Congressional Research Service Report: 'Federal Wildfire Management: Ten-Year Funding Trends & Issues'
Wildfire management is a series of coordinated activities to prepare for, resolve, and recover from wildfire events. The federal agencies responsible for wildfire management include the
Both FS and DOI generally receive annual discretionary appropriations for wildfire management activities through the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bills. Wildfire management funding for DOI is provided to the
Total combined FS and DOI wildfire appropriations fluctuated annually but increased from FY2011 to FY2020. On average, combined wildfire appropriations were
FS and DOI Wildfire Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020
Figure omitted.
The funding trends over the FY2011-FY2020 period are attributable primarily to fluctuations and increases in appropriations for suppression, which accounted for nearly half of the average annual wildfire appropriation. During this period,
In addition to regular discretionary appropriations, at times
Debates on whether, where, and how to provide additional funding for wildfire management have persisted for decades. From FY2011 to FY2020, congressional interest focused on the adequacy of program funding and the extent to which increasing suppression costs have reduced the availability of funding for other wildfire programs (and other FS or DOI programs more generally). The wildfire adjustment was intended to alleviate some of these concerns, at least temporarily. Issues pertaining to preparedness funding involve the number and effectiveness of aircraft available for wildfire suppression and the adequacy of efforts to recruit and retain federal firefighters. Issues related to fuel reduction funding include the scope and scale of fuel reduction needs, prioritization of treatments to the highest-risk locations, and effectiveness of treatments. Other wildfire funding issues include how much funding to provide for wildfire research, assistance programs, and postfire restoration.
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Contents:
Introduction ... 1
* Historical Context ... 2
Wildfire Accounts and Activities ... 3
* Suppression ... 5
- Wildland Fire Management Suppression ... 6
- FLAME Accounts ... 6
- Wildfire Adjustment ... 7
- Supplemental Appropriations ... 8
* Preparedness ... 9
* Fuel Reduction ... 10
* Other Wildfire Activities ... 11
Wildfire Appropriations Data ... 12
Issues for
* Suppression ... 19
* Preparedness ... 20
- Aviation ... 20
- Workforce ... 21
* Fuel Reduction ... 22
* Other Wildfire Activities ... 22
Figures:
Figure 1.
Figure 2. FS and DOI Wildfire Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020 ... 14
Figure 3. Regular and Supplemental Wildfire Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020 ... 15
Figure 4. Suppression Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020 ... 16
Figure 5. Distribution of FS and DOI Wildfire Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020 ... 18
Tables:
Table 1.
Table 2. FS and DOI Wildfire Appropriations by Category, FY2011-FY2020 ... 17
Table A-1.
Table A-2.
Table A-3. Combined FS and DOI Wildfire Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020 ... 29
Table B-1. Changes to the FS Wildland Fire Management Account (WFM) for Other Operations ... 31
Appendixes:
Appendix A. Detailed Wildfire Appropriations Data ... 24
Appendix B. Structural Changes to
Contacts:
Author Information ... 32
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Introduction
Wildfire (or wildland fire),/1 an unplanned and unwanted fire, can have beneficial and harmful effects on human, historical, cultural, and ecological resources. Wildfires can reduce fuel loads, increase ecosystem health and functioning, and restore fire-adapted ecosystems. At the same time, they can damage timber resources and soils, degrade water quality, and impair watershed functions. Wildfires also can damage communities, destroy homes, and lead to loss of human life.
Wildfire management is a series of coordinated activities undertaken by federal, state, and local authorities to prepare for, resolve, and recover from wildfire events. These activities generally include prevention, preparedness, suppression, and postfire site rehabilitation./2
At the federal level, prevention activities primarily focus on altering the characteristics of wildland fuels (e.g., vegetation, biomass) in an effort to mitigate the risk of catastrophic fires./3
These activities generally are referred to as fuel reduction.
A number of federal, state, and local agencies can and do respond to wildfires./4
States are responsible for responding to wildfires that begin on nonfederal (state, local, and private) lands, except for lands protected by federal agencies under cooperative agreements. The federal government is responsible for responding to wildfires that begin on federal lands. The
Sometimes more than one agency may respond, depending on where the fire occurs and spreads, the potential threats, and the expertise required. In these cases, the response is coordinated regionally through Geographic Area Coordination Centers and nationally through the National Interagency Coordination Center, based at the
Both FS and DOI generally receive annual discretionary appropriations for wildfire management activities through the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bills. Wildfire management funding for DOI is provided to the
Appropriations laws also provide funding for wildfire-related activities to agencies other than FS and DOI. For example, appropriations laws provide funding to the
This report begins with an overview of wildfire funding trends since FY1994 to provide some historical context. It focuses on data and analysis on discretionary wildfire appropriations for FS and DOI for the 10-year period from FY2011 through FY2020./8
Detailed appropriations data by agency are shown in Appendix A, but the trends and analysis generally are based on total combined appropriations to FS and DOI. For purposes of this report, FS and DOI funding is grouped in categories related to specific wildfire management activities: suppression, preparedness, fuel reduction, and other wildfire activities. The report summarizes the funding levels for each of those categories over the time period and compares the two agencies' funding structures.
The report concludes with a discussion of selected policy issues related to the four different categories of wildfire appropriations. This discussion addresses issues related to the extent to which increasing suppression costs have come at the expense of other FS or DOI programs; the size and effectiveness of aircraft for wildfire suppression; the adequacy of efforts to recruit and retain federal firefighters; the scope and scale of fuel reduction needs and how to prioritize treatments to the highest-risk locations; and how much funding to provide for wildfire research, assistance programs, and postfire restoration activities.
Historical Context
Wildfire management appropriations fluctuated annually from FY1994 through FY2020 but began to increase in the late 1990s and rose markedly after FY2000, beginning with a severe fire season in 2000 (see Figure 1). In the 20 years since FY2001, wildfire appropriations have ranged from a low of
A significant portion of the annual fluctuations and the overall increase in funding are related to rising suppression costs. Suppression costs vary considerably and may be high even during years of relatively mild wildfire activity, because these costs are driven in part by fire location and, in particular, by the proximity to populated areas.
Over time, most wildfire management funding has gone to FS, which received, on average, around 72% of total wildfire management appropriations annually from FY1994 to FY2020; DOI received the remaining 28%. From FY2011 to FY2020, FS received an even larger share--78% annually on average--whereas DOI's share decreased to 22%.
Figure 1.
Figure omitted.
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Content omitted.
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Issues for
Overall appropriations for wildfire-related activities have increased considerably since the 1990s. In FY2020, FS and DOI received the highest combined appropriation to date (
From FY2011 to FY2020,
Suppression
The impact of fire borrowing has been a topic of congressional focus. Due to the emergency nature of fire control activities, appropriations laws provide FS and DOI the authority to transfer money out of other accounts if suppression funds become depleted; this process is often referred to as fire borrowing./48
When such transfers have occurred,
The authority to access additional funds for suppression operations provides FS and DOI the flexibility to respond quickly in time-sensitive emergency situations. However, the practice has generated varied criticisms. Some critics contend the authority is too broad and could provide little incentive to manage suppression costs./50
Other critics claim fire borrowing detrimentally affects agency programs; for example, FS and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have asserted that fire borrowing disrupts FS's nonfire operations and hinders FS's ability to carry out its statutory missions./51
According to FS, borrowing from other program accounts--even when the borrowed amount is repaid in subsequent appropriations--creates uncertainty about the availability of funds and affects program implementation. In addition, some programs are time sensitive (e.g., land sales) and may suffer adverse effects (e.g., changing land prices) if and when delayed by fire transfers, according to GAO./52
Some Members of
In establishing FLAME, the conferees on the FY2010 Interior appropriations bill stated their intent that the funding in the FLAME account, together with appropriations to the WFM account, should fully fund anticipated wildfire suppression needs and prevent future borrowing of funds from nonfire programs./54
In practice, fire borrowing still occurred during the years the FLAME accounts were active (FY2010-FY2018), despite the use of this additional account for suppression operations.
The wildfire adjustment also was intended to address fire borrowing impacts. Through this mechanism, additional funds are provided for suppression operations. The wildfire adjustment, however, allows additional funding for wildfire suppression without needing to enact supplemental appropriations or borrow and then replenish other accounts. As noted, under the wildfire adjustment, any additional funding that is appropriated over the FY2015 baseline essentially would cause the discretionary spending limits to be raised, up to the specified maximum./55
This adjustment may alleviate concerns that increasing suppression costs would be funded at the expense of other programs funded through the Interior bill. However, because the statutory limits for discretionary spending are in effect only through FY2021, the wildfire adjustment will no longer apply after that date unless new limits are enacted. If new limits are statutorily established for any year between FY2022 through FY2027, then the wildfire adjustment still will apply.
Preparedness
The extent to which FS and DOI are adequately prepared for wildfire response activities has been a topic of congressional interest. Two areas of particular interest involve aviation assets and the firefighter workforce.
Aviation
A long-standing congressional focus has been the age, extent, and effectiveness of the aviation fleet (e.g., helicopters, scoopers, air tankers). In particular,
Based on that recommendation, FS released the Aerial Firefighting Use and Effectiveness (AFUE) Report in 2020./57
The 2020 report is intended to inform aviation strategies moving forward, including decisions related to the composition of the federal aviation fleet. The report identified patterns of aircraft use and established a methodology to measure and evaluate performance and outcome metrics. For example, the report found that helicopters and scoopers were commonly used to reduce fire intensity and that fixed-wing airtankers were more commonly used to reduce wildfire spread.
This situation has led to debate regarding the extent to which the government should invest in owning aviation assets versus contracting with the private sector for those services. In 2013, for example,
In FY2019, however, FS announced it no longer supported the acquisitions. The agency stated that its aviation needs could be best met through contracting with the private sector./60
Issues related to aviation contracts also have been of interest to
More specifically, the committee wanted the report to address questions related to extending aviation contracts from the current limit of five years. Providing for longer-duration contracts may provide more certainty for the private sector and may incentivize increased competition, but there may be other consequences, such as performance-related issues.
Workforce
The federal government's ability to recruit and retain firefighters has been under examination periodically since the 1990s./62
For FY2019, FS reported about 10,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) firefighting positions annually and DOI reported approximately 4,400 FTEs./63
The federal wildland firefighting workforce consists predominantly of seasonal hires. Though some seasonal positions are permanent, many are temporary positions that have to be filled annually. This situation has led to concerns about efficiency and about the recruitment and retention of firefighters, particularly when compared with employment opportunities at the state level or in the private sector. In addition, there have been concerns about succession planning, as many leadership-level employees approach retirement age.
The 2020 wildfire season exacerbated many of these concerns, as the location, severity, and extent of the wildfires exceeded interagency (federal, state, and local) firefighter capacities in many regards. For example, on
This figure included firefighting support from
In part to address some of these concerns, for FY2021, DOI requested
The funds would come from DOI's preparedness and fuels management appropriations and would fund approximately 600 FTEs.
When not working on an active fire incident, the employees would be available to assist with fuel reduction or other vegetation management projects. DOI anticipates this change could result in long-term savings related to recruitment and training costs. FS indicated it was currently studying a similar proposal, although the agency did not include such a proposal in its FY2021 budget request./66
Fuel Reduction
Funding for fuel reduction has raised several interrelated issues for
These issues include the adequacy of funding, particularly in relation to the scope of the fuel reduction needs, and the allocation of funds to areas most in need of treatment. Other issues center on the effectiveness of treatments, in terms of both cost effectiveness and ability to reduce the risks of catastrophic fires.
A 2019 GAO study examined DOI's and FS's respective fuel reduction programs from FY2009 through FY2018. GAO reported the agencies identified a combined total of 117 million acres at high or very high wildfire potential (63 million acres for FS; 54 million acres for DOI),/68 representing nearly one-fifth of the combined federal lands administered by the agencies. GAO reported the agencies accomplished a combined total of 2.5 million acres of fuel reduction treatments per year on average from FY2009 through FY2018./69
GAO and the agencies identified several issues impeding progress toward fuel reduction goals. These issues included workforce levels, funding uncertainties, and the high cost of treatments, particularly in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and other areas most in need of treatments. Other cost challenges related to the lack of a market for the biomass removed during treatments; development of such a market could improve cost efficiencies.
Other Wildfire Activities
Issues related to funding for other wildfire activities generally pertain to the adequacy of funds. Such issues include the extent to which increasing suppression costs have adversely affected funding for these programs (and other FS or DOI programs). One area of debate has been the level and type of assistance the federal government provides to support state wildfire management programs. Debate centers on whether to provide more funding and/or establish more specific programs for activities such as community-level wildfire preparedness planning, fuels management on nonfederal lands (or specifically in the WUI), the retrofitting of existing structures to improve fire resistance, and postfire recovery assistance, among others. Another focus has been the level of investment in wildfire science and research. Funding for the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP), for example, declined substantially from FY2011 to FY2020. During this period, appropriations laws did not specifically allocate FS funding for JFSP and appropriations to DOI for JFSP also declined.
Another concern relates to funding for postfire site rehabilitation or restoration, particularly on FS lands. FS has not received a specific funding allocation for those activities since FY2011 and it relies on funding from other agency program accounts. This approach is in contrast to FS's funding for site rehabilitation activities after a timber harvest, for example, where the agency is authorized to retain receipts from timber purchasers to finance reforestation or other site improvements./70
FS does have access to dedicated reforestation funding, however. Specifically, mandatory appropriations from the
Though some have called for raising the
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REPORT, FIGURES and FOOTNOTES: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46583
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