for on the accrual basis. Financial information for all significant dedicated collections is

shown below. Following the financial information is the related descriptive narrative for each

of the significant dedicated collection funds. 

(in millions)

2004 2003 (As Restated)

Increase in Annual Leave Liability $ 16 $ 8 

Increase in Environmental and Disposal Liability - 1 

Decrease (Increase) in Exchange Revenue Receivable 10 (56)

from the Public 

Increase in Accrued Liability for Payments to States 92 180 

Other 70 94 

Total Components of Net Cost of Operations that will

Require or Generate Resources in Future Periods $ 188 $ 227

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
182 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Fee, Roads and Operations Trails for Cooperative Land Payments Timber and Timber Expenses, Recreation States, Work Acquisition to States, Salvage Maintenance Roads, Brush Fee National National Sales of Recreation Purchaser Disposal Demonstration Forest Reforestation Other Forest Fund Facilities Election Program Fund Trust Fund Funds Total Assets Fund Balance with Treasury $472 $99 $131 $98 $93 $61 $56 $42 $26 $26 $59 $1,163 Investments - - - - - - - - - - 4 4 Accounts Receivable, Net 2 - - 1 - - - 2 - - 9 14 General Property, Plant 16 48 2 1 - 2 - 3 15 - 3 90 & Equipment, Net Total Assets $490 $147 $133 $100 $93 $63 $56 $47 $41 $26 $75 $1,271 Liabilities Accounts Payable ($1) $ - $1 ($2) $ - $ - $ - $1 $1 $ - $ - $ - Other Liabilities 49 2 63 7 12 - - 2 2 3 5 145 Total Liabilities 48 2 64 5 12 - - 3 3 3 5 145 Total Net Position 442 145 69 95 81 63 56 44 38 23 70 1,126 Total Liabilities and $490 $147 $133 $100 $93 $63 $56 $47 $41 $26 $75 $1,271 Net Position Change in Net Position Beginning Balances $300 $76 $53 $56 $81 $28 $35 $28 $38 $26 $44 $765 Prior Period Adjustments - - - - - - - - 1 - 2 3 Beginning Balances, as adjusted 300 76 53 56 81 28 35 28 39 26 46 768 Budgetary Financing Sources: Other Adjustments - (1) - - - - - - - - - (1) (rescissions, etc.) Donations and Forfeitures - - - - - - - - - - 1 1 of Cash Transfers -in/out without 154 163 93 35 - 35 20 14 13 29 14 570 Reimbursement Total Financing Sources 154 162 93 35 - 35 20 14 13 29 15 570 Dedicated Collections as of and for the Year Ended September 30, 2004 (in millions) Net Cost of Operations 12 93 77 (4) - - (1) (2) 14 32 (9) 212 Ending Balances $442 $145 $69 $95 $81 $63 $56 $44 $38 $23 $70 $1,126 Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 183 Fee, Roads and Operations Trails for Payments and Timber Recreation States, to States, Timber Maintenance Roads, Expenses, Fee National Cooperative Land National Salvage of Recreation Purchaser Brush Demonstration Forest Reforestation Other Work Acquisition Forest Fund Sales Facilities Election Disposal Program Fund Trust Fund Funds Total Assets Fund Balance with Treasury $325 $32 $104 $52 $89 $27 $33 $25 $29 $28 $46 $790 Investments - - - - - - - - - - 3 3 Accounts Receivable, Net 8 - - 6 - - 1 1 - - 3 19 General Property, Plant & Equipment, Net 13 48 - 1 - 1 1 2 13 - 1 80 Total Assets $346 $80 $104 $59 $89 $28 $35 $28 $42 $28 $53 $892 Liabilities Accounts Payable ($1) $2 $ - ($2) $ - $ - $ - $ - $1 $ - $2 $2 Other Liabilities 47 2 51 5 8 - - - 2 2 5 122 

Total Liabilities 46 4 51 3 8 - - - 3 2 7 124 Total Net Position 300 76 53 56 81 28 35 28 39 26 46 768 Total Liabilities and Net Position $346 $80 $104 $59 $89 $28 $35 $28 $42 $28 $53 $892

Change in Net PositionBeginning Balances $213 $59 ($116) $90 $81 $8 $38 $26 $2 $30 $9 $440 Prior Period Adjustments (16) (1) 116 (14) - - (2) (1) (11) (1) 6 76 Beginning Balances, as adjusted 197 58 - 76 81 8 36 25 (9) 29 15 516Budgetary Financing Sources:

Donations and Forfeitures - - - - - - - - - - 1 1of CashTransfers -in/out without 129 176 107 (5) - 8 - - 16 30 21 482Reimbursement

Other Financing Sources:

Transfers-in/out without - - - (1) - - - - - - (1) (2)Reimbursement

Total Financing Sources 129 176 107 (6) - 8 - - 16 30 21 481 

Dedicated Collections as of and for the Year Ended September 30, 2003 (in millions)

Net Cost of Operations 26 158 54 14 - (12) 1 (3) (32) 33 (10) 229 Ending Balances $300 $76 $53 $56 $81 $28 $35 $28 $39 $26 $46 $768

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
184 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Cooperative Work

Cooperative contributions are deposited into Treasury account 12X8028 for disbursement in

compliance with the terms and provisions of the agreement between the cooperator and the

USDA Forest Service. Cooperators include timber purchasers, not-for-profit organizations,

and local hunting and fishing clubs. The governing authorities are the Act of June 30, 1914

(16 U.S.C. 498), and the Knutson-Vandenberg Act.

Land Acquisition

Each fiscal year the USDA Forest Service’s Treasury account 12X5004 receives a transfer

of recreation user fees from the Department of the Interior’s Land and Water Conservation

Fund, to be used for the acquisition of land or waters, or interest therein, including administrative expenses, to carry out the provisions of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act

of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l-4-11), pertaining to the preservation of watersheds.

The Land Acquisition program is authorized by the Interior and Related Agencies

Appropriations Act of December 30, 1982 (96 Stat. 1983, Public Law 97-394).

Payments to States, National Forest Fund

The Payments to States, National Forest Fund Treasury account 12X5201 receives amounts

from receipt account 125008, the National Forest Fund. These monies are generated by the

sale of goods and services on the national forests. Annually, revenue-sharing payments are

made to the States in which the national forests are located, for public schools and public

roads in the county or counties in which the national forests are situated. The Act of May

23, 1908, as amended (16 U.S.C. 500), authorized the Payments to States, National Forest

Fund program. 

Timber Salvage Sales

The Salvage Sale Fund, Treasury account 12X5204, was established to facilitate the timely

removal of timber damaged by fire, wind, insects, diseases, or other events. Amounts collected

from the sale of salvaged timber are used on other qualifying salvage sales to cover the cost

of preparing and administering the sales. The Timber Salvage Sales program is authorized

by 16 USC 472(a).

Fees, Operations and Maintenance of Recreation Facilities

This Treasury receipt account, 125072, accumulates a portion of deposits derived from fees

authorized by the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act and is available for expenditure

by the USDA Forest Service only upon appropriation by Congress. Funds deposited are not

appropriated under this heading because Congressional intent is to not use the deposits for

activities over and above those amounts already provided in the National Forest System

appropriation. The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act (16 U.S.C. 4601 et. seq.) authorized

the establishment of this special fund and regulates admission and special recreation user

fees at certain recreational areas.

Timber Roads, Purchaser Election

The Timber Roads, Purchaser Election Treasury account 12X5202 receives deposits from

small business timber purchasers who elect to pay the USDA Forest Service to construct or

reconstruct any road or bridge required by their respective timber sale. These collections are

used to finance only those forest development roads constructed or reconstructed under the

terms and conditions of the timber sale contract(s) involved, and only to a standard necessary

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 185

to harvest and remove the timber and other products covered by the particular sale(s). The

Timber Roads, Purchaser Election program is authorized by 16 USC 472(I) (2).

Expenses, Brush Disposal

Deposits from timber purchasers are recorded in Treasury account 12X5206 and used to cover

the cost required to dispose of slash, brush, and other debris resulting from timber cutting

operations and for supplemental protection of the cutover areas in lieu of actual disposal.

The Expenses, Brush Disposal program is authorized by 16 USC 490-498. 

Recreation Fee Demonstration Program

The Recreation Fee Demonstration Program Treasury account 12X5268, receives deposits

of recreation fees collected from projects that are part of the Recreation Fee Demonstration

program. These monies are retained and used for backlog repair and maintenance of recreation

areas, sites or projects. These funds are also used for interpretation, signage, habitat or facility

enhancement, resource preservation, annual operation, maintenance, and law enforcement

related to public use of recreation areas and sites. The Recreation Fee Demonstration

Program is authorized by 16 U.S.C. 4601-6a.

Roads and Trails for States, National Forest Fund

The Roads and Trails for States, National Forest Fund Treasury account 12X5203 receives

annual deposits equal to 10 percent of all revenues from receipt account 125008, the National

Forest Fund. These amounts are then paid to the States, without regard to the State in which

the amounts were derived, to repair or reconstruct roads, bridges, and trails on National Forest

System lands or to carry out and administer projects to improve forest health conditions,

which may include the repair or reconstruction of roads, bridges, and trails on National

Forest System lands in the wildland-community interface where there is an abnormally high

risk of fire. The Roads and Trails for States, National Forest Fund is authorized by the Act

of March 4, 1913, as amended (16 USC 501).

Reforestation Trust Fund

The Reforestation Trust Fund Treasury account 12X8046 receives periodic transfers of

funds from the U.S. Treasury of tariffs collected from exported timber. Such deposits may

not exceed $30 million dollars in a fiscal year. Amounts are invested and reinvested by the

Washington Office, Financial Accounting and Operations Staff in United States Treasury

interest-bearing Government securities. The interest income is added to the balance in the

Reforestation Trust Fund for use by the Secretary of Agriculture for reforestation and timberstand improvement activities. The Act of October 14, 1980, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1606 a(d))

established the Reforestation Trust Fund.

Note 18. Seized Property

A seizure is the act of taking possession of goods in consequence of a violation of public law.

Seized property may consist of monetary instruments, real property, tangible personal property

and evidence. Until judicially or administratively forfeited, the USDA Forest Service does

not legally own such property. Seized evidence includes cash, weapons, illegal drugs, and

non-monetary valuables.

Pursuant to Federal Financial Accounting and Auditing Technical Release No. 4, Reporting

On Non-Valued Seized and Forfeited Property (Release No. 4), seized property with no legal

resale market in the United States (e.g., weapons, chemicals, drug paraphernalia, gambling

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
186 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

devices) is not included on the consolidated balance sheet. Also, the USDA Forest Service

has not included financial and personal property in its consolidated balance sheets due to

immateriality.

The USDA Forest Service has custody of illegal drugs and weapons seized as evidence for

legal proceedings. Illegal drugs and weapons have no saleable value to the Federal government and are destroyed upon resolution of legal proceedings. Marijuana represents the major

significant seized drug for the USDA Forest Service. As of September 30, 2004 and 2003,

the amount of marijuana on hand was 32,685(kg) and 66,516(kg), respectively. The large

decrease is primarily the result of an error in the FY2003 ending balance. The agency is unable

to determine the amount of the error due to limitations of the legacy system in preparing a

roll forward schedule with additions and deletions for seized property. 

Additionally, the amount of marijuana seeds on hand as of September 30, 2004 was 48,330

units. The amount of seeds on hand as of September 30, 2003 was not available. 

The USDA Forest Service implemented a new data base at the end of fiscal year 2004 to

track by transaction the amount of seized and forfeited property. This data base will maintain

the necessary data for compilation of a roll forward schedule in the future. 

Notes to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 187

Cost To Return Critical Noncritical

Overall to Acceptable Maintenance Maintenance

Asset Class Condition (1) Condition (2) (3)

Buildings and admin. facilities2 Varies $462, 549 $129,350 $333,199

Dams Varies 28,255 9,594 18,661

Heritage Assets Varies 9,570 4,866 4,704

Range improvements3 Varies 464,462 464,105 357

Recreation facilities4 Varies 178,115 51,949 126,166

Roads and bridges Varies 5,279,789 773,999 4,505,790

Trails5 Varies 106,558 36,459 70,099

Wildlife, fish, and threatened and endangered species6 Varies 6,169 4,419 1,750

Totals* $6,535,467 $1,474,741 $5,060,726

Exhibit 9. Deferred Maintenance Totals (in thousands) by Asset Class as of September 30, 2004

* Overall agency indirect cost of managing the program is 19 percent (not included in the figures above).

2 Buildings and administrative facilities include buildings and 25 percent of water and wastewater systems.

3 Range improvements include fences and stock handling facilities.

4 Recreation facilities include developed recreation sites, general forest areas, and 75 percent of water and wastewater systems.

5 Trails include trails and trail bridges. 6 Wildlife, fish, threatened and endangered species also includes watershed and wilderness improvements.

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Deferred Maintenance

Overview

Deferred maintenance is maintenance that was scheduled to be performed but was delayed

until a future period. Deferred maintenance represents a cost that the Government has

elected not to fund and, therefore, the costs are not reflected in the financial statements.

Maintenance is defined to include preventative maintenance, normal repairs, replacement

of parts and structural components, and other activities needed to preserve the asset so

that it continues to provide acceptable service and achieve its expected life. Maintenance

excludes activities aimed at expanding the capacity of an asset or otherwise upgrading it

to service needs different from, or significantly greater than, those originally intended. 

Deferred maintenance is reported for general Property, Plant and Equipment (PP&E),

stewardship assets, and heritage assets. It is also reported separately for critical and noncritical amounts of maintenance needed to return each class of asset to its acceptable

operating condition.

The USDA Forest Service uses condition surveys to estimate deferred maintenance on

all major classes of PP&E. No deferred maintenance exists for fleet vehicles and computers that are managed through the agency’s working capital fund (WCF). Each fleet

vehicle is maintained according to schedule. The cost of maintaining the remaining

classes of equipment is expensed.
188 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

(1) Overall Condition. Condition of major classes of property range from poor to good

depending on location, age, and type of property. Currently no comprehensive national

assessment of Forest Service property exists. The current deferred maintenance estimates

were based on regularly scheduled condition surveys and inspections. Condition surveys

were performed on a statistical sample of closed and very low traffic volume roads. 

(2) Critical Maintenance. This is a requirement that addresses a serious threat to public

health or safety, a natural resource, or the ability to carry out the mission of the organization.

(3) Noncritical Maintenance. This is a requirement that addresses potential risk to the

public or employee safety or health (e.g., compliance with codes, standards, or regulations),

and potential adverse consequences to natural resources or mission accomplishment.

Condition of Administrative Facilities. The condition of administrative facilities ranges

from poor to good. Approximately one-half of these buildings are obsolete or in poor

condition needing major repairs or renovation. Approximately one-fourth of these buildings are in fair condition, and the remaining are in good condition.

Condition of Dams. The overall condition of dams is below acceptable. The condition of

a dam is acceptable when the dam meets current design standards and does not have any

deficiencies that threaten the safety of the structure or public. Also, in order to be in

acceptable condition, the agency needs to restore the dams to the original functional

purpose, correct unsightly conditions, or prevent more costly repairs.

The standards for acceptable operating condition for various classes of general PP&E,

stewardship, and heritage assets are as follows:

• Buildings. Comply with the National Life Safety Code, the Forest Service Health 

and Safety Handbook, and the Occupational Safety Health Administration as determined by condition surveys. These requirements are found in Forest Service

Manual (FSM) 7300.

• Dams. Managed according to FSM 7500, Water Storage and Transmission, and 

Forest Service Handbook (FSH) 7509.11, Dams Management, as determined by

condition surveys.

• Heritage Assets. These assets include archaeological sites that require determinations

of National Register of Historic Places status, National Historic Landmarks, and

significant historic properties. Some heritage assets may have historical significance,

but their primary function in the agency is as visitation or recreation sites and,

therefore, may not fall under the management responsibility of the heritage program.

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 189

• Range Structures. The condition assessment was based on (1) a determination by 

knowledgeable range specialists or other district personnel of whether the structure

would perform the originally intended function, and (2) a determination through the

use of a protocol system to assess conditions based on age. A long-standing range

methodology is used to gather this data.

• Developed Recreation Sites. This category includes campgrounds, trailheads, trails, 

wastewater facilities, interpretive facilities, and visitor centers. All developed sites

are managed in accordance with Federal laws and regulations (CFR 36). Detailed

management guidelines are contained in FSM 2330, Publicly Managed Recreation

Opportunities, and regional- and forest-level user guides. Standards of quality for

developed recreation sites were structured under the meaningful measures of system

and established for the following categories: health and cleanliness, settings, safety

and security, responsiveness, and the condition of the facility.

• Roads and Bridges. Conditions of the National Forest System (NFS) road system 

are measured by various standards that include applicable regulations for the Highway

Safety Act developed by the Federal Highway Administration, best management

practices for road construction and maintenance developed by the Environmental

Protection Agency and the States to implement the nonpoint source provisions of the

Clean Water Act, road management objectives developed through the forest planning

process prescribed by the National Forest Management Act, and the requirements of

the Forest Service manual and handbooks (FSM 7730, FSH 7709.56a, and FSH

7709.56b).

• Trails. Trails are managed according to Federal law and regulations (CFR 36). More 

specific direction is contained in FSM 2350—Trail, River, and Similar Recreation

Opportunities—and the Forest Service Trails Management Handbook (FSH 2309.18).

• Wildlife, Fish, and Threatened and Endangered Species Structures. Field biologists 

at the forest used their professional judgment to determine deferred maintenance.

Deferred maintenance was considered upkeep that had not occurred regularly. The

amount was considered critical if resource damage or species endangerment would

likely occur if maintenance were deferred much longer.

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
190 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Capital National Forest and State and Improvement Wildland Permanent Working Forest and Rangeland Private and Fire and Capital Grasslands Research Forestry Maintenance Management Trust Funds Fund Total Budgetary Resources Budget Authority: 1a. Appropriations Received $1,657 $270 $333 $562 $2,369 $732 $- $5,923 1d. Net Transfers 85 28 105 51 (337) 51 5 (12) Subtotal 1,742 298 438 613 2,032 783 5 5,911 Unobligated Balance: 2a. Beginning of Period 173 43 59 78 311 524 68 1,256 2b. Net Transfers, Actual 66 5 34 43 (200) 52 4 4 Subtotal 239 48 93 121 111 576 72 1,260 Spending Authority from Offsetting Collections: 3a. Earned: 3a1. Collected 97 33 9 10 44 - 235 428 3a2. Receivable from Federal (6) (20) (10) 1 20 (2) 4 (13) 3b1. Advances Received - (5) (1) - - (4) - (10) 3b2. W/out Advance from Fed. 18 4 1 2 (5) - - 20 3e. Subtotal 109 12 (1) 13 59 (6) 239 425 4a. Recoveries of prior year obligations 9 1 11 1 8 64 3 97 Permanently/ Temporarily (19) (3) (3) (7) (22) - - (54) not Available Total Budgetary Resources $2,080 $356 $538 $741 $2,188 $1,417 $319 $7,639 Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited) For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources for the Year Ended September 30, 2004 (in millions)
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 191 Capital National Forest and State and Improvement Wildland Permanent Working Forest and Rangeland Private and Fire and Capital Grasslands Research Forestry Maintenance Management Trust Funds Fund Total Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited) For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources for the Year Ended September 30, 2004 (in millions) Status of Budgetary Resources: Obligations Incurred 8a. Direct $ 1,777 $ 290 $ 448 $ 622 $ 1,771 $ 516 $ 208 $ 5,632 8b. Reimbursable 107 37 9 13 103 (1) 1 269 8c. Subtotal 1,884 327 457 635 1,874 515 209 5,901 Unobligated Balance: 9a. Apportioned 179 28 76 105 64 768 42 1,262 10d. Unobligated Balances 17 1 5 1 250 134 68 476 not Available 9+10. Subtotal 196 29 81 106 314 902 110 1,738 Total Status of Budgetary Resources $ 2,080 $ 356 $ 538 $ 741 $ 2,188 $ 1,417 $ 319 $ 7,639 Relation of Obligations to Outlays: Obligated Balance, Net, Beg. of Period $ 166 $ 71 $ 449 $ 225 $ 457 $ 163 $ 66 $ 1,597 Obligated Balance, Net, End of Period 14a. Accounts Receivable (45) (7) (31) (9) (109) (9) (3) (213) 14b. Unfilled Orders from Fed. (73) (26) 1 (24) 2 - - (120) 14c. Undelivered Orders 216 85 445 221 196 47 22 1,232 14d. Accounts Payable 106 34 108 58 240 38 10 594 204 86 523 246 329 76 29 1,493 Outlays: 15a. Disbursements 1,825 326 382 609 1,977 540 241 5,900 15b. Collections (97) (28) (8) (9) (43) 4 (237) (418) 15c. Subtotal 1,728 298 374 600 1,934 544 4 5,482 Less: Offsetting Receipts 1 - - - - 383 - 384 Net Outlays $ 1,727 $ 298 $ 374 $ 600 $ 1,934 $ 161 $ 4 $ 5,098
192 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 Capital National Forest and State and Improvement Wildland Permanent Working Forest and Rangeland Private and Fire and Capital Grasslands Research Forestry Maintenance Management Trust Funds Fund Total Budgetary Resources Budget Authority: 1a. Appropriations Received $ 1,518 $ 252 $ 287 $ 552 $ 2,298 $ 938 $ - $ 5,845 1d. Net Transfers 47 34 137 30 (216) 8 30 70 Subtotal 1,565 286 424 582 2,082 946 30 5,915 Unobligated Balance: 2a. Beginning of Period 230 20 29 131 7 363 54 834 2b. Net Transfers, Actual 2 5 - 10 13 (139) (20) (129) Subtotal 232 25 29 141 20 224 34 705 Spending Authority from Offsetting Collections: 3a. Earned: 3a1. Collected 133 29 12 10 289 1 236 710 3a2. Receivable from Federal 52 53 45 1 (27) (21) (3) 100 3b. Change in Unfilled Customer Orders: 3b1. Advances Received (1) (1) (1) - - 2 - (1) 3b2. W/out Advance from Fed. (24) (19) (3) 2 (2) - - (46) 3e. Subtotal 160 62 53 13 260 (18) 233 763 4a. Recoveries of prior year obligations 52 4 9 4 32 4 8 113 Permanently/ Temporarily not Available (10) (2) (2) (4) (8) - - (26) Total Budgetary Resources $ 1,999 $ 375 $ 513 $ 736 $ 2,386 $ 1,156 $ 305 $ 7,470 Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited) For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003 Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources for the Year Ended September 30, 2003 (As Restated) (in millions)
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 193 Capital National Forest and State and Improvement Wildland Permanent Working Forest and Rangeland Private and Fire and Capital Grasslands Research Forestry Maintenance Management Trust Funds Fund Total Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources for the Year Ended September 30, 2003 (As Restated)

(in millions)

Status of Budgetary Resources: Obligations Incurred 8a. Direct $ 1,776 $ 303 $ 444 $ 645 $ 1,806 $ 633 ($24) $ 5,583 8b. Reimbursable 51 29 9 13 269 - 260 631 8c. Subtotal 1,827 332 453 658 2,075 633 236 6,214 Unobligated Balance: 9a. Apportioned 57 15 36 67 115 475 58 823 9b. Exempt from Apportionment - - - - - (4) 32 28 10d. Unobligated Balances not Available 115 28 24 11 196 52 (21) 405 9+10. Subtotal 172 43 60 78 311 523 69 1,256 Total Status of Budgetary Resources $ 1,999 $ 375 $ 513 $ 736 $ 2,386 $ 1,156 $ 305 $ 7,470 Relation of Obligations to Outlays: Obligated Balance, Net, Beg. of Period $ 69 $ 93 $ 378 $ 131 $ 621 $ 54 $ 55 $ 1,401

Obligated Balance, Net, End of Period14a. Accounts Receivable (52) (25) (41) (8) (89) (11) (1) (227) 14b. Unfilled Orders from Fed. (55) (22) 2 (22) (3) - - (100) 14c. Undelivered Orders 180 85 405 210 133 54 32 1,099 14d. Accounts Payable 93 33 84 44 417 119 35 825 

166 71 450 224 458 162 66 1,597 

Outlays: 15a. Disbursements 1,649 316 332 558 2,236 540 220 5,851 15b. Collections (132) (28) (11) (10) (290) (3) (236) (710) 15c. Subtotal 1,517 288 321 548 1,946 537 (16) 5,141 Less: Offsetting Receipts (187) - - - - 625 - 438 Net Outlays $ 1,704 $ 288 $ 321 $ 548 $ 1,946 ($88) ($16) $ 4,703
194 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Intragovernmental Trading Partners

Consolidated Intragovernmental Assets (in millions) as of September 30, 2004

Fund Balance Accounts

Trading Partner (Code) with Treasury Receivable Investments

Unknown (00) $ - $ 6 $ - 

Department of Agriculture (12) - 3 - 

Department of Interior (14) - 25 - 

Department of the Navy (17) - 1 - 

Department of the Treasury (20) 3,506 - 4 

Department of the Army (21) - 1 - 

Department of Transportation (69) - 13 - 

Department of Homeland Security (70) - 10 - 

Agency for International Development (72) - 1 - 

Department of Energy (89) - 2 - 

Total Assets $ 3,506 $ 62 $ 4

Consolidated Intragovernmental Assets (in millions) as of September 30, 2003

Fund Balance Accounts

Trading Partner (Code) with Treasury Receivable Investments

Unknown (00) $ - $ 4 $ - 

Department of Agriculture (12) - 3 - 

Department of Interior (14) - 7 - 

Department of Labor (16) - 4 - 

Department of the Treasury (20) 3,263 - 3

Department of the Army (21) - 4 - 

Department of Transportation (69) - 2 - 

Department of Homeland Security (70) - 6 - 

Agency for International Development (72) - 1 - 

Department of Energy (89) - 4 - 

Office of the Secretary of Defense-Defense Agencies (97) - 1 - 

Total Assets $ 3,263 $ 36 $ 3
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 195

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Intragovernmental Trading Partners

Liabilities (in millions) as of September 30, 2004

Trading Partner (Code) Other 

Unknown (00) $ 192 

Department of Agriculture (12) 14 

Department of Commerce (13) 4 

Department of Interior (14) 129 

Department of Justice (15) 19 

Department of Labor (16) 69 

Department of the Treasury (20) 9 

Department of the Army (21) 1 

Office of Personnel Management (24) 15 

General Services Administration (47) 13 

Tennessee Valley Authority (64) 1 

Environmental Protection Agency (68) 1 

Agency for International Development (72) 1 

Department of Health and Human Services (75) 28 

Department of Energy (89) 1 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (96) (133)

Office of the Secretary of Defense-Defense Agencies (97) 3 

Total Liabilities $ 367 

Liabilities (in millions) as of September 30, 2003

Trading Partner (Code) Other 

Unknown (00) $ 294 

Department of Agriculture (12) 10

Department of Commerce (13) 1

Department of Interior (14) 18

Department of Justice (15) 20

Department of Labor (16) 89

Department of the Treasury (20) 191

Department of the Army (21) 2

Office of Personnel Management (24) 10

General Services Administration (47) 20

Agency for International Development (72) 4

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (96) (100)

Office of the Secretary of Defense-Defense Agencies (97) 1

Total Liabilities $ 560
196 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Intragovernmental Trading Partners

Earned Revenue Federal (in millions) as of September 30, 2003

Trading Partner (Code) Earned Revenue Federal

Unknown (00) $ 28 

Department of Agriculture (12) 23

Department of Commerce (13) 1

Department of Interior (14) 70

Department of Labor (16) 27

U.S. Postal Service (18) 1

Department of the Army (21) 13

Department of the Air Force (57) (5)

Environmental Protection Agency (68) 1

Department of Homeland Security (70) 113

Department of Transportation (69) 8

Agency for International Development (72) 8

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80) 2

Department of Energy (89) 16

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (96) 2

Office of the Secretary of Defense-Defense Agencies (97) 7

Total Earned Revenue Federal $ 315 

Earned Revenue Federal (in millions) as of September 30, 2004

Trading Partner (Code) Earned Revenue Federal

Unknown (00) $ (3)

Department of Agriculture (12) 12 

Department of Interior (14) 51 

Department of Justice (15) 6 

Department of Labor (16) 19 

Department of the Navy (17) 1 

U.S. Postal Service (18) 1 

Department of State (19) 1 

Department of the Army (21) 7 

Department of Transportation (69) 6 

Department of Homeland Security (70) 4 

Agency for International Development (72) 10 

Department of Energy (89) 3 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (96) 2 

Office of the Secretary of Defense-Defense Agencies (97) 1 

Total Earned Revenue Federal $ 121 
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 197

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Intragovernmental Trading Partners

Cost to Generate Earned Revenue Federal (in millions)

For the Year Ended September 30, 2004

Functional Classification Federal and Non-Federal 

300 Natural Resources and Environment $ 121 

Total Cost to Generate Revenue $ 121 

Cost to Generate Earned Revenue Federal (in millions)

For the Year Ended September 30, 2003

Functional Classification Federal and Non-Federal 

300 Natural Resources and Environment $ 315 

Total Cost to Generate Revenue $ 315 

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Intragovernmental Trading Partners

Cost Federal (in millions) for the Year Ended September 30, 2004

Trading Partner (Code) Cost Federal

Government Printing Office (04) $ 8 

Department of Agriculture (12) 143 

Department of Commerce (13) 3 

Department of Interior (14) 47 

Department of Justice (15) 2 

Department of Labor (16) 50 

Department of the Treasury (20) 173 

Department of the Army (21) 2 

Office of Personnel Management (24) 519 

Department of Veterans Affairs (36) 1 

General Services Administration (47) 123 

Tennessee Valley Authority (64) 1 

Environmental Protection Agency (68) 1 

Department of Transportation (69) 2 

Department of Homeland Security (70) (9)

Department of Health and Human Services (75) 119 

Department of Energy (89) 2 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (96) 14 

Office of the Secretary of Defense-Defense Agencies (97) 6 

Total Cost Federal $ 1,207 
198 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Intragovernmental Trading Partners

Cost Federal (in millions) for the Year Ended September 30, 2003

Trading Partner (Code) Cost Federal

Unknown (00) $ 15 

Government Printing Office (04) 8

Department of Agriculture (12) 124

Department of Commerce (13) 3

Department of Interior (14) 83

Department of Justice (15) 3

Department of Labor (16) 92

Department of the Treasury (20) 16

Department of the Army (21) 4

Office of Personnel Management (24) 478

Department of Veterans Affairs (36) 1

General Services Administration (47) 102

Tennessee Valley Authority (64) 1

Environmental Protection Agency (68) 1

Department of Transportation (69) 3

Department of Energy (89) 2

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (96) 7

Office of the Secretary of Defense-Defense Agencies (97) 4

Total Cost Federal $ 947 
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 199

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Intragovernmental Trading Partners

Non-exchange Revenue Federal (in millions)

For the Year Ended September 30, 2004

Trading Partner (Code) Transfers-In Transfers-Out Other

Unknown (00) $ 130 $ 127 $ - 

Department of Agriculture (12) 346 346 47

Department of Interior (14) 132 1 - 

Department of the Treasury (20) - - 3

Office of Personnel Management (24) - - 194

Department of Transportation (69) 12 - - 

Department of Homeland Security (70) 30 - - 

Total Non-exchange Revenue Federal $ 650 $ 474 $ 244

Non-exchange Revenue Federal (in millions)

For the Year Ended September 30, 2003

Trading Partner (Code) Transfers-In Transfers-Out Other

Unknown (00) $ 1,176 $ 715 $ - 

Department of Agriculture (12) 50 - 44

Department of the Treasury (20) - - 6

Office of Personnel Management (24) - - 179

Total Non-exchange Revenue Federal $ 1,226 $ 715 $ 229
200 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Departmental Forest Service Total

Working Working Working

Capital Fund Capital Fund Capital Funds

Cost of Goods Related Excess of Costs 

and Services Exchange Over Exchange

Provided Revenue Revenue

Condensed Information:

Fund Balance $ -- 138,985 138,985

Accounts Receivable -- 3,076 3,076

Property, Plant, and Equipment -- 242,080 242,080

Other Assets -- 12 12

Total Assets -- 384,153 384,153

Liabilities and Net Position:

Accounts Payable -- 1,235 1,235

Deferred Revenues -- -- --

Other Liabilities -- 23,709 23,709

Unexpended Appropriations -- 8,971 8,971

Cumulative Results of Operations -- 350,238 350,238

Total Liabilities and Net Position -- 384,153 384,153

Product or Business Line

Departmental Working Capital Fund:

Finance and Management -- -- --

Communications -- -- --

Information Technology -- -- --

Administration -- -- --

Executive Secretariat -- -- --

Total Departmental Working Capital Fund -- -- --

Forest Service Working Capital Fund:

Other 262,924 238,392 24,532

Total Working Capital Funds $ 262,924 238,392 24,532

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Fiscal Year 2004 Segment Information as of September 30, 2004 (in thousands of dollars)
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 201

Departmental Forest Service Total

Working Working Working

Capital Fund Capital Fund Capital Funds

Cost of Goods Related Excess of Costs 

and Services Exchange Over Exchange

Provided Revenue Revenue

Condensed Information:

Fund Balance $ -- 133,972 133,972

Accounts Receivable -- 599 599

Property, Plant, and Equipment -- 275,216 275,216

Other Assets -- 13 13

Total Assets -- 409,800 409,800

Liabilities and Net Position:

Accounts Payable -- 1,102 1,102

Deferred Revenues -- -- --

Other Liabilities -- 33,931 33,931

Unexpended Appropriations -- -- --

Cumulative Results of Operations -- 374,767 374,767

Total Liabilities and Net Position -- 409,800 409,800

Product or Business Line

Departmental Working Capital Fund:

Finance and Management -- -- --

Communications -- -- --

Information Technology -- -- --

Administration -- -- --

Executive Secretariat -- -- --

Total Departmental Working Capital Fund -- -- --

Forest Service Working Capital Fund:

Other 365,795 224,415 141,380

Total Working Capital Funds $ 365,795 224,415 141,380

Required Supplementary Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Fiscal Year 2003 Segment Information as of September 30, 2003 (in thousands of dollars)
202 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003

Stewardship—Property, Plant and Equipment

The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), Statement of Federal

Financial Accounting Standards No. 8, provides the following definitions:

• Stewardship Assets. Property owned by the Federal Government that physically 

resembles Property, Plant and Equipment, but differs in that the value may be indeterminable or have little meaning.

—Heritage assets

—Stewardship land

• Stewardship Investments. Expenses and investments incurred for education and 

training of the public that is intended to increase national economic productive

capacity (investment in human capital), and research and development intended to

produce future benefits.

• Stewardship Responsibilities. Information on the financial impact of continuing to 

provide current programs and services.

Heritage Assets

The Forest Service estimates that more than 300,000 heritage assets are on land that it

manages. Assets held at museums and universities are managed by those entities. This

information was estimated from the nine Forest Service regions and annual Department

of the Interior report to Congress. Some of these assets are listed on the National

Register of Historic Places, and some are designated as National Historic Landmarks.

The Forest Service heritage resource specialists on the 155 national forests maintain

separate inventories of heritage assets. Most assets not used for administrative or public

purposes receive no annual maintenance. A long-term methodology to better assess the

extent and condition of these assets is being formulated to comply with Executive Order

13287, Preserve America. A module in the agency’s real property management

Infrastructure (INFRA) system has been developed and implemented for heritage assets.

The Healthy Forests Initiative and competing budget priorities, however, have prevented

full population of the database.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 203

Acquisition and Withdrawal of Heritage Assets

The Forest Service generally does not construct heritage assets, although in some circumstances important site-structural components may be rehabilitated or reconstructed

into viable historic properties to provide forest visitors with use and interpretation.

Heritage assets can be acquired through the procurement process, but this rarely occurs.

Normally, heritage assets are part of the land acquisition and inventory process.

Withdrawal occurs through land exchange or natural disasters. Exhibit 10 shows the

major heritage assets by category and condition for FY 2003.7

Exhibit 10. Major Heritage Assets by Category and Condition, FY 2003

Heritage Assets Definitions

Historic Structures. Constructed works consciously created to serve some human purpose.

They include buildings, monuments, logging and mining camps, and ruins.

National Historic Landmarks. Includes sites, buildings, or structures that possess exceptional value in commemorating or illustrating the history of the United States, and

exceptional value or quality in illustrating and interpreting the heritage of the United

States. The Secretary of the Interior is the official designator of National Historic

Landmarks. 

National Register of Historic Places. Includes properties, buildings, and structures that

are significant in U.S. history, architecture, and archaeology, and in the cultural foundation

of the Nation.

Eligible for the National Register. Those sites formally determined as eligible for the

National Register through the Keeper of the National Register or documented by consultation with State Historic Preservation Offices. Previous reports included all sites

potentially eligible for the National Register.

Category 2003 Final (Sites) Condition

Total heritage assets 310,611 Poor to fair

Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places 58,669 Poor to fair

Listed on the National Register 3,380 Fair

Sites with structures listed on the National Register 1,870 Poor to fair

National Historic Landmarks 18 Fair to good

7 Data totaled through fiscal year (FY) 2003. FY 2004 data is gathered in the first half of FY 2005.

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
204 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Stewardship Land

The Forest Service manages more than 192 million acres of public land, most of which

are classified as stewardship assets. These stewardship assets are valued for the following

reasons:

• Environmental resources.

• Recreational and scenic values.

• Cultural and paleontological resources.

• Vast open spaces.

• Resource commodities and revenue they provide to the Federal Government, States,

and counties.

Exhibit 11 shows the net change in acres between FY 2003 and FY 2004 in national

forests by various purposes.

FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2004

Ending Net Change Ending Balance

Balance (Acres) (Acres) (5) Condition

Description (Acres) (2) As of 9/30/2004 (1)

National Forests 187,873,890 361,348 188,235,238 Varies

National Forest Purposes* 143,843,276 233,515 144,076,791 Varies

National Forest Wilderness Areas 34,828,502 124,868 34,953,370 Varies

National Forest Primitive Areas 173,762 0 173,762 Varies

National Wild and Scenic River Areas 947,999 2,907 950,906 Varies

National Recreation Areas 2,911,239 0 2,911,239 Varies

National Scenic Areas 130,435 58 130,493 Varies

National Scenic—Research Areas 6,637 0 6,637 Varies

National Game Refuges and Wildlife Preserve Areas 1,198,099 0 1,198,099 Varies

National Monument Areas 3,659,974 0 3,659,974 Varies

National Monument Volcanic Areas 167,427 0 167,427 Varies

National Historic Areas 6,540 0 6,540 Varies

National Grasslands 3,839,167 376 3,839,543 Varies

Purchase Units 359,351 10,675 370,026 Varies

Land Utilization Projects 1,876 0 1,876 Varies

Research and Experiment Areas 64,871 0 64,871 Varies

Other Areas 295,814 236 296,050 Varies

National Preserves 89,716 0 89,716 Varies

Total NFS acreage 192,524,685 372,635 192,897,320

Road Miles (3) 378,004 749 378,753

Trail Miles (4) 133,087 0 133,087

Exhibit 11. Net Change in Acres in National Forests by Various Purposes (FY 2003 to FY 2004)

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 205

(1) Condition of NFS land. The Forest Service monitors the condition of NFS lands based on 

information compiled by two national inventory and monitoring programs. Annual inventories

of forest status and trends are conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program

in 44 States covering 76 percent of the forested land of the United States. The Forest Health

Monitoring (FHM) program, active in 50 States, provides surveys and evaluations of forest

health conditions and trends. Although most of the 149 million acres of forest land on NFS

lands continue to produce valuable benefits (i.e., clean air, clean water, habitat for wildlife,

and products for human use), significant portions are at risk to pest outbreaks or catastrophic

fires. About 33 million acres of NFS forest land are at risk to future mortality from insects

and diseases (based on the current Insect and Disease Risk Map). Nearly 73 million acres of

NFS forest land are prone to catastrophic fire based on current condition and departure from

historic fire regimes (Fire Regimes 1, 2, and 3 and Condition Classes 2 and 3). Based on

these two maps, approximately 9.5 million acres are at risk to pest-caused mortality and/or

fire. Invasive species of insects, diseases, and plants continue to impact our native ecosystems

by causing mortality to, or displacement of, native vegetation. The National Fire Plan has

enhanced our efforts to prevent and suppress future fires adequately and restore acres that are

at risk. Hazardous fuel reduction projects treated 1.7 million acres, with record accomplishments

in all regions. Other vegetation management projects to improve wildlife habitat, prevent

insect outbreaks, and meet other resource values that contribute to improving condition class

treated nearly 640,000 acres. Insect and disease prevention and suppression treatments were

completed on 1.1 million acres in 2004.

(2) Net change. At the time of submission of this information the net change values include the 

net effects of the Forest Service land transactions with the exception of completed 2004

transactions for the Southwestern region. Land needed to protect critical wildlife habitat and

cultural and historic values, to support the purposes of congressional designation, and for

recreation and conservation purposes is acquired through purchase or exchange. 

(3) Road miles. Net change to the total road miles occurs through new construction, decommissioning, and correction of errors in the NFS road system’s inventory to include miles of

unclassified roads that had previously been excluded. Forest Services road miles by maintenance level as of date. FY 2004 ending was not available at current time. The change is an

update to FY 2003 ending balance.

(4) Trail miles. The number of miles reported continues to be based on a 1996 inventory. The 

number of trail miles has not since been updated. Reconstruction of existing trails has been

the predominant activity over the previous 7 years.

(5) Ending balance acres. The numbers provided as of September 30, 2004 are still subject final

verification. 

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
206 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Stewardship Land Definitions

Land Utilization Projects. A unit reserved and dedicated by the Secretary of Agriculture

for forest and range research and experimentation.

National Forests. A unit formally established and permanently set aside and reserved for

national forest purposes. The following categories of NFS lands have been set aside for

specific purposes in designated areas:

• National Wilderness Areas. Areas designated by Congress as part of the National 

Wilderness Preservation System.

• National Primitive Areas. Areas designated by the Chief of the Forest Service as 

primitive areas. They are administered in the same manner as wilderness areas,

pending studies to determine sustainability as a component of the National

Wilderness Preservation System.

• National Wild and Scenic River Areas. Areas designated by Congress as part of the 

National Wild and Scenic River System.

• National Recreation Areas. Areas established by Congress for the purpose of assuring

and implementing the protection and management of public outdoor recreation

opportunities.

• National Scenic Research Areas. Areas established by Congress to provide use and 

enjoyment of certain ocean headlands and to ensure protection and encourage the

study of the areas for research and scientific purposes.

• National Game Refuges and Wildlife Preserve Areas. Areas designated by 

Presidential proclamation or Congress for the protection of wildlife.

• National Monument Areas. Areas including historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric

structures, and other objects for historic or scientific interest, declared by

Presidential proclamation or Congress.

National Grasslands. A unit designated by the Secretary of Agriculture and permanently

held by the USDA under Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act.

Purchase Units. A unit of land designated by the Secretary of Agriculture or previously

approved by the National Forest Reservation Commission for purposes of Weeks Law

acquisition. The law authorizes the Federal Government to purchase lands for stream-flow

protection and maintain the acquired lands as national forests. 

Research and Experimental Areas. A unit reserved and dedicated by the Secretary for

forest and range research experimentation.

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 207

Other Areas. Areas administered by the Forest Service that are not included in one of

the above groups.

Stewardship Investments

Human Capital—Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center, FY 2004

Net Cost of Operations: $106 Million

The Forest Service’s Job Corps Civilian Conservation (Job Corps) Centers, in coordination

with the National Parks Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Reclamation,

celebrated its 40th anniversary, “40 Years of Empowering Youth and Enhancing

Communities and Natural Resources.” Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman was the

keynote speaker at the 40th anniversary celebration held at the Forest Service’s Schenck

Job Corps Center in Brevard, NC, from September 10 to 12, 2004.

The anniversary event highlighted that in the last 40 years, all the Job Corps Centers

combined have contributed an appraised value of work of approximately $1.5 billion in

community projects, community and public structures, natural resources, and fighting

wildland fires. Some of the anniversary events were a presentation of the 40th anniversary

video; the unveiling of the Job Corps Wall of Names (erected at the entrance of the

Schenck Job Corps Center), visits to the Lyndon B. Johnson (the first Forest Service

Job Corps Center) and the Oconaluftee Job Corps Centers; and remarks by past and

present staff, center directors, and students. 

In partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Forest Service operates 18

Job Corps Centers. Job Corps is the only Federal residential employment and education

training program for economically challenged young people ages 16 to 24. The purpose

of the program is to provide young adults with the skills necessary to become employable,

independent, and productive citizens. The program is administered in a structured, coeducational, residential environment that provides education, vocational and life skills

training, counseling, medical care, work experience, placement assistance and followup,

recreational opportunities, and biweekly monetary stipends. Job Corps students choose

from a wide variety of careers, such as urban forestry, heavy equipment operations and

maintenance, business, clerical, carpentry, culinary arts, painting, cement and brick

masonry, welding, auto mechanics, health services, building and apartment maintenance,

warehousing, and plastering. 

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
208 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Job Corps is funded from DOL annually on a program year; the fiscal year is July 1 to

June 30. During Job Corps’ FY 2004, accomplishments included the following:

• 8,133 participants received 3,780 placements with an average starting hourly wage 

of $8.41, 32 cents more than the DOL national average. 

• Approximately 1,857 female students received training in nontraditional vocations.

• 617 students received high school diplomas, and 1,438 students obtained general 

equivalency diplomas.

• Approximately 3,000 Job Corps students and staff assisted the agency in its firefighting efforts.

• Students accomplished conservation work on NFS lands appraised at $17.4 million. 

Since 1964, the Forest Service’s Job Corps Centers have trained and educated more than

235,000 young men and women. The agency is actively pursuing the transfer of two

Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Job Corps Centers and their personnel to the

Forest Service. 

Research and Development—Forest and Rangeland Research

FY 2004 Net Cost of Operations: $313 Million

Forest Service Research and Development provides reliable, science-based information

that is incorporated into natural resource decisionmaking. Responsibilities include

developing new technology and then adapting and transferring this technology to facilitate

more effective resource management. Some major research areas include the following:

• Vegetation management and protection.

• Wildlife, fish, watershed, and air.

• Resource valuation and use research.

• Forest Resources inventory and monitoring.

Research staff is involved in all areas of the Forest Service, supporting agency goals by

providing more efficient and effective methods where applicable.

A representative summary of FY 2004 accomplishments include the following:

• 250 new interagency agreements and contracts.

• 445 interagency agreements and contracts continued.

• 1,539 articles published in journals.

• 2,419 articles published in all other publications.

• 8 patents granted.

• 27 rights to inventions established.

Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (Unaudited)

For the Years Ended September 30, 2004 and 2003
Appendixes
210 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 211

The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to:

Sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. 

The Forest Service’s commitment to land stewardship and public service is the framework

within which the national forests and grasslands are managed. The following narrative

demonstrates how the Forest Service achieves its mission of sustaining the health, diversity,

and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands.

For more information about the Forest Service, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/aboutus/national.shtml.

Programs, Legislation, and Communication

The Programs, Legislation, and Communication (PL&C) Deputy Area contributes to the

mission of the Forest Service by providing the institutional capacity for resource and business

managers to achieve the Forest Service’s mission.

PL&C consists of Legislative Affairs, Policy Analysis, Office of Communication, and

Strategic Planning and Resource Assessment.

The PL&C Deputy Area:

• Provides leadership for strategic planning, annual performance reporting, and resource 

assessment, and coordinates the strategic goals and objectives with assistance to other

deputy areas in the development of strategies for invasive species, restoring firedependent ecosystems, and fisheries/watershed protection. 

• Links economic and scientific trend indicators in the Resource Assessment to the Forest

Service’s strategic goals and objectives.

• Provides support for Administrative reviews and internal agency initiatives, conducts 

reviews, and prepares reports of findings for Payments to States and Resource Advisory

Committees, which are both due to expire at the end of FY 2006.

• Evaluates the effectiveness of initiatives such as the Healthy Forest Restoration Act and 

Stewardship Contracting (in cooperation with R&D) to inform the Administration and

Congress whether these new authorities, established to reduce process gridlock, are

working as intended. 

• Coordinates the Forest Services activities pertaining to upcoming legislative proposals 

by drafting legislative language for Congress, analyzing introduced legislation, and

developing Administration positions. 

Appendix A. Accomplishing the Mission
212 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

• Informs Congress of program activities, such as land exchanges, fuels and fire management,

and the livestock program.

• Provides internal and external communication planning and products as the Forest 

Service develops its programs, policies, and initiatives.

• Prepares communications products and briefing materials and helps coordinate special 

events for the White House and the Department in support of Presidential initiatives.

For more information about PL&C, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/aboutus/national.shtml.

Business Operations

The Business Operations Deputy Area provides high-quality and timely business processes

to support the successful accomplishment of Forest Service programs. 

To accomplish this, the Business Operations and Budget and Finance Deputy Areas were

combined in January 2004 to form a single Deputy Area. 

Within this reorganized deputy area there are two associate deputy chiefs. The Associate

Deputy Chief for Operations is responsible for Acquisition Management; Human Resources

Management; Senior, Youth and Volunteer Programs; Information Resources Management;

and Regulatory and Management Services.

The Associate Deputy Chief for Finance and Chief Financial Officer is responsible for

Financial and Accounting Operations, Financial Policy and Analysis, Program and Budget

Analysis, Financial Management Systems, and Financial Reports and Reconciliation.

The Business Operations Transformation Program is a significant initiative for the Forest

Service that will improve the agency’s organizational efficiency. The Transformation

Program comprises three projects:

• The Financial Management Improvement Project will standardize and centralize many 

of the agency’s budget and finance processes.

• The Information Technology Competitive Sourcing Project will improve the quality and

efficiency of the agency’s technology services.

• The Human Resources Business Process Reengineering Project will standardize and 

centralize these processes and introduce a new agencywide Human Resources 

Information System.

For more information about Forest Service’s Business Operations, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/

aboutus/national.shtml.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 213

National Forest System 

The National Forest System (NFS) Deputy Area provides expertise for the stewardship of

Federal lands under its management. The NFS programs are Engineering; Lands; Wilderness

and Wild and Scenic Rivers; Rangeland Management; Recreation and Heritage Resources;

Forest Management; Wildlife, Fish, Watershed, Air, and Rare Plants; Minerals and Geology

Management; and Ecosystem Management Coordination.

The NFS Deputy Area:

• Coordinates work with national multistakeholder processes focusing on sustainable 

management and use of rangelands, minerals, and water. 

• Leads the Forest Service’s engagement with the National Commission on Science for 

Sustainable Forestry, focusing at this time on biodiversity aspects of sustainable forest

practices in the United States. 

• Provides the framework to conform to laws and regulations governing the management 

of national forests and grasslands, focusing on the concept of sustainability under planning

regulations that incorporate broad-scale ecological, social, and economic assessments. 

• Supports forest plan revisions and amendments through development of important 

information necessary to make planning decisions.

• Provides the emphasis for forest plan monitoring and evaluation through the development

of a new planning rule, revisions and consolidation of policy and guidance, installation

and implementation of corporate databases, data migration, and implementation of geographic information system data dictionary standards.

• Administers and manages partnerships, tourism, interpretive services, and recreational 

special uses. 

• Provides leadership for the stewardship of 406 wilderness areas as part of the National 

Wilderness Preservation System and 100 rivers as part of the National Wild and Scenic

Rivers System.

• Maintains the diversity, viability, and productivity of plant and animal communities, 

improving opportunities for consumptive, recreational, commercial, subsistence, and

other beneficial uses of fish and wildlife resources.

• Administers allotments according to forest plan standards and guidelines to maintain or

improve grassland watersheds to fully functional and productive condition. 

• Achieves the desired vegetative conditions, restores ecological processes, and provides 

wood products for use by society while reducing accumulated fuels through timber sale

contracts.

• Uses stewardship contracting authority to address ecological restoration needs, enabling

the use of timber value to finance restoration and improvement work.
214 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

• Provides management of noxious weeds, reforestation, and timber stand improvement 

treatments specifically designed to address national priorities associated with reducing

the spread of invasive species, restoring areas burned by wildfires, reducing hazardous

fuels, and restoring fire-adapted ecosystems. 

• Fosters the development of mineral resources; develops energy resources in national 

forests and grasslands; inspects, monitors, and ensures proper bonding and reclamation

of active operations; reclaims abandoned mine sites; protects geologic and paleontologic

resources; and is constructing a national energy and minerals database system. These

activities contribute to achievement of the President’s National Energy Policy objectives.

• Protects the public’s future use and access to national forests and grasslands through 

marked and legally defensible land boundaries, secure title and ownership, and land

adjustment.

• Improves, maintains, and operates the Forest Service’s multibillion-dollar infrastructure 

of facilities, roads, and trails necessary for recreation, research, fire protection, administration, and other uses on national forests and grasslands.

• Acquires lands, waters, and related interests within the NFS for public outdoor recreation,

conservation of wildlife and threatened and endangered species habitat, acquisition of

wetland and riparian areas, protection of significant cultural resources, and the protection

of rare ecological areas that promote biological diversity.

For more information about the Forest Service’s NFS programs, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/

aboutus/national.shtml.

Research and Development

The Research and Development (R&D) Deputy Area contributes to the mission of the Forest

Service by developing and implementing the best and most effective scientific, developmental,

and technical information. 

The R&D Deputy Area consists of Science Policy, Planning, Inventory and Information;

Resource Valuation and Use Research; Vegetation Management and Protection Research;

and Wildlife, Fish, Water, and Air Research.

The R&D Deputy Area:

• Develops baseline reports focusing on rangelands, minerals, and water to complement 

what was done for forests with the release of the National Report on Sustainable Forests—

2003. This report contains the most comprehensive information about sustainable forest

management in the United States and is a baseline for measuring progress over time.

• Coordinates integrated watershed management activities and leads agency efforts with 

universities and other partners to improve water quality through nonregulatory ways while

keeping “working lands working” and improving economic diversity in rural areas.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 215

• Provides consistent, credible annual forest inventory data for all forest lands within the 

United States for use by researchers, policymakers, land managers, and other partners.

• Focuses on integrating and synthesizing the sector-based work into a “systems perspective”

to better understand relationships and interactions for monitoring and for decisionmaking.

For more information about the Forest Service’s research, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/research/.

State and Private Forestry

State and Private Forestry (S&PF) is the Federal leader in providing technical and financial

assistance to landowners and resource managers to sustain the Nation’s forests and to protect

communities and the environment from wildland fires. 

The S&PF Deputy Area consists of Fire and Aviation Management, Cooperative Forestry,

Conservation Education, Urban and Community Forestry, Forest Health Protection, and

Tribal Relations.

The S&PF Deputy Area:

• Facilitates forest stewardship on a landscape scale yet enables individual forest 

landowners, communities, and cities to pursue more local objectives through nonregulatory partnerships with a diversity of landowners, including small woodlot, tribal, State,

or Federal landowners. 

• Conserves acres of threatened forest land by providing assistance to landowners and 

communities to manage their forests and address rural community issues.

• Works with State foresters to develop forest stewardship plans, providing management 

recommendations for millions acres of private forest lands.

• Develops solutions for the use of woody biomass, resulting in the retention and creation 

of jobs and small businesses, the development of new products and markets, the creation

and support of small-scale bioenergy plants, and the reduction of hazardous fuels in

and near communities.

• Works in partnership with States, local governments, and national partners to provide 

training, demonstration projects, community tree inventories, and management plans to

respond to outbreaks of exotic pests such as the Emerald Ash Borer infestation in the

East and Midwest and Pine Bark Beetle in the West. 

• Ensures high-quality interactions with Indian Tribes across deputy areas, advises the 

Chief on Tribal issues and concerns, and ensures that Tribal government relations are a

standard operating procedure for the agency.

• Serves as Federal co-chair of the Roundtable on Sustainable Forests, with the non-Federal

cochair representing the National Association of State Foresters. Efforts through four

multistakeholder national processes focusing on forests, rangelands, minerals, and
216 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

water promote the use of a common criteria and indicator framework for more comprehensively understanding sustainable forest/resource management and measuring

progress over time. 

• Develops national policy and guidelines specifically to protect the sacred sites that are 

entrusted to the agency’s care. 

For more information about State and Private Forestry, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/.

The National Fire Program, Law Enforcement and Investigations, Civil Rights, and

International Programs report directly to the Chief’s Office.

National Fire Program

The National Fire Program and S&PF’s Fire and Aviation Management continue to provide

significant benefits toward reducing the impacts of catastrophic wildland fire to communities and the environment. Through this program, the Forest Service:

• Partners in fire management at Federal, State, and local levels with increased collaboration

at all levels of the agency and the Department of the Interior agencies.

• Reaches out to Hispanic-owned small businesses, contractors, and individuals living in 

rural areas with a Spanish-translated Web site providing information on employment

leads, contracting opportunities, available grants, and State and local fire programs.

This Spanish translation effort is a first for Forest Service Web sites and can be visited

at the http://www.fireplan.gov Web site.

Law Enforcement and Investigations Program

As an integral part of the overall management of the NFS, the Law Enforcement and Investigations

personnel, line officers, and appropriate staff ensure the prevention, investigation, enforcement,

and program management requirements are fully integrated into all NFS resource management

programs. Through this program, the Forest Service:

• Protects the public, employees, natural resources, and other property under the jurisdiction

of the Forest Service.

• Investigates and enforces applicable laws and regulations that affect the NFS.

• Prevents criminal violations through informing and educating visitors and users of 

applicable laws and regulations.

For more information about the Law Enforcement and Investigations in the Forest Service,

visit http://www.fs.fed.us/lei/.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 217

Civil Rights Program

The Forest Service Civil Rights program provides for diversity, equal opportunity, and fairness

in employment and program delivery. Through this program the Forest Service:

• Integrates civil rights management, budget, and performance accountability systems.

• Identifies and removes systemic barriers to diversity.

• Improves the processing of complaints (formal and informal).

• Improves compliance and equitable access.

• Enhances capacity building and recruitment partnerships.

• Supports National Competitive Sourcing decisionmaking and implementation through 

civil rights impact assessment and monitoring.

• Improves collaboration among Civil Rights, Human Resources Management, and the 

Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) staffs.

For more information about Civil Rights in the Forest Service, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/cr/.

International Programs

The Forest Service partners internationally on a wide range of natural resource management, policy, and research issues. Many units of the Forest Service are engaged in this work

that advances sustainable forest management both overseas and in the United States. All

branches of the Forest Service—NFS, R&D, and S&PF—have dynamic international

exchanges, collaboration, and projects around the globe. Strong partnerships with land-grant

universities, environmental nongovernment organizations, and the private sector make this

work integrated and comprehensive. 

Through International Programs, the Forest Service:

• Improves management in some of the world’s most threatened forests including forests 

in the Amazon Basin, the Congo, Russia, and Indonesia.

• Protects forests in the United States and other countries from invasive species that are 

damaging or could damage our forests.

• Works with other countries to protect declining bird species that migrate across national

borders.

• Recovers the habitat of the world’s endangered species, including the Siberian Tiger, the

Monarch butterfly, and the Panda.

• Develops policies worldwide to promote forest sustainability.

• Levels the playing field in international trade by reducing the amount of underpriced 

timber on the world market.
218 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

• Coordinates with 11 other countries participating in the Montreal Process Working 

Group and its Technical Advisory Committee, emphasizing the implementation and

refinement of the Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators as a common framework for

the conservation and sustainable management of forests.

For more information about International Programs, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/international/ip/.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 219

Appendix B. Founding Legislation and History of the 

Forest Service’s Traditional Role

A century ago, the idea of conservation of Federal forests culminated with Congress’ passing

the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, creating forest reserves from public domain land. Six years

later, Congress passed the 1897 Organic Act (part of the Sundry Civil Appropriations Act),

giving the U.S. Department of the Interior General Land Office and the U.S. Geological

Survey (USGS) three management goals for those forest reserves: (1) improve and protect

the public forests; (2) secure favorable water flows; and (3) provide a continuous supply of

timber, under regulation. In 1905, these responsibilities were transferred to the U.S.

Department of Agriculture to a newly created bureau, the Forest Service, and in 1907 the

forest reserves were renamed as national forests. In those early days, the Forest Service was

responsible for the conservation and the protection of the forests.

The Weeks Law of 1911 enabled the Federal Government to purchase forest lands in the

East that had been previously harvested. Those purchased lands were then transferred to the

Forest Service. Throughout the agency’s early history, the Forest Service’s primary activities,

in addition to conservation and protection, included developing trails, ranger stations, and a

pool of expert natural resource managers.

The Great Depression was incentive for a massive youth employment program–—the Civilian

Conservation Corps (CCC)—with some 3 million enrollees over a 9-year period. The CCC’s

focus was in developing recreation and fire protection on the national forests, as well as on

other Federal and State lands.

After World War II, the Forest Service worked with Congress to provide lumber for the rapidly

growing home market. During the 1950s, timber management became an area of emphasis

for the agency. Timber production increased through the 1960s and 1970s. In 1960, Congress

passed the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act. This act gave recreation, fish, wildlife, water,

wilderness, and grazing priority, along with timber management, conservation and protection,

and Forest Service resource planning.

The passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964 provided additional protection for a national system

of wildernesses in the national forests and applied to the missions of the other Federal land

management agencies as well. Additional legislation throughout the 1970s addressed the

management of roadless areas on national forests.

The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976 brought 10-year forest management

plans to the Forest Service. From this period throughout the 1990s, the Forest Service saw

increased public debate and public involvement in the management of natural resources,

especially from environmental, timber industry, and other interest groups and stakeholders.
220 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

This keen and proactive public involvement resulted in many of the Forest Service’s large-scale

assessments: the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project in the Pacific

Northwest; the Southern Forest Resource Assessment for the southeastern portion of the

country; and the Sierra Nevada Framework for Conservation and Collaboration covering the

Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 221

Appendix C. Acronyms and Abbreviations 

Acronym or Explanation

Abbreviation 

ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution

ALP Automated Lands Program

AML Abandoned mine lands

ATSA Automated Timber Sale Accounting System

B&F Budget and Finance

BFES Budget Formulation and Execution System

BPR Business process reengineering 

C&A Certification and accreditation

CFO Chief Financial Officer

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

CIP Continuous Improvement Process

CIRT Computer Incident Response Team

CRIA Civil Rights Impact Analysis

CSRS Civil Service Retirement System

CWAG Chief’s Workforce Advisory Group

DC Disallowed cost

DOL U.S. Department of Labor

EAP Economic Action Programs

ECAP Environmental Compliance and Protection

EEO Equal Employment Opportunity

EEOCMD Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Management Directive

EIP Early Intervention Program

ELT Executive Leadership Team

EMC Ecosystem Management Coordination

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

FCI Facility Condition Index

FECA Federal Employees’ Compensation Act

FERS Federal Employees’ Retirement System

FFIS Foundation Financial Information System

FFMIA Federal Financial Management Improvement Act

FHP Forest Health Protection 

FIA Forest Inventory and Analysis

FLP Forest Legacy Program

FMFIA Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act

FPL Forest Products Laboratory

FRCC Fire Regimen Condition Class

FS Forest Service

FSH Forest Service Handbook
222 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Acronym or Explanation

Abbreviation 

FSM Forest Service Manual

FSNRA Forest Service Natural Resource Applications

FSP Forest Stewardship Program

FTBU Funds to be put to better use

FTE Full-time equivalent

FY Fiscal year

GAO Government Accountability Office

GIS Geographic information system

GPRA Government Performance and Results Act 

GSA General Services Administration

GS General Schedule (pay plan)

HRM Human Resources Management

IMPROVE Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments 

INFRA Infrastructure application, one of the FSNRA corporate applications

IP International Programs (Program Staff)

IRM Information Resources Management (Program Staff)

ISP Internet service provider

IT Information technology

K-V Knutson-Vandenberg, a trust fund for timber sale area improvements

KM Knowledge management

KPMG KPMG LLP, an independent auditor

LEI Law Enforcement and Investigations (Program Staff)

LMP Land Management Plan

MAR Management Attainment Reporting 

MD&A Management’s Discussion and Analysis

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

NFC National Finance Center

NFP National Fire Plan

NFS National Forest System (Deputy Area)

NIPF Nonindustrial private forest

NRIS Natural Resource Information System, one of the FSNRA corporate applications

OHV Off-highway vehicles (interchangeable with ORV)

OIG Office of Inspector General (USDA)

OMB Office of Management and Budget

ORV Off-road vehicles (interchangeable with OHV)

PAOT Persons at one time

PART Program Assessment Rating Tool

PAS Performance Accountability System

PCA Project Cost Accounting

PCAS Project Cost Accounting System
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 223

Acronym or Explanation

Abbreviation 

PL&C Programs, Legislation, and Communication (Deputy Area)

PMA President’s Management Agenda 

PMAS Performance Measures Accountability System

PP&E Property, Plant, and Equipment

R&D Research and Development (Deputy Area)

RAR Roads Accomplishment Report

RBAIS Research Budget Attainment Information System

RHWR Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness Resources (Program Staff)

ROW Rights-of-way

RSA Regions, stations, and areas

S&PF State and Private Forestry (Deputy Area)

SES Senior Executive Service

SFA State Fire Assistance (Program Staff) 

SFFAS Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards

SGL Standard General Ledger

SOD Sudden oak death

STARS Sales Tracking and Reporting System

SUA Special Use Authorizations

SUDS Special Uses Database System

TIM Timber information management

TMDL Total maximum daily load

TRACS Timber Activity Control System

TSA Timber Sale Accounting system

TSA Transportation Security Administration

TSP Thrift Savings Plan

U&CF Urban and Community Forestry (Program Staff)

U.S.C. U.S. Code

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

VFA Volunteer Fire Assistance (Program Staff)

WCF Working capital fund

WFWAR Wildlife, Fish, Water, and Air Research

WO Washington Office

WUI Wildland-urban interface
224 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 225

Appendix D. Forest Service Internet Links

Visit the Forest Service home page at http://www.fs.fed.us to find a Forest Service forest or

grassland near you.

Learn what the Forest Service is doing to protect you and the Nation’s forests and

grassland

Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management: http://www.fs.fed.us/fire 

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov 

NFP: http://www.fireplan.gov

What challenges does the Forest Service face?

Chief Dale Bosworth’s Four Threats to Forest Service lands: http://www.fs.fed.us/projects/

four-threats

Looking for specific information on the Forest Service from research priorities to

law enforcement?

Research and Development: http://www.fs.fed.us/research

Ecosystem Management: http://www.fs.fed.us/emc

International Programs: http://www.fs.fed.us/international

Law Enforcement and Investigation: http://www.fs.fed.us/lei

Civil Rights: http://www.fs.fed.us/cr

Minerals and Geology: http://www.fs.fed.us/geology

Rangelands: http://www.fs.fed.us/rangelands

Forest Health: http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth

Did you know that the Forest Service will be 100 years old in 2005?

Discover the Centennial Film: http://www.fs.fed.us/greatestgood 

Find a screening near you: http://www.fs.fed.us/greatestgood/film/screens 

Own the DVD: http://www.fs.fed.us/greatestgood/order/film 

Visit the virtual home of Gifford Pinchot, the first Forest Service Chief: http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt

Forest Service employment: Make a positive difference!

“Working for the Great Outdoors”: http://www.fs.fed.us/fsjobs 

USA Jobs: “Working for America”: http://www.usajobs.opm.gov 
226 Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004

Volunteer opportunities

http://www.fs.fed.us/fsjobs/volunteers.html

Just for kids

Woodsy Owl: http://www.symbols.gov/woody

Smokey Bear’s 60 years of vigilance: http://www.smokeybear.com 

How to become a Junior Snow Ranger: http://www.symbols.gov/jrsnowranger

USDA for Kids: http://www.usda.gov/news/usdakids 
Forest Service Performance and Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004 227

Appendix E. Feedback to the Forest Service

The Forest Service would like your comments on the Forest Service Performance and

Accountability Report—Fiscal Year 2004. Is the information user-friendly? 

How can this report be improved for fiscal year 2005? Please e-mail any comments you

may have to kworley@fs.fed.us.

The USDA Forest Service Strategic Plan for 2004-2008 outlines the agency’s land stewardship

model for the 21st century. It is available on-line at http://www.fs.fed.us/plan. 

Thank you for your interest in the programs and activities of the Forest Service.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national 

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all 

programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, 

etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). 

To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence 

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service