Table A.4. 2019 BIA Trust forestry land base and expenditures by Region excluding hazardous fuel reduction and tribal contributions, Expenditures may differ from appropriations due to carry-over and supplemental funding. Source: 2019 BIA F&PA and BIA Catalog of Forest Acres.
Average Expenditure/ Commercial Acre
Sum of Analysis Costs ($1000)
Total Commercial Acres (1000 acres)
Average Expenditure/ Forest Acre
Total Forest Acres (1000 acres)
BIA Region
Alaska
419
182
$1,851 $1,097 $2,047
$10.16
$4.42
Central Office
0
0
n/a
n/a
Eastern
423 205 382
366 186 363 984
$5.59 $3.09 $2.78 $7.09 $1.07
$4.84 $2.80 $2.65 $6.17 $0.30
Eastern Oklahoma
$575
Great Plains
$1,011 $6,970 $1,648 $31,805 $4,209 $1,169
Midwest
1,129 5,427 3,039
Navajo
1,539 2,283
Northwest
$13.93 $25.06
$10.47 $20.82
Pacific
202 804
168 514
Rocky Mountain Southern Plains
$2.27 $3.75 $4.33 $3.58 $6.51
$1.45 $3.72 $2.18 $1.74 $3.45
99
99
$370
Southwest
2,857 4,292
1,436 2,087
$6,218 $7,467 $66,437
Western
Grand Total
19,278
10,207
Funding by Region or by land base is not equal across Indian forestry. As Table A.4 presents, the expenditures per acre average $6.51 per acre for the commercial forest, and $3.45 per acre for all forest lands. However, this rate of expenditure varies significantly from $0.30 to $20.82 per acre. While some of this variability is due to economy of scale (discussed later in this section), and regional differences in topography, and silviculture, there is an inherent funding shift to the forests of higher annual cuts to achieve BIA outcome measures. Roads A functioning forest road system is fundamental to protection and stewardship of forest resources and for tribes to achieve the maximum value that forests can provide consistent with tribal goals and objectives. The poor condition of forest roads in Indian Country has been documented by IFMAT
beginning in IFMAT I and their environmental effects have been significant issues in several mismanagement lawsuits. IFMAT I estimated that between $200 to $280 million dollars (about $500 million 2019 dollars) would be needed to recondition and/or relocate, surface, and adequately drain an all-weather road system to reach parity with the Forest Service. The joint BLM/Forest Industry Road Maintenance committee composed of the BLM and adjacent landowners who share roads throughout the checkerboard lands of western Oregon established an annual cost basis of $1,064 per mile (BLM OR/WA State Office, June 2019) for estimating costs of forest road maintenance for cost sharing purposes. The 2019 Forest Service Road budget, expressed per mile of FS road, is about $500 per mile, per year. The poor condition of roads continues to degrade forest related resources throughout
Indian Country. The Department of the Interior (2019) reports that 83% of BIA system miles of road did not meet acceptable Service Level conditions in 2014 and that was projected to increase to 88% in 2020. The majority of forest resource roads are not on the BIA system and only receive intermittent attention. Returns from resource mismanagement lawsuits have been used by several tribes to improve tribal road systems. Secretarial Order 3372 issued in 2019 by the Department of the Interior required an inventory and assessment of the condition and maintenance needs of roads that are potentially beneficial to wildfire, fuels, and vegetation management planning. Roads are used not only in hazardous fuel reduction activities but are also logical places to position resources to stop wildfires. Poor road conditions leading to poor access and a lack of road signage can cause increased response
58 Assessment of Indian Forests and Forest Management in the United States
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