16 U.S.C. § 6701 — Findings

Page 2640 TITLE 16—CONSERVATION § 6701 tions concerning how this chapter might be im- proved and whether the Fund should be contin- ued in the future. (Pub. L. 108–266, § 8, July 2, 2004, 118 Stat. 796.) CHAPTER 86—SOUTHWEST FOREST HEALTH AND WILDFIRE PREVENTION Sec. 6701. Findings. 6702. Purposes. 6703. Definitions. 6704. Establishment of Institutes. 6705. Cooperation between Institutes and Federal agencies. 6706. Monitoring and evaluation. 6707. Authorization of appropriations. § 6701. Findings Congress finds that— (1) there is an increasing threat of wildfire to millions of acres of forest land and range- land throughout the United States; (2) forest land and rangeland are degraded as a direct consequence of land management practices, including practices to control and prevent wildfires and the failure to harvest subdominant trees from overstocked stands that disrupt the occurrence of frequent low-in- tensity fires that have periodically removed flammable undergrowth; (3) at least 39,000,000 acres of land of the Na- tional Forest System in the interior West are at high risk of wildfire; (4) an average of 95 percent of the expendi- tures by the Forest Service for wildfire sup- pression during fiscal years 1990 through 1994 were made to suppress wildfires in the interior West; (5) the number, size, and severity of wildfires in the interior West are increasing; (6) of the timberland in National Forests in the States of Arizona and New Mexico, 59 per- cent of such land in Arizona, and 56 percent of such land in New Mexico, has an average di- ameter of 9 to 12 inches diameter at breast height; (7) the population of the interior West grew twice as fast as the national average during the 1990s; (8) catastrophic wildfires— (A) endanger homes and communities; (B) damage and destroy watersheds and soils; and (C) pose a serious threat to the habitat of threatened and endangered species; (9) a 1994 assessment of forest health in the interior West estimated that only a 15- to 30- year window of opportunity exists for effective management intervention before damage from uncontrollable wildfire becomes widespread, with 8 years having already elapsed since the assessment; (10) healthy forest and woodland eco- systems— (A) reduce the risk of wildfire to forests and communities; (B) improve wildlife habitat and biodiver- sity; (C) increase tree, grass, forb, and shrub productivity; (D) enhance watershed values; (E) improve the environment; and (F) provide a basis in some areas for eco- nomically and environmentally sustainable uses; (11) sustaining the long-term ecological and economic health of interior West forests and woodland, and their associated human commu- nities requires preventing severe wildfires be- fore the wildfires occur and permitting nat- ural, low-intensity ground fires; (12) more natural fire regimes cannot be ac- complished without the reduction of excess fuels and thinning of subdominant trees (which fuels and trees may be of commercial value); (13) ecologically based forest and woodland ecosystem restoration on a landscape scale will— (A) improve long-term community protec- tion; (B) minimize the need for wildfire suppres- sion; (C) improve resource values; (D) improve the ecological integrity and resilience of these systems; (E) reduce rehabilitation costs; (F) reduce loss of critical habitat; and (G) protect forests for future generations; (14) although landscape scale restoration is needed to effectively reverse degradation, sci- entific understanding of landscape scale treat- ments is limited; (15) rigorous, objective, understandable, and applied scientific information is needed for— (A) the design, implementation, moni- toring, and adaptation of landscape scale restoration treatments and improvement of wildfire management; (B) the environmental review process; and (C) affected entities that collaborate in the development and implementation of wildfire treatment. (Pub. L. 108–317, § 2, Oct. 5, 2004, 118 Stat. 1204.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 108–317, § 1, Oct. 5, 2004, 118 Stat. 1204, provided that: ‘‘This Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention Act of 2004’.’’ § 6702. Purposes The purposes of this chapter are— (1) to enhance the capacity to develop, transfer, apply, monitor, and regularly update practical science-based forest restoration treatments that will reduce the risk of severe wildfires, and improve the health of dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West; (2) to synthesize and adapt scientific find- ings from conventional research programs to the implementation of forest and woodland restoration on a landscape scale; (3) to facilitate the transfer of interdiscipli- nary knowledge required to understand the so- cioeconomic and environmental impacts of wildfire on ecosystems and landscapes; (4) to require the Institutes established under this chapter to collaborate with Federal agencies—