1998 Explana Notes USDA Forest Service Gypsy moth management activities continue, and Cooperative Forestry's Forest Stewardship This program component also provides limited In FY 1996, Cooperative Financial assistance for prevention and suppression is provided to State agencies based on the following cost share rates: 25 percent on non-federal public lands, 33 1/3 percent on industrial lands, and 50 percent on nonindustrial private lands. This component Surveys and Technical Assistance: The proposed program level will increase financial assistance and strengthen cooperative programs with States. Emphasis on region-wide gypsy moth concerns will continue. Forest health monitoring activities will provide full coverage of 60% forestlands in the contiguous U.S., compared to a projection of 53% in FY 1997. These activities will gather critical forest health information necessary to monitor and evaluate changes in the health of the Nation's forests. Prevention and Suppression: The proposed program level will meet the federal share of the majority of the anticipated high priority prevention and suppression needs on cooperative lands. State and private landowners will be responsible for funding any remaining suppression needs. 1998 Explanatory Notes Cooperative Lands anrement USDA, Forest Service Objectives To maximize efficiency in protecting America's wildlands from fire through cooperative protection of non-federal wildlands and rural lands. To cooperate, participate, and consult with the States on fire protection for non-federal wildlands and other rural lands. To promote State, local, and citizen driven solutions to fire protection needs in the wildland/urban interface areas. • Program Description The Cooperative Fire Protection (CFP) program helps protect over 1 billion acres of non-federal lands from wildfire. States and their political subdivisions have the primary responsibility for basic fire protection. The CFP program extends Forest Service technical and related assistance to help States efficiently and adequately protect non-federal wildlands and rural areas. CFP provides program assistance to improve efficiencies of States' basic protection program. Shared fire protection resources are developed and maintained among federal, State, and local agencies for more cost effective operations and mobilization. Technologies and information are developed and exchanged among federal and State organizations. Information management services collate consistent historical data for planning and analysis, program assessment, and efficiency studies. The CFP program consists of: Wildland Fire Protection: This program component provides federal technical and related assistance in fire protection for non-federal wildlands, to increase local, rural, and State capabilities for coordinated fire suppression preparedness and mobilization for federal and non-federal lands. Analysis and planning helps States determine the efficient use of available resources, and identify steps to implement and maintain efficient levels of fire protection. These activities are vitally important given the continued high level of fire potential in certain parts of the country. This is underscored by expected reductions in federal firefighter forces available to provide assistance on private land due to overall workforce reductions and budget pressures. Federal Excess Personal Property: Through this program component, the Forest Service expedites loans of excess federal personal property to State Foresters and rural communities for their fire protection programs. These activities provide vital resources to local fire departments, which rely heavily on the program for much of their equipment needs, and which have received federal excess personal property valued at over $700 million. A wide variety of military equipment, cargo trucks, fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, and automobiles are converted for fire protection applications. Shortages of some types of property, such as helicopters and vehicles, mandate that federal excess personal property equipment be assigned to maximize potential benefits. Project and program management plans and analysis within the States support this assignment. Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention: This program component provides a nationwide fire prevention program through public service advertising, educational and special prevention activities, licensing awards, corporate partnerships, and coordination and cooperation with other organizations to deliver the wildland fire prevention message. The Smokey Bear program is a component of this effort. The combination of increased State funding and direct federal financial and technical assistance to States under this program has been successful in significantly reducing the number of acres burned. The average annual acreage burned on State and private lands between 1959-1990 has been about 3 million acres, compared with an annual average of 36.5 million acres between 1924-1940, which was the first period of federal participation in State fire protection programs. 1998 Explanatory Notes USDA, Forest Service Wildfire Coordinating Group. Training in the use of the National Interagency Incident Management System, a total systems approach that includes the Incident Command System (ICS), will remain an important component. Acquisition and management of Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) will continue as a key element for more efficient State wildland and rural community fire protection. Volume of materials transferred through the FEPP varies in relation to the volume of federal property designated as surplus in any given year, with an average annual value of $115 million over the past five years. The program will continue to use and promote Smokey Bear as an effective fire prevention symbol, while expanding public education about the value of controlled fire as a tool in the management of ecosystems. 1998 Explanatory Notes USDA Forest Service management practices that ensure healthy sustainable forests. The Forest Service provides national leadership and serves as a technical resource to States for silviculture and other resource management practices. Each federal dollar supporting this program component is matched by the States. Most of the Nation's NIPF land is harvested without the benefit of technical forestry advice and assistance. Without this assistance, NIPF lands are frequently subject to poor resource management practices resulting in timber harvest with little regard for other forest resources including soil and water quality, the composition of tree species that will occupy the site in the future, wildlife habitats, and the monetary value of the residual stand as well as the monetary value of forest products removed during harvesting. With assistance provided, forestry professionals work with NIPF landowners to implement Best (forestry) Management Practices that maximize benefits to the landowner while protecting resource values on-site as well as water quality downstream. As a result of receiving professional forestry assistance prior to timber harvest, NIPF landowners are in a better position to make informed decisions that not only advance their personal interests but also maintain or improve the quality of the Nation's environment and supply of forest products. Studies have shown that NIPF landowners increased their economic return by 20 percent when they received professional technical assistance before harvesting. Forest Stewardship: This component assists NIPF landowners, on a voluntary, non-regulatory basis, in developing long-term Forest Stewardship Plans to guide the management of their forests and related resources. Through this process more options for improved practices related to resources such as soil and water, wildlife, recreation, agroforestry, and aesthetics are considered and balanced with the landowners' commodity goals, if any. Most landowners rely on technical assistance from State forestry personnel to help them protect and sustain their forest resources, and some also seek advice from consultants. Forest Stewardship Plans are implemented by landowners through approved multi-resource management practices. These are accomplished by landowner investments supplemented by various USDA conservation cost-sharing programs, such as the Forestry Incentives, Stewardship Incentive, Environmental Quality Incentives, and Conservation Reserve programs as well as through other State, local, and non-governmental incentive programs that may be available. A review of these programs revealed no direct overlap among them. A Forest Stewardship Plan is a mandatory prerequisite for cost-share funding for conservation practices through the Stewardship Incentive Program (SIP - see following section on the SIP budget). The Forest Stewardship Program provides assistance in developing multi-resource forest stewardship plans, whereas, the SIP programs provides cost-share assistance to carryout the implementation of the practices identified in approved plans. From the beginning of the program through Fiscal Year 1996, the Forest Stewardship Program has assisted approximately 120,800 landowners in developing Forest Stewardship Plans for over 14.6 million acres. Each federal dollar supporting this program component is matched by the State. Seedlings, Nursery, and Tree Improvement: This component provides assistance to States for tree improvement, nursery, and tree distribution efforts. The program is directed toward upgrading the quality of nursery operations and producing trees that are locally adaptable and improved in growth, form, resistance to insects and diseases, and wood quality. Over 85 State forest nurseries produce about 30 percent of the total forest seedling supply in the United States. State nurseries are the primary source of tree seedlings reforesting NIPF lands. Meeting the Nation's projected timber demand from nonindustrial private lands requires large increases in reforestation. Use of locally adapted, high quality, and genetically improved planting stock results in higher survival rates and in faster growing trees to meet future demand. Without improved planting stock, returns to landowners will decline, resulting in a diminished financial ability to reinvest in the forest resources. Each federal dollar supporting this program component is matched by the State. |