Following the Money: National Fire Plan Funding and Implementation
Since its inception in 2000, The National Fire Plan (NFP) has allocated billions of dollars to the Forest Service for fire management. This report traces the path that NFP funds travel from the Forest Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. through its regional offices and on to individual forest districts. In doing so, it reveals the ways in which this agency’s budget and reporting structure lock it into counterproductive practices that actually hinder longer-term efforts to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildland fires.
Our findings show that NFP money bolsters skyrocketing fire suppression budgets at the expense of community assistance efforts, and funds poorly designed fuel-reduction projects that regularly disregard current scientific thinking. An inadequate accounting and reporting structure within the Forest Service then reinforces these ill-considered priorities by rewarding easily quantifiable measures of performance, criteria that cannot ensure progress toward the key objectives the NFP seeks to achieve.
Author: Lisa Gregory
