16 U.S.C. § 6702: Purposes

to enhance the capacity to develop, transfer, apply, monitor, and regularly update practical science-based forest restoration treatments that will reduce the risk of severe wildfires, and improve the health of dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West; to synthesize and adapt scientific findings from conventional research programs to the implementation of forest and woodland restoration on a landscape scale; to facilitate the transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge required to understand the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of wildfire on ecosystems and landscapes; to use ecological restoration treatments to reverse declining forest health and reduce the risk of severe wildfires across the forest landscape; and to design, implement, monitor, and regularly revise representative wildfire treatments based on the use of adaptive ecosystem management; treating acres with restoration-based applications; and the National Fire Plan; the report entitled “Protecting People and Sustaining Resources in Fire-Adapted Ecosystems-A Cohesive Strategy” (65 Fed. Reg. 67480); and the report entitled “10-Year Comprehensive Strategy: A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment” of the Western Governors’ Association; to provide technical assistance to collaborative efforts by affected entities to develop, implement, and monitor adaptive ecosystem management restoration treatments that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible; and to assist Federal and non-Federal land managers in providing information to the public on the role of fire and fire management in dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West.