Overcoming external barriers to increasing the pace and scale of treatment under the Wildfire Crisis Strategy and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Landscape-scale fuel treatment can be accelerated or hindered by a variety of factors that are both internal and external to the USDA Forest Service. For example, the use of prescribed fire can be constrained by air quality restrictions, liability, escaped fire risk, and safety concerns. Mechanical fuel treatments are often limited by legal, operational, administrative and financial constraints, and both types of treatments can be limited by social acceptance of our management actions. 

This project is focused on identifying and overcoming external barriers to fuel treatment and utilization of logs and biomass in four different disciplines: public policy, economics, industry innovation, and climate science. Targeted objectives in each technical area are interrelated and are connected by an overarching objective to coordinate and lead science delivery. All Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS) Landscapes will benefit from this research, but the initial emphasis will be on landscapes in Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho and eastern Washington. 

We expect this work to lead to an increase in the pace and scale of treatment across the WCS Landscapes and beyond through increased efficiencies and synergies across policy, economics, forest operations and unit-level carbon accounting. We will develop evidence-based policy proposals and other recommendations that, when implemented, will result in better public policy, increased mechanical thinning, more efficient design and successful awards of timber sales and stewardship contracts and agreements, and improved outcomes for rural communities.