The Committee provides the leadership and technical expertise for development of policy, programmatic and operational direction, and resolution of issues as they affect Department of the Interior bureau fire programs. One IFCC responsibility is Wildland Fire Research Initiative management. The RWT is responsible for assessing Department of the Interior wildland fire program research needs, developing specific project statements of work, soliciting formal research proposals, evaluating the proposals, recommending funding, and overseeing project and initiative performance. The initiative is intended to compliment and broaden wildland fire research currently supported by the USDA Forest Service, U. S. Geological Survey, the individual bureaus within the Department of the Interior, and the Joint Fire Science Project . All projects sponsored by the IFCC must address Interior wildland fire program management problems, but can be part of an overall resource management project which involves wildland fire.
Research can address ecological as well as operational wildland fire management concerns.