Forest Landscape Restoration and FLAME Act Funded
Last March the Omnibus Public Lands Act of 2009 was passed by Congress and signed by the President. Hidden in the package of 170 or so bills is Title IV — Forest Landscape Restoration [here].
Last week funding of (a paltry) $10 million for Title IV was approved by the House and Senate conference committee as part of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Act for 2010, H.R. 2996 [here].
Title IV — Forest Landscape Restoration calls for landscape-scale “ecosystem restoration of priority forest landscapes”. Each project must be:
(i) at least 50,000 acres;
(ii) comprised primarily of forested National Forest System land, but may also include land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or other Federal, State, tribal, or private land;
The funding language of H.R. 2996 is obtuse; the Forest Landscape Restoration funding is highlighted below:
WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT (INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
For … forest fire presuppression activities on National Forest System lands, for emergency fire suppression on or adjacent to such lands or other lands under fire protection agreement, hazardous fuels reduction on or adjacent to such lands, and for emergency rehabilitation of burned-over National Forest System lands and water, $2,103,737,000 …
Provided further, That, notwithstanding any other provision of law, $8,000,000 of funds appropriated under this appropriation shall be used for Fire Science Research in support of the Joint Fire Science Program …
Provided further, That of the funds provided, $350,285,000 is for hazardous fuels reduction activities, $11,600,000 is for rehabilitation and restoration, $23,917,000 is for research activities and to make competitive research grants pursuant to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1641 et seq.), $71,250,000 is for State fire assistance, $9,000,000 is for volunteer fire assistance, $20,752,000 is for forest health activities on Federal lands and $11,428,000 is for forest health activities on State and private lands …
Provided further, That no less than $75,000,000 in prior-year wildfire suppression balances shall be made available in addition to amounts provided in this Act for that purpose …
Provided further, That of the funds provided for hazardous fuels reduction, $10,000,000 shall be deposited in the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund for ecological restoration treatments as authorized by 16 U.S.C. 7303(f) …
Provided further, That up to $15,000,000 of the funds provided under this heading for hazardous fuels treatments may be transferred to and made a part of the “National Forest System” account at the sole discretion of the Chief 30 days after notifying the House and the Senate Committees on Appropriations …
Provided further, That up to $15,000,000 of the funds provided herein may be used by the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into procurement contracts or cooperative agreements, or issue grants, for hazardous fuels reduction activities and for training and monitoring associated with such hazardous fuels reduction activities, on Federal land, or on adjacent non-Federal land for activities that benefit resources on Federal land …
Provided further, that the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture may authorize the transfer of funds appropriated for wildland fire management, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $50,000,000, between the Departments when such transfers would facilitate and expedite jointly funded wildland fire management programs and projects:
Provided further, That of the funds provided for hazardous fuels reduction, not to exceed $5,000,000, may be used to make grants, using any authorities available to the Forest Service under the State and Private Forestry appropriation, for the purpose of creating incentives for increased use of biomass from national forest lands …
In addition, H.R. 2996 funded the FLAME Act:
FLAME WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION RESERVE FUND (INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
For deposit in the FLAME Wildfire Suppression Reserve Fund created in title V, section 502(b) of this Act, $413,000,000, to remain available until expended. …
Two FLAME funds were established, one for the Department of the Interior funded at $61 million and one for the Forest Service funded at $413 million in FY2010.
These two funds are intended to reduce the need for agencies to transfer funds to wildfire suppression from other agency programs.
