Federal officials disputed the charges in the GAO report, which was released at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The report was pointedly titled “Lack of Clear Goals or a Strategy Hinders Federal Agencies' Efforts to Contain the Costs of Fighting Fires.”
The agencies have a broad goal of suppressing wildfires at the least cost, taking into account safety and resources to be protected, but they have no defined criteria to weigh competing priorities, she said.
“As a result, officials in the field lack a clear understanding of the relative importance the agencies' leadership places on containing costs and are likely to select firefighting strategies without due consideration of the costs,” she said.
Although the agencies are developing a system to better identify and set priorities for lands that need thinning or burning to reduce fuels, they have yet to decide how they will keep data in the system current, she said.
The agencies have also taken some steps to improve how they acquire and use personnel, equipment and other firefighting assets, including a computerized system to more efficiently dispatch and track them.
“But they have not completed the more fundamental step of determining the appropriate type and quantity of firefighting assets needed for the fire season,” Nazzaro said.
Several policies limit the use of less aggressive firefighting strategies, which typically cost less, she said. For example, once a decision is made on how to suppress a fire, changes can't be made midcourse.
And although federal agencies have clarified guidance to ensure that firefighting costs are shared for fires that threaten both federal and private lands, it is unclear how agencies will ensure that the guidance is followed in the field, she said.
Nazzaro called on agencies to provide information to Congress no later than November.
The agencies disagreed with the GAO findings.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, testified that studies by various agencies and offices over the last several years have produced more than 300 recommendations on trimming the costs of fire suppression.
“The agencies have taken these reviews seriously, and the overall awareness and personal responsibility for cost-containment among federal fire agencies has never been more acute,” Rey said.
The agencies provided clarifying comments on a draft GAO report, but those were not acknowledged in the final report, he said.
“In general, the agencies disagree with the characterization of many of the findings in the report and believe that further discussion with GAO is necessary to more accurately portray some of the significant actions the agencies have taken to address large fire suppression costs and management efficiencies,” Ray testified.
He also noted a recent report by an independent panel coordinated by the Brookings Institution that found that the Forest Service exercised appropriate and adequate fiscal diligence in suppressing wildfires in the record-breaking 2006 fire season.
In a letter to the GAO, the agencies wrote that they do have objectives and clearly defined goals for better managing large fire suppression costs. It said the GAO failed to recognize a major component known as Appropriate Management Response.
“AMR moves the agencies from aggressively attacking wildfires of all sizes to a more risk-informed performance-based strategy that will reduce costs by increasing flexibility in wildland firefighting decisions,” it said.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the top Republican on the committee, said he was in Montana last summer during the Derby Mountain fire. He displayed a photo and said much of the carbon captured by the trees and soil in the forest was released into the atmosphere when they burned.
Domenici said many areas of national forests are “embarrassing” because they are so infested with insects and rotten trees. “Nothing is done, or by the time you get around to it the trees are no good,” he said.
In response, Rey noted that the agencies have quadrupled the number of acres they treat per year, put in a record amount of funding and used more tools to streamline environmental analysis as allowed by Congress.
“I think we're on the right path, but the rate of progress is less than ideal,” Rey said.
Rey said both the number of homes being built in the wildland-urban interface and the size of epidemics are increasing, leaving the agencies “hard pressed to keep up.” He said it will take eight to 10 years at the current rate of treatment to address the problem.
But Rey said public attitudes are starting to change on allowing agencies to do the work necessary to manage forests. He predicted the fire currently burning in the Lake Tahoe area would change some minds.
“I used to think we'd have to hug and name every tree before we cut it,” Rey said.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, blamed the problem on “a very narrow attitude about the environment expressed by some.” He said lawsuits by environmental groups have stopped federal agencies from doing the necessary work thinning trees. “We've left the forests heavily populated and now they're dead and dying,” he said. “The public won't let us back in.”
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