I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5648 
To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to establish 
a Federal wildland fire emergency suppression fund to facilitate account-
able fire suppression activities by the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
Secretary of the Interior to unanticipated large fire events, to encourage 
enhanced management efficiencies and cost controls of wildland fire sup-
pression, and to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire to communities, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 14, 2008 
Mr. GOODLATTE (for himself, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. YOUNG of 
Alaska, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. SALAZAR, Mr. SALI, and Mr. BACA) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ag-
riculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural 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 com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 
to establish a Federal wildland fire emergency suppres-
sion fund to facilitate accountable fire suppression activi-
ties by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary 
of the Interior to unanticipated large fire events, to 
encourage enhanced management efficiencies and cost 
controls of wildland fire suppression, and to reduce the 
risk of catastrophic wildfire to communities, and for 
other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Wildland 
Fire Response Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FEDERAL WILDLAND FIRE EMERGENCY SUPPRES-
SION FUND TO COVER COSTS OF CERTAIN 
FEDERAL WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION AC-
TIVITIES. 
The Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 is 
amended by inserting after section 10A (16 U.S.C. 2106c) 
the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 10B. FEDERAL WILDLAND FIRE EMERGENCY SUP-
PRESSION FUND AND RESPONSE TO DE-
CLARED EMERGENCY WILDLAND FIRE INCI-
DENTS. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE MANAGEMENT RESPONSE.— 
The term ‘appropriate management response’ means 
a response plan to a wildland fire, based on an eval-
uation of risks to firefighter and public safety, land 
and resource and fire management objectives, re-
source availability, the circumstances under which 
the fire occurs, including weather and fuel condi-
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tions, protection priorities, values to be protected, 
and cost effectiveness. 
‘‘(2) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’ means the Committee on Agriculture, the 
Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on the 
Budget, and the Committee on Natural Resources of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the Committee 
on Appropriations, the Committee on the Budget, 
and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-
sources of the Senate. 
‘‘(3) DECLARED EMERGENCY WILDLAND FIRE 
INCIDENT.—The term ‘declared emergency wildland 
fire incident’ means a wildland fire incident declared 
by the Secretary concerned under subsection (c). 
‘‘(4) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Fed-
eral Wildland Fire Emergency Suppression Fund es-
tablished by subsection (b). 
‘‘(5) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘Sec-
retary concerned’ means the Secretary of Agri-
culture or the Secretary of the Interior. 
‘‘(6) WILDLAND FIRE OPERATIONS.—The term 
‘wildland fire operations’ means those predictable ac-
tivities of the Secretary concerned that are typically 
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performed annually as part of wildland fire pre-
paredness, anticipated wildland fire suppression 
workload, and wildland fire operations, including 
burned area emergency rehabilitation, associated 
with a wildland fire incident that does not meet the 
criteria specified in subsection (c). 
‘‘(b) FEDERAL WILDLAND FIRE EMERGENCY SUP-
PRESSION FUND.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 
the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 
known as the ‘Federal Wildland Fire Emergency 
Suppression Fund’, which shall be available to the 
Secretary concerned, subject to subsection (d), to 
cover the costs of Federal wildland fire suppression 
activities associated with a declared emergency 
wildland fire incident. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The Fund shall consist of 
the following: 
‘‘(A) Amounts appropriated to the Fund. 
‘‘(B) Other emergency funds appropriated 
for wildland fire suppression activities that the 
Secretary concerned transfers to the Fund. 
‘‘(C) Subject to subsection (f)(3), other 
funds transferred to the Fund. 
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‘‘(D) Interest earned on amounts in the 
Fund. 
‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts in the Fund 
shall remain available until expended. 
‘‘(c) DECLARED EMERGENCY WILDLAND FIRE INCI-
DENTS.— 
‘‘(1) CRITERIA FOR DECLARATION.—The Sec-
retary concerned may declare a wildland fire incident 
to be a declared emergency wildland fire incident for 
which the costs of wildland fire suppression activities 
may be covered using amounts in the Fund if the 
Secretary concerned— 
‘‘(A) has wildland fire suppression respon-
sibilities for the incident that may be stipulated 
in a cooperative agreement; and 
‘‘(B) determines, taking into consideration 
the appropriate management response, that the 
incident meets either of the following criteria: 
‘‘(i) 
SIZE
AND
SEVERITY.—The 
wildland fire incident— 
‘‘(I) is at least 300 acres in size 
or involves multiple fire incidents; and 
‘‘(II) has the potential for ex-
treme fire behavior. 
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‘‘(ii) THREAT.—The wildland fire inci-
dent has the potential for loss of lives, 
public and private property, watersheds, 
wildlife, particularly endangered or threat-
ened species and their habitat, or severe 
immediate economic impact to local com-
munities. 
‘‘(2) DELEGATION OF DECLARATION AUTHOR-
ITY.—A declared emergency wildland fire incident 
shall be made only by the Secretary concerned or a 
designee of the Secretary at the subcabinet level. 
‘‘(d) ANNUAL CONDITION ON USE OF FUND.—The 
Secretary concerned may only access the Fund during a 
fiscal year if the budget submitted to Congress under sec-
tion 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, for that fiscal 
year requested funds for the Secretary concerned for 
wildland fire operations in an amount not less than the 
10-fiscal year average of expenditures for wildland fire op-
erations by the Secretary concerned. 
‘‘(e) REPORTS ON FUND ACTIVITIES.—The Secre-
taries concerned shall submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a joint report every six months detailing 
all expenditures from and deposits to the Fund during the 
preceding six-month period, including a detailed account-
ing of expenditures associated with each declared emer-
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gency wildland fire incident. Each report shall also be 
made available to the public. 
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Fund 
such amounts as are necessary to maintain the 
Fund at a level equal to the average annual costs in-
curred by the Secretaries concerned over the pre-
ceding five fiscal years for declared emergency 
wildland fire incidents. If the five fiscal years used 
in determining the average includes a fiscal year 
that began before the date of the enactment of the 
Emergency Wildland Fire Response Act of 2008, the 
Secretaries concerned shall prepare an estimate for 
that fiscal year of what the costs would have been 
for declared emergency wildland fire incidents had 
this section been in effect. 
‘‘(2) NOTICE OF INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.—The 
Secretaries concerned shall notify the appropriate 
congressional committees whenever only an esti-
mated two months worth of funding remains in the 
Fund or for wildland fire operations of the Secre-
taries. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON TRANSFERS FROM NON- 
FIRE PROGRAM ACCOUNTS.—In addition to other re-
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quirements applicable to the reprogramming of 
funds, the Secretary concerned shall not transfer 
funds from non-fire program accounts to cover 
wildland fire suppression expenses unless the Fund 
or amounts available for wildland fire operations for 
that fiscal year have been depleted and a formal re-
quest to replenish the Fund or provide additional 
amounts for wildland fire operations, whichever has 
been depleted, has been submitted to the Committee 
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 
and the Senate. 
‘‘(g) PROMOTION
OF
COST
CONTAINMENT
IN 
WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION.— 
‘‘(1) TRANSFER OF EXCESS FUNDS FOR REFOR-
ESTATION.—Subject to such limitations as may be 
provided in appropriation Acts, the Secretary con-
cerned may transfer any funds of the Secretary con-
cerned for wildland fire operations that remain avail-
able at the end of a fiscal year to support reforest-
ation and rehabilitation of forests following wildland 
fires. Such funds may only be expended in those 
areas where the wildland fire suppression expendi-
tures were below the stratified cost index, or equiva-
lent measure, as determined by the Secretary con-
cerned. In this paragraph, the term ‘stratified cost 
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index’ means a measure that compares actual ex-
penditures in connection with a wildfire incident to 
the expenditures one would expect given certain 
characteristics of the wildland fire, such as size, con-
ditions, fuel type, or proximity to communities. 
‘‘(2) REVIEW
OF
CERTAIN
FIRES.—The Sec-
retary concerned shall conduct a review, using inde-
pendent panels, of each wildfire incident that results 
in expenses to the Secretary concerned of greater 
than $10,000,000. The Secretary concerned shall 
submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
a report containing the results of each review.’’. 
SEC. 3. REDUCING THE RISK OF WILDFIRES TO PEOPLE, 
PROPERTY, 
AND 
WATERSHEDS 
IN 
FIRE- 
READY COMMUNITIES. 
Section 10 of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance 
Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2106) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub-
section (h); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol-
lowing new subsection (g): 
‘‘(g) SUPPORT FOR FIRE-READY COMMUNITIES.— 
‘‘(1) FIRE-READY
COMMUNITY
DEFINED.—In 
this subsection, the term ‘fire-ready community’ 
means a community that— 
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‘‘(A) is located within a priority area iden-
tified pursuant to subsection (b); 
‘‘(B) has a cooperative fire agreement that 
articulates the roles and responsibilities for 
Federal, State and local government entities in 
local wildfire suppression and protection; 
‘‘(C) has local codes that require fire-re-
sistant home design and building materials; or 
‘‘(D) has a community wildfire protection 
plan (as defined in section 101 of the Healthy 
Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 
6502)) or similar plan acceptable to the Sec-
retary of Agriculture. 
‘‘(2) FIRE RISK MAPPING.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of the Emer-
gency Wildland Fire Response Act of 2008, the Sec-
retary shall develop a national map of landscape 
areas most at risk of wildfire and in need of haz-
ardous fuel treatment and maintenance. The map 
shall identify priority areas for hazardous fuels re-
duction projects, including— 
‘‘(A) at-risk communities in fire-prone 
areas of the wildland-urban interface (as de-
fined in section 101 of the Healthy Forests 
Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6502)); 
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‘‘(B) watersheds and municipal drinking 
water sources; 
‘‘(C) emergency evacuation corridors; and 
‘‘(D) electricity transmission corridors. 
‘‘(3) 
PRIORITY
FOR
FIRE-READY
COMMU-
NITIES.—In allocating funds under this section and 
other provisions of this Act and Healthy Forests 
Restoration Act of 2003 under which the Secretary 
provides resources to local communities for wildland 
fire activities, the Secretary shall give priority to 
fire-ready communities. 
‘‘(4) LOCAL
WILDLAND
FIREFIGHTING
CAPA-
BILITY GRANTS.— 
‘‘(A) GRANTS AVAILABLE.—The Secretary 
may provide cost-share grants to fire-ready 
communities to increase their capacity to de-
fend the community from wildland fire and to 
provide initial attack suppression response for 
cross-boundary efforts adjacent to National 
Forest System lands. 
‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Grant funds 
may be used for the following: 
‘‘(i) Education programs to raise 
awareness of homeowners and citizens 
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about wildland fire protection practices, in-
cluding FireWise or similar programs. 
‘‘(ii) Training programs for local fire-
fighters on wildland firefighting techniques 
and approaches. 
‘‘(iii) Equipment acquisition to facili-
tate wildland fire preparedness. 
‘‘(iv) Implementation of a community 
wildfire protection plan or similar plan. 
‘‘(v) Such other activities as the Sec-
retary may authorize. 
‘‘(C) 
AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 
to the Secretary to carry out this section such 
sums as may be necessary. 
‘‘(5) WILDLAND
FIRE
COST-SHARE
AGREE-
MENTS.—In developing any wildland fire cost-share 
agreement with a State Forester or equivalent offi-
cial, the Secretary shall, to the greatest extent pos-
sible, encourage the State and local communities in-
volved to become fire-ready communities. When de-
termining 
cost-sharing 
responsibilities 
in 
any 
wildland fire cost-share agreement with a State For-
ester or equivalent official, the Secretary shall con-
sider whether communities participating in the 
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agreement have become or are taking steps to be-
come fire-ready communities.’’. 
SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PARTNERSHIPS TO 
REDUCE HAZARDOUS FUELS ON NATIONAL 
FOREST SYSTEM LANDS. 
Section 10A of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance 
Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2106c) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (e); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing new subsection (d): 
‘‘(d) GOOD NEIGHBOR PARTNERSHIPS.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) CONTRACT.—The term ‘contract’ 
means any contracting authority available to 
the Secretary of Agriculture, including a sole 
source contract or other agreement for the mu-
tual benefit of the Secretary and a State For-
ester or equivalent official. 
‘‘(B) GOOD
NEIGHBOR
PROJECT.—The 
term ‘good neighbor project’ means any project 
on National Forest System land that— 
‘‘(i) meets the requirements for haz-
ardous fuels reduction projects under sub-
sections (a), (d), (e), and (f) of section 102 
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of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (16 
U.S.C. 6512) and would reduce risk of 
wildland fire or risk of insect or disease in-
festation to adjacent lands; or 
‘‘(ii) would improve watersheds or fish 
and wildlife habitat on National Forest 
System land and adjacent lands. 
‘‘(2) PARTNERSHIP
AUTHORITY.—The Sec-
retary may enter into contracts or cooperative agree-
ments with a State Forester, or equivalent official, 
to prepare and implement good neighbor projects on 
National Forest System land to complement any 
similar project being performed on bordering or ad-
jacent non-Federal land. The decision to proceed 
with a good neighbor project is in the Secretary’s 
sole discretion. 
‘‘(3) STATE FORESTER OR EQUIVALENT OFFI-
CIAL AS AGENT.—A cooperative agreement or con-
tract under paragraph (2) may authorize the State 
Forester or equivalent official to serve as the agent 
for the Secretary in providing all services necessary 
to facilitate the performance of good neighbor 
projects, except that any decision with respect to a 
good neighbor project required to be made under the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
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U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) may not be delegated to a 
State Forester or equivalent official or any officer or 
employee of the State Forester or equivalent official. 
‘‘(4) 
PROJECT
REQUIREMENTS.—In 
imple-
menting any good neighbor project, the Secretary 
shall ensure that— 
‘‘(A) the project is consistent with the ap-
plicable land and resource management plan de-
veloped under section 6 of the Forest and 
Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 
of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604); and 
‘‘(B) the project improves the cost effi-
ciency of managing the National Forest System 
land covered by the project, as determined by 
the Secretary. 
‘‘(5) 
PRIORITY
FOR
COLLABORATIVE 
PROJECTS.—The Secretary shall give priority to 
good neighbor projects that are— 
‘‘(A) developed in collaboration with non- 
governmental entities; 
‘‘(B) consistent with a community wildfire 
protection plan (as defined in section 101 of the 
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 
U.S.C. 6502)); or 
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‘‘(C) prepared in a manner consistent with 
the Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive 
Strategy for a Collaborative Approach for Re-
ducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities 
and the Environment, dated May 2002, devel-
oped pursuant to the conference report to ac-
company the Department of the Interior and 
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 
(House Report No. 106–64), and subsequent 
revisions of the implementation plan. 
‘‘(6) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—Subsections 
(d) and (g) of section 14 of the National Forest 
Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a) shall not 
apply to a contract or other agreement under this 
subsection. 
‘‘(7) SUBCONTRACTING BY A STATE FORESTER 
OR
EQUIVALENT
OFFICIAL.—A State Forester or 
equivalent official may subcontract to the extent al-
lowed by State and local law to prepare or imple-
ment a contract or other agreement under this sub-
section.’’. 
Æ 
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