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recipients of the service we provide, we want them to participate in defining the service they 

 receive. 



We recognize that the fuels problem in California is too large to be tackled all at once The 

 answer is to find those areas of California that will show the greatest return on investment given 

 our limited budgets. The fire planning process includes a four part assessment process that 

 identifies areas of high value federal, state, local, and private assets, hazardous fuel conditions, 

 relatively low initial attack wildland fire suppression ability, and frequent severe fi.e weather 

 conditions. These areas should benefit most from additional PreFire investments aimed at 

 improving safety and reducing cost and loss. 



PreFire Management is not a new government program. Rather, it is a new management 

 approach We have learned that single agency, broad brush solutions to problems do not always 

 achieve the proper results on the ground. PreFire management focuses on the needs at the 

 community or project level and allows the community and local fire managers to choose the 

 appropriate mix of program activities to get the best results. The goal is to improve safety and 

 reduce costs and losses. The PreFire Management toolbox includes prescribed fire, mechanical 

 fuels treatments, fire prevention programs, fire safe engineering, land use planning, forest health 

 activities, and more. Further, PreFire Management encourages a high level of coordination 

 among government agencies and the private sector to achieve strategic goals that benefit all. For 

 example, the insurance industry is very supportive of PreFire Management through their actions 

 on our state and local Fire Safe Councils. They see a real solution. 



California is making a major commitment to come to grips with the fuels problem in our 

 wildlands Governor Wilson and the California Legislature recently approved CDF's PreFire 

 Management budget initiative. This 52 4 million initiative will develop the management 

 infrastructure within our organization to do PreFire Management planning and project 

 development. Even with this fiscal support, we know we can not do this alone. We need 

 Washington to give their California land managers the authority and resources to work with us on 

 California's fire problem These land managers need flexible guidelines, not strict mandates, that 

 will allow them to make the appropriate local decisions. 



The interdependence among California's wildland fire protection agencies caused California's 

 Board of Forestry to change the focus of the 1995 Fire Plan for State Responsibility Area to a 

 California Fire Plan for the Wildlands in California. Washington should support efforts to create a 

 California Interagency Fire Planning Team under the general umbrella of the California Wildfire 

 Coordinating Group. This team would have representatives from CDF, USDA Forest Service, 

 BLM. NPS, and other key agencies, as appropriate. The Fire Planning Team would be charged 

 with resolving implementation issues associated with the fire planning process. For example, the 

 California Fire Strategies Committee is asking that a team be formed to develop a common fire 

 hazard mapping system that could be used across agency boundaries. A fire hazard team would 

 develop a common definition, standardize data, and coordinate implementation efforts. There are 

 many other similar issues that will need to be addressed. We need Washington's support. 



Building Cooperative State-Federal Solutions to California's Wildland Fire Challenges 



