Presidential DocumentExecutive Order 139762021-01476
Establishing the Wildland Fire Management Policy Committee
Primary source
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Published
January 21, 2021
Signed
January 14, 2021
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 12 (Thursday, January 21, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 12 (Thursday, January 21, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 6549-6552]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01476]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 86 , No. 12 / Thursday, January 21, 2021 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 6549]]
Executive Order 13976 of January 14, 2021
Establishing the Wildland Fire Management Policy
Committee
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. Federal wildland fire management
lacks a single focal point of responsibility for policy
leadership and accountability for cost controls. While
executive departments and agencies (agencies) have
implemented Executive Order 13855 of December 21, 2018
(Promoting Active Management of America's Forests,
Rangelands, and Other Federal Lands To Improve
Conditions and Reduce Wildfire Risk), and similar
Administration efforts, more must be done to continue
to improve interagency coordination.
In contrast to effective ground-level coordination with
States, including at the National Interagency Fire
Center on suppression activity and the Wildland Fire
Leadership Council (WFLC) on Federal-State policy
coordination, agencies do not adequately or effectively
coordinate with each other at the policy level to
reduce hazardous fuels and wildfire severity. This
order will ensure that agencies effectively work
together in coordinating Federal wildland fire
management policy to improve funding allocations for
hazardous fuel projects, performance measures for
suppression operations and hazardous fuels mitigation,
procurement, Federal-State cooperation and cost
sharing, cross-jurisdictional post-wildfire
rehabilitation, monitoring of electric transmission
lines and other critical infrastructure, and other
functions.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States
to:
(a) Improve coordination among agencies on wildland
fire management policy, implementation, and oversight
issues;
(b) Reduce unnecessary duplication across the
Federal Government by coordinating and consolidating
existing wildland fire-related councils, working
groups, and other formal cross-agency initiatives, as
appropriate;
(c) Efficiently and effectively manage preparedness
resources, initial attack response, extended attack and
large-fire support, post-wildfire rehabilitation, and
hazardous fuels at a cross-boundary, landscape scale;
(d) Promote integrated planning and procurement
among agencies for Federal investments in wildland fire
management infrastructure;
(e) Support workforce development and efforts to
recruit, train, and retain Federal wildland
firefighters to efficiently and effectively respond to
wildfire on public lands, and to protect life,
property, and community infrastructure; and
(f) Coordinate Federal engagement with State,
local, and tribal government entities, including
Federal policy positions in the WFLC.
Sec. 3. Interagency Wildland Fire Subcabinet. To
promote efficient and effective coordination across
agencies engaged in Federal wildland firefighting and
to facilitate coordinated and strategic wildland fire
management actions, an interagency Wildland Fire
Management Policy Committee (to be known as the
Wildland Fire Subcabinet) is hereby established.
[[Page 6550]]
(a) The Wildland Fire Subcabinet shall be co-
chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary
of the Interior (Co-Chairs), and shall include the
Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, the
Secretary of Homeland Security, the Chairman of the
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Director of
the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), the Director of the National Economic Council
(NEC), and the heads of such other agencies, or their
designated representatives, as the Co-Chairs deem
appropriate.
(b) The Wildland Fire Subcabinet shall meet
quarterly.
Sec. 4. Reducing Inefficiencies and Duplication.
Currently, several Federal wildfire-related councils,
task forces, working groups, and other formal cross-
agency initiatives (Federal interagency working groups)
exist to address wildland fire management policy.
Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Wildland
Fire Subcabinet shall, to the extent practicable,
identify all such Federal interagency working groups
and provide recommendations to the Secretary of the
Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
on coordinating and consolidating these Federal
interagency working groups, as appropriate and
consistent with applicable law.
Sec. 5. Improving Wildland Fire Management Policy
Coordination, Implementation, and Oversight. Within 180
days of the date of this order, the Wildland Fire
Subcabinet shall develop, publish, and implement a
strategic plan addressing the issues described in this
section. To implement this strategic plan, the Wildland
Fire Subcabinet shall develop specific measurable
goals, performance targets, and dashboard reporting for
consideration by each Federal agency represented on the
Wildland Fire Subcabinet, using common data standards
at the wildfire and hazardous fuels program level. This
strategic plan shall address the issues described
below:
(a) Effectively managing preparedness resources,
initial attack response, extended attack and large-fire
support, post-wildfire rehabilitation, and hazardous
fuels at a cross-boundary, landscape scale;
(b) Developing and adopting additional hazardous
fuels performance measures that go beyond the
traditional output reporting of total acreage for fuel
removal to transparently demonstrate a strategic focus
on projects that, by consensus agreement, pose the
highest risks to life, property, and community
infrastructure;
(c) Developing and adopting additional wildland
fire suppression operations performance measures for
large wildfires, and for aviation asset deployment,
that go beyond the traditional output reporting of
acres burned, dollars spent, and gallons of retardant
dropped to demonstrate strategic use of high-cost human
capital, equipment, and aircraft as opposed to
traditional reliance on overwhelming force;
(d) Developing and adopting new technologies to
bring to bear cutting-edge management of the wildland
fire program to improve the safety, efficiency, and
effectiveness of suppression operations;
(e) Developing and adopting data-driven decision-
making in order to support infrastructure, allowing for
better integration of wildland fire research and
development into ground-level suppression operations
and hazardous fuel mitigation;
[[Page 6551]]
(f) Evaluating personnel policies to ensure that
they allow for the year-round availability of a well-
trained firefighting force at all levels, from
apprentice to incident command, and the most efficient
division of responsibility between line officers and
incident commanders to support wildfire response and
hazardous fuels reduction;
(g) Strengthening government and industry
collaboration with critical infrastructure owners and
operators, including electric utilities, to better
manage and mitigate risks, improve and invest in
technology research and development, deploy
technologies in concert with the private sector,
exchange lessons learned in training and monitoring
capabilities, and share operational practices;
(h) Examining regulatory and other issues that
negatively impact hazardous fuel reduction and post-
wildfire rehabilitation program performance, including
coordination across agencies on projects requiring
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act,
42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.;
(i) Coordinating among Federal land managers to
assure efficient and consistent approaches between
agencies to review and approve utility vegetation
management actions to improve or maintain the
reliability of the grid or reduce wildfire risk; and
(j) Developing a coordinated budget strategy that
addresses the trade-offs between suppression,
preparedness, post-wildfire rehabilitation, and fuels
treatment to ensure a balanced commitment of resources
and investment in areas at risk or affected by
wildfire.
Sec. 6. Report. Within 1 year of the date of this
order, and annually thereafter, the Wildland Fire
Subcabinet shall update the Chairman of CEQ, the
Director of OMB, the Director of OSTP, and the Director
of the NEC on the status of the strategic plan and the
specific actions identified in this order.
Sec. 7. Administration. The Department of Agriculture
shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to
the availability of appropriations, provide
administrative support as needed for the Wildland Fire
Subcabinet to implement this order. The Departments of
the Interior and Agriculture shall consult with WFLC,
as appropriate, to effectively carry out the
requirements of this order.
Sec. 8. Federal Advisory Committee Act. The members of
the Wildland Fire Subcabinet should, pursuant to and
consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as
amended (5 U.S.C. App.), and in the interest of
obtaining advice or recommendations for the Wildland
Fire Subcabinet, use their advisory committees, as
appropriate.
Sec. 9. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented in a manner
consistent with applicable law and subject to the
availability of appropriations.
[[Page 6552]]
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 14, 2021.
[FR Doc. 2021-01476
Filed 1-19-21; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P
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