Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73

§6702 Purposes

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 86— - SOUTHWEST FOREST HEALTH AND WILDFIRE PREVENTION › § 6702

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Aims to boost work that plans, tests, and updates practical, science-based ways to restore dry forests and woodlands in the interior West so severe wildfires are less likely and forest health improves. It turns research into large-scale restoration work, shares the science and social information about wildfire effects, and gives technical help. Requires the institutes created under the chapter to work with Federal agencies to use restoration treatments, and to design, carry out, monitor, and update representative wildfire treatments using adaptive management. It also helps land managers treat acres, use new technologies and training to meet the National Fire Plan and related strategy reports, supports collaborative, cost-aware restoration, and helps explain fire’s role to the public.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §6702

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The purposes of this chapter are—

(1)to enhance the capacity to develop, transfer, apply, monitor, and regularly update practical science-based forest restoration treatments that will reduce the risk of severe wildfires, and improve the health of dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West;

(2)to synthesize and adapt scientific findings from conventional research programs to the implementation of forest and woodland restoration on a landscape scale;

(3)to facilitate the transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge required to understand the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of wildfire on ecosystems and landscapes;

(4)to require the Institutes established under this chapter to collaborate with Federal agencies—

(A)to use ecological restoration treatments to reverse declining forest health and reduce the risk of severe wildfires across the forest landscape; and

(B)to design, implement, monitor, and regularly revise representative wildfire treatments based on the use of adaptive ecosystem management;

(5)to assist land managers in—

(A)treating acres with restoration-based applications; and

(B)using new management technologies (including the transfer of understandable information, assistance with environmental review, and field and classroom training and collaboration) to accomplish the goals identified in—

(i)the National Fire Plan;

(ii)the report entitled “Protecting People and Sustaining Resources in Fire-Adapted Ecosystems-A Cohesive Strategy” (65 Fed. Reg. 67480); and

(iii)the report entitled “10-Year Comprehensive Strategy: A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment” of the Western Governors’ Association;

(6)to provide technical assistance to collaborative efforts by affected entities to develop, implement, and monitor adaptive ecosystem management restoration treatments that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible; and

(7)to assist Federal and non-Federal land managers in providing information to the public on the role of fire and fire management in dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 6702

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73