Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing Examines Efforts To Reduce Wildland Fire Risk 20170824

Hackers started getting jobs doing security. Next well hear from federal and local officials on some of the technologies that can be used to reduce and prevent wildfires across the country. They testified at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing this month. This is just under two hours. Good morning. The committee will come to order. Were here today to take a look at wildfire, to examine our wildFire Management program, the collaboration that is required to reduce risks firefighters, to communities, and resources and some of the emerging technologies that are changing the way that fires are managed. We now well into the 2017 fire season. Certainly a very active one. My friend from montana, i think, is going to share some of what is happening in his state this morning, and i think it is appropriate to recognize the heroic acts of the man and women who fight these fires throughout the season, and to recognize the loss of the firefighter in montana. Senator . Madam chair, thank you. Ill talk about it in my harks but we lost a firefighter last night in montana. Our second fatality in two weeks in montana firefighters. Know our hearts and prayers are with the families, but, again, this speaks to the realities that we behaves our wildfire around the country that this is dangerous and unpredictable work, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who are serving. As of august 1st, nearly 39,000 fires have burned almost 5. 5 millionacres of land. For comparison sake, this is an area the size of the state of new hampshire. In alaska we have had low fire year this year. We have had more than 300 fires burning 630,000 acres. Its a lot of land but its below normal for us in alaska so were certainly not complaining. Two years ago, in 2015, over 5 million acres burned in alaska alone, and mr. Maisch, from the state of alaska, certainly knows and understands is a all too well. Nationally, 2015 is one of the worst seasons of record, stretching nearly all year and burning over 10 million acres in total. This committee has spent a lot of time, a lot of good work, working on legislation to address the consequences of wildfire. Well continue that work until we arrive at legislative solutions. We need a comprehensive solution that addresses both wildfire budgeting and Forest Management. We need to tackle both of those at once, because we know the wildfire problem is not just a budgeting problem. Its also a management problem. Last year, my Ranking Member, center cant yell and senator widen andrich and crapo, put a together a wildfire bugging response and Forest Management act and the proposal included a fiscally responsible fix to permanently end the destructive practice of fire borrowing. We required congress to provide resources to the agencies up front, enough to cover 100 of the annual cost of firefighters over the previous ten years while allowing for a limited cap adjustment when we experience truly catastrophic years. Our proposal took steps to address hurdle that stand in the way of mitigating wildfire risk and make their fores more healthy and resilient. We would have increased the use of technologies such as drones and gps trackers and fire reaction mapping and making needed investment in Community Wildfire protection plans and fire wise program. Our wildfire strategy needs to include all of these import piece the wildFire Management pozzing and we know other members on the committee have good ideas that need to be considered. While our hearing today is focused on oversight of programs and use of technology, our goal is a good bill that will fix these problems and so the president will be able to sign this into law. We up a little short in the last congress but fire is again continue to destroy our lands. Theres a lot more that we could do theres a lot more that we must do from budgeting to new technologies to better Management Practices to save them. Again, want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today and particularly extend my appreciation to chris maisch, alaskas state forrester. Ill concern to Ranking Member cantwell for your opening remarks. I. I wants to thank the men and women who fight wildfires throughout the country and our thought and prayers are with those in montana who lost lives and the firefighters continuing to battle blazes. These firefighters have been working tirelessly to save home, communes, people, and assure theyre always there to answer the call. Their diligent work has savedded men hundreds of residents already this year. The chair mentioned our efforts in the last congress to work diligently together in a bipartisan effort. I can assure all my colleague are here there was no stone urn turned no late night not visited by she, myself, our staff, the leadership in the United States senate to try to resolve the fire borrowing issue and make a down payment on what our fuel reduction strategies for the future. Unfortunately, we couldnt quite get there with our house colleagues so any of you who think you can help us get them to Pay Attention in a more serious way, we would be so grateful. We have come together on a bipartisan solution in the United States senate to end fire borrowing and to make investments for the future, and i hope i certainly hope that we can get the attention to reinvigorate those efforts and pass it when we return later after the summer session. Today were here to talk about what are the additional tools we can give firefighters. As of today, 50 more acres have already burned this year and yesterday a forecast report was released that predicts the west is likely to experience above normal wildfires over the next month. That shouldnt surprise people since we know exactly what has been trending the last few years. And while in the state of washington we have some fires, the rest over the country is seeing even more impact. So todays hearing is about the tools we can give to help decrease the risks of firefighting. I also want to thank steven king for being here from washington to talk about the innovative actions the city of wenatchee has been doing and undertaking to mitigate risks we know all too well from the 30mile fire. From the taylor con tomplex and other thing that impacted our state where over 100 million acres burned in one afternoon. The threat and how fast these fires can move. So, we want to make sure that we are giving new tools to firefighters. If we are seeing a new normal, which i dont want to think that its normal because this is very, very stressful for all of communities, but if we are seeing a new increase because of the dry conditions and the ability for fires to spread in so many more places so more quickly, what can technology do to help us address this and make us safer for the future . A couple of approaches that my colleagues, senator gardner, and i have been working on, to is make sure were using new Technology Tools to help us deal with fires. That is, First Time Ever wildfire mapping aircraft. The ability for aircraft to fly over these areas and also use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that would generate realtime mapping, depicting where the fires are burning. Making gps locators to fire crews available. Wildfire today refers to the combination of crew location and realtime fire maps as the holy grail wild land firefighting because it improves the safety for firefighters. This legs were proposing would also increase encourage federal agencies to take advantage of the tools we have at nasa in order to speed up the plan that goes into effect to prevent after the fire effect of flooding and erosion. These are important issues for us to map these areas, and i know as we look every year at noaas information, working with the Forest Service we know where our hot spots will be. Not that other spots arent going to see an impact because you never know where a fire is going to start, but gives us information about where to cash and put resours so resources so theyre available. We also want to make sure we do better with realtime forecasting information. In the state of washington we have a gap in the central part of the state. Do not want to have a region of our state left less protected because they dont have accurate Weather Forecasting information. We want to build on the state of the technology and to make sure that every Community Knows when and when it should not be sending firefighters out, given the Weather Forecast and the challenges we face. So, i agree with the chair, we need to work efficiently, work together, get the hasty response approach used in the central part of washington. That is, to have everybody ready, given the outbreaks of fires and so many locations, to have a hasty response. We also need to have a hasty response to getting this legislation over the goal line with our house of representatives as well. So, madam chair, thank you for holing this important hearing. Thank our witnesses for being here and our thoughts and prayers with those families impacted by the fire season. Thank you, senator cant wellwell. And know that my commitment remains to help address this in a way that is going to be more than just kind of the, he herkjerky way its been handle. The fire borrowing that limits the ability of agencies to do the work that we need them to do. So, having an approach that will yield enduring policy is what were all looking for here. Im pleased to be able to welcome the panel this morning. We have good input and i appreciate the time that you will spend with us. We will be led off by vic year and christiansen, the executive chief for the state and private forestry at the department offing a accurate. Mr. Bryan rice is the director for the office of wild landfire at department of interior up i have mentioned my friend, mr. Chris maisch, a state forrester for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and also here this morning, wearing another hat on behalf of the National Association of state foresters with appreciate your leadership. Mr. Steve king, the Economic Development director for the city of wenatchee, washington. Welcome to you. And i understand that senator stabenowow would like to introduce dr. Miller. Thank you very much, madam chair. Want to thank you for an incredibly important hearing and as the ranking democrat on agriculture, nutrition and forestry so i want to work with you to folk cause on provenges and management and all the money isnt transferred to fight fires. So thank you for this. We have tremendous expertise in michigan and i want to introduce dr. Mary el enmiller a Research Engineer at Michigan Tech Research Institute in ann arbor. Michigan tech, which is actually in the upper peninsula, as senator cantwell knows, up in houghton, michigan. A beautiful, beautiful place. Michigan tech is a leader in the use of Information Technology to solve security and infrastructure, Earth Science and environmental problems. With the help of nasa, dr. Miller has used model and argentina observations to predict erosion and runoff after wildfires in colorado and california. And of course not all of her work is hightech. She also spends plenty of time in the field with more lowtech fools like tipping bucket gauge monday and a bucket hatch. So thank you, dr. Miller. We look forward to hearing you unique scientific insights on wow watersheds are impact by wildfires. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you, senator stabenow. At this time, if you want to lead the panel off we welcome your comments. Madam chairman and Ranking Members and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss collaboration to reduce wildfire risk. After the events of yesterday, loss of one of our own, were all our hearts are heavy and we send condolences to the community. This is a very appropriate time for this discussion. My name is vicky christiansen, deputy chief of state and private forestry for the usda Forest Service. My remarks will be framed by the National Cohesive wildLand Management strategy. All lands blueprint for building synergies to address the nations growing wildfire challenges. The three goals the co hes stiff strategy are restoring and maintaining resilience landscapes, creating fire adaptive communities, and an effective riskbased wildfire response. The Forest Service is committed to restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes across all jurisdictions. On our National Forest we achieve over 3 million acres of hazardous fuels treatments last year. We also worked across boundary width our partners. In 2006 we provided Financial Support to carry out nearly 15,000 acres of treatment on nonfederal lands. Since 2006 we have assessed more than 3,000 fuel treatments, and when tested by wildfires, 90 of these fuel treatments have shown to reduce the impacts of wildfire. For example in arizona, the field treatment associated with the White Mountain stewardship project dramatically slowed the rate of spread of the wildfire to allow firefighters to safely attack the fire and protect homes and property. The Forest Service collaborates with state and local partners to help prepare communities to withstand a wildfire. This is challenging because of the increasing development in the wailedland urban interface women work with state partners to assist communes in developing Community Wildfire protection plans. These plans Bring Community members together to address wild fire response, hazard mitigation, and community preparedness. As our Risk Assessment technology has development, our capability to help Communities Reduce their risk to wildfire has evolved. For example, you will hear more from mr. King about our Community Planning assistance for wildfire program. WildFire Prevention is a critical element to working collaboratively across the Land Ownership boundaries. Last year finally nine out of ten wildfires caused be humans, including some of the most costly fires. If we prevent unwanted humancautioned fires we can proactively use our resources to create resillant landscapes, improve response and help communities be prepared. A longstanding example of federal and nonfederal collaboration is smoky bear. His campaign is administered by the Forest Service, the National Association of state foresters and the ad council. Smoky will be 73 next week and is one of the worlds most recognizable characters. Our goal at the Forest Service is to work with partners to continuously improve our riskbased response wildfire. No one agency has the capability or the Surge Capacity to respond to wildfire alone so we have a collaborative approach in the u. S. It includes federal, state, tribal, city, county, contract, and havent volunteer firefighters. We continue to work with cooperators and industry on emerging technology to help respond to the challenges fire. The Forest Service invests 34 million each year in wild land fire information and Technology Systems and we work very clearly with the department of interior to develop an integrated approach and prioritize our investments to be able to update our legacy systems. The central platform is an enter spry agreeow spatial portal. This provide propertial provides up to addition wildfire situational information to First Responders to fire managers and the public. Through our research and Development Branch we continue to co will be operate with additional partners such as nasa on new and emerging technologies. We also partner and doi takes the lead on interagency capability on Unmanned Aircraft operations in wildland Fire Management. Although our missions and praters are diverse in our partners, we are united with a common vision and set of goals defined by the cohesive strategy. Established to collectively address our nations wildland fire challenges so we can redeem our responsibilities to the citizens of the u. S. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss wildfire risk, and collaboration. We look forward to work with the committee on these important issues. Ms. Rice, public. Good morning. Chairman murkowski, Ranking Member cantwell, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and have this discussion. Its important. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the department of the interiors wildland fire program. First id like to start by saying that we in the department are saddened by yesterdays news of the fatality in heart felt condolences to the family and friends and i others affected. Were see the cumulative impacts of climate variability, drought, and Invasive Species that are creating this situation that leads us to being more susceptible to large wildfires. We have seen outbreak in numerous if not all of the geographic areas inch work through this is the National Cohesive strategy, which my partner here alluded to, is a backbone of the National Wildland Fire Management policy and built on collaboration with federal, state, triballal, almost, and represents actively involving partners in planning and decisionmaking. Fuels management work, active management work, either done collaboratively with partners or done directly on Department Lands managed threw each of the bureaus within the department of the interior, is one of the most effective strategies for mitigating wildland fire risk. For example in the department of the interiors resilient landscapes initiative, doi bury rows actively engage partners at the local level on fuels management projected that achieve fire resillen . I multiple jurisdictions and broad landscapes. The. The departments supported initiative provided val thank you to landowners, tribal and state land owners to safeguard communities. We work to reduce overstock forests and wooledlandsland. Its important to talk about the advancements in technology that play a Critical Role in the program. The use of Unmanned Aircraft systems is becoming increasingly important in the daytoday Fire Suppression operation. Interiors government leader in research and development in the practical deployment of uass for nondefense purposes. Currently the department uses uas to support firefighterred in feel threw mappology fires, use of infa trade technology and gathering dat for strategic fire planning if the department has established guide felons the coordinated use of uass with state agencies as well as developing specifics for a governmentowned treat of uass. Looking ahead, were studying the potential role uass will my in Fire Suppression operations, including their effective in the as delivering fire retardant and cargo that may prohibit use of larger, piloted aircraft. In june of this year the department announced the expansion of the wildland fire location dat sharing service, named current wildland fires, available to the public through geoplatform. Gov and in addition the early adopters of alaska and texas, other state are added which huh wyoming, understand and california. The system informs Drone Operators in near realtime where not to fly so they can avoid interference with ongoing fire operations. Another Important Technology advancement that is helping improve the departments response to wildland fires is the use of High Definition cameras with infrared technologied that help spot fires in remote geographic areas across nevada. The bureau of Land Managements Fire Camera Network program is a joint efforts with the university of nevadas anybodys lab. Eight cameras have been installed on remote mountain peaks and used for early fire detection to allow managers to ship resources to better manage fires, reduce costs and protect local community. Yet another Service Available to the public. The database readily available. The department acknowledges we still have plenty of room for improvement when it comes to fighting fires efficiently and safely. We believe the Technology Advancements allow is to us betr address wildfires and we look forward to building on the efforts to support the safe of firefighters, enhance the Fire Fighting response and promote further collaboration with our partners. Thank you again for the opportunity to discuss the departments fire program and ill be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, mr. Rice. Welcome, mr. Maisch. Thank you. Good morning, chairman murkowski, ranking men cantwell and members of the committee. My name is chris maisch, state forest and director of the Alaska Division of forestry and past president of the National Association of state foresters. Appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today on the topics of wildfire Risk Mitigation and the use of new technology on the fire line. The mission of my division is to proudly serve alaskans through forest managele and wildland fire protection. The division is the lead agency on 150 million acres of land with at the prime mere goal to protect life and property mitchell staff works closely with two key partners in alaska exusda Forest Service and the department of interior Alaska Fire Service with the latter agency being our main partner in alaska. Id like to address my first topic. Reducing risk to units and firefighters by walking you through the process of how a fuel mitigation project is created and then deployed on the ground mitchell written statement has included several case studies of fuel reduction projects used in actual wildland fire incidents but ill focus on one project in alaska. The process starts with the state action plan. Which is a key document that focuses limited resources via a publicly vetted process and reflects individual state priorities. This temperatures into a cwpp or Community Wildfire protection plan, that goes into more detail and can be for a whole community, neighborhood or any jurisdictional unit that work wells for the planning process. Agencies provide sciencebased input to the sites of fuel breaks or fuel treatments that are appropriate. Work is conducted at the landscape level and for individual properties in alaska via Forest Stewardship Program and a nexus wise u. S. A. Principles. Stewardship for yesters are experts at working with small land owners and we offer cost share incentives to encourage landowners to fully implement recommendations to reduce risk. This work is crossboundary and scale and. If youre students of military tactics youll recognize this daktarin. Outer rings of fuel breaks and Forest Management that scales into individual treatments for individual properties as you move further into the interface. In 2014 the funny river fire on the Kenai National wildlife refuge was stopped at the outskirts of the community bay landscape scale fueled break and burnout operation as the main fire approach. If you have the written testimony, you can look at page 2, figures 1 and 2, for examples of what these treatments actually look like. The fire log for the incident records the progression of the fire and id like to read several entries. May 19th. At 1600 hours the funny river fire is reported. Driven by strong northerly winds and by 2230 the fire is seven miles long and threequarters of a mile wide. Thats in two and a half hours. May 20th. The fire grows an additional 21,000acres and the alaska type 2 team takes command of the fire. May 21st through may 24inch. The fire increases by another 83,000 acres. May 25th, the fire grows an additional 45,500 acres and the fuel bracing used in a burnout operation. Refer to page 4, figure 3 to see the operation taking police at the actual fire. Its the fire line. Property values protected were over 250 million in value. This is significant test for this type of a fuel break. Around the country there oar examples and there are three other case studies cited in my written statement. One additional project in alaska and two in arizona. It is worst mentioning that last year 82 of wildfires and almost 50 of ache ache arage burn were on state or local land. We need to provide solid fiscal restaurant for the programs, circlely for the sf and bfa line items. These programs help create fire adabtive communities, increase capacity of agencies to respond, create defensive space and educate the public. Turning to my other topic, would like to briefly address the use of technology and some of the innovative use of uavs and on page 6 you can see the figure shows the texas Forest Service utilizing a uav during an initial attack fire. This technology has Great Potential to improve fireline safety, increase Situational Awareness for the Incident Commander and operations staff, as well as become a standard tool utilized for several purposes. The addition of an infrared camera to a platform assists mopup operations, identifying heat in the areas being gridded, in realtime for crews. The written testimony goes into the details of the texas Forest Service program and joint effort biz the Alaska Fire Service and television of Forestry Division of forestry incourt uav as into operations. In closing i would like to stress the importance of crossboundary fuels work on private, state and federal land for protecting communes as well as increasing operational value and safety benefits of new technology, such as uavs and Fire Suppression operations. The Forest Service state and private programs are critical funding sourceses and has demonstrate, states the rural Fire Departments are at the forefront of the nations wildland fire problem. Theres an urn gent need to increase the amount of Forest Management on federal lands throughout the country. There are good examples of federal land managers that are rising to the challenge but too often the appeal project delay needed projects. Reform is needed to address this problem. Another helpful tool is a Good Neighbor authority which allows state agencies to partner with the Forest Service and blm to get work done on the ground. Improvements in this authority can also be made and that would be based on experience of the 59 Good Neighbor Authority Agreements agreements and the 29 states throughout the country. Thank you again for the opportunity to discuss those important issues and topics with you. This conclude mist testimony and i would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you, chris, mr. King. Welcome. Good morning, thank you for this opportunity to come to d. C. And present to you. This is my first time, and let me present just a little bit of background about my career. I served the city of wenatchee as Economic Development director and 15 years ago i started performing Civil Engineering work to design Water Systems for fire response based on structure loss from the 1992 castle rock fires in which over 20 structures were lost in wenatchee. In 2015 when the Sleepy Hollow fires hit our city we did not run out of water so that was successful. However the disaster still occurred, which tells us we need to look more comprehensively how we address wildfire. I hope that my testimony today will communicate to you the value of empowering communes to act and the value of implements Risk Reduction strategies through multiagency collaboratives and partnerships. Just a little context for wenatchee. When i tell them im from win natch cheer in Washington State they assume we have lush rain forests around us. Wenatchee is on the east slope of the cast skates but we again ten inches of rain and were on the downwind side of the foothills of the cascade. Wildfire is a reality. I grew up in omak, washington two hours north, and next to a Retardant Base and we had the old world were 2 aircraft driving on fires. Dent have human human impact is barely remember a few outbuildings being lost in those events. Times have changed. Our communities have grown as we push into the wildland urban interface and requires a different approach. My uncle served for 30 years with the okanogan National Forest, as a spokesperson. I remember specifically as two times when he had to deal with firefighter deaths and hi heart goes out to the folks in montana. In 2015, we had the Sleepy Hollow fires. One year after the carlton fires when 322 homes were lost in the okanogan area. The sleepy hallow caused loss o39 homes and 30 acres of land. I was there during the event and saw the fire turn from a calm brush fire and when the winds picked up, in the afternoon, the fire cathedral over a mile in 20 minutes and was in the edges of our city and houses were exploding. I saw that and watched in horror as the firefighter response efforts were quickly overwhelmed and we then saw embers leaping from house to house. And then over two mile jump into the heart of the city. Its hard to imagine as youre in the middle of that that the radio calls out, we have structures in downtown, and in an ag chemical facility and it was like, oh, boy, just went to a whole new level itch will never forget this. Put a people do and new people come to a community, and so keeping that presence of understanding that we live in an environment where this can happen is really important. ll talk about how risk mapping does help to keep that in the forefront. I also want to say thank you for the effort the investment in training opportunities to the National Fire academy, through the Community Planning assistant for wildfire programs, and the chief of our Fire Department does have one our goals is to become better educated and understanding the realities of these events. Risk mapping. Last two weeks ago i sat down with staff from the Forest Service, Rock Mountain research station and we worked on the risk map for she chelan come. It brings everybody together. Agencies have dirt value sets and that comes out when you Start Talking about risk mapping and fire behavior. Its also a tool for call to action. People forget. Risk mapping lets lets you simue disaster without having to go through the disaster. It lets us inform informs us how to implement our codes, wildland interface coded. Tells us the effective unless of Risk Reduction strategy such as Vegetation Management. It provides us information on how to protect critical infrastructure, like Water Systems or communication systems. And then the technology is change being will continue to change. For example theres a lot of studies being done on ember transport, especially from structures and risk mapping willern corporate that new steines and new science and technology. I just want to again come back and stress that our wenatchee foothill is made up or lands operated by the Forest Service, the department of interior, our local nonprofit land trust, our state Natural Resources department, the city of win natch cheer and private Property Owners. Its paramount that everybody participate in these activities. Risk mapping shows the importance of that. One Property Owner can lose it all if somebody doesnt participate. So, once again, its a call to action, its a leveraging tool as well as a Technology Tool that brings people together. So, i hope you can see our passion at the city of wenatchee and how were trying to prevent this from happening. I had to tell our Planning Commission that we live in a world of wildfire and wildfires will continue to happen and disasters will happen but if we do this successfully, we can maybe instead of 20 years, it will be 100 years before the next disaster and it takes this comprehensive approach to actually achieve that goal. So, with that i again thank you and would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, mr. King. Appreciate it. Dr. Miller. Good morning, chairwoman murkowski and Ranking Member cantwell and members of the committee. My name is dr. Mary ellen miller and im a Research Engineer at Michigan Tech Research Institute. My ph. D is Environmental Engineering with a masters in imaging science. Thank you foresighting me here today to share any work in post fire remediation. My team has built an online database to rapidly combine earth observations of burn severity with process based model inputs. Post fire flooding and erosion compose a significant threat to life, property, and Natural Resources such our our valuable water supplies. As part of my ph. D program i worked on a very large scale epa project designed to help plan fuel reduction treatments with a goal of protecting our Water Resources from fire emact. When the project ended i used the data and tools to rapidly predict post fire erosion Forest Service bear teams in colorado. There, or burned area Emergency Response teams, just have one week to assess a wildfire scar and decide if they need to make remediational plans or not. So, earth observations of burn severity are critical in the process but i was very surprised to learn from my Forest Service Research Colleagues that spatial process based hydrological models were being underyoud lited. I didnt understand why until 2011 when the National Park service asked me to model a small watershed that wounder within the rock house fire in texas. Only 500acres and i had previously modeled 75 of the forest in the west in three months so i thought this is going to be easism can do this. Was wrong. Texas was not part of the original epa area, and it took me over a week to assemble the input i needed. Was one day late in getting the modeling to the bear team so it was not used in the analysis. A year later in 2012, i modeled 80,000 acres of the high park fire for the bear team in two to three days. The difference between success and failure was simply preparation. I didnt want what happened to the rock house fire to happen again so im very proud to introduce a new online Rapid Response erosion database. Were calling it red for short. If allows users to download a map and download all the properly formatted spatial modal inputs needed. Led was contracted throw a collaboration between Michigan Tech, the National Wildfire program and the usda Forest Service rockie Mountain Research station. Dat preparation that used to take a week can now be done in second. Spatial prediction will allow teams to prioritize treatments. Im proud to say red has been used on several major fires. The year before in 2015, the modeling rules were used to spatially place 3 million word of woodsheds and to in the king fire, Million Dollars worth of mulching in or the to protect a valuable hydroelectric water reservoir. Red has also been used on four large fuel manning projects to protect our water supplies, including one in the mcculle basis in california. Our first goals include expanding to include alaska and hawaii. Also like to improve reds capabilities for supporting fuel planning projects. And we are developing a new modeling interface to work in conjunction with red to make it even easier. So, thank you very much for your interest in fire science. It is very important. Research and Educational Outreach are vital to support our brave firefighters and bear teams. Ill be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, dr. Miller. Thank each of. You think we recognize that how we are approaching firefighting, how we are approaching Forest Management, has change over the years and when you listen to the technologies that are now available to us, the innovation that were seeing, dr. Miller, i appreciate the research and the mapping youre doing there. I think we recognize we have new tools, which is great, but we are dealing across multiple agencies; dealing with tribal lands, dealing with state and private and federal. It is an example where if you are not working together collaboratively, bad things can happen. And sitting in this committee for the past 1415 years, listening every year to where we are with fire status reports and how were working across agencies, the discussion is always, oh, yeah, were working together, its inner agency and its collaborative but i think we have made extraordinary gains and doing just that. Chris, you mentioned that the crossboundary fuel efforts, and i will direct this question to you, mr. Christiansen or mr. Rice, and mr. Maisch as well. With regard to how we determine the process of the federal agencies utilize to determine where these fuel mitigation projects should occur on federal or across boundary lines, what is the process . Do you work im assuming your offices work with a land managers to help make these decisions. What more do we need to be doing to make sure that were not just talking about good collaboration but that any impediments to that are removed to . The fire doesnt know the boundary between blm lands or state or private lands. So, what more do we need to be doing in this realm . Thank you, senator. Ill take a first good at this. Really appreciate the perspective and the articulation of the cohesive strategy. The three National Implementation principles of the strategies collectively across jurisdiction in the landscape school, inclusive of communities to were desay comanage risk to look at the risk factors in an entire landscape what those critical values are at risk. And what no one age can take on an activity that might transfer risk to others, prescribe fire is a perfect example. Prescribe fire is ona very important tool to it is taking on some shortterm risk but to greatly reduce the longterm risk translate that into real applications, though. You have one agency that believes you should move forward with prescribed burn, but your community says, no, this is a dangerous time of year to be doing that. We have high winds. Conditions on the ground. There is inherent tension between the desire of one agency and what you may have in another agency or out in the current. So its a realtime analytics are so advanced than they were even five years ago that that brings the collaboration, principles for decisionmaking in that risk sharing. Let me interrupt because im running out of time. Let me ask, are you satisfied that we really are as integrated as we need to be . Chairman, thanks for the question, the topic. I know your time is short, but its complicated. With that being complicated the conversations that need to take place, the engagement that needs to happen across all the jurisdictions, whether its dealing with indian tribes, federal and state lands, counties, all the other jurisdictions, it takes this level of personal engagement for all of our managers, leaders, everyone involved. And we improve . I think we can approve that we are making leaps and bounds from what weve been in the past. Mr. Maisch . Thank you, senator. I would agree with our previous two speakers that theres places in the country where were definitely very coordinated and other places where theres challenges. Hopefully we can learn from that. For sure. You want to do the Lessons Learned and definitely learned from mistakes that a been made in the past. One of the ways to help with the Community Peace in terms of getting communities to buy yen and demonstrating that these projects actually do work and when there is an incident that there is paid back, that we are able to it many cases use of those breaks in preparation of this risk not only to the community that not importantly but equally important to the firefighters are actually protecting i think we saw that with the sunny river fire. For sure. Some of that is using technology, joint Fire Sciences program is key program that for the provides a lot of very good information to practitioners at the operational level. One project in alaska a shilling and demonstrating the fuel mitigation projects, the different types, the shaded fuel break, all the Different Things we can do, how effective those actually are in different fuel types on a fire in in one of the treatments. That buys confidence from the community, what you recommend will work. Senator cantwell. Thank you, madam chair. Mr. King, the only didnt say is its the apple capital of the world. When you think about apples and her economic output in the support of the state its about 2. 2. 4 billion or 5 billion a year. Its a big risk when fire and faxed it. You did a good job of explaining that we are on the slope. One other question i have for the panel in this use of new technology, because thats really what were finding with these changes of conditions that having data and information can help us know when to go and when not to go. I think we can all say they were probably some incidents in the last two the first we had in washington where people probably did add to the burn which was probably the wrong decision. The conditions were just too volatile to try to create a burn. What is it, so my question, what do you think it is that come what is the output, like right now i know when youre talking about house to house, literally a community was at risk when one person had shrubs that were they key. You would g go along and you wod say these houses would be burn and these houses be safe. What do you think risk macpaint is going to give you . Mr. Rice, can you talk about the gps system and what he support the gps system and the Aerial Mapping . My colleague and i on plane monitor realtime mapping. And ms. Christiansen, if you are mr. Rice want to come on, i dont understand why we have foreclosed on this water scooping contract with the Forest Service. I dont know we have conclusive data. One of the things we learn and the support of the state is when you need jesus response one of the best tools that you have is to access and dump water on the site. Why would we be concluded right now that we really dont like that that kind of capacity . If you could address those, thank you. Yes. Good question. The risk mapping has been phenomenal informing us about the characteristics of how a fight approaches the city and gives us an idea of how to implement strategies along the structures. Two things. One, it tells us how they can manage the landscape so that predictable fire behavior is what we understand will happen. And then, it tells us, the vegetation, what steps into the city to expect to have a risk of structural loss. Number one, the number one strategy is you dont want any structures to go up. Once the structure school you into a new fuel type. Its called housing fuel types and thats a whole different game. It really demonstrates the importance of as an engine engaging all the Property Owners, whether theyre spread out in the wildland areas or in the city themselves to make sure and diplomat those practices to prevent that structure from going up. And it also empowers the land managers whether it city or county to implement the right type of fuel Mitigation Strategy so that basically the flames lay down before they get to the houses. Thank you. Mr. Rice, do you support gps for firefighters . Senator, great question, and thank you for that. The way that we are looking at gps and the technology that were using within fires, theres a litany of options. Theres numerous types of david boaz that are out there so we are looking at cost capability, what can actually be deployed and then how do we manage that date on the backend. To make it useful. In terms of do we support looking at, we support looking at different options and how we can actually come up with a solution thats beneficial to firefighters on the ground, managers in the field, the leadership that actually involved at all levels. Okay. Im going to come back for more clarity. What about the water, using these water flights scooping technology . Why are we concluded thats not a good idea . Thank you, senator cantwell. Water scoopers are certainly a tool in our aviation to aviation strategy. We have not concluded that they are ineffective, but as you know in our proposal fy 18 budget we had to make some critical choices and looked at being good stewards of the taxpayers dollars. And so in that choice making, we will not come were not planning to hold an exclusive use contract that can access these water scoopers through what we call a call when needed mechanism. Currently this year we do have two under exclusive use contract and to oncall when needed. Ill follow up with this on a document. Senator daines. Thank you for holding this hearing. As already discussed earlier, montana is experiencing a very busy wildfire season. Weve seen over 1200 fires so far this year, in fact, as we speak that are 31 fires burning across the state. Just yesterday the top ten National Priority fires are all burning in montana. Much of west montana is clouded by smoke. Hundreds more are under evacuation orders. Tragically and worst of all, trenton johnson, a courageous 19yearold from missoula who also was a sophomore at Montana State university, my alma mater, he died while battling a fire. And it just yesterday afternoon we received word of another loss of life. We lost a firefighter while fighting the lolo peak fire. The name has not yet been released. Our thoughts, our prayers go to the families of these brave men and women who are protecting our lives, protecting a property while risking their lives on these wildfires on the front lines, both appear to have been hit by falling trees. Unfortunately the National Interagency fire center anticipates above normal wildfire potential in montana. Ranking member kaine 12 shared the map the august map looking forward now september map shows the data conditions look to continue programming discussions now in early august, we dont have an early september. We have a long way sicker yet in this fire season. We do need to address how we find a prepared committees for wildfires. We also need to recognize wildland firefighters for what to do and give injured firefighters flexibility in the retirement compensation. Legislation Ranking Member cantwell and i have introduced that would do just that. Its also critic we perceive management reforms that allows to use proven tactics that reduce the threat of wildfires near our montana communities and do a weekend reduce the intensity of the fires during these times of higher potential. Furthermore, we know wildfires will never know the difference as the Ranking Member and that you have just said between Forest Service, blm and private property. So reducing fuel loads across boundaries is integral to reducing fire severity. On a phone call i had last night it seems like im on the phone a lot at the moment with our county commissioners, our shares some other Law Enforcement officials, both who are running these fires, Incident Commanders. Just last night i had a conversation with one of our county commissioners in southwest montana. In the midst of evacuation orders being issued of a large fire that is rapidly spreading, he mentioned to me that they cant get near one of the large transmission lines that cuts across our state. Because of the additional carbon, particularly in the air the transmission lines and presents a risk to the firefighters. So it just reminds us that we need to move forward here, theres a bill that has passed the house. It passed the house 300118 in june. What it does it will speed up the process for removing hazardous fuels that are adjacent to electrical infrastructure there because ill tell you what, when the fires are burning like this we can get her firefighters nearly because it presents a risk to their lives. So we need to do that proactively ahead of time. We need to get to the heart of the discussion and showcase collaboration, this cross boundary work, are forced to mse frustrated by a lack of management as they live in the fear of wildfires. Ms. Christiansen, the park creek fire on the helena National Forests are in the stonewall Vegetation Management project. This entry was identified by the Forest Service and local collaborative as an area in need of restorative treatment and the need of hazardous fuel reduction. This project was blocked through an injunction due to the disasters cottonwood decision. Now we are fortunate to have burning over 8000 acres, and one can only wonder if implement it the project without delay might have made a difference. This is infuriating. My question is, was the stonewall project can see through a collaborative process . [inaudible] did before service to robust scientific analysis in preferring the project . Yes, senator, we did. Absent the injunction with the stonewall project have reduced the areas susceptibility to wildfires . For this particular project i cannot say for certain, and the over 3000 assessments of hazardous fuels treatment we have assessed, 90 when tested by wildfire have changed the behavior of the fire. Im out of time. I will say i appreciate our secretary perdue as well as secretary zinke their support of my legislation to undo the damage of the cottonwood decision. Senator tester and i are together on this. The Obama Administration was supporting us in these efforts and will keep fighting until it is signed into law. Thank you. I want to thank all our witnesses. I think it is very clear that the system of fighting fire in this country is a broken from dysfunctional mess. The fight is been going on, the longestrunning battle since the trojan war. And now weve got an emergency wildfire emergency by our governor. Senator crapo and i went with one approach, 250 groups, forced recruits, scientist, environmental folks all from endorsed the legislation. Still nothing happened. I asked the chief a few weeks ago about the costs of an action and the chief said it is millions of acres untreated and were out of billion dollars over a ten year time frame. This just cannot continue. So what id like to ask this about the new approach that reflects that fema, recently said that wildfires changed landscapes so dramatically that came areas affected by them are at a significantly higher risk of flooding. A few weeks ago the Banking Committee introduced a Flood Insurance bill that incorporates a wildfire fix. Ms. Christiansen, to what extent do wildfires increase the risk of catastrophic . There is an association, senator, often on the catastrophic fires that are very intensely, burn hot. They scar the soils and the water is not able to penetrate into the soil bed. So thats why we have our process as mr. Described speedy you have a difference of opinion with respect to fema that the wildfires can cause a significantly high risk of flooding . The administration has not taken a position im not asking you about your position. Im asking about the site. Fema is talking about the science. Do you disagree with the science . No, sir. Also madam chair, as a matter for the record, senator risch, senator heinrich and senator merkley and i would like to have put into the record a support letter of support for the crapo brown proposal. Without objection. One last question. The Obama Administration supported finding an end to fire borrowing. Every year more and more of the budget is used to pay for wildfires leaving forests in poor health and added even greater risk of catastrophic wildfires. I would just like to get for the record bsm been asked on this, is the Trump Administrations position the same as the Obama Administrations position on this . Do you support ending fire borrowing and finding a way to dress the ricin tenure average . I used to think senators need to know whether the Trump Administration o on the issue is going to support the Obama Administrations position . Center, thank you. Yes, the administration is absolutely committed to finding a solution that addresses the increasing tenure average as well in terms of practice of fire transfer. I think im going to say that youre pretty much in sync with the obama position on that. This administration supports a fire funding fix, yes. Jeff the problem with saying youre pretty much in sync with the Previous Administration . I do to one us have to start over. I want to work in a bipartisan way speedy i would say its a continuation of as you suggested a longstanding issue that we know needs resolve. Thank you, madam chair. Senator lee. Thank you, madathank you, mr. Ms. Christiansen id like to start with you if possible. You taught recently suffered a catastrophic 70,000acre wildfire in the dixie National Forest in southern utah. The fire destroyed a total of 21 structures, including 13 homes. And also resulted in a 13 day evacuation of the nearby town of brian had. We have two, 13 know was that sounds a lot of bad luck and it is but theres more than just bad luck at play. I think there is some policy a play that needs be looked at. While the brian had fire begin a course on private land, it was of no surprise to local residents that once that far start it quickly spread into the dixie National Forest. Which was soon engulfed in flames. Eifert frequently from local leaders in the area who described this entire area as a tinderbox. This is wildfire that was just waiting to happen. Apart because of so overrun with dad and insect infested timber that is very was just full of hazardous fuels. A fire of this magnitude in this area was as a result all but inevitable. Largely because of poor management. You mentioned before service was 2 million acres of forest land each year, for hazardous fuel treatments. 3 million. 3 million. Which is great that youre treating 3 million. Its my understanding that only about 200,000 of that involves timber harvest. Is that right . Thats correct. I think the stock to be examined because the disuse and wildFire Prevention, this also cures of the benefits with it as well. This is a reliable renewable source of income for a lot of these communities where theres a lot of forest land. But i consistently hear from county commissioners and other officials in my state and local residents in many of these affected areas that Forest Management policies make it harder to harvest timber. Even where doing so, as uncertain wouldve been the case here, would result in significant mitigation against the risk of wildfires. So what can you tell me, what is the Forest Service of doing or planning to promote Timber Harvesting as they mutually beneficial means of preventing wildfires and reducing hazardous fuels . Thank you, senator. The forces service is very committed and working aggressively increasing the scale and the pace of our Forest Management and fuels treatment. Were working to streamline our environmental clearances processes and working with others on new tools and ways to do that. But the bottom line is the community engagement, the collaboration early. Secretary perdue has said its an absolute priority. Absolutely are on board, that we engage communities that would be environmental community, the industry, those that their jobs and letters are depended on these Forest Resources early and project proposals. Thats how we can get to agreement and we can get the work done in the clearance. Now, as you know more and more of our resources have gone to wildland firefighting. In just the last three years as the increasing tenure average has gone up, thats 270 million out of our nonfire budget that the Forest Service no longer has available. So we do have a resource constraint as well. So were both working on early collaboration, giving, we get communities to buyin and that we can support projects, working on efficiencies and our environmental reviews and clearances, and with your help working on a longterm fire funding fix so we have the resources to do just what you said. Would Timber Harvesting part of that . Absolutely. Thank you very much. I see my time is expired. Senator barrasso. Thank you very much, madam chairman. This is a question i will ask a couple of different witnesses to comment on. As wildfires burn the need to take swift action to improve Forest Health and prevent another year of catastrophic wildfires to meet undeniable. As you start become more frequent, more severe, more costly Wildlife Habitat is destroyed. There and watershed quality is compromised and human life is threatened. Hundreds of millions of acres required immediate treatment and i believe this number will continue to rise if we dont approve active Forest Management. Ms. Christiansen as youre shaking your head yes, and mr. Rice, a question to you additional tools do you need to be more proactive in Forest Management and enhanced some of this cross boundary coordination that i believe is critical . Thank you, senator. So looking across the department of the interior we have four bureaus, three of which have acted timber programs of various sizes and scales. To give more detailed information i would have to gather it from them and provided to you for the record. But in general the things that really improve and increase our actions on the ground is this notion of collaboration. Its empowering our managers, our local leaders to engage. Outside the boundaries to work cross boundary and increase the activities. Ms. Christiansen . Thank you, senator. I will say that the tools afforded in the 2014 farm bill, Good Neighbor authority, insect and disease designations, those have really been helpful because we look at the landscape scale, able to work with the partners who has the resources at the right time, whether its our state partner or another federal parker, a tribal can become were able to inactivate across boundaries. So continuing, we have i think you know we have a few fixes we did in the Good Neighbor authority and continuing those cross boundary authorities and just in state and private, for example, we are able to easily have authorities to work with our state partners so sometimes they can institute some leverage funds that were able to give them. Thats the thanks, and lets keep on working of those tools. Mr. Maisch, anything you would like to offer . Yes. I was a categorical exclusions are a tool that can be used and the increase in the size of those types of inclusions would certainly be helpful, as vicki has already discussed, Good Neighbor authority i believe is a very strong tool that should be expanded dramatically. Its really a comanagement concept where the state and federal agencies can work together, litigation would help with moving projects along quicker. And the forest plans themselves as they are amended or updated need to really reflect timber management as a key way to achieve many of the objects is that were talking about here today. Right now in my opinion a lot of plans do not. Ms. Christiansen, today he repeated the statistics at nearly 480 million acres across the country in need of some sort of treatment. Because 480 million acres are at an elevated risk of catastrophic wildfire. The Forest Service meets the goal for this year, the agency will treat only 2. 2 million of the 480 million acres pic i appreciate the barriers the Forest Service is facing, the Land Management agencies are facing. The fact remains into address overgrown forest and wifes loss of dead trees you to beetle kill has made many of the forest a ticking time bomb when it comes to fire. So just yesterday the National Interagency fire center updated the significant wildlife, wildland fire potential outlook map for august the i know its already been shown today, significant portion of wyoming is at above normal risk for a catastrophic wildfire event. How do reports from groups like the National Interagency fire center and data for state agencies how to the fact into Forest Services planning for future fuel treatment . Thank you, senator, and i deathly agree with your sentiments, which is a slight correction. Our estimate is 480 million acres of all forest in the nation are at risk of catastrophic wildfire. Of that, 94 million our National Forest system lands. We are all in this together. We still have a big challenge s a nation certainly. So the analytics that weve been talking about, but risk and the projections that we have from our researchers on the fire risk, we can start to marry those together better. Now, whether it is the factor that goes into these three months projections, and, unfortunately, they are not so good to be able to project the weather over a twoyear timeframe but we do have projections where w weve come from and where we think we will remain in drought and otherwise. So we, with thanks to the additional hazards fuel funds from congress, we are really working with these predictions of where our highest hazard areas are and where there are state and federal and tribal governments that are ready to synergize with us. So we go risk and the nay priority and look at these projections and so were not just sending these dollars out in it when a fashion we really investing them highest priority when we can get the highest leverage with others. Thank you, madam chairman. Let me conclude that saint forest our diverse ecosystems that need immediate attention. Thinning of overgrown stands in removing dead and down timber are going to reduce fire risk. We must also make sure where spinning the federal dollars responsibly as you just said. I recognize coordination among local state and federal agencies is the key to success. I am concerned some offices like the one mr. Rice represents today duplicates functions of a more successful agencies. Im going to spit questions on this issue for the record and i look forward to hearing from you, mr. Rice, in some of those responses so thank you very much, madam chairman. Do any of the panelists disagree with the scientists that Climate Change . Anybody disagree . Do any of the panelists disagree we see significant cost associated . So despite this administrations attempt to deny a climate global science we are seeing the impact of Climate Change with more intense fire seasons with consequences and to the ecosystems into our communities and it will just continue to get worse if we dont take action now. These actions are leaving less funding for other programs in fact of the Forest Service has 39 fewer staff to dave than it did less than 20 years ago a affecting Forest Management in minnesota and elsewhere. Working to reduce wildfire risk and it your testimony you say field treatments could save two or three times of the avoided cost of fighting fires down the road can you talk about how fuel treatment can save money . Yes. That is a steady in nevada of the watershed 1 spent on fuels treatments could save two or 3 of costa Fire Suppression and loss of watershed viability and other losses due to a wildfire. Flagstaff and the metrics might be slightly different with the different fuel types but there is a breaking point where we could treat 20 or 40 percent of the landscape that the suppression cost will be reduced and the exposure to Fire Fighters. The evidence is it can pay for itself. So in the chief it came before the committee in june we discussed of possibility of Field Management or the power plants in the urban interface. However in minnesota to these types of plants are competing in these markets. Are there ways to incentivize to generate electricity . Can you recognize those benefits of wild fire Risk Reduction especially with the urban interface so were now looking at losing homes does anybody have thoughts on this . I think, i know the chairwoman and i have sponsored other ways to do Energy Projects using hazardous if you will. Anybody have thoughts . Certainly alaska as a bit of good vantage and projects like that paid their way and the example is like alaska and other places where pri rarely wearing it is heating and reduce fuel mitigation work sometimes with a nonprofit to provide that directly to the school and they provide the heat for the community with a classic example of 26 different buildings better heated entirely from biomass there is only one example in alaska that is produced in a very low level. You can also use it to cool. I know why amount of time but in light of what ms. Christiansen is saying that to clear the Hazardous Waste that can pay for itself for more than pay for itself and then on top of that to give incentives to do Energy Projects with that interface so we dont have to lose homes it just seems that it is just a win win win our bike to work with the committee moving forward with those kinds of incentives. Thank you madam chair. This is a very discreet and remote area but to demonstrate the viability. Senator . I never thought i could share this knowledge but that smokey bear does not have a middle name. Absolutely correct. That is a common misperception. I would like to ask for some of research to compare fire frequency and extent across of a nation controlling for climate began to species. Mean is the most forested states in the country we have issues with forest fires with nothing of the magnitude out west. When i talk to my forestry people the solution is very clear it is privately owned and intensively managed in in in the west is federally owned and there is not in the forestry work so i would like to see some data that will either verify that or refuse that i think it would be interesting that the science to control for climate or species and differences but try to isolate the issue of the intensity of Forest Management to play a role because everything i have read it is the problem is too much fuel. There is too much fuel. If there is more intensive forestry practice the federal government would get more revenues and the economies will benefit and i believe we will see less fire far firefighters the cheapest one is one that does not start. Can you help us on the research . I appreciate your observations. I dont have research in my back pocket to share with you but i do understand and we could certainly looked it that. I was a former state forester for over 30 years in washington and arizona partnering with the Forest Service. You know, my former colleague susan bell. Yes i do. She told me about smokey bear. My point is and maybe you were out when a reference the data it does suggest there is 480 million acres across the nations forest that have some kind of risk of the and characteristic of fire so there other lands that are at risk but that practice of fuel management and how that relates to their risk in particular of the ecosystem i think we do have studies about bats. We will certainly have a look. What those factors are in the importance with the forsters have name from the private sector that have been telling us for years or not. But maybe what we need to talk about is break down those barriers to a more assistant extensive forestry. Sova to followup and i am a senator from nevada. We just had this conversation me know the sagebrush is one of the most imperiled in the United States because it is a native species cheap grassy and a fuel for the fires in the state of nevada. With incredible snow pack now we have beautiful green hills and mountains now would is try turning into fuel. It is from let you see on the map and that cycle. So those ecosystems throughout the great basin and surrounding states and how wildfire interactive environment so without that grass this stage clomps in those are the natural breaks. So that would fill the gap in now would repair the of fuel to perpetuate even the department of interior has spent a couple years focusing on priorities and addressing the of grasses so one of those most recent fires that i can talk about estimated nearly 60 million to rehabilitate and there is a marietta of complications to learn well we can do to address that cheap crass problem isnt so much so this is my concern from the administration is cutting back the resources necessary to engage in this management right. To look at the budget and though way we allocate within the department of interior is balanced and then once we start looking with our partners even in the area is really addressing issues we have to make tradeoffs. And that is my concern is ginos 70 is managed by a federal agency so now back to the chairmans concerns the interactions with the state and local agencies is important to how we manage to this day and to utilize those best practices to make sure we do the most that we can to prevent wildfires in and get the resources that we need that is something it will be very conscious of. That i was just a bin northern nevada one of the sites and well they were flying the drones to manage the cameras and to interact and working with the pipe Fire Departments and services to bring a whole new technology to Fire Management or suppression i am curious what barriers are you seeing at the federal level that prevent us from using that new technology . Looking at the Unmanned Air Systems the first up is working with the faa for those to fly in those situations those other areas we are addressing is that the quad copter or fixedwing aircraft how are we managing that on the back and . And the other peas looking in integrating this new technology and to Current Operations and may be plugged in play but not plug and play and replaced right away the those that were moving people will stop one order begin the other is the overlap with all the safety parameters the number one priority is to make sure that is taken care of. So whether that is one or to fire seasons to deploy all of those assets. I am interested in the role that education plays in welfare prevention and say that day and benefit so i would like to note that while fire risk is very high in hawaii. People may not think so but the percentage of land area is subject to a higher risk of wildfire in the 16 most u. S. States and 84 percent are caused by human action but in hawaii it is 98 so obviously it is an important way to prevent. So there are those that we can have for children but then to have a program that enable a whole new generation so i am wondering the maybe every kid printing wildfire programs. What are your thoughts . You can really get me started here show i will be great brief. Over the four service in alliance with smokey bear Fire Prevention as a said in my opening remarks he will be 73 next year in one of the worlds most recognized characters along with only you can prevent forest fires. So with lead age groups we appear to to have those tools and tool kits and activities for kids will take you to discover the forest which is another web site that we manage not just to get them to the National Forests or the National Parks but discover the of forestry or at or their rural area. I am glad you are doing babette to collaborate with the stakeholders in the you know, if these are used extensively like hawaii . Yes smokey bear we are parents over the last 73 years all access is with and through others so to celebrate all of the federal agencies have offered the same passes so we really work so that there is no boundaries. We will also check but do lavalas of question about a hazard as fuel the importance of hazardous fuel management how to control invasive weeds which is a big problem in hawaii that you did know the use of technology so can you briefly describe to identify a of fire prone invasive Invasive Species . So they are hazardous fuels for wildfires. The way and would begin is over the last year the department of interior has been hundreds over various activities with testing on those load sharing capabilities with a data em a elevation in mapping and in for read it has not been and deployed wholeheartedly in all the different areas so there is thats aviation offices so they are leading the development of those activities been executed by those purists. So why should check to see if the drums are being used in hawaii to a dignified and Asian Species . I appreciate the of question about the of limitations and to recognize there are still technological issues that were dealing with that batteries take two hours to recharge and you are Still Limited which means you can only do this during the day and a last death in the summertime we have the benefit of 24 hours but also when you are in the thick of a fire is pretty dark with a smoke. So that it ovation with this exciting area is we still recognize we need to push this out and allow us to do more but i will direct this to you and in addition to developing a better system with greater opportunity what else is up on the horizon . What is new and innovative as another tool in the toolbox . Recently looking a there was connectivity for the firefighters to create faster ways to get the information that is coming and. Using that data base with the wavy at the moment using data from satellites. I dont recall who made mention that we have the infrared cameras i just think of the alaska example that we talk in terms of millions of acres but you mentioned the internet with most of these remote areas so what more can you so that the sensors can get lucky the you mentioned in my net of 10 forest fires are started by meehan says you can pinpoint a better a literal hotspot but in alaska there are a lightning strikes where d. C. This going . I will give you example in oklahoma working with the National Weather service on the satellite that would do realtime detection of how fire start and this gives portents and size sam probability of error is still a very new effort to pioneer that effort so there could be some of the application for that and the technology is for the refined or those algorithms so another example is an application that is available that just came mount this year to register as of member of the public if there is an incident and after the state of california you notice any place that could have an incident and then we will find a new ways to make it work better as the. Dealing with these issues do we have greater latitude in alaska through the center of excellence . We had gotten permission to do testing because of where we are. What about what we are currently using nor are we still subject to those . Yes. That observer that is in Radio Communication with the pilot saw of you have someone that can observe and communicate back to the pilot. But that will leave all this people become more involved with the safety aspect. You have a lot going on. So the faa whether kims em out from western alaska that the ability with that type of example of st. Kiam sore recreational can leverage those data streams is the option right now what can we use it and how do we leverage that . Is specially with the dod army has more phone devices or Smart Phone Software to allow them to share rapidly is on the other types of phones but that is another example to start managing technology better. I have to go to the floor with a vote by alaska the senator to close out the hearing and give you my appreciation to know we want to work with you how we deal with the wildfires. I want to ruth follow up so about the u. S. Service that i am reading now from the article the National Fire safety award and then to suggest to the fire crew with good gps transmitter collars like worn by hunting dog snowden resources from a single handed receiver device. If this is available today and what was said about the drones why not give them more safety or security with these unbelievable conditions . Is a good idea and when they walk through the operations and what it all looks like one of the first things he said is figure out how to keep track of our Fire Fighters in a better way. We just dont know what the of right tool is in the number of tens of thousands of firefighters to have that right solution for anybody that shows up his interoperable you want the technology to be interoperable as well. With where we are is just so scary further into Eastern Washington and what was out a few months ago. A few years ago people said he will be at the epicenter and a boy were we. Solyndra these conditions why not . What that flexibility of the of fire season be there . To see what we can do the tools and we can put in place today to get the okay u. S. Fish and Wildlife Service individual to receive an award the reason im working with senator gardner and then to have that 30 my real fire and then to have a loss of life two years ago is just a reminder that they can get out of control so quickly many times they are young and new to the job i just think it would be so helpful to us and attacking the hotspots of the fire as well and when we know to use other resources but what about right now on a voluntary basis . Is being used i apologize for not being clear with my earlier answers with fish and Wildlife Service in the bureau of Land Management using technology but in very local areas but this does not preclude the staff. And then use them in the northwest . But this leads to a much broader question to the Department Level we are empowering them to make decisions. We called up the National Guard because it got so bad. We were calling on volunteers. The northwest lung technology settle all this back to get solutions. Just thanks to the witnesses in and who look forward to working on this problem. Selassie is set at the beginning using 50 percent of the resources the map says it all be half to keep ahead of the changing conditions that it is economic thank you for your innovative ideas. We are injured adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]. It can help you enormously and with those logical inconsistencies in the moral position. I was fascinated by him and by the idea i had never heard by him. In writing for the New York Times and i was amazed to find he was not a veteran figure. The journal supported the federal exchange act to stabilize money at that point against gold supposedly. The general supported that. There is one book that i am reading now it is called tried ended is a book about ptsd. I recommend that you read it also is a the cochair of the literacy caucus and one of the things i have the courage to everybody to do is we have very boring thing is but just for fun i am about to move books behind from everything he has ever written started with the first one that Andrew Jackson was the first person and in tennessee where i live one is jackson won is johnson. Those who love id like to read about this summer