§6701 Findings

Summary

It finds that wildfire risk is growing across millions of acres of forest and rangeland in the United States, especially in the interior West. At least 39,000,000 acres of National Forest System land there are at high risk. During fiscal years 1990 through 1994, an average of 95 percent of Forest Service wildfire suppression spending went to the interior West. Wildfires there are getting larger and more severe. In Arizona and New Mexico, 59 percent and 56 percent respectively of National Forest timberland has trees averaging 9 to 12 inches in diameter at breast height. The interior West’s population grew twice as fast as the national average in the 1990s. Catastrophic wildfires endanger homes and communities, damage watersheds and soils, and threaten habitat for threatened and endangered species. A 1994 forest health study said only a 15- to 30-year window existed for effective action, and 8 years of that window had already passed. Healthy forests reduce fire risk, help wildlife and biodiversity, raise plant productivity, protect watersheds, improve the environment, and support sustainable uses. Preventing severe fires and allowing natural, low-intensity ground fires is needed. That requires cutting excess fuels and thinning subdominant trees, which may have commercial value. Large-scale, ecology-based restoration will improve protection, lower suppression and rehab costs, and protect forests for future generations. But scientific knowledge about landscape-scale treatments is limited, so rigorous, clear, and applied science must be developed for designing, carrying out, monitoring, adapting, reviewing, and collaborating on these treatments.