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Testimony for the Record
House Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
James B. Hull
President
National Association of State Foresters
March 16, 2006
INTRODUCTION
The National
Association of State Foresters (NASF) is pleased to provide testimony on
the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) budget request for Fiscal Year 2007.
Representing the directors of state forestry agencies from all fifty
states, eight U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, our
testimony centers around those program areas most relevant to the
long-term forestry operations of our constituents. State and Private
Forestry programs multiply the public benefits of federal funding by
leveraging in-kind contributions through cost-share programs and
matching funds from states. These programs assist private landowners in
providing society with such public benefits as clean water, wildlife
habitat, carbon sequestration, and flood control. Wildland Fire
Management supports essential State and Private Forestry and federal
programs that address wildland fire.
Our recommendations include restoring
funding to our top three priorities (State Fire Assistance, Cooperative
Forest Health Management, and Urban and Community Forestry) and
discussing other opportunities for Congress to further the advancement
of sustainable management on both public and private forestlands
nationwide.
sTATE
AND
PRIVATE FORESTRY programs
State
Fire
Assistance (SFA)
State Fire Assistance (SFA) provides crucial financial and technical
assistance to states and local fire departments for wildland fire
management. SFA helps to ensure preparedness of local resources, which
serve as the first line of defense for their forests and communities.
These fire fighting resources function as both “first responders” for
local incidents and as “ready reserves” for large federally managed
catastrophic fires. Further, SFA is the only federal program that
currently provides funding for fuel reduction work on non-federal lands,
regardless of their proximity to federal lands. It is also one of the
few programs that helps communities develop Community Wildfire
Protection Plans, which are an important component of the Healthy
Forests Restoration Act. SFA also helps prepare states for dealing with
non-fire emergencies, such as hurricane recovery and other all-hazard
events.
SFA provides
the flexibility to meet different state needs, which may include
firefighting preparedness, firefighter training, fire suppression, and
hazardous fuel reduction, Community Wildfire Protection Plans, as well
as prevention activities.
SFA is funded under both Cooperative Fire Protection
(State and Private Forestry) and Wildland Fire Management in the Forest
Service budget. Funds under State and Private Forestry are used to help
states increase preparedness at the local level through training,
coordination, and communication to local firefighters. Funding under
Wildland Fire Management is used for both preparedness and hazard
mitigation. Reducing these funds would seriously hamper the states’
ability to treat hazardous fuels on private lands and to work with
communities to complete Community Wildfire Protection Plans.
NASF recommends
increased funding for State Fire Assistance at $35 million under
Cooperative Fire Protection and $55 million under Wildland Fire
Management. Increasing funding for these line items will provide
continued protection for local communities from catastrophic wildland
fires, many of which originate on federal lands.
Cooperative
Forest
Health Management
The
Cooperative Forest Health Management program provides funding assistance
to address forest health issues on non-federal forestland. Cooperative
Forest Health Management activities include prevention, detection, and
suppression of damaging insects, diseases, and plants. Every year, the
American public loses billions of dollars to damage by invasive species
and the cost of insect and disease detection and control. To illustrate
the extent of the cost, the potential losses from damage by one insect
pest, the emerald ash borer, are $25 million in ash timber and an
additional $20 to $60 billion in street tree losses across the nation.
The Cooperative Forest Health Management program assists in the
development and application of new technologies that mitigate these
forest health concerns and reduce public expenses.
Forest
pests know no land ownership boundaries and often move to and from
federal lands. These funds, from both State and Private Forestry (S&PF)
and Wildland Fire Management, are critical to the maintenance of healthy
and sustainable forests.
Funding for Cooperative Forest Health
Management under Wildland Fire Management is used primarily for forest
insect and disease mitigation in high hazard areas, such as forests at
high risk of fire or those recently burned and susceptible to insect and
disease attack. Funding under State and Private Forestry provides
states with support for prevention, detection, and suppression of
harmful insects and diseases.
NASF recommends
funding S&PF Cooperative Forest Health Management at the FY 2006 level
of $48 million to provide the tools needed to address forest health
issues across the many non-federal forest types and ownerships in the
United States.
NASF also recommends
$10 million to continue level support for Cooperative Forest Health
Management under Wildland Fire Management to address forest health
problems that increase the risk of catastrophic wildland fire.
Cooperative Forest Health Management funds help states achieve the goals
of the Healthy Forests Initiative by restoring healthy forests across
ownership types.
Urban
and
Community Forestry
The Urban and Community Forestry
program provides technical and financial assistance to promote the
stewardship of urban and community trees and
forest resources. The program leverages existing local efforts
that help urban areas and rural communities manage, maintain, and
improve their tree cover and green spaces. Such efforts emphasize the
vital connection between human and natural environments, and create
social and aesthetic benefits. These efforts also reduce energy
consumption, create healthier human environments, and reduce the
prevalence and severity of flooding in our communities.
NASF worked with the
Forest Service to develop a new allocation formula to distribute funding
among the states and territories. This new formula more closely aligns
state funding allocation with program goals and objectives.
NASF recommends
funding the Urban and Community Forestry program at the FY 2003 level of
$36 million to enhance the quality of life for communities in urban and
rural areas.
Forest
Inventory
and
Analysis (FIA)
The
Forest Inventory and Analysis program provides crucial forest
information to policy makers and land managers, enabling them to make
informed decisions about our nation’s forested lands. FIA data
provides users with relevant information on the condition, extent, use,
and health of forests across ownerships.
Because of this benchmark
accomplishment, FIA must continue to provide essential inventory data
for addressing long-term forest management needs. Funding for FIA from
State and Private Forestry is essential for supporting state inventory
crews, an integral component of the program. NASF recommends
funding FIA at $60 million through Research and Development and $5
million through State and Private Forestry, for a total of $65 million.
The program must continue to advance
toward full implementation in all states. Together with a
well-funded research program, FIA will continue to provide essential
inventory data for addressing long-term forest management needs.
Forest
Stewardship Program
The
Forest Stewardship Program continues to serve as the primary program for
promoting sustainable forest management on family forest lands. Since
its inception in 1991, the Forest Stewardship Program has turned out
240,000 Stewardship Plans covering 30 million acres. By expanding the
sustainable management of private forest land, the public receives an
array of benefits including increased water quality, improved plant and
animal habitat, carbon sequestration, and wood products that support
local economies. NASF recommends increasing funding to meet the
President’s FY 2006 request of $37 for the Forest Stewardship Program.
We encourage efforts to better target the delivery of the Forest
Stewardship Program in order to focus on priority resources concerns.
OTHER FEDERAL
PROGRAMS
Federal Wildland
fire management
NASF recommends continued funding of
federal wildland fire management at the 10-year average. Funding is
integral to rapid suppression of small fires before they grow into large
and costly fires. The increasing costs of wildfires – due mainly to
drought, fuel accumulation, and the rapid expansion of the
wildland-urban interface – makes adequate suppression funding critical.
We support continued funding for preparedness, fire operations, and
hazardous fuels treatment on federal land, including the $15 million
provided under State and Private Forestry appropriations that may be
used on non-federal land to protect communities at risk from adjacent
USFS lands where hazard reduction activities are planned.
DOI conservation
grant programs
NASF supports the Department of the
Interior conservation grant programs for private landowners to manage
their land for a variety of public benefits. Continued funding will
ensure these programs remain viable.
CONCLUSION
NASF seeks the
Subcommittee’s support for a Forest Service FY 2007 budget that will
ensure the continued delivery of a broad range of public benefits from
privately owned forest lands. Collaboration among stakeholders across
the landscape – federal, state, and local government agencies, private
landowners, industry, and non-profit organizations – is necessary to
manage for the wide range of forest resources found on all ownerships
and the values derived from those lands.
Cooperative Forestry, State and Private Forestry (S&PF), and Wildland
Fire Management provide these links. The federal share leverages
private dollars and provides an important catalyst for collaboration in
order to take the work far beyond the usual boundaries of federal land
management.
We realize that the
Subcommittee will be faced with some difficult funding decisions this
year and will have to make sacrifices and tradeoffs to some programs.
NASF encourages you to keep our priorities in mind when making these
decisions.
Thank you for the
opportunity to provide our testimony. |
