link to page 1 link to page 2 link to page 2 link to page 1 link to page 2 
May 8, 2023
Forest Service: FY2024 Appropriations
The Forest Service (FS) is responsible for managing 193
Comparing the FY2024 request with the FY2023 regular
million acres of land in the National Forest System (NFS),
enacted funding is complicated by the FS receiving the bulk
conducting forestry research, and providing assistance to
of its wildland fire management (WFM) funding through
state, local, private, and international forest owners. FS is
supplemental funding in FY2023; these funds typically are
an agency within the Department of Agriculture, but it
provided as regular appropriations. With one exception, the
receives discretionary appropriations through the Interior,
FY2024 request includes increases to all FS accounts over
Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
F2023 regular enacted funding; the request includes a
decrease to the State and Private Forestry (SPF) account.
For FY2023, Congress appropriated $10.08 billion in total
discretionary appropriations for FS (P.L. 117-328),
The FS also receives mandatory appropriations, estimated
reflecting regular enacted funding of $4.86 billion, $2.21
by the agency at around $1.46 billion for FY2024. These
billion provided pursuant to a wildfire adjustment (see
mandatory appropriations are derived from and used for
below), and $3.00 billion in emergency supplemental
various sources and purposes (e.g., land acquisition funding
appropriations (see Table 1, Table 2, and Figure 1). For
under the Land and Water Conservation Fund, deferred
more information, see CRS In Focus IF12141, Forest
maintenance funding under a mandatory transfer from the
Service: FY2023 Appropriations.
National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund).
For FY2024, issues facing Congress include determining
Supplemental Appropriations
the amount of funding to provide FS accounts and activities
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-
and the terms and conditions of such funding, including
58, Division J) provided FS with $5.45 billion in total from
whether to enact related Biden Administration proposals.
FY2022 through FY2026 for ecosystem restoration and
Other issues relate to the FS’s program implementation and
wildfire risk reduction purposes. For FY2022, IIJA
progress toward forest management objectives.
provided $1.67 billion. Starting in FY2023 and for each
FY2024 Appropriations
fiscal year thereafter, IIJA provided for $945.2 million in
advance emergency appropriations to several FS accounts.
Budget Request
The FY2024 spending plan for these funds is available as
The Biden Administration requested $9.73 billion in total
an appendix to FS’s FY2024 budget justification.
FY2024 discretionary appropriations for FS (see Table 1).
Table 1. Forest Service (FS) Discretionary Appropriations, by Account ($ in millions)
FY2023 Enacted
FY2024
Enacted
Account
Regular
Total
Request
Supplemental
Wildland Fire Management (WFM)
$946.0
$2,528.0
$2,970.6
$36.0
Wildfire Adjustment
2,210.0
2,210.0
2,300.0
—
Total WFM and Wildfire Adjustment
3,156.0
4,738.0
5,270.6
36.0
National Forest System (NFS)
1,974.4
2,714.2
2,226.3
529.8
Forest Service Operations (FSO)
1,152.7
1,152.7
1,316.5
—
Forest and Rangeland Research (FRR)
307.3
311.3
349.1
2.0
State and Private Forestry (SPF)
337.8
791.1
327.7
305.4
Capital Improvement & Maintenance (CIM)
142.0
364.0
235.0
72.0
Other
3.7
3.7
5.7
—
Total, Without Wildfire Adjustment
4,863.8
7,865.0
7,430.8
945.2
Total, With Wildfire Adjustment
7,073.8
10,075.0
9,730.8
945.2
Source: CRS, with information from the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations and FS budget documents.
Notes: FY2023 Enacted Regular reflects appropriations provided in P.L. 117-328. FY2023 Enacted Total reflects regular appropriations plus the
emergency supplemental appropriations provided in P.L. 117-58 and P.L. 117-328 (see Table 2 for supplemental funding by account). FY2024
https://crsreports.congress.gov
link to page 2 
Forest Service: FY2024 Appropriations
Enacted Supplemental reflects emergency appropriations provided in P.L. 117-58. Figures reflect rescissions, cancellations, and deferrals. Figures
may not match FS FY2024 budget documents due to different reporting approaches between FS and CRS. Totals may not add due to rounding.
Table 2. FS Emergency Supplemental Appropriations,
agency-wide organizational services. This account was
by Account ($ in millions)
established in FY2021.
Account
FY2023
FY2024
Forest and Rangeland Research
The Forest and Rangeland Research (FRR) account funds
WFM
$1,582.0
$36.0
research and development efforts to provide scientific
NFS
739.8
529.8
information and new technologies to support sustainable
forest and rangeland management. FRR funds the Forest
FRR
4.0
2.0
Inventory and Analysis program, which is a continuous
census of U.S. forest resources.
SPF
453.4
305.4
State and Private Forestry
CIM
222.0
72.0
The State and Private Forestry (SPF) account funds
Total
3,001.2
945.2
programs that provide assistance to nonfederal forest
Sources: P.L. 117-58, Division J (FY2023 and FY2024) and P.L. 117-
owners. Several of these programs are implemented through
328, Division N (FY2023 only).
state forestry agencies.
Forest Service Appropriation Accounts
Capital Improvement and Maintenance
The Capital Improvement and Maintenance (CIM) account
FS has several discretionary appropriations accounts,
funds FS efforts to provide and maintain facilities, roads,
discussed below in decreasing order of FY2024 requested
trails, and other infrastructure needs across the NFS. It
funding.
includes funding to address a backlog of deferred
Wildland Fire Management
maintenance (DM). FS receives additional funding to
The largest share of FS appropriations generally goes to the
address DM through mandatory transfers from the National
Wildland Fire Management (WFM) account. In addition to
Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund.
salaries and expenses, the WFM appropriation funds two
Other
programs: preparedness and suppression. Appropriations
“Other” includes several smaller
for preparedness are used to support efforts that assist with
appropriations accounts
fire prevention and detection, equipment, and training.
for the Range Betterment Fund; gifts, donations, and
Appropriations for suppression are used primarily for
bequests for research; management of national forest lands
wildfire response, which includes aviation asset operations,
for subsistence uses; and administration of communication
incident support functions, and resources for postfire
site authorizations. This category also includes funding to
analysis and recovery.
complete land acquisitions and exchanges as authorized by
specified laws, referred to as special acts.
Wildfire Adjustment/Wildfire Funding Fix
20 Years of Forest Service Funding
Starting in FY2020, additional funds for suppression
operations are available to FS (and the Department of the
FS’s discretionary funding fluctuates annually. Funding
Interior) pursuant to the wildfire adjustment, a budgetary
increased substantially in FY2022 to its highest level to
mechanism established in P.L. 115-141 (Division O,
date, in part due to supplemental appropriations provided
§102(a)), commonly referred to as the wildfire funding fix.
through IIJA (see Figure 1). This increased funding level
This mechanism allows Congress to provide additional
may enable FS to pursue many agency objectives, such as
funding above a specified baseline for wildfire suppression
increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration activities.
through an adjustment to the limit on total discretionary
However, it may take several years for the impacts of the
spending. The baseline is the 10-year suppression
additional funding—if any—to be measurable. This may be
obligation average, as reported in FY2015 ($1.011 billion
due to the slow pace of forest management activities
for FS). The maximum amount available pursuant to the
generally; the time needed to plan, prioritize, and deploy
adjustment is $2.300 billion for FS in FY2024 and is set to
funding to projects across the NFS; and other factors.
increase annually as specified in statute. The wildfire
Figure 1. FS Discretionary Appropriations,
adjustment is available annually through FY2027.
FY2004-FY2023
National Forest System
The NFS account funds activities related to the
management of national forests and grasslands. These
activities include planning, recreation, grazing, timber
production, watershed protection, wildlife management, and
law enforcement, among others.
Forest Service Operations
The Forest Service Operations (FSO) account funds certain
fixed costs and administrative expenses related to facilities
maintenance and leasing, information technology, and other
Source: CRS.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Forest Service: FY2024 Appropriations
Note: Figures are adjusted to constant FY2023 dol ars using the
Katie Hoover, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy
Office of Management and Budget’s GDP Chained Price Index.
IF12396
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF12396 · VERSION 1 · NEW