The bill aims to improve the reporting and tracking of hazardous fuels reduction activities on Federal lands to reduce the risk of wildfires. It mandates that the relevant department, such as the Department of Agriculture or the Department of the Interior, includes a detailed report on the hazardous fuels reduction activities in their annual budget materials, including specifics on the location, fire risk levels, types of activities conducted, costs, and effectiveness. Additionally, standardized data tracking procedures, as well as regular data reviews and verification methods, should be implemented to ensure accurate information.
Accurately Counting Risk Elimination Solutions Act or the ACRES Act
This bill establishes requirements regarding reports about hazardous fuels reduction activities and standardized procedures for tracking data for hazardous fuels reduction. Hazardous fuels reduction activities means any vegetation management activities that reduce the risk of wildfire but excludes the award of contracts to conduct hazardous fuels reduction activities.
First, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior must include in the materials submitted in support of the President's budget each fiscal year a report on the number of acres of federal land on which such activities were carried out during the preceding year.
Next, USDA and Interior must implement standardized procedures for tracking data related to such activities. The standardized procedures must include
- regular, standardized data reviews of the accuracy and timely input of data used to track hazardous fuels reduction activities;
- verification methods that validate whether such data accurately correlates to such activities;
- an analysis of the short- and long-term effectiveness of such activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and
- for hazardous fuels reduction activities that occur partially within the wildland-urban interface, methods to distinguish which acres are located within and which located outside the wildland-urban interface.
Finally, the Government Accountability Office must (1) conduct a study on this bill's implementation, and (2) submit a report to Congress with the results of the study.