IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 406

Expressing the sense of the Congress that Federal land management agencies

should immediately enact a cohesive strategy to reduce the overabundance

of forest fuels which places national resources at high risk of catastrophic

wildfire.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 22, 2000

Mr. RADANOVICH (for himself, Mr. CANNON, Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE, Mr.

CONDIT, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. DELAY, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Ms. DUNN, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. GOODE, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. HERGER, Mr.

HILL of Montana, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. NETHERCUTT,

Mr. OSE, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. POMBO, Mr. SCHAFFER,

Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. SKEEN, Mr. STUMP, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. TAYLOR of

North Carolina, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. THUNE, Mr. TURNER, Mr. WALDEN

of Oregon, Mrs. WILSON, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Resources, for a period

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee

concerned

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress that Federal land management agencies should immediately enact a cohesive

strategy to reduce the overabundance of forest fuels

which places national resources at high risk of catastrophic wildfire.
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•HCON 406 IH

Whereas an April 1999 General Accounting Office report to

the House of Representatives, entitled ‘‘Western National

Forests: A Cohesive Strategy is Needed to Address Catastrophic Wildfire Threats’’ (GAO/RCED–99–65), states

that ‘‘[t]he most extensive and serious problem related to

the health of national forests in the interior West is the

overaccumulation of vegetation, which has caused an increasing number of large, intense, uncontrollable, and

catastrophically destructive wildfires’’;

Whereas an April 2000 United States Forest Service report,

entitled ‘‘Protecting People and Sustaining Resources in

Fire-Adapted Ecosystems: A Cohesive Strategy’’, in response to the 1999 General Accounting Office report,

confirms the previous report’s conclusion and further

warns that ‘‘[w]ithout increased restoration treatments

. . . , wildfire suppression costs, natural resource losses,

private property losses, and environmental damage are

certain to escalate as fuels continue to accumulate and

more acres become high-risk’’;

Whereas the United States Forest Service further acknowledges that 39 million acres of national forest are at significant risk of catastrophic wildfire and an additional 26

million acres will be at similar risk due to increases in

the mortality of trees and brush caused by insects and

pathogens;

Whereas the National Research Council and the Federal

Emergency Management Agency have recognized that

catastrophic wildfires, such as those in California in 1993

and Florida in 1998, are among the defining United

States natural disasters of the 1990’s;

Whereas catastrophic wildfires not only cause damage to the

forests and other lands, but place the lives of firefighters
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•HCON 406 IH

at risk and pose threats to human health, personal property, sustainable ecosystems, and air and water quality;

Whereas according to the National Fire Protection Association, wildland-urban interface catastrophic wildfires destroyed 9,925 homes between 1985 and 1994, and

burned six million acres of public lands nationwide in

1999 alone, equivalent to a 3-mile-wide swath from the

District of Columbia to Los Angeles, California;

Whereas the escaped Cerro Grande prescribed fire in May

2000, which consumed 48,000 acres and destroyed 400

homes with losses exceeding a billion dollars in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the escaped Lowden prescribed

fire in 1999 that destroyed 23 homes in Lewiston, California, highlight the unacceptable risks of using prescribed burning as the sole forest fire management practice of Federal land management agencies;

Whereas as of September 14, 2000, more than 6.5 million

acres have burned nationwide this year, with several

months left in the 2000 fire season;

Whereas high-risk forest fuel has accumulated in combination

with reduced fire response capability by Federal agencies

during the 1990’s, resulting in catastrophic wildfires becoming more difficult and expensive to extinguish, with a

disproportionate burden being placed on State and local

resources, while the costs to fight these fires have increased by 150 percent between 1986 and 1994, and the

costs of maintaining a readiness force have increased by

70 percent between 1992 and 1997;

Whereas current planning efforts of the United States Forest

Service, such as the Sierra Nevada Framework, Interior

Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project, the
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Roadless Initiative, and Federal monument proclamations, rely primarily on extensive use of prescribed fires,

which will further exacerbate the risk of catastrophic

wildfire on Federal lands throughout the West; and

Whereas on September 9, 2000, the President released a report, entitled ‘‘Managing the Impact of Wildfires on

Communities and the Environment, A Report to the

President in Response to the Wildfires of 2000’’: Now,

therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) in the interest of protecting the integrity

4 and posterity of United States forest and wild lands,

5 wildlife habitat, watershed, air quality, human health

6 and safety, and private property, the United States

7 Forest Service and other Federal land management

8 agencies should—

9 (A) immediately enact a cohesive strategy

10 to reduce the overabundance of forest fuels

11 which place these resources at high risk of cata12 strophic wildfire;

13 (B) utilize an appropriate mix of fire sup14 pression activities and management methodolo15 gies, including selective thinning, selective har16 vesting, grazing, control of insects and patho17 gens, the removal of excessive ground fuels, and

18 small-scale prescribed burns, including in-
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1 creased private, local, and State contracts for

2 prefire treatments on Federal forest lands; and

3 (C) pursue more effective fire suppression

4 in Federal forest lands through increased fund5 ing of mutual aid agreements with professional

6 State and local public firefighting agencies; and

7 (2) in the interest of forest protection and rural

8 community safety, the Departments of Agriculture

9 and the Interior immediately should prepare for pub10 lic review a national prescribed fire strategy for pub11 lic lands that creates a process for evaluation of

12 worst case scenarios for risk of escape and identifies

13 alternatives that will achieve the land management

14 objectives while minimizing the risk and use of pre15 scribed fire, which strategy should be incorporated

16 into any regulatory land use planning programs that

17 propose the use of prescribed fire as a management

18 practice.

Æ