Hazardous Fuels and Wildfire Mitigation: Background and Congressional Considerations

Hazardous fuels are combustible vegetation that accumulates on the landscape, presenting a latent threat of starting and spreading wildfires that resist control. Land managers mitigate hazardous fuels for various reasons, including protecting human life and property; protecting desired uses or resources threatened by fire, known as values at risk; and promoting overall ecosystem health. Fire practitioners use specific terms and concepts, some of which are standardized, to discuss hazardous fuels. Fire has performed a functional role across much of North America, determining vegetation structure and composition on forested and non-forested land. A composite of fire properties typical of a place is described as a fire regime; some attributes of fire regimes are standardized in scientific and policy documents or statute. Fuel treatments are the means by which land managers alter hazardous fuels to influence potential fire behavior. The most prevalent approaches for reducing fuels are burning and mechanical treatments (involving tools or machinery). Other approaches include chemical (herbicide) and biological (i.e., grazing, insect) controls. Each approach has benefits and drawbacks. Hazardous fuels and their associated wildfire threats cross land management and ownership boundaries. Five federal agencies across two departments manage hazardous fuels on federal lands: the Forest Service (FS), under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service (NPS), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), under the Department of the Interior. Congress has, at times, provided specific authorities related to hazardous fuels management on federal lands. Prominent among these is the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA; 16 U.S.C. §§6501 et seq.), which pertains to the National Forest System, managed by the FS, and to the public lands managed by BLM. HFRA includes provisions related to planning, implementation, and administrative processes for specified projects, including hazardous fuel treatments. Congress also has enacted authorities to facilitate collaborative hazardous fuels mitigation across land ownerships. The federal government also helps nonfederal groups address hazardous fuels on nonfederal lands, generally by providing financial or technical assistance. Congress regularly considers legislation related to hazardous fuels management on federal and nonfederal lands. Bills introduced in the 119th Congress would affect the planning, implementation, and oversight of fuels mitigation projects, as well as the workforce responsible for fuels management. Questions that Congress may consider regarding whether and how to address hazardous fuels include the following: Do existing authorities and programs adequately address hazardous fuels mitigation? What issues impact the pace and scale of project implementation? How do agencies track progress in a consistent manner that enables oversight while incentivizing effective fuel treatments where they are needed most?