with other federal forest funding (Figure A.13). Much of this additional funding is needed to build capacity and undertake vegetation density control and road maintenance on tribal forests. Density reduction is the most significant step tribes can take to increase forest resilience to wildfire, insect attack, and disease under projected climate change (Task B). About 41% of Indian forests (almost 8 million acres) are in High/Very-High Wildfire Hazard Potential (see Task B, Table B.4). To treat these high-risk acres periodically will require more than a doubling of the acres currently being treated in Indian Country, after the current backlog
This approach can be compared to the estimated $95.7 million in Table A.17, thus the $95.7 is likely a conservative estimate.
revision in BIA HR policies and procedures as well as some tribal HR policies would be needed to provide forestry staff capacity to address the current backlogs and bring equity to Indian forestry (Task C).
If these funding levels were implemented, significant
Table A.17. Summary of Indian forestry and wildfire funding needs.
Summary of Indian Forestry and Wildfire Funding Needs (Millions of dollars) Estimated Funding Needs Stewardship Management of tribal lands $144.0 Additional funds to support tribal timber production $57.2 Total funding needed $201.2 Less Current Funding Sources for Forestry Current BIA Forestry appropriations (Including Hazardous Fuels) -$94.3 NRCS Funding for tribal projects -$2.8 Other BIA Program supporting forestry -$8.4 Total Additional Funding Total additional funding needed for forestry $95.7 Total additional funding needed for Fire preparedness $41.9 Total Indian Forestry and Wildfire budget gap $137.6 Figure A.13. Annual federal budgeted funding level to tribes for forestry and fire adjusted to $2019. IFMAT IV recommended funding level of $313 million is based on a comparative analysis to the U.S. Forest Service and other federal programs. This amount does not include estimated federal contributions of $11 million from other BIA programs or other federal sources such as NRCS. It also does not include needed funding to address backlogs (Table A.20). Subtotals may not add to total due to rounding.
has been eliminated. An Alternative Forestry Funding Needs Approach
For comparison, an alternative approach to estimate the funding shortfall to sustainably manage Indian forests is to use the data from the BIA Funding and Position Analysis (Table A.18) plus an estimate of the increase to reach wage parity for equal work plus funding to address the inequity of forest road funding. The 2019 BIA Funding and Position Analysis identified $69.1 million in additional staffing and support needs (Table A.18). Assuming a salary equity differential to bring the BIA and tribal workforce up to Forest Service /BLM wage standards is 15% (Task C) plus $500 per mile for currently unfunded road maintenance on the 46,300 miles of forest roads needed for active management = 69.1 + .15 (69.1 + 94.3) + ($500/mile) (46,300 miles) = 69.1 + 24.5 + 23.2 = $116.8 million additional needs.
Annual Federal Funding to Tribes for Forestry and Fire Annual Federal Funding to Tribes for Forestry and Fire
400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
$363 million
$313 million
$305 million $295 million
42
113
251
130
96
138
120
$192 million
115
$176 million
$165 million
41 71
$112 million
56
54
49
2001
2011
2019
1991
Funding level recommended from IFMAT comparative analyses in red type Actual funding in black type Funding gap in blue type
Forestry funding Wildfire funding
2019 forestry and fuels funding gap ($96 million) 2019 wildfire funding gap ($42 million) All program gap
Task Findings and Recommendations 71
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