I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5541 

To provide a supplemental funding source for catastrophic emergency wildland 

fire suppression activities on Department of the Interior and National 

Forest System lands, to require the Secretary of the Interior and the 

Secretary of Agriculture to develop a cohesive wildland fire management 

strategy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2008 

Mr. RAHALL (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. DICKS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, 

and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture and Budget, 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 

A BILL 

To provide a supplemental funding source for catastrophic 

emergency wildland fire suppression activities on Department of the Interior and National Forest System lands, 

to require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 

of Agriculture to develop a cohesive wildland fire management strategy, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Land Assist3 ance, Management and Enhancement Act’’ or ‘‘FLAME 

4 Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FLAME FUND FOR CATASTROPHIC EMERGENCY 

6 WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION ACTIVITIES. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

9 means the following: 

10 (A) Public lands, as defined in section 103 

11 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 

12 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 

13 (B) Units of the National Park System. 

14 (C) Refuges of the National Wildlife Ref15 uge System. 

16 (D) Lands held in trust by the United 

17 States for the benefit of Indian tribes or indi18 vidual Indians. 

19 (E) Lands in the National Forest System, 

20 as defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and 

21 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 

22 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 

23 (2) FLAME FUND.—The term ‘‘Flame Fund’’ 

24 means the Federal Land Assistance, Management, 

25 and Enhancement Fund established by this section. 


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1 (3) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec2 retary concerned’’ means— 

3 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re4 spect to Federal land described in subpara5 graphs (A), (B), (C), and (E) of paragraph (1); 

6 and 

7 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re8 spect to National Forest System land. 

9 (4) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

10 means the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec11 retary of Agriculture, acting jointly. 

12 (b) ESTABLISHMENT AND AVAILABILITY OF FLAME

13 FUND.— 

14 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

15 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 

16 known as the Federal Land Assistance, Manage17 ment, and Enhancement Fund. 

18 (2) CONTENTS.—The Flame Fund shall consist 

19 of the following amounts: 

20 (A) Amounts appropriated to the Flame 

21 Fund pursuant to the authorization of appro22 priations in subsection (c). 

23 (B) Amounts transferred to the Flame 

24 Fund pursuant to subsection (d). 


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1 (C) Any interest earned on investment of 

2 amounts in the Flame Fund under paragraph 

3 (4). 

4 (3) AVAILABILITY.—Subject to subsection (e), 

5 amounts in the Flame Fund shall be available to the 

6 Secretaries to pay the costs of catastrophic emer7 gency wildland fire suppression activities that are 

8 separate from amounts annually appropriated to the 

9 Secretaries for the predicted annual workload for 

10 wildland fire suppression activities, based on anal11 yses of historical workloads and anticipated in12 creased workloads due to changing environmental or 

13 demographic conditions. 

14 (4) INVESTMENT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary 

15 of the Treasury shall invest such portion of the as16 sets of the Flame Fund as the Secretary of the 

17 Treasury determines is not required to meet antici18 pated withdrawals during the then-current fiscal 

19 year or the next fiscal year. Investments may be 

20 made only in interest-bearing obligations of the 

21 United States. 

22 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

23 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

24 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Flame 

25 Fund for fiscal year 2009 and each subsequent fiscal 


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1 year an amount equal to the average amount ex2 pended by the Secretaries for emergency wildland 

3 fire suppression activities over the five preceding fis4 cal years. 

5 (2) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.—Amounts ap6 propriated to the Flame Fund for fiscal year 2009 

7 are designated as an emergency requirement pursu8 ant to section 501 of H. Con. Res. 376 (109th Con9 gress), as made applicable to the House of Rep10 resentatives by section 511(a)(4) of H. Res. 6 

11 (110th Congress), and for subsequent fiscal years 

12 pursuant to corresponding congressional resolutions 

13 authorizing the designation of emergency spending. 

14 (d) TRANSFER OF EXCESS WILDLAND FIRE SUP15 PRESSION AMOUNTS INTO FLAME FUND.—At the end of 

16 each fiscal year, the Secretary concerned shall transfer to 

17 the Flame Fund amounts appropriated to the Secretary 

18 concerned for wildland fire suppression activities for the 

19 fiscal year, but not obligated for wildland fire suppression 

20 activities before the end of the fiscal year. 

21 (e) USE OF FLAME FUND.— 

22 (1) DECLARATION REQUIRED.—Amounts in the 

23 Flame Fund shall be made available to the Secretary 

24 concerned only after the Secretaries issue a declaraVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:45 Mar 06, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.IH H5541

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1 tion that a wildland fire suppression activity is eligi2 ble for funding through the Flame Fund. 

3 (2) DECLARATION CRITERIA.—A declaration by 

4 the Secretaries under paragraph (1) shall be based 

5 on the following criteria: 

6 (A) In the case of an individual wildland 

7 fire incident— 

8 (i) the size of the fire, including fires 

9 of 300 acres or greater; 

10 (ii) the severity of the fire, which may 

11 be based on incident complexity or the po12 tential for increased complexity; and 

13 (iii) the threat posed by the fire, in14 cluding the potential for loss of lives, prop15 erty, or critical resources. 

16 (B) In the case of a firefighting season, 

17 cumulative wildland fire suppression activities, 

18 when the costs of those activities for the Sec19 retary concerned are projected to exceed 

20 amounts annually appropriated. 

21 (3) TRANSFER OF AMOUNTS TO SECRETARY

22 CONCERNED.—After issuance of a declaration under 

23 paragraph (1) and upon the request of the Secretary 

24 concerned, the Secretary of the Treasury shall trans25 fer from the Flame Fund to the Secretary concerned 


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1 such amounts as the Secretaries determine are nec2 essary for wildland fire suppression activities associ3 ated with the declared suppression emergency. 

4 (4) STATE, PRIVATE, AND TRIBAL LAND.—Use 

5 of the Flame Fund for catastrophic emergency 

6 wildland fire suppression activities on State and pri7 vate land and, where applicable, tribal land shall be 

8 consistent with existing agreements where the Secre9 taries have agreed to assume responsibility for 

10 wildland fire suppression activities on the land. 

11 (f) TREATMENT OF ANTICIPATED AND PREDICTED

12 ACTIVITIES.—Notwithstanding the establishment of the 

13 Flame Fund, the Secretary concerned shall continue to 

14 fund anticipated and predicted wildland fire suppression 

15 activities within the appropriate agency budget for each 

16 fiscal year. Use of the additional funding made available 

17 through the Flame Fund is intended to supplement the 

18 budgeted and appropriated agency funding and is to be 

19 used only for purposes and in instances consistent with 

20 this section. 

21 (g) PROHIBITION ON OTHER TRANSFERS.—All 

22 amounts in the Flame Fund, as well as all funds appro23 priated for the purpose of wildland fire suppression on 

24 Federal land, must be obligated before the Secretary conVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:45 Mar 06, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.IH H5541

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1 cerned may transfer funds from non-fire accounts for 

2 wildland fire suppression. 

3 (h) ACCOUNTING AND REPORTS.— 

4 (1) ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING SYSTEM.— 

5 The Secretaries shall establish an accounting and re6 porting system for the Flame Fund compatible with 

7 existing National Fire Plan reporting procedures. 

8 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretaries shall 

9 submit to the Committee on Natural Resources and 

10 the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 

11 Representatives and the Committee on Energy and 

12 Natural Resources, the Committee on Indian Af13 fairs, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

14 Senate an annual report on the use of the funds 

15 from the Flame Fund, together with any rec16 ommendations that the Secretaries may have to im17 prove the administrative control and oversight of the 

18 Flame Fund. 

19 SEC. 3. COHESIVE WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT STRAT20 EGY. 

21 (a) STRATEGY REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

23 of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall sub24 mit to Congress a report that contains a cohesive wildland 

25 fire management strategy, consistent with the recVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:45 Mar 06, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.IH H5541

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1 ommendations contained in recent Comptroller General re2 ports regarding this issue. 

3 (b) ELEMENTS OF STRATEGY.—The strategy re4 quired by subsection (a) shall address the findings of the 

5 Comptroller General in the reports referred to in such sub6 section and include the following elements: 

7 (1) A system to identify the most cost effective 

8 means for allocating fire management budget re9 sources. 

10 (2) An illustration of plans by the Secretary of 

11 the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to rein12 vest in non-fire programs. 

13 (3) A description of how the Secretaries will 

14 employ appropriate management response. 

15 (4) A system for assessing the level of risk to 

16 communities. 

17 (5) A system to ensure that the highest priority 

18 fuels reduction projects are being funded first. 

Æ 


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