times to wildfires while the fires grow rapidly in size. As part of the road assessment under Secretarial Order 3372, over 46,900 miles of roads located on Indian trust lands were inventoried and the condition and maintenance needs were assessed. About 43,300 miles of road were identified by the BIA to need upgrading at a cost of $1.33 billion. Remedial work included all- weather rock surfacing, grading, resurfacing, adding drainage features, cleaning/adding or replacing culverts, bridge needs or repair, cattleguard cleaning/ adding or repair, and road signs throughout the reservations. The largest cost is for rock, grading, and resurfacing. An estimated 379 bridges need repair or replacement, as well as more than 19,000 culverts. In some areas, increases in run- off due to projected seasonal changes in precipitation amount and intensity associated with climate change, as well as runoff following wildfire, make stream crossing and drainage improvements, particularly culvert sizing, even more pressing in order to protect water quality and infrastructure and maintain access for active management. Decline of Funding for Forestry Staffing. Tribes have repeatedly stressed the importance of annual recurring forestry funding (tribal priority allocation or TPA) to develop and maintain staff capacity to carry out a state- of-the-art forestry program. Based on the survey of 41 tribes, inadequate recurring funding is often listed as the primary
issue limiting their quality of forest management and the achievement of tribal goals. Non- recurring, or project funding, is useful for carrying out specific projects, but without adequate staff to plan and implement the projects, the forestry program is severely limited. Recurring funding has been increasing slowly over the last 15 years (Figure A.2). Non-recurring funding was relatively constant until about 2013 when it started to increase, much more rapidly than recurring funding. The ratio of recurring funding to total forestry funding reached a peak
in about 2013 and has steadily decreased (Figure A.3). Non- recurring funding is an unreliable source for maintaining or building staff capacity, although because of persistent low tribal forestry allocations, it has been used. Adjusted for inflation, total recurring funding has not kept pace with inflation. This affects tribes at all levels of self- governance. Also, although non- recurring funding has increased, it has not kept pace with inflation in recent years (Figure A.4). At the same time, Indian trust acres have continued to increase
Figure A.2. Recurring and non-recurring funding for the BIA Forestry Program (USDI BIA Greenbook, various years) excluding hazardous fuel funding and in nominal dollars (unadjusted for inflation)
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Figure A.3. Ratio of recurring funding to total forestry funding (USDI BIA Greenbook, various years), excluding hazardous fuel funding and based on nominal dollars (unadjusted for inflation).
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Task Findings and Recommendations 59
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