WILDFIRE: What are some of the key issues the WGA wanted to address with this plan?

PO: The governors were very concerned with making sure that states had a role in this, locals had a role in solving this problem. They wanted to get away from this “every year we put out the fires as best we can, then clean up afterwards.” They wanted to get to the point where we're being more proactive with forest management and try to get at this excessive fuel loadings and the need for habitat restoration and other things out on the lands. They wanted to make sure that the feds weren't just focusing on federal lands, and this was clearly a problem that didn't recognize any kind of bureaucratic boundaries. States' lands and tribal lands and private lands all needed to be part of the mix or you're not solving the problem. So they wanted to expand the federal focus and become partners with them.

WILDFIRE: Do you have any set goals in terms of percentage reduction of wildfires on an annual basis?

PO: I think that the performance measures show you what goals we want to be focusing on each year, but we don't say what numbers we want to get to. We have an outcome at the top of each goal that says what our ideal world will be, and hopefully the tasks underneath will get us there. We just want to show progress, and I think [we can do] that if we stay on track for 10 years with sufficient funding from Congress, which is really the total wildcard in this whole thing — I mean we can have all the plans we want but if we aren't getting the money out of the feds, and the state local and tribal governments aren't putting up the money as well, then it's not going to matter.

WILDFIRE: How were the performance requirements chosen?

PO: For example, the percentage of unplanned and unwanted wildland fire controlled during initial attack, that over time will show how good are our firefighting capabilities, in theory. There's one in here about cost; they're very cost conscious in the executive branch, and they want to track these things really closely because they're putting out a lot of money. The General Accounting Office had some criticisms for how the federal agencies were spending their money, and these performance measures will help show them that we are spending it wisely and making progress every year.

WILDFIRE: What role will the local governments play once the strategy is implemented?

PO: The theory is that they will be at the table with other stakeholders and involved governments (federal, state, tribal and local), deciding on a watershed basis or community by community basis, what fuel projects make sense and what resources they need to protect themselves. We want the community to be intimately involved, and to be contributing their resources and their people, and to be educating residents about how you firewise your property. Because you can do all this work on the public, state and county lands, and if some homeowner can't get with it, then their house is still going to go up. And homeowners are most likely going to listen to county officials who are encouraging them to make some smart moves, and not federal and state officials. So having the county folks involved, it's just part of the chain.

WILDFIRE: What is the next step with the plan?

PO: There's some tasks that have 2002 deadlines. There's one about developing fuel projects for the winter. They want to do that this fall, so the minute the fire season is over, they're ready to take the resources and go out and thin the forests where necessary. What they should be doing now, those who aren't fighting fires, is collaborating on fuel treatment projects and making sure they have all approvals they need and that they have the resources and the people ready to go.

You've got to do the environmental impact analysis and you've got to do the smoke management plan, and it takes some time. For the last two years, they've been trying to get those things done so they can ramp up on the fuel treatments that take place every off-season. Hopefully, this will be a year to start delivering.

Paul Orbuch

Paul Orbuch is counsel for the Western Governors' Association, where he specializes in policy work in natural resources, international relations and rural health. While working on the development of the 10-year plan, Orbuch helped facilitate the integration of the views of the federal agencies; state, county and tribal governments; and non-governmental stakeholders.

Full text of the plan is available at <www.westgov.org>.