Document

Department of the Interior

Departmental Manual

Effective Date: 1/19/01

Series: Public Lands

Part 620: Wildland Fire Management

Chapter 3: Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation

Originating Office: Office of Managing Risk and Public Safety

620 DM 3

3.1 Policy. This chapter provides Departmental policy for the restoration of fire damaged ecosystems to emulate historical ecosystem structure, function, diversity and dynamics; restore ecosystems degraded by non-native invasive species; and regenerate agency lands and Indian trust commercial lands.

3.2 Authority. The statutes cited herein authorize and provide the means for managing wildland fire on lands or threatening lands under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, or lands adjacent thereto.

A. Protection Act of September 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 857; 16 U.S.C. 594)

B. McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928 (45 Stat. 221; 16 U.S.C. 487)

C. Economy Act of June 30, 1932 (47 Stat. 417; 31 U.S.C. 1535)

D. Taylor Grazing Act of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1269; 43 U.S.C. 315)

E. Oregon and California Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 875; 43 U.S.C. 1181e)

F. National Park Service Act as amended (67 Stat. 495; 16 U.S.C. 1b)

G. Federal Property and Administrative Service Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 471; et seq.)

H. Reciprocal Fire Protection Act of May 27, 1955 (69 Stat. 66; 42 U.S.C. 1856a)

I. National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 as amended (80 Stat. 927; 16 U.S.C. 668dd through 668ee)

J. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of December 18, 1971 (85 Stat. 688; 43 U.S.C. 1601)

K. Disaster Relief Act of May 22, 1974 (88 Stat. 143; 42 U.S.C. 5121)

L. Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of October 29, 1974 (88 Stat. 1535; 15 U.S.C. 2201)

M. Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (90 Stat. 2743)

N. Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977 (P.L. 950224, as amended by P.L. 97-258, September 13, 1982 (96 Stat. 1003; 31 U.S.C. 6301 thru 6308)

O. Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of December 2, 1980 (94 Stat. 2371)

P. Supplemental Appropriation Act of September 10, 1982 (96 Stat. 837)

Q. Wildfire Suppression Assistance Act of 1989 (P.L. 100-428, as amended by P.L. 101-11, April 7, 1989)

R. Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (PL 93-638) as amended

S. National Indian Forest Resources Management Act (P. L. 101-630 November 28, 1990)

T. Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-413)

U. Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 1995 (P.L. 103-332)

V. Guidance for Presidential Memorandum on Environmentally and Economically Beneficial Landscape Practices on Federal Landscaped Grounds, Federal Register, Vol. 60, No. 154, August 10, 1995, p. 40837

W. Executive Order 13112, Invasive Species, February 3, 1999

X. National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-57)

3.3 Responsibilities.

A. The Directors of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS) and the Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs (BIA) are responsible for all burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation activities of the Department (including such activities when contracted for, in whole or in part, with other agencies or tribes) under the statutes cited in 620 DM 3.1. Each wildland fire management bureau is responsible for taking prompt and effective action in the burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation program and implementing Departmental policies.

B. Supervisors are responsible for assuring that employees engaged in burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation activities follow Departmental and bureau policy, including National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) standards, when adopted, and that conditions of employment are consistent with provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

C. The Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) program coordinators designated by each bureau will function as an interagency group under the direction of the Federal Fire and Aviation Leadership Council to coordinate program issues, implementation, training, oversight, sharing of information, and evaluation. They are also responsible for supporting, managing, and conducting overall performance review and evaluation for national ESR incident teams. The coordinators must involve other program areas such as wildland fire management, budget, cultural and natural resources etc., as necessary and appropriate, to ensure an integrated interagency program.

D. Employees involved in fire rehabilitation work are responsible for knowing, understanding and practicing safe fire rehabilitation operations.

3.4 Definitions. (For the purposes of this chapter)

A. Agency Administrator. The line manager having direct organizational responsibility for management of an administrative unit. May include Director, State Director, District Manager or Field Office Manager (BLM); Director, Regional Director, Complex Manager or Project Leader (FWS); Director, Regional Director, Park Superintendent, or Unit Manager (NPS); or Director, Office of Trust Responsibility, Regional Director, or Superintendent (BIA).

B. Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) Plan. A document that specifies treatments required to implement post-wildland fire stabilization and rehabilitation policies on an individual incident. This plan may be programmatic (prepared in advance and applicable to clearly defined types of incidents and situations) or prepared by an interdisciplinary team of specialists during or after the control of a wildland fire.

C. Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) Team. A standing or ad hoc group of technical specialists (hydrologists, rangeland management specialists, biologists, soil scientists, etc.) that is assigned to prepare an Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Plan.

D. Emergency Stabilization. Planned actions taken during or soon after a wildland fire to stabilize and prevent unacceptable degradation to natural and cultural resources, to minimize threats to life or property resulting from the effects of a fire, or to repair/replace/construct physical improvements necessary to prevent degradation of land or resources.

E. Fire Suppression Activity Damage. Damage to resources, lands, and facilities resulting from wildland fire suppression actions, in contrast to damages resulting from a wildland fire itself.

F. Mitigation. Actions to moderate the intensity or severity of detrimental post-fire effects on natural and cultural resources when preventive treatments are not cost-effective or practical. The scope and cost of mitigation should be the minimum necessary to alleviate significant threats.

G. Non-Native Invasive Species. Species that were not components of pre-European settlement vegetative communities: which have been introduced, either deliberately or inadvertently; which have the capacity to aggressively invade new habitats, displacing and out-competing native species, and; whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

H. Prescribed Fire. Any fire ignited by management actions to meet specific objectives which are authorized by a prescribed fire plan.

I. Prevention. Emergency actions to prevent unacceptable post-fire degradation of natural and cultural resources by stabilizing soil, biotic communities, and critical or significant historic properties, and emergency actions to minimize risks to life and property.

J. Rehabilitation. Long-term post-fire efforts to repair or improve lands unlikely to recover naturally from wildland fire damage, or to repair or replace fire damaged facilities.

K. Suppression. A management action intended to protect identified values from a fire, extinguish a fire, or alter a fire's direction of spread.

L. Wildland Fire. Any non-structure fire, other than prescribed fire, that occurs in the wildland.

3.5 Policy.

A. General. The following policies apply to all Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation program activities.

(1) Goal. A Department of the Interior ESR program goal is for the Departmental bureaus to coordinate activities and share knowledge, skills and information with each other and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. To achieve this goal, an Interagency Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Handbook will be developed to provide operational guidance for applying ESR policy. This handbook will be jointly prepared by the ESR program coordinators from the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and the USDA Forest Service, and will be approved by each bureau. The handbook will be reviewed annually, and revisions will be subject to the same approval procedures. A further goal is to develop and incorporate within the interagency handbook a common cost-effectiveness analysis for evaluating proposed actions, a standard project accomplishment report format, and a mechanism for archiving and broadly disseminating the results of monitoring treatment effectiveness.

(2) Priorities. Protection priorities are (1) human life and safety and (2) property and unique or critical biological/cultural resources. If it becomes necessary to prioritize between property and unique or critical biological/cultural resources, this is done based on relative values to be protected, commensurate with fire rehabilitation costs. All burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation plans and actions must reflect these priorities.

(3) Program. Bureaus will ensure their capability to provide a safe and effective ESR program in support of land, natural, and cultural resource management plans through appropriate planning, staffing, training, and equipment use. These resource management plans and actions should be on a landscape scale, across bureau boundaries, and will be based upon best science and techniques.

(4) Plan. ESR Plans will contain one section listing emergency stabilization specifications, and another section listing long-term rehabilitation specifications (if applicable). If rehabilitation needs are unknown, the ESR plan may contain specifications for conducting assessments that will be used to later define rehabilitation needs. Generally, emergency stabilization and rehabilitation activities are prescribed only within the perimeter of a burned area. Acceptable treatments outside a burn perimeter could include such things as emergency stream channel work to protect structures, roads, and other improvements from flood damage.

(5) ESR Teams. Agencies will establish national, regional, and local ESR teams as needed to ensure that qualified personnel are available to prepare burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation plans. They also will assign resource advisors to major wildland fire incidents to minimize suppression damage and avoid the need for fire suppression activity damage rehabilitation. Agencies will develop interagency training courses for resource advisors, ESR teams, and local ESR project implementation personnel to help build an adequate pool of available, trained personnel.

(6) Planting and Seeding. Natural recovery by native plant species is preferable to planting or seeding, either of natives or non-natives. Planting or seeding should be used only if necessary to prevent unacceptable erosion, to resist competition from non-native invasive species, or to restore more resilient plant communities. If planting or seeding is necessary, the use of native species is preferable. To the extent permitted by law and Executive Order 13112, Invasive Species, dated February 3, 1999, introduction of exotic species into natural ecosystems will be restricted unless the Secretary of the Interior finds that such introduction will not have an adverse effect on natural ecosystems.

(7) Implementation. Activities will be conducted in a manner that is compatible with long-term goals and approved land use plans (e.g., goals under the Government Performance and Results Act, forest plans, general management plans, resource management plans, conservation strategies, species recovery plans), in compliance with applicable law, agreement and policy, including the National Environmental Policy Act; Endangered Species Act; Clean Water Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; and the National Historic Preservation Act.

(8) Analysis. All decisions will be based on sound analysis of the possible biological, hydrological, geological, cultural, and social consequences of not undertaking treatments. Treatments will establish an ecological context, considering watershed condition, limiting factors, and range of natural variability. Treatments will be undertaken only when an analysis shows that treatments are likely to reduce risks significantly or are necessary to improve lands unlikely to recover naturally. Treatments will be cost-effective.

(9) Monitoring. Monitoring and evaluation of post-fire emergency stabilization and rehabilitation activities must be implemented to ensure that treatments are properly implemented, effective, and maintained. Monitoring methods may be qualitative or quantitative, and should be commensurate with the level of uncertainty and extent of treatment. Monitoring and evaluation information will provide adaptive management feedback to improve program performance. Priority should be given to developing a simple interagency electronic mechanism for archiving and broadly disseminating the treatment and technique results. The common format as specified in the Interagency Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Handbook is recommended, including sections addressing planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, and maintenance.

(10) Plan Submittal. The timing of submittal of ESR Plans often depends on the environment/landscape of the fire and the complexity; however, initial submission of the Emergency Stabilization portion of the plan must be shortly after the fire is controlled in order to ensure credibility and to document the urgency of the situation. Each bureau will establish submittal time frame approval authorities for those projects that do not involve or affect other bureaus. For multi-agency or multi-bureau projects, the initial emergency stabilization section of the ESR plans must be submitted within 10 calendar days following control of the fire. If additional time is needed, extensions may be negotiated with those having approval authority. Approval/disapproval must occur within 7 calendar days of receipt by the approving office(s). The timeframe for approval of the rehabilitation section of each ESR plan (if applicable) is subject to bureau-specific guidance. Established bureau-specific approval authorities apply to multi-agency and multi-bureau, as well as individual bureau projects, and to all rehabilitation sections of ESR plans. Revisions to plans as a result of new information should be prepared and submitted as needed, and the same approval levels and time frames for initial plans apply. Peer review of complex and expensive plans is encouraged.

(11) Funding. Funding for ESR plan development and implementation will be provided by the Wildland Fire Operations Activity, Emergency Rehabilitation subactivity. Funding for emergency stabilization treatments is provided for no more than two full growing seasons following control of the fire. Agencies may shift costs for regular work hours to ESR accounts or use ESR funds to back-fill for only emergency stabilization planning and treatments in accordance with standard procedures. Funding for rehabilitation treatments is provided for not more than three years. Monitoring and evaluation to determine the effectiveness of treatments is funded for up to three years following control of the fire. Funding for a third year of monitoring requires submission of report(s) on success/failure of treatments during the first two years. Monitoring beyond three years, along with formal research investigations of treatment effectiveness and fire ecology issues will be defined as individual projects separate from routine ESR-plan monitoring. These long-term investigations will be submitted to bureau ESR program coordinators for approval, and may be funded from Joint Fire Science/Research funds. All obligations incurred beyond the third year must be funded by other than Emergency Fire Rehabilitation subactivity funding.

(12) Accomplishment. Funding accountability, plan results, and accomplishments will be reported on a project accomplishment report that provides a breakdown of costs for individual treatments (e.g., seeding for slope stabilization). This report may require more detailed information for local management and less detailed information for national office or Departmental use. Summarized accomplishment information will be collected and archived at field and national office level for use in program planning, review, and oversight as necessary. Guidelines for accomplishment reporting will be developed within the Interagency Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Handbook.

B. Fire Suppression Activity Damage Rehabilitation.

(1) Fire Suppression Activity Damage Rehabilitation actions are planned and performed primarily by the suppression incident organization as soon as possible prior to demobilization. Some actions may need to be conducted by the local unit after control of the fire and incident management team demobilization, when conditions are appropriate. For fires where the local Agency Administrator delegates fire suppression rehabilitation to an incident management team, the incident management team must, during transition back to the local unit, document the Fire Suppression Activity Rehabilitation actions accomplished and those still needed to ensure that all planned actions are completed.

(2) Funding for Fire Suppression Activity Damage Rehabilitation actions will come from the Wildland Fire Operations, Suppression Operations subactivity and will be charged to the project code for the wildland fire suppression effort that resulted in the damage. Fire Suppression Activity Damage Rehabilitation will not be charged to the Emergency Rehabilitation subactivity account.

C. Emergency Stabilization.

(1) Emergency stabilization actions will be based on an ESR Plan developed immediately post-fire, or in a supplement plan, except where programmatic plans are already in place. The programmatic plans are generally written by a field office unit and include an environmental assessment, and are developed at the landscape level, with public input. The decision to develop the programmatic plan is based on the size and diversity of the ecosystems involved, fire history, resource values, and resource management objectives and decisions in land use plans. For multi-agency fires, joint planning is encouraged. The development and implementation of an ESR Plan and its associated treatments are the responsibility of the local Agency Administrator.

(2) The costs and magnitude of emergency stabilization actions should be commensurate with threats to life, property, or resources as documented by a cost-risk analysis.

(3) Emergency stabilization projects are unpredictable, requiring funding on short notice. Allowable actions are those required to:

(a) Prevent or mitigate threats to human health and safety or property, including roads and trails.

(b) Stabilize soil to prevent or mitigate loss or degradation of productivity.

(c) Stabilize watersheds to prevent unacceptable downstream damage on and off site, including significant erosion or mass wasting.

(d) Minimize unacceptable deterioration of water quality.

(e) Protect emergency stabilization treatments, utilizing fencing, patrolling, or other measures.

(f) Stabilize and prevent unacceptable degradation of historic properties listed on or potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, or Federal and State listed threatened or endangered species or their habitat.

(g) Establish or reestablish native species to prevent or minimize the establishment of non-native invasive species, and facilitate long-term ecosystem restoration goals stated in land management plans. Such actions will be specified in the emergency stabilization section of the ESR Plans only when immediate action is required, or when there are clear precedents and such actions are a routine element of all ESR Plans within similar vegetation types. Otherwise, ESR Plans may contain a rehabilitation section that outlines the general need for such actions, but defers specific actions until post-fire rehabilitation needs assessments are completed. Treatment specifications developed from these assessments may be funded as a supplement to the ESR plan, for up to two growing seasons after fire control.

(4) Emergency stabilization activities must be compatible and generally consistent with approved land use plans and can include:

(a) Replacing or repairing facilities essential to public health and safety and replacing or constructing fences or other structures necessary to protect emergency stabilization projects or to prevent further degradation of natural and cultural resources during the project period.

(b) Physical structures and devices to slow the movement of soil and water downslope, such as check dams, culverts, silt fences, log erosion barriers and straw wattles, erosion cloth and soil netting, etc. These treatments are primarily temporary measures that do not generally require maintenance or are removed after objectives have been met.

(c) Conducting habitat damage assessments for threatened, endangered, and other special status species to identify mitigation requirements. Damage assessments and treatments are limited to species that are known to be detrimentally impacted by wildland fire, or those for which there is reasonable expectation of detrimental impacts. Also, there must be reasonable expectation that the detrimental impacts can be mitigated. The scope and cost of mitigation should be the minimum necessary to alleviate significant threats.

(d) Seeding or planting of shrubs, forbs, and grasses to prevent critical habitat for federal listed threatened or endangered species, or other special status species, from being permanently impaired, or to prevent erosion or mass wasting.

(e) Seeding or planting of shrubs, forbs, and grasses to facilitate the natural succession of vegetative communities that were largely composed of native species before the fire, but which would likely be subject to immediate and aggressive invasion of non-native invasive species after the fire.

(f) Seeding or planting trees, only if such actions have been demonstrated to be cost-effective in meeting project objectives of stabilizing watersheds to prevent downstream damage on and off site.

(g) Use chemical, biological or mechanical treatments necessary to minimize the establishment or re-establishment of non-native invasive species within the burned area.

(h) Monitoring and patrolling necessary for public safety and natural and cultural resource protection, if such activities cannot be accomplished within existing capabilities and by shifting priorities.

(i) Covering, camouflaging, cleaning, burying, or reinforcing historic properties to prevent erosion, weathering, movement, and looting.

(j) Assessments may be conducted to assess damage to documented historic properties or those discovered in the course of treating known properties.

(5) ESR planning team activities are an integral part of wildland fire incidents. They are governed and supported by the same wildland fire incident mobilization, resource availability, training, qualifications, and incident business management procedures as other aspects of the incident.

D. Rehabilitation.

(1) Post-fire rehabilitation projects implement the types of long-term actions that have already been identified in approved land management plans. The purpose of rehabilitation is either to emulate historical or pre-fire ecosystem structure, function, diversity, and dynamics consistent with approved land management plans, or if that is infeasible, then to restore or establish a healthy, stable ecosystem in which native species are well represented. Rehabilitation actions must be related to damage or changes caused by a wildland fire, and cannot include constructing facilities, or implementing desired conditions that are unrelated to the wildland fire event. Rehabilitation cannot be funded for prescribed fire projects in which fire behavior was within prescription. Rehabilitation actions may be planned and funded only for projects that were declared wildland fires because fire behavior exceeded prescription. Rehabilitation may include actions to:

(a) Repair or improve lands unlikely to recover naturally from wildland fire damage by emulating historical or pre-fire ecosystem structure, function, diversity, and dynamics consistent with existing land management plans.

(b) Restore or establish a healthy, stable ecosystem even if this ecosystem cannot fully emulate historical or pre-fire conditions.

(i) Facilitating the succession and stabilization of forest ecosystems.

(ii) Re-establishing habitat for federally listed threatened or endangered species, or other special status species.

(iii) Reintroducing or reestablishing native tree species and seed sources lost in a stand replacement fire.

(iv) Regenerating Indian trust commercial timberland identified in an approved Forest Management Plan, and that a certified silviculturalist has determined will not naturally regenerate for more than 10 years after the fire.

(d) Repair or replace fire damage to minor operating facilities (e.g., campgrounds, interpretive signs an exhibits, shade shelters, grazing fences, wildlife guzzlers, etc). Rehabilitation may not include the planning or replacement of major infrastructure, such as visitor centers, residential structures, administration offices, work centers and similar facilities. Rehabilitation does not include the construction of new facilities that did not exist before the fire, except for temporary and minor facilities necessary to implement burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation efforts.

(2) The rehabilitation section of the ESR Plan must contain:

(a) A discussion demonstrating how the specifications are consistent and compatible with approved land use plans, and how the proposed actions are related to damage or changes caused by the wildland fire.

(b) Provisions for monitoring and evaluation of treatments and techniques, and a procedure for collecting, archiving, and disseminating results.

(c) Clear delineation of funding and responsibilities for implementation, operation, maintenance, monitoring, and evaluation throughout the entire life of the project, including ESR actions and follow-up actions beyond three years that may be necessary to ensure the effectiveness of initial investments.

3.6 Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Assistance. Bureaus will cooperate with other international, federal, tribal, State, or local organizations to provide burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation assistance as authorized by a formal signed agreement. Formal agreements shall be made under authorities cited in paragraph 3.2 of this chapter. These agreements may take the form of Interagency Agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, Cooperative Agreements, mutual aid agreements, compacts, or contracts. Bureaus may provide assistance, when authorized by the President, to any State and local government for management of a wildland fire officially declared as a disaster. There will be no billing or reimbursement between bureaus of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture for personnel and other resources involved in burned area emergency stabilization and rehabilitation team deployment.

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