The Stimulus bill and wildland fire; Senate version

The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009", better known as the "stimulus bill", has been passed by the House and was debated in the Senate Friday night and also in a rare Saturday session. The Senate will most likely vote on it Monday or Tuesday.

The versions considered in the House and Senate are different in how they will affect the five major land management agencies. There could still be changes in the Senate, and when both houses agree on a conference version, there could be additional changes.

The latest version as amended in the Senate is HERE. (current as of 0700 MT, Feb. 8)

Below is a summary of the House and Senate versions. "Ops" stands for Operations. The numbers are dollars in millions.

(You'll have to scroll down to see the table.)

Agency	Fire	Construction	Ops
USFS House	850	650
USFS Senate	650	650
NPS House		1,700
NPS Senate		589	213
USF&WS House		300
USF&WS Sen.		110	190
BLM House		325
BLM Senate	15	180	135
BIA House		500
BIA Senate		522	40

The language in the Senate version of the bill for the U.S. Forest Service described "Fire Management" like this:

For an additional amount for `Wildland Fire Management', $650,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2010, for hazardous fuels reduction and hazard mitigation activities in areas at high risk of catastrophic wildfire, of which $350,000,000 is available for work on State and private lands using all the authorities available to the Forest Service: Provided, That of the funds provided for State and private land fuels reduction activities, up to $50,000,000 may be used to make grants for the purpose of creating incentives for increased use of biomass from national forest lands.