Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program - Submitting Proposals

Congress has the authority to appropriate up to $40 million dollars in Fiscal Year 2011 for the CFLR Program to pay up to 50 percent of the implementation and monitoring costs of ecological restoration treatments on National Forest System lands.

CFLRP Advisory Committee Meeting

The CFLRP Advisory Committee met October 18-20, 2011, to evaluate 2011 proposals submitted in response to the Fiscal Year 2011 CFLRP Request for Proposals and to make recommendations for project selection to the Secretary of Agriculture.

• View the Federal Register Notice (PDF, 145 KB)
• View the DRAFT Agenda for the meeting (PDF, 44 KB)

On February 2, 2012, the Secretary of Agriculture announced the selection of 10 CFLRP projects.

CFLRP Advisory Committee Conference Call

The CFLRP Advisory Committee met via a conference call on February 4, 2011, to discuss evaluation procedures for Fiscal Year 2011 proposals. Refer to the Federal Register Notice (PDF, 42 KB) for more details about the conference call. The following are the meeting summary and related documents.

• Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program Advisory Panel Conference Call Summary, February 4, 2011 (PDF, 59 KB)
• Attachment A: Draft: CFLRP Proposal Evaluation Procedures: FY11 Panel Meeting to Review Proposals (PDF, 94 KB)
• Attachment B: Draft Pre-Meeting Proposal Scoring Sheet - FY11 Proposal Review (PDF, 313 KB)
• Attachment C: Draft Pre-Meeting Project Proposal Evaluation Spreadsheet (PDF, 164 KB)
• Attachment D: DRAFT: CFLRP Panel Pre-Meeting Initial Scoring Report (PDF, 181 KB)
• Attachment E: Draft: CFLRP Funding Recommendation Procedures (PDF, 68 KB)
• Attachment F: Draft: CFLRP Proposed Update Questions (PDF, 163 KB)

Table of Contents

• CFLR Program Eligibility Criteria
• CFLR Proposal Documentation Requirements
• Additional Guidance Concerning the Landscape Strategy
• Additional Guidance Concerning Proposed Treatments
• Additional Guidance Concerning Collaboration and Multi-party Monitoring
• Tools to Support Proposal Development
• CFLR Nomination Process

CFLR Program Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to use the CFLR Fund, all project proposals must:

1. be based on a landscape restoration strategy that:
   1. identifies and prioritizes ecological restoration treatments for at least a 10-year period;
   2. encompasses a landscape that is at least 50,000 acres in size and is comprised primarily of National Forest System (NFS) forest lands;
   3. in need of active ecosystem restoration in support of the purposes of the Act;
   4. includes ecological restoration treatments that will contribute by-products to existing or proposed wood-processing and/or biomass processing infrastructure;
   5. incorporates the best available science and application tools;
   6. is based on a strategy that maintains large and old trees, as appropriate to restore sustainable old growth forest structure characteristic of natural pre-fire suppression conditions;
   7. modifies current fuels and forest vegetation to create conditions conducive to ecologically characteristic fire behavior;
   8. does not involve the establishment of permanent roads to carry out the strategy;
   9. includes funding provisions to decommission all temporary roads constructed to carry out the strategy;
2. be developed and implemented through a collaborative process;
3. include the elements described in the following section, “CFLR Proposal Documentation Requirements”.

CFLR Proposal Documentation Requirements

CFLR projects must operate within the established guidelines of resource management plans and other legally applicable guidance governing the area covered by the proposal.

Title IV requires that CFLR project proposals address the following five elements:

1. Project Description
2. Cost Savings Analysis
3. Funding Needs
4. Collaborative Process Description
5. Benefit to Local Economies

All of these elements are folded into the requirements outlined in the Request for Proposals (PDF, 0.9 MB). All sections outlined in the proposal requirements and format (.docx, 66 KB) are required. These sections include:

1. Ecological, Social, and Economic Context
2. Executive Summary of Landscape Strategy
3. Proposed Treatment
4. Collaboration and Multi-party Monitoring
5. Utilization
6. Benefits to Local Economies
7. Funding Plan
8. Attachments
   1. Attachment A: Reduction of related wildfire management costs
      1. “Results-Cost Savings” table of the R-Cat spreadsheet, available soon on the CFLR website.
      2. Documentation of assumptions and data sources used when populating the R-CAT spreadsheet
   2. Attachment B: Planned Accomplishment Table
   3. Attachment C: Members of the Collaborative Table
   4. Attachment D: Letter of Commitment
   5. Attachment E: Predicted Jobs Table from TREAT spreadsheet
   6. Attachment F: Funding Estimates
   7. Attachment G: Maps

For more information about these sections and proposal format, please review the Request for Proposals (PDF, 0.9 MB) and the proposal requirements and format (.docx, 66 KB).

Additional Guidance Concerning the Landscape Strategy

Landscape restoration strategies must be complete or substantially complete. The landscape restoration strategy may also include land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, or other Federal, State, tribal, or privately owned lands. To be considered for the CFLR Fund, more than one-half of the area contained within landscape restoration strategy should be comprised of NFS forest lands.

Include a description of the collaborative process used to develop the landscape strategy. Also describe how the collaborative group will facilitate adaptive management strategies, implementation, and ecological, social, and economic monitoring of the project.

In general, and for the purposes of implementation of the CFLR Program, a landscape restoration strategy should contain sufficient information so that a proposal may be evaluated by the Advisory Committee against the selection criteria in Title IV. The strategy should also serve to distinguish the proposal as uniquely suited for, or especially worthy of the CFLR Fund. The strategy should be a living document with sufficient flexibility to accommodate improvements over time by incorporating an adaptive management approach.

The following examples of existing efforts to develop landscape restoration strategies that address most of the Title IV eligibility criteria and can be found at the following websites*:

• R-1 Integrated Restoration and Protection Strategy in the Northern Region
• Northern Arizona Forest Ecosystem Restoration Analysis
• R-8 Shortleaf Pine/Bluestem Grass Ecosystem Renewal in the Ouachita Mountains

*NOTE: Further analysis and documentation may be needed to fully meet the eligibility criteria specified in Title IV. If so, the project proposal should describe how the landscape strategy was augmented to conform to Title IV requirements.

Regarding best science, the proposal should include a short narrative description of the relevant science and application tools that were utilized in the development of the proposal. If significant controversy is noted in the scientific literature, this should be noted in the proposal.

Key Elements of the Landscape Strategy (not intended to be all-inclusive)

• Ecological significance of landscape and designation of landscape area.
• Strategy design (collaborative process and implementation, monitoring, and adaptive management).
• Land ownership patterns: describe how public, private, state, tribal, county, and other lands are relevant in the landscape strategy and how this fits with the Chief’s “all lands approach.”
• Wildland urban interface lands and Community Wildfire Protection Plans (if applicable).
• Current, natural, and historic condition descriptions, including structure, species composition, ecosystem functions, disturbance regimes, and wildlife and fish habitats (stratified by forest or other biological or physical types).
• Desired ecological condition descriptions and rationale, including structure, species composition, ecosystem functions, disturbance regimes, and wildlife and fish habitats (stratified by forest or other other biological or physical types).
• Current condition threats to forest ecosystem sustainability (wildfire, insects, disease, watershed/soil functions, invasive species, etc.).
• Proposed treatments (what, where, how much) and their connection with ecological restoration needs.
• Prioritization of treatments across the landscape.
• Highest priority desired outcomes of the project at the end of the 10-year period.
• Maintenance of restored conditions over time.
• Wildfire management in the restored landscape.
• Desired social (collaborative, trust), economic, and capacity (employment, infrastructure, utilization, and market) outcomes and/or outputs.
• Landscape restoration and support of economically sustainable industries and jobs (both restoration and maintenance treatments).

Additional Guidance Concerning Proposed Treatments

Landscape restoration treatments can be viewed in the context of ecologically sustainable desired conditions. Desired ecological conditions are described for local landscapes by stakeholders informed by best available science. A restoration treatment is any management activity that moves bio/physical and functional forest landscape attributes towards desired conditions. A broad range of treatments qualify as ecological restoration treatments. The focus of the CFLR Program is on ecological restoration treatments that will reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire and re-establish natural fire regimes; improve fish and wildlife habitat; maintain or improve water quality and watershed function; prevent, remediate, or control invasive and exotic species; maintain and rehabilitate roads and trails; and result in the removal of woody biomass and small-diameter trees. A listing of invasive and exotic species can be found at The Nature Conservancy Invasive and Exotic Species to North America website.

The ecological restoration treatments included in the proposal should have a direct tie to the landscape restoration strategy that serves as the basis for the proposal and that will achieve one or more of the above stated purposes. A key purpose of Title IV is to demonstrate the degree to which the application of ecological restoration treatments will achieve forest health objectives, reduce wildfire activity and management costs, and utilize forest restoration by-products to help offset treatment costs and benefit local rural communities. Ecological restoration treatments that achieve one or more of these purposes should be prominently featured in CFLR Program proposals. Tools such as stewardship contracting authorities should be incorporated in the proposal to help offset treatment costs and benefit local communities.

Regarding best science, the proposal should include a short narrative description of the relevant science and application tools that were utilized in the development of the proposal. If significant controversy is noted in the scientific literature, this should be noted in the proposal.

Regarding large tree and old growth retention, the CFLR Program requirements are very similar to the requirements contained in the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2004. Further guidance including definitions can be found in The Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI) and Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) Interim Field Guide.

Examples of projects from around the country that include ecological restoration treatments can be found in the Success Stories on the Healthy Forests and Rangelands website. This website also provides a gateway to additional information about stewardship contracting authorities, the 10-Year Implementation Plan, and Woody Biomass Utilization.

Additional Guidance Concerning Collaboration and Multi-party Monitoring

Title IV requires a collaborative process that includes multiple interested persons and/or parties representing diverse interests and is transparent and nonexclusive. The Act states that a process that meets the requirements for a resource advisory committee under the Secure Rural Schools Act (P.L. 106-393).

Further guidance and reference materials regarding the use of a collaborative process and the requirements of section 205 of P.L. 106-393 can be found at the following links:

• Collaborative Forest Management: Policy and Practice – A training module for forestry practitioners (PDF, 250 KB)
• Resource Advisory Committees (RACs)

Tools to Support Proposal Development

Cost reductions in management of uncharacteristic wildfire

To facilitate the level of economic analysis specified in Title IV, a team of fire modelers from the Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment Center met with economists from the National Forest System. They developed suggested analysis procedures capable of meeting the intent of Title IV. The Wildland Fire Management Risk and Cost Analysis Tools Package (R-CAT) spreadsheet was developed from these suggested procedures. The R-CAT tool, an example from the Deschutes National Forest, and the R-CAT user guide are now available.

• R-CAT Wildfire Management Program Cost Analysis Package (.xlsm, 75 KB)
• R-CAT Wildfire Management Program Cost Analysis Package Deschutes National Forests Example (.xlsm, 78 KB)
• USDA Forest Service Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program Wildland Fire Management Risk and Cost Analysis Tools Package (R-CAT): User's Guide (PDF, 2.8 MB)

NOTE: Recognizing that FY 2011 proposals are due on February 18, 2010, and that project proponents may not have time to do the modeling suggested in the user guide, FY 2011 proposals may use the following modifications in R-CAT:

• For Task 3, use average historical large fire season acreage and
• For Task 4, use average historical large fire season cost averages from your area.

Please be certain to document all of your data sources and assumptions.

Regarding the potential for costs savings from reduced wildfire costs, the publication entitled “The True Cost of Wildfire in the Western U.S.” (PDF, 1.5 MB) provides a useful snapshot summary of the wildfire management costs experienced as a result of recent large fires in Western case studies and compiled by the Western Forest Leadership Coalition in April, 2009. The report also summarizes the data limitations and variations in the availability of information that make estimating these cost savings difficult.

Regarding unit cost savings, consider the reduced cost of maintenance treatments during the life of proposal following an initial treatment to move fuel conditions toward a desired condition. The publication entitled “Cost / Effectiveness Analysis of Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem Restoration in Flagstaff Arizona’s Wildland-Urban Interface” (RMRS-P-22, September 2001, PDF, 4.5 MB) may also provide insight into approaches that may help demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of project proposals.

Benefits to Local Economies

For information, please contact Susan Winter at (970) 295-5726 or swinter@fs.fed.us.

CFLR Nomination Process

A Request for Proposals (PDF, 0.9 MB) issued December 1, 2010, outlining proposal requirements and formatting (.docx, 66 KB). Regional Foresters are encouraged to submit proposals for CFLR funding consideration by February 18, 2011. All CFLR project proposals must be submitted through the appropriate Forest Service Regional Office.

The Region may nominate multiple proposals for consideration by the selection panel and the Secretary, however it should be noted that Title IV limits the number of proposals that may be selected from any one Forest Service region in any one fiscal year to two projects. All proposals must meet eligibility criteria and requirements outline in the Request for Proposals (PDF, 0.9 MB).

If the project proposal involves actions on lands under the jurisdiction of the Department of Interior, then the appropriate DOI approving official must concur on the Regional Forester’s nomination recommendation. Accordingly:

• If the proposal involves actions on Bureau of Land Management lands, the State Director of the Bureau of Land Management must concur on the proposal.
• If the proposal involves tribal lands, the Regional Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs must concur on the proposal.
• If the proposal involves other Federal lands under the jurisdiction of the DOI, the appropriate official at the Department of the Interior must concur on the Regional Forester’s recommendation.

The Regional Forester must also include the following additional documentation for each nominated project proposal:

• A plan to use Federal funds allocated to the region to fund the costs of planning and carrying out ecological restoration treatments on National Forest System land, consistent with the strategy, that are not be covered by amounts transferred to the Secretary from CFLR Fund. To meet this requirement, the Regional Forester must identify the source of funds that will be used in addition to the CFLR Fund to fully cover the costs of planning and carrying out the ecological restoration treatments on NFS land envisioned under the proposal.
• Provide evidence that amounts proposed to be transferred to the Secretary from the Fund during the first 2 fiscal years following selection would be used to carry out ecological restoration treatments consistent with the strategy during the same fiscal year in which the funds are transferred to the Secretary. To meet this requirement, Regional Foresters need to affirm they have the staffing, existing project decisions, and available funding resources (not covered under the CFLR Fund) to promptly begin the CFLR projects being nominated.
• Provide evidence of the support of other landowners involved in the proposal. To meet this requirement, Regional Foresters need to secure a firm commitment that these other landowners will support, participate in, and provide necessary funds toward the proposal and include the supporting documentation in the nomination package.

Evaluation Procedures

The CFLRP Advisory Committee came to consensus on their February 4, 2011, conference call (see above) regarding the evaluation process and materials they will use to evaluate proposals submitted under the FY 2011 CFLRP Request for Proposals.

• FY 2011 CFLRP Proposal Evaluation Procedures (PDF, 83 KB)
• FY2011 CFLRP Panel Pre-Meeting Initial Scoring Report (PDF, 109 KB)
• FY2011 CFLRP Pre-Meeting Proposal Scoring Sheet (PDF, 109 KB)
• FY2011 CFLRP Pre-Meeting Evaluation Spreadsheet (PDF, 163 KB)