In recent years it has become clear that past fire suppression policies have not worked as effectively as was once thought. In fact, they have had major unintended consequences, particularly on federally owned lands. For decades the federal wildland fire community followed a policy of suppressing all wildland fires as soon as possible. As a result, over the years, the accumulations of brush, small trees, and other hazardous vegetation (underbrush) in these areas increased substantially. Since about one-third of all land in the United States is federally owned and consists largely of forests, grasslands, or other vegetation, the widespread buildup of this underbrush has created a national problem. Today, when a fire starts on federal lands, accumulated underbrush could act as fuel that leads to larger and more intense fires than would otherwise be the case. Accumulated underbrush, in turn, causes fires to spread more rapidly. This combination of factors greatly heightens the potential for fires to become catastrophic. As several recent studies have pointed out, without changes in the way federal agencies prepare for and respond to wildland fires, communities that border fire-prone lands—commonly known as the wildland-urban interface—will increasingly be at risk for fire damage. The 2000 fire season demonstrated the impact of past fire policies. In that year one of the most challenging on record large numbers of intense and catastrophic fires frequently surpassed the fire-fighting capacities of federal, state, and local agencies. Many of these fires became the out-of- control disasters that routinely led national television news broadcasts as they threatened or damaged the communities in their path. While most of these fires occurred in western states, other areas of the country were also affected. These recent experiences have led the fire-fighting community across the country and policymakers at all levels of government to call for federal action to help mitigate this growing threat. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are the two major federal land management fire-fighting agencies. The Forest Service manages about 192 million acres of land in 155 national forests and grasslands, and the Bureau of Land Management manages about 264 million acres of land. Also involved are the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Fish and Wildlife Service within the Department of the Interior. Together, these agencies are caretakers of over one-third of all the land in the United States. The five land management agencies developed the National Fire Plan. The plan consists of five key initiatives: Firefighting—Ensure adequate preparedness for future fire seasons, Rehabilitation and Restoration—Restore landscapes and rebuild communities damaged by wildland fires, Hazardous Fuel Reduction—Invest in projects to reduce fire risk, Community Assistance—Work directly with communities to ensure Accountability—Be accountable, and establish adequate oversight and monitoring for results. The plan is expected to be a long-term effort to be implemented over a 10- year period. While the agencies are to use funding provided under the National Fire Plan to implement all five aspects of the Plan, they are to use the majority of these funds to increase their capacity for fire-fighting preparedness and suppression by acquiring and maintaining additional personnel and equipment. Agencies use preparedness funding at the beginning of each fire season to place fire-fighting resources in locations where they can most effectively respond to fires that start on federal lands. Agencies use fire suppression funding to control and extinguish wildland fires. This effort includes supporting fire-fighting personnel and equipment on the fire line and at the established fire camp. The Forest Service and Interior have not effectively determined the level of fire-fighting personnel and equipment they need to fight wildland fires. As a result, they may not be as prepared as they could be to manage fires safely and cost-effectively. In managing wildland fires, the agencies rely primarily on (1) fire management plans, which contain information on how wildland fires should be fought, and (2) computer planning models that use the planning information to identify the most efficient level of personnel and equipment needed to safely and effectively fight fires. Of the five major federal land management agencies, only the Bureau of Land Management has fully complied with the fire policy requirement that all burnable acres have fire management plans. Furthermore, even though the fire policy calls for the agencies to coordinate their efforts, the Forest Service and Interior use three different computer planning models to determine the personnel and equipment needed to achieve their fire- fighting preparedness goals. Moreover, none of the models focus on the goals of protecting communities at the wildland-urban interface or fighting fires that go across the administrative boundaries of the federal agencies. Since 1995, the national fire policy has stated that fire management plans are critical in determining fire-fighting preparedness needs that is, the number and types of personnel and equipment needed to respond to and suppress fires when they first break out. Among other things, fire management plans identify the level of risk associated with each burnable acre including areas bordering the wildland-urban interface and set forth the objectives that a local forest, park, or other federal land unit is trying to achieve with fire. The plans provide direction on the level of suppression needed and whether a fire should be allowed to burn as a natural event to either regenerate ecosystems or reduce fuel loading in areas with large amounts of underbrush. In addition, fire management plans provide information that is entered into computer planning models to identify the level of personnel and equipment needed to effectively fight fires and ultimately help to identify the funding needed to support those resources. As of September 30, 2001, 6 years after the national fire policy was developed, over 50 percent of all federal areas that were to have a fire management plan consistent with the requirements of the national fire policy were without a plan. These areas did not meet the policy’s requirements because they either had no plans or had plans that were out of date with the policy requirements because, among other things, they did not address fighting fires at the wildland-urban interface. Table 1 shows, as of September 30, 2001, the Bureau of Land Management was the only agency with all of its acreage covered by a fire management plan that was compliant with the policy. In contrast, the percent of units with noncompliant plans ranged from 38 percent at the Fish and Wildlife Service to 82 percent at the National Park Service. When we asked fire managers why fire management plans were out of date or nonexistent, they most often told us that higher priorities precluded them from providing the necessary resources to prepare and update the plans. Without a compliant fire management plan, some of these fire managers told us that their local unit was following a full suppression strategy in fighting wildland fires, as the current fire policy requires. That is, they extinguish all wildland fires as quickly as possible regardless of where they are without considering other fire management options that may be more efficient and less costly. Other fire managers told us that while their fire management plans were not in compliance with the national policy, they were still taking action to ensure their day-to-day fire- fighting strategy was following the more important principles outlined in the current policy, such as addressing the fire risks around communities in the wildland-urban interface. A January 2000 Forest Service report clearly demonstrates the importance of adequate fire management planning in determining the level of fire- fighting personnel and equipment needed. In this report, Forest Service officials analyzed the management of two large wildland fires in California that consumed 227,000 acres and cost about $178 million to contain. Fire managers at these fires did not have fire management plans that complied with the national fire policy. The report stated that a compliant fire management plan would have made a difference in the effectiveness of the suppression efforts. For example, without a fire management plan, the local fire managers were not provided with a “let burn” option. Had this option been available, it could have reduced the need for personnel and equipment for one of the fires and lowered total suppression costs. The Forest Service and Interior acknowledge the need to complete and update their fire management plans. Both agencies have initiatives underway in response to the renewed emphasis on fire management planning under the National Fire Plan. Specifically, the agencies are developing consistent procedures and standards for fire management planning that will assist local units in their efforts to have fire management plans that are in compliance with the national fire policy. The agencies are expected to have a strategy in place by the spring of 2002 for accomplishing this objective. However, developing the procedures and standards and incorporating them into fire management plans at all local units is not likely to occur until 2003, at the earliest. Because it has been 7 years since the 1995 policy first directed agencies to complete their fire management plans, and the agencies have given the issue low priority, it is critical that the Forest Service and Interior complete this initiative as expeditiously as possible. Fire management planning decisions about the amount and types of personnel and equipment needed to reach a given level of fire-fighting preparedness are based on computer planning models that the Forest Service and the Interior agencies have developed. The national fire policy directs the agencies to conduct fire management planning on a coordinated, interagency basis using compatible planning processes that address all fire-related activities without regard to the administrative boundaries of each agency. This level of interagency coordination is not now being achieved because of historical differences in the missions of the five land management agencies. The Forest Service and Interior agencies are currently using three different computer planning models to identify the personnel and equipment needed to respond to and suppress wildland fires. As a result, each model reflects different fire-fighting objectives and approaches in calculating the level of resources needed to fight fires safely and cost-effectively in terms of its own mission and responsibilities. This disparate approach is inconsistent with the current national fire management policy, which calls upon the agencies to use a coordinated and consistent approach to fire management planning. More importantly, each of the models only considers the fire-fighting resources available on the lands for which the agency has direct fire protection responsibilities.