Agency: Natural Resources

Line Item: Forestry, Fire and State Lands

Function

The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands manages Utah's sovereign lands and provides forestry conservation and fire control activities on non-federal forest, range, and watershed lands. Although there are no state forests, approximately 30 percent of Utah is non-federal land, leaving a sizeable area on which the division administers the state's forestry laws. A twelve member advisory council provides guidance to the division.

Currently the division is putting special emphasis on the following areas:

• Providing wildland fire protection for non-federal, unincorporated lands commensurate with values at risk.
• Providing technical assistance to landowners and communities in natural resource management by utilizing the principles of multiple-use, stewardship, and ecosystem management.
• Managing the resources of sovereign lands under public trust.

Statutory Authority

The following laws govern operation of the division:

• UCA 65A-1-1 defines "sovereign lands."
• UCA 65A-1-4 defines the division's authority.
• UCA 65A-5-1 creates the restricted Sovereign Land Management Account.
• UCA 65A-8-101 encourages private landowners in preserving, protecting, and managing forest and other lands throughout Utah.
• UCA 65A-8-105 describes division responsibility for Urban and Community Forestry programs.
• UCA 65A-8-202 requires the division to abate fires on all state-owned lands, but owning agencies shall recognize the need and responsibility for sharing the costs and shall annually allocate funds to the division in amounts determined to be proportionate to the costs of providing a basic level of fire protection.
• UCA 65A-9-1 makes the division responsible for efficient management of range resources on lands it administers.
• UCA 65A-10-1 allows the division to exchange, sell, or lease sovereign lands but only in quantities and purposes that serve the public interest and so not interfere with the public trust.
• UCA 65A-10-3 requires the division to develop plans to resolve disputes over sovereign land boundaries.
• UCA 65A-10-8 requires a comprehensive plan for the Great Salt Lake.

Intent Language

Under the terms of 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code, the Legislature intends that appropriations provided for the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands in Item 5, Chapter 9, Laws of Utah 2011, shall not lapse at the close of FY 2012. Expenditures of these funds are limited to: Utah Lake Special Master $375,000; Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Dispute $100,000; Little Willow Water Line $35,000; Navigational Hazards Removal $20,000; Lands Maintenance $50,000; Lease Tracking System $20,000.

Performance

The division uses the following as the top performance measures to gauge the success of its programs.

Hazardous Fule Reduction: As part of the National Fire Plan (NFP), the division is actively engaged in Hazardous Fuel Reduction where staff and contract vendors work with private landowners in rural areas to reduce potential fire hazards by eliminating "fuels" (i.e., dead and down wood) surrounding their homes and other structures. This measure tracks the number of acres the division preformed hazardous fuel-reduction treatment work.

Fire Season: The fire season in Utah for the last two months of FY 2012 was extreme, which led to a devastating fire season for calendar year 2012.

Training: The third measure tracks the number of wildland firefighters trained to certified standards. The more firefighters the division can train to proper standards (both division employees and rural fire department employees or volunteers), the better resources available for initial attack to combat fires and keep them small, and the more firefighters qualified to fight wildland fires.

Tree City USA: This measure tracks the number of cities in Utah qualified for "Tree City USA." Tree City USA status requires certain national standards be met to receive that designation. When a city reaches this status, it is due to the efforts of division staff helping them get there and is a direct reflection on the division helping improve and maintain Utah's urban forests, which are where the vast majority of Utah citizens live.

Special Funds

The division manages the expendable trust fund known as the Wildland Fire Suppression Fund (UCA 65A-8-204). Counties may contribute to the fund by agreeing to specific terms set in statute and the state must match the county's contributions. In FY 1998 the Legislature added $1.5 million to the division's General Fund base to match county payments. In FY 2001, 2003, and 2009, the fund did not have sufficient money to pay all obligations. To avoid prorating funds, the Legislature made a one-time appropriation of $5 million in FY 2001, $3.2 million in FY 2003, and $4 million in FY 2009 directly to the fund. In the 2006 General Session, the Legislature passed S.B. 65, which allows counties to exempt certain lands and values from the calculation. Because of this, division management anticipates a reduction in the amount of revenues coming into the fund. Currently all counties, except Rich, Salt Lake, Summit, Wasatch, and Weber, participate in the program. Additional information about the fund:

• Also known as the "Insurance Fund"(click here for more information provided by the division),
• Capped at $8 million,
• Eligible lands include forest, range, and watershed lands in unincorporated areas of counties, except federal or state lands,
• Counties pay a premium based on acreage and taxable value of real property in unincorporated areas. The state matches their payments.

Funding Detail

The two principal funding sources for the division are the General Fund and the General Fund Restricted - Sovereign Lands Management Account. The division also receives federal funds, dedicated credits, and funding from the Wildland Fire Suppression Fund.

A large sum of federal dollars are used for "Forest Legacy" projects (budgeted in the Forest Management Program) which consists of identifying willing private land owners interested in protecting environmentally important private forest lands that are threatened by conversion to non-forest uses. Most of these funds are used to purchase conservation easements. Other federal funds are used for forestry assistance to private landowners, forest health, and urban and community forestry.

The division's dedicated credits come mostly from reimbursement for project labor, including firefighting, by the Lone Peak Conservation Center.

Program: Division Administration

Function

The Forestry, Fire and State Lands Division Administration program includes the activities of the Executive Director, Deputy Director, an administrative assistant, a public affairs officer, and a planning coordinator.

Division Administration maintains public records of the division's actions and provides overall administration for implementation of policies established by the Executive Director, Governor, and the Legislature. This program also includes funding for the 12-member Forestry, Fire, and State Lands Advisory Council representing geographic and multiple-use interests.

The other main component in Division Administration is the administrative support staff whose functions include policy analysis, accounting, rulemaking, records management, and facilities. It also has the primary responsibility for the management of the Wildland Fire Suppression Fund.

Funding Detail

Program: Fire Management

Function

The Fire Management program is responsible for fire prevention, mitigation, and fire suppression activities. The program includes Forestry Cost-Share Assistance, Fire Management, Fire Protection, Volunteer Fire Assistance, and Federal Excess Personal Property Management. Fire Management provides technical expertise and functional support to the Program Delivery (field) arm of the division.

The division cooperates with a variety of agencies, organizations, groups, and individuals to accomplish goals by taking advantage of those cooperators' expertise, infrastructure, and cost-share funding availability. Fire Management enters into cooperative agreements for purposes such as fire suppression coordination through the Eastern Great Basin Fire Coordination Center and five local interagency fire dispatch centers. It also increases the firefighting capacity of rural Utah fire departments through matching financial and technical assistance.

Funding Detail

Program: Fire Suppression Emergencies

Function

Funds appropriated to this program are used for fire control expenditures of two kinds, neither of which is predictable with any degree of certainty. The fund covers fire suppression salaries (which vary with the severity of the fire season) and supplies and services required on a case-by-case basis with each fire suppression effort. The appropriation is also used to match county payments into the Wildland Fire Suppression Fund (WFSF) pursuant to UCA 65A-8-204. They also pay half of county fire suppression costs in excess of the county's approved fire suppression budget (for counties not in the Insurance Fund).

The Suppression Fund provides the flexibility to pay for wildland fire supplies and services as the cost is incurred. Many of the supplies and services are provided by local merchants and contractors. The suppression fund allows payment to local vendors in a reasonable time frame.

Funding Detail

Program: Lands Management

Function

The Lands Management program oversees the administration, planning, and management of 1.5 million acres of sovereign lands, including 2,200 miles of shoreline, under the public trust doctrine, and various parcels of uplands throughout Utah. The program develops and implements comprehensive and resource management plans, monitors and manages resources of those lands, and administers the surface and mineral estates through leases, permits, and easements. The program also manages oil, gas, and mineral leasing for all state agencies except School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA).

Lands Management establishes standards and formats for information technology and Geographic Information System (GIS) related applications used throughout the division. The program facilitates the division's databases and guides inventory and cataloging of existing statewide natural resources data. Other duties include web page adoption, implementing new hardware and software, software training, and development of new e-government applications.

Funding Detail

Program: Forest Management

Function

The Forest Management program is responsible for development and administration of the division's conservation programs, which include: Forest Stewardship, Forest Health, Urban & Community Forestry, Forest Legacy (protecting private forests from being converted to non-forest uses), Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Forest Water Quality Monitoring, Forest Industry Registration, and Forest Practices Notification.

Forest Management provides technical expertise, functional support and oversight to the Program Delivery (field) arm of the division. Additionally, through capacity building, traditional and nontraditional partnerships, cost share grant opportunities and educational programs, the Forest Management team provides support to local communities, private land owners, industry professionals, and individual citizens across the state.

Funding Detail

Program: Program Delivery

Function

This program is the division's service delivery arm, providing access for customers and facilitating response to wildland fires on non-federal land.

As the program that serves most of the division's customers, Program Delivery is also the division's largest internal customer. Other programs support Program Delivery in a range of activities associated with forest stewardship, agro-forestry, urban forestry, forest products utilization, forest health, fire management (prevention, detection, pre-suppression, suppression), federal excess personal property acquisition and management, sovereign land management and state land mineral management.

Funding Detail

Program: Lone Peak Center

Function

The Lone Peak Center was established in 1989 and provides services (specialized fire crews and education services) to multiple municipal, state, and federal customers.

Two fire-engine teams are staffed with seasonal employees to add mobility and fire management services. These engine strike teams are to be financially self-supporting. In addition, the division hosts three fire suppression hand crews. One program hires 20 firefighters from the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy. Students sign up for an internship and complete the required training at the academy. The division organizes the 20 students as a fire crew and has successfully made it self-supporting.

A partnership with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) created an Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) of state employees. A USFS agreement covers 75 percent of the cost. The program also performs various fuel reduction activities throughout the year to reduce the threat of future wildfires. Two of the ten-person crews are dedicated to hazardous fuels mitigation projects and are self supporting.

Funding Detail

Program: Project Management

Function

Project Management tracks legislatively approved funds for special projects. Some of the funds approved and set aside are for the Utah Lake Special Master (who is helping settle the Utah Lake boundary dispute), rehab and reseeding projects, and the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge dispute.

Funding Detail