{ "id": "R43872", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R43872", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "National Forest System Management: Overview and Issues for Congress", "retrieved": "2023-06-19T04:03:18.244620", "id": "R43872_14_2023-05-18", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2023-05-18_R43872_8d7768c832c1d1a8953de7c5ba93c07867104ed1.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43872/14", "sha1": "8d7768c832c1d1a8953de7c5ba93c07867104ed1" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2023-05-18_R43872_8d7768c832c1d1a8953de7c5ba93c07867104ed1.html" } ], "date": "2023-05-18", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "R", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R43872", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 604685, "date": "2019-09-05", "retrieved": "2019-12-13T16:14:30.324427", "title": "National Forest System Management: Overview, Appropriations, and Issues for Congress", "summary": "The 193 million acres of the National Forest System (NFS) comprise 154 national forests, 20 national grasslands, and several other federal land designations. Management of the NFS is one of the three principal responsibilities of the Forest Service (FS), an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most NFS lands are concentrated in the western United States, although FS administers more federal land in the East than all other federal agencies combined. The Secretary of Agriculture has various authorities to acquire or dispose of NFS lands, although these are often constrained by geography or other factors.\nThe original forest reserves were established to improve and protect federal forests and watersheds and to provide a source of timber. Today, the NFS\u2019s statutory mission is to provide a variety of uses and values\u2014timber production, watershed management, livestock grazing, energy and mineral development, outdoor recreation, fish and wildlife habitat management, and wilderness\u2014without impairing the productivity of the land. Comprehensive land and resource management plans for each NFS unit (also known as forest plans) inform decisions on how those uses will be balanced and desired resource conditions. Although there is not a statutory mandate to generate revenue, FS is authorized to charge fees for many of the uses and services available on NFS lands and to use that revenue in various ways. In FY2018, FS generated a total of $283.4 million in revenue; timber harvests were the single largest source of revenue (57%). Growing demands for the various uses, values, and services have led to conflicts over the location and timing of activities. \nMany have concern that degraded forest ecological conditions in the NFS are increasing the risk of insect or disease infestation or uncharacteristic wildfires, among other forest health concerns. Many have particular concern regarding accumulated levels of forest biomass (e.g., vegetation), which fuel fires and can facilitate insect or disease transmission, known as hazardous fuels. FS and other stakeholders have identified administrative process barriers and funding as two of many factors impeding progress toward forest restoration goals, and FS has proposed to increase the scale, scope, and implementation of projects to restore the resilience and resistance of NFS lands. There is disagreement, however, about how to achieve those objectives while ensuring compliance with other statutory requirements. \nIn FY2019, FS received a total of $2.02 billion to fund NFS management, approximately 29% of the $6.94 billion the agency received in discretionary appropriations. These figures reflect $854.3 million in emergency-designated supplemental appropriations provided to FS to respond to hurricanes and wildfires, of which $85.0 million was allocated to the NFS account. The NFS account includes several subaccounts, programs, and activities, many of which reflect the different ways in which the lands are used. The largest is Hazardous Fuels, which received 23% of the NFS appropriation in FY2019. This program funds activities to remove, modify, or manipulate vegetation to reduce the wildfire risk. Prior to FY2018, this program was funded through a different FS discretionary account. The addition of this program is one reason NFS appropriations have increased by 35% since FY2015. \nMany also are concerned about the cost of wildfires. Although many wildfire management activities are funded separately from NFS management, some are concerned about the rising proportion of fire suppression and other fire-related costs on the rest of FS\u2019s budget. In FY2019, wildfire management-related activities accounted for 59% of the agency\u2019s total discretionary appropriation. Wildfire costs vary annually and are difficult to predict, and FS is authorized to transfer money out of other discretionary accounts to cover suppression costs; this is often referred to as fire borrowing. To address some of these concerns, the 115th Congress enacted a new mechanism for funding wildfire suppression (commonly referred to as the wildfire funding fix), which is available starting in FY2020.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43872", "sha1": "8e1cc02d7b4540870514ba36013d962df0fb92a8", "filename": "files/20190905_R43872_8e1cc02d7b4540870514ba36013d962df0fb92a8.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R43872_files&id=/1.png": "files/20190905_R43872_images_7181fbb1dbf561698e56071de4b172ceeeff58ef.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R43872_files&id=/2.png": "files/20190905_R43872_images_341a88544fe96049edb2ccd28d2d87a928ecac1e.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R43872_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190905_R43872_images_c5a88dac2d7cfe30e9869b2a732af5c3c26812ec.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43872", "sha1": "8d8da632a98c7a33902ba69ea279bfb826f8e0b9", "filename": "files/20190905_R43872_8d8da632a98c7a33902ba69ea279bfb826f8e0b9.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4773, "name": "Interior & Environment Appropriations" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4841, "name": "Federal Land Management" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 449585, "date": "2016-02-09", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T17:14:30.062859", "title": "National Forest System Management: Overview, Appropriations, and Issues for Congress", "summary": "The 193 million acres of the National Forest System (NFS) comprise 154 national forests, 20 national grasslands, and several other federal land designations. Management of the NFS is one of the three principal responsibilities of the Forest Service (FS), an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The other two principal responsibilities are providing assistance to nonfederal forest owners and conducting forestry research. Most NFS lands are concentrated in the western United States, although the Forest Service administers more federal land in the East than all other federal agencies combined.\nThe original forest reserves were established to improve and protect federal forests and watersheds and provide a source of timber. Today, the statutory mission of the National Forest System is to provide a variety of uses and values\u2014timber production, watershed management, livestock grazing, energy and mineral development, outdoor recreation, fish and wildlife habitat management, and wilderness\u2014without impairing the productivity of the land. Although there is not a statutory mandate to do so, many of the uses and services available on NFS lands generate revenue. The revenue may be used to offset agency costs, shared with the local communities containing the NFS lands, or returned to the Treasury. Growing demands for the various uses, values, and services have led to conflicts over the location and timing of activities. \nIn FY2016, the Forest Service received $1.5 billion to fund National Forest System management, approximately 24% of the $6.4 billion the agency received in discretionary appropriations. The NFS account includes several subaccounts, programs, and activities, many of which reflect the different ways in which national forests are used. These uses include activities related to recreation and wilderness, grazing, wildlife and fish habitat management, forest products and timber sales, and energy and minerals management. However, in FY2012, Congress authorized a pilot budget structure that consolidated several of the budget line items for three Forest Service regions. The Forest Service asserts that the budget flexibility provided in this Integrated Resources Restoration (IRR) program will facilitate various land and resource management objectives across the NFS. \nReducing the risk and expense of catastrophic wildfires on National Forest System lands has been a major focus of Congress, the Forest Service, and the public. Reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires involves land and resource management activities to restore the resilience and resistance of the forest ecosystem, such as reducing accumulated levels of biomass (which fuels fires) through timber sales, stewardship contracts, or prescribed burns. Many are also concerned about the cost of wildfires. Although wildfire management is funded separately from NFS management, some are concerned about the rising proportion of fire suppression costs on the rest of the Forest Service budget. In FY2006, wildfire management activities accounted for 44% of the agency\u2019s total discretionary appropriations; in FY2016, the $3.9 billion appropriated to wildfire management is 61% of the agency\u2019s total discretionary appropriation.\nThis report provides an overview of the history and management of the National Forest System, including a discussion of the statutory framework for making land management plans and decisions as well as for acquiring or disposing of system lands. The report also discusses the multiple uses of the NFS and the revenue generated by those activities, appropriations to manage the NFS, and wildfire management issues and costs. It concludes with a discussion of the issues that Congress often debates regarding national forest management.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R43872", "sha1": "13fa72ff46f102b6c64f5d8208cda7385b5c4296", "filename": "files/20160209_R43872_13fa72ff46f102b6c64f5d8208cda7385b5c4296.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R43872", "sha1": "b886b15071a460756a7c1264fb89607324cc0515", "filename": "files/20160209_R43872_b886b15071a460756a7c1264fb89607324cc0515.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 2346, "name": "Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies' Appropriations" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 314, "name": "Federal Lands" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc810829/", "id": "R43872_2015Jan29", "date": "2015-01-29", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "National Forest System Management: Overview, Appropriations, and Issues for Congress", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20150129_R43872_c1910efd8dc327a72e2524431fce31489f74630f.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20150129_R43872_c1910efd8dc327a72e2524431fce31489f74630f.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Energy Policy", "Environmental Policy" ] }