Forest Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Data and Trends (FY2011-FY2020)

October 1, 2020 – October 29, 2020 R46557

Forest Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Data
October 29, 2020
and Trends (FY2011-FY2020)
Katie Hoover
The Forest Service (FS) is responsible for managing 193 mil ion acres of the National
Specialist in Natural
Forest System (NFS); conducting forestry research; and providing assistance to state and Resources Policy
local government, private, and international forest owners. Funding to complete such

work is provided through both discretionary and mandatory appropriations. Congress

considers the appropriate level of funding for the FS through the annual and
supplemental discretionary appropriations processes and through the enactment, reauthorization, amendment, or
expiration of statutes providing for mandatory spending. For the 10-year period from FY2011 to FY2020, FS total
discretionary and mandatory appropriations combined were $7.00 bil ion annual y on average in constant
(FY2020) dollars, which are adjusted for inflation. FS total appropriations fluctuated annual y but increased over
the 10-year period. In FY2020, the FS received $8.20 bil ion in total appropriations, an increase of 36% as
compared with the FY2011 appropriation, when adjusted to constant dollars.
Although it is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the FS general y receives discretionary
appropriations through Title III of the regular Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bil . For
the 10-year period from FY2011 to FY2020, FS discretionary appropriations were $6.21 bil ion annual y on
average in constant dollars, which was 89% of the FS’s total annual appropriation on average over the period. FS
discretionary appropriations fluctuated annual y from FY2011 to FY2020 but general y increased, in terms of both
constant and nominal dollars (i.e., not adjusted for inflation). The annual fluctuations were driven in part by
supplemental appropriations provided to respond to disasters or replenish funds for wildland fire management.
Supplemental appropriations were provided in 7 of the 10 fiscal years in this period, including funds provided
pursuant to the wildfire adjustment in FY2020 (the wildfire adjustment is a budgetary mechanism that al ows
Congress to provide additional funding for wildfire suppression above a specified baseline through an upward
adjustment to the discretionary spending limit). In FY2020, the FS received $7.50 bil ion in discretionary
appropriations, an increase of 37% over the FY2011 appropriation in constant dollars. The majority of FS
discretionary appropriations go to two accounts, which fund activities related to wildland fire management and
management of the NFS.
Figure 1.FS Total Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020

Source: CRS. Data are derived from annual budget justifications, appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations acts, committee reports,
explanatory statements, and the detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.
Notes: Figures reflect applicable supplemental and emergency-designated appropriations, sequestration, rescissions, and deferrals.
Figures were adjusted to estimated FY2020 constant dol ars using the GDP Chained Price Index from the White House Office of
Management and Budget.
Each year, the FS also receives mandatory appropriations under existing authorizing statutes. Laws authorizing
mandatory appropriations al ow the FS to spend money without further action by Congress. The FS has about two
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Forest Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Data and Trends (FY2011-FY2020)

dozen mandatory appropriations accounts, and the budget authority for several of these accounts depends on
revenue generated by activities in the national forests. From FY2011 through FY2020, the FS’s average annual
mandatory appropriation was $782.5 mil ion in constant dollars, which was 11% of the agency’s total annual
appropriation on average over the period. FS mandatory appropriations fluctuated annual y from FY2011 through
FY2020, particularly over the second half of the decade. The fluctuations were related in part to the expiration and
reauthorization of a program funded through one FS mandatory account.
Congress may consider several policy issues related to FS appropriations. Priority issues pertain to processes and
controls for budget administration and management through the FS’s budget structure. To address concerns with
the FS’s budget administration, Congress put fiscal year limitations on many of the agency’s discretionary
appropriations accounts and established quarterly reporting requirements, among other provisions. In addition, the
FS’s account structure has changed over time, including during the period from FY2011 through FY2020, and
additional structural changes already have been enacted for FY2021; these changes may improve congressional
oversight moving forward but may make examining funding trends over time more chal enging.
Another priority issue for Congress has been the impact of fire borrowing on other FS activities and the increasing
portion of the FS budget used for wildfire suppression. Due to the emergency nature of fire control activities, the
FS is authorized to transfer money out of other discretionary accounts if suppression funds become depleted; this
process is often referred to as fire borrowing. Congress typical y has enacted supplemental appropriations to repay
the transferred funds and/or to replenish the FS’s wildfire accounts. Congress also has established different
accounts and budgetary mechanisms to address borrowing and suppression concerns. This includes, for example,
the wildfire adjustment.
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Appendixes
Appendix. Detailed Discretionary Appropriations Data ....................................................... 30

Contacts
Author Information ....................................................................................................... 33

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he Forest Service (FS) is responsible for managing 193 mil ion acres of the National
Forest System (NFS), as wel as for conducting forestry research and providing assistance
T to state and local government, private, and international forest owners. Funding to
complete such work is provided through both discretionary and mandatory appropriations.
Although it is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the FS general y receives its
discretionary appropriations through Title III of the regular Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies appropriations bil .1 In some years, the FS has received additional discretionary monies
through supplemental appropriations laws or a budgetary mechanism known as the wildfire
adjustment (see “Wildfire Adjustment,” below). In addition, Congress has used continuing
appropriations resolutions to maintain funding for the agency when regular appropriations bil s
have not been enacted before the start of the fiscal year. In some cases, continuing resolutions
have provided full-year funding.2
The FS also receives annual mandatory appropriations under existing authorizing statutes.3 Laws
authorizing mandatory appropriations al ow the FS to spend money without further action by
Congress. The budget authority for several of these mandatory spending accounts depends on
revenue generated by activities on the national forests. These laws typical y are permanent,
although sometimes the authorizations have a sunset date.
This report includes data on total FS appropriations for the 10-year period from FY2011 through
FY2020. The report focuses primarily on FS discretionary appropriations, which accounted for
89% of annual FS appropriations on average over the period. The report summarizes the FS’s
discretionary appropriations accounts and provides account-level data and analysis. Mandatory
appropriations accounted for the remaining 11% of annual FS appropriations from FY2011
through FY2020; in addition to total mandatory appropriations data, this report summarizes the
FS’s mandatory appropriations accounts and provides account-level data for FY2019 mandatory
funding.4 It concludes with a discussion of selected policy issues related to FS appropriations: fire
borrowing, budget administration, and account restructuring.
Forest Service Total Appropriations
For the 10-year period from FY2011 to FY2020, FS total appropriations were $7.00 bil ion
annual y on average in FY2020 constant dollars, which are adjusted for inflation. (The average
was $6.50 bil ion annual y in nominal dollars, which are not adjusted for inflation.5) FS total

1 For an overview of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, see CRS Report R45875,
Interior, Environm ent, and Related Agencies: Overview of FY2020 Appropriations, and CRS Report R46519, Interior,
Environm ent, and Related Agencies: Overview of FY2021 Appropriations, by Carol Hardy Vincent .
2 For more information on the three types of discretionary appropriations measures, see CRS Report R42388, The
Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction , coordinated by James V. Saturno.
3 Mandatory appropriations are sometimes referred to as permanent appropriations, mandatory spending, or direct
spending. T his report typically uses the term m andatory appropriations in reference to this type of appropriations.
4 FY2019 is the most recent year for which final mandatory appropriations data are available. T he FY2020 figures are
estimates and are subject to revision. See CRS Report R45994, Federal Land Managem ent Agencies’ Mandatory
Appropriations Accounts, coordinated by Carol Hardy Vincent , for more information regarding Forest Service (FS)
mandatory appropriations.
5 T he figures and tables in this report generally reflect applicable supplemental and emergency -designated
appropriations, sequestration, rescissions, and deferrals. For FY2011 -FY2016, mandatory appropriations reflect figures
reported as “new budget authority” in FS budget documents. T op-line figures for discretionary, mandatory, and total
appropriations are inflated to estimated FY202 0 constant dollars to enable comparisons across time. Figures were
adjusted to estimated FY2020 dollars using the GDP Chained Price Index from the White House Office of
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Forest Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Data and Trends (FY2011-FY2020)

appropriations fluctuated annual y but increased over the 10-year period, in terms of both
constant and nominal dollars (see Figure 2 and Table 1). In FY2020, the FS received $8.20
bil ion in total appropriations, an increase of 36% as compared with the FY2011 appropriation,
when adjusted to constant dollars.6 The FY2020 total appropriation included $7.50 bil ion (92%)
in discretionary appropriations and $0.69 bil ion in mandatory appropriations (8%). In addition to
the regular enacted discretionary appropriations, the FS received additional discretionary
appropriations in 7 of the 10 years from FY2011 through FY2020, including funds provided
pursuant to the wildfire adjustment (discussed later in this report; see “Wildfire Adjustment”).
These additional appropriations contributed to the annual fluctuations and the overal funding
increase between FY2011 and FY2020.
Figure 2. Forest Service (FS) Total Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020
(bil ions of dol ars)

Sources: Prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Discretionary appropriations data are derived
from annual appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations acts, committee reports, explanatory statements,
and detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. Mandatory
appropriations data are derived from annual FS budget justifications.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this figure. FY2020 mandatory appropriations figures are
estimates and are subject to revision.

Management and Budget, T able 10.1, “Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical T ables—1940-
2025” in Historical Tables, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals.
6 In nominal dollars, the FS’s FY2020 appropriation was a 59% increase over its FY2011 appropriation. Note that the
FY2020 appropriation is not final, as the mandatory appropriation is an estimate.
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Table 1. FS Total Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020
(bil ions of dol ars)
Total
Constant (FY2020)

Discretionary
Mandatory
Nominal
Dollars
FY2011
$4.685
$0.458
$5.143
$6.010
FY2012
4.594
0.720
5.315
6.095
FY2013
4.925
0.775
5.700
6.418
FY2014
5.480
0.833
6.313
6.974
FY2015
5.056
0.830
5.887
6.429
FY2016
6.364
0.891
7.256
7.855
FY2017
5.596
0.444
6.040
6.425
FY2018
6.581
0.705
7.286
7.574
FY2019
6.941
0.883
7.825
7.979
FY2020
7.504
0.692
8.196
8.196
10-Year Average
5.773
0.723
6.496
6.996
Sources: Prepared by CRS. Discretionary appropriations data are derived from annual appropriation s acts,
supplemental appropriations acts, committee reports, explanatory statements, and detailed funding tables
prepared by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. Mandatory appropriations data are derived
from annual FS budget justifications.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this table. Column totals may not add due to rounding.
FY2020 mandatory appropriations are estimates and are subject to revision.
Forest Service Discretionary Appropriations
FS discretionary appropriations accounted for 89% of the FS’s total annual appropriations on
average from FY2011 to FY2020. Over that period, FS discretionary appropriations fluctuated
annual y but general y increased, in terms of both constant and nominal dollars. On average, the
annual discretionary appropriation was $6.21 bil ion in FY2020 constant dollars.7 Figure 3 and
Table 2 show total discretionary appropriations for each year over the past 10 fiscal years in
nominal and constant dollars.
Appropriations laws specify the time frame in which the funding is available to the agency. Prior
to FY2017, Congress general y provided the FS with a no-year appropriation, meaning the funds
were available until expended and any unobligated funds at the end of a fiscal year would carry
over until expended (or rescinded by Congress). Starting in FY2017 (and continuing annual y
through FY2020), Congress began stipulating that appropriations to most FS accounts would be
available only for a specified period (typical y ranging from three to four fiscal years). Any
unobligated funds in those accounts would expire at the end of the specified period. (See the
“Budget Administration” section for additional discussion.)

7 In nominal dollars, the FS received an average of $5.77 billion annually in discretionary appropriations from FY2011
to FY2020.
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Forest Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Data and Trends (FY2011-FY2020)

The following sections provide information on discretionary appropriations. The sections include
a description of each FS discretionary account, information on supplemental appropriations, and
data regarding the funding trends over the 10-year period between FY2011 and FY2020.
Figure 3. FS Discretionary Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020
(bil ions of dol ars)

Sources: Prepared by CRS using data derived from annual appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations
acts, committee reports, explanatory statements, and detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate
Committees on Appropriations.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this figure.
Table 2. FS Discretionary Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020
(bil ions of dol ars)
Constant

Nominal Dollars
(FY2020) Dollars
FY2011
$4.685
$5.475
FY2012
4.594
5.269
FY2013
4.925
5.545
FY2014
5.480
6.054
FY2015
5.056
5.522
FY2016
6.364
6.890
FY2017
5.596
5.953
FY2018
6.581
6.841
FY2019
6.941
7.078
FY2020
7.504
7.504
10-Year Average
5.773
6.213
Sources: Prepared by CRS using information from annual FS budget justifications.
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Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this table. See Table A-1 for a detailed table with
account-level information on regular-enacted and supplemental appropriations and rescissions. Column totals
may not add due to rounding.
Discretionary Accounts
Between FY2011 and FY2020, FS discretionary appropriations mostly were provided in six main
accounts. In addition to those six accounts, the FS has several other relatively smal accounts.
These accounts are combined into an “Other” category for this report. The FS accounts are listed
below (in order of decreasing average appropriations):
 Wildland Fire Management (WFM), which includes appropriations to the
FLAME Wildfire Reserve Fund and the Wildfire Suppression Operations
Reserve Fund (referred to as the wildfire adjustment account in this report);8
 National Forest System (NFS);
 Capital Improvement and Maintenance (CIM);
 Forest and Rangeland Research (FRR);
 State and Private Forestry (SPF);
 Land Acquisition (LA); and
 Other.
FS budget requests and committee reports and explanatory statements accompanying Interior
appropriations bil s typical y show al ocations of monies at the account and subaccount levels
and, in some cases, among specific programs and activities. This report general y does not
address al ocations below the account level. The FS al ocates appropriations from these accounts
among the nine FS regions, five research stations, two service centers and laboratories, and
national headquarters office in Washington, DC. For most accounts, once the funds have been
al ocated to the regions, the money is further al ocated to each unit of the National Forest System.
Some accounts and programs, however, are managed at a national level; for example, the Wildfire
Suppression Program (within the WFM account) is al ocated based on need throughout the
wildfire season. Because appropriations are al ocated based on different factors, this can make it
chal enging to analyze appropriations by region or by forest. Further, FS regions do not follow
state boundaries and many national forests cross state boundaries, which can make it chal enging
to analyze FS appropriations by state. This level of detail is beyond the scope of this report.
The following section describes the programs and activities funded through each discretionary
account. It includes information regarding changes that occurred in each account from FY2011
through FY2020.

8 T he FLAME account was established under the Federal Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement Act
(FLAME; P.L. 111-88, Division A, T itle V, 43 U.S.C. §§1748a et seq.) for emergency wildfire suppression activities.
T he funds appropriated to FS’s and DOI’s Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund ( wildfire adjustment
account) permitted the use of the wildfire adjustment, which was established by P.L. 115-141 (Division O, §102(a), 2
U.S.C. §901(b)(2)(F)). Appropriations for these accounts are combined with the Wildland Fire Management (WFM)
account for purposes of this report. Both laws also establish ed separate accounts for the Department of the Interior
(DOI) to fund wildfire management activities on DOI-managed federal lands.
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Wildland Fire Management9
The WFM account funds two programs related to the management of wildfires: preparedness and
suppression. Appropriations for preparedness are used for wildfire prevention and detection,
equipment, training, and baseline personnel. Appropriations for suppression are used primarily for
wildfire response. This response includes firefighter salaries, aviation asset operations, incident
support functions, and personnel and resources for post-fire analysis and recovery. Prior to
FY2018, WFM included funding for programs such as Hazardous Fuels, Cooperative Fire
Assistance, and fire science and research. Starting in FY2018, these programs were funded
through other FS discretionary accounts.
As noted, for purposes of this report, appropriations shown for the WFM account also include
funding for two other accounts: the FLAME Wildfire Reserve Fund and the wildfire adjustment
account.
The funds appropriated to both of these accounts may be transferred to the WFM account for
emergency suppression purposes. The following sections provide more information on each of
these accounts (see the “Fire Borrowing” section for additional discussion).
FLAME Wildfire Reserve Fund
The FLAME account was established in FY2010 and funds emergency wildfire suppression
activities under specified circumstances.10 Funds in the FLAME account may be used to cover the
costs of large or complex fires and are to be used when amounts provided for suppression in the
WFM account are exhausted. Upon a secretarial declaration, the Secretary of Agriculture may
transfer funds from the FLAME account into the WFM account for suppression activities.
The FLAME account received appropriations starting in FY2011 and last received appropriations
in FY2018. The account wil terminate after three consecutive years without an appropriation or
withdrawal, meaning the account may terminate if no appropriations are provided through the end
of FY2021.11
Wildfire Adjustment
Funds appropriated to the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund permit the use of the
wildfire adjustment, a budgetary mechanism that gives special budgetary treatment to certain
funding for wildfire suppression.12 The mechanism al ows such funds to be effectively exempt
from the discretionary spending limits.13 The wildfire adjustment is also sometimes referred to as
the wildfire funding fix or the suppression cap adjustment.

9 For more information, see CRS Report R46583, Federal Wildfire Management: Ten-Year Funding Trends and Issues
(FY2011-FY2020), by Katie Hoover.
10 43 U.S.C. §§1748a et seq.
11 43 U.S.C. §1748a(i). T he FS reports the last withdrawal from the FLAME account occurred in FY2018 (FS, FY2021
Budget Justification, February 2020, at https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/usfs-fy-2021-budget -
justification.pdf, p. 103).
12 Formally, the law states that the enactment of such spending allows for a subsequent upward adjustment of the
discretionary limits to accommodate the spending. As a result, these types of spending are referred to as adjustm ents (2
U.S.C. §901(b)(2)(F)).
13 T he discretionary spending limit refers to certain procedural and budgetary controls over discretionary spending for
each of the fiscal years between FY2012 and FY2021, as established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L.
112-25). T he Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (BBEDCA; T itle II of P.L. 99-177, 2 U.S.C. §§900-
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There is a precondition for using the wildfire adjustment—that a baseline amount of funding must
be appropriated subject to the discretionary spending limits. For the purposes of the wildfire
adjustment, the baseline is the 10-year suppression obligation average, as reported in FY2015
($1.011 bil ion for FS). Once the precondition is met, the law also places restrictions on the level
of funding that can be provided under the adjustment and therefore can be exempt from the
discretionary spending limits. The maximum amount available pursuant to the wildfire
adjustment starts at $1.950 bil ion for FS in FY2020 and increases annual y.14 Up to the specified
annual maximum, any amount that is enacted for a fiscal year that is over the FY2015 baseline
would cause the discretionary spending limit to be adjusted upward by that amount. This
mechanism al ows Congress to effectively provide additional funding for wildfire suppression for
the same discretionary budget score as was provided in the FY2015 baseline year. The wildfire
adjustment is available annual y from FY2020 through FY2027, although the statutory limits for
discretionary spending currently are in effect only through FY2021.
Funds appropriated pursuant to the wildfire adjustment may be transferred to the WFM account
for wildfire suppression operations. Such operations include spending for the purposes of “the
emergency and unpredictable aspects of wildland firefighting, including support, response, and
emergency stabilization activities; other emergency management activities; and the funds
necessary to repay any transfers needed for the costs of wildfire suppression operations.”15
National Forest System
Appropriations from the NFS account fund management of the lands and resources across the 193
mil ion acres of national forests and grasslands. The FS also may use funds from other
discretionary accounts to address various aspects of NFS management (e.g., funds from the CIM
account to fund infrastructure projects). In addition, several mandatory accounts fund NFS
activities (see the “Forest Service Mandatory Appropriations” section for more information). The
NFS account includes several subaccounts, programs, and activities, many of which reflect the
different ways national forests are used:16
 Hazardous Fuels funds activities to remove, modify, or manipulate vegetation to
reduce the likelihood of catastrophic wildland fire. Prior to FY2018, this program
was funded through the WFM account.
 Forest Products funds activities to analyze, prepare, offer, award, and administer
timber sales, stewardship contracts, and special forest products permits on NFS
lands.
 Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness funds activities related to recreation
management on the NFS, administration of special-use authorizations, protection

922, as amended by the BCA) provides for certain ty pes of spending to be effectively exempt from those limits. T he
wildfire adjustment was established through an amendment to the BBEDCA ( P.L. 115-141, Division O, §102(a), 2
U.S.C. §901(b)(2)(F)). For more information on discretionary spending limits, see CRS Report R44874, The Budget
Control Act: Frequently Asked Questions, by Grant A. Driessen and Megan S. Lynch . For more information on
budgetary adjustments, see CRS Report R45778, Exceptions to the Budget Control Act’s Discretionary Spending
Lim its, by Megan S. Lynch.
14 Including funds available to DOI pursuant t o the wildfire adjustment, the maximum amount available starts at
$2.25 billion in FY2020 and increases to $2.95 billion in FY2027 (2 U.S.C. §901(b)(2)(F)(i)).
15 2 U.S.C. §901(b)(2)(F)(ii)(II).
16 T he subaccounts, programs, and activities are listed in decreasing order of FY2020 regular appropriations. For more
information on the National Forest System, see CRS Report R43872, National Forest System Managem ent: Overview,
Appropriations, and Issues for Congress, by Katie Hoover and Anne A. Riddle.
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Forest Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Data and Trends (FY2011-FY2020)

of heritage resources, and protection of designated wilderness areas and wild and
scenic rivers.
 Vegetation and Watershed Management funds restoration-related management
activities to improve forest and rangeland conditions; fish and wildlife habitat;
and water quality, water quantity, and timing of stream flows, among others.
 Land Management Planning, Assessment, and Monitoring funds the
development, maintenance, and revision of forest plans.
 Wildlife and Fish Habitat Management funds activities to restore, recover, and
maintain wildlife and fish—particularly rare animal and plant species—and their
habitats on NFS lands.
 Law Enforcement Operations funds response to emergencies, investigations of
il egal activities (such as il egal drug activities), and conduct of crime-prevention
activities on NFS lands.
 Landownership Management provides funds for the basic land management
and real estate activities necessary to support al NFS programs, such as granting
special-use authorizations for energy transmission corridors and processing land
exchanges.
 Minerals and Geology Management funds the administration of mineral
operations on NFS lands, management and mitigation of abandoned mine lands,
management of geologic resources and hazards, and management of
environmental compliance and restoration related to mineral activities.
 Grazing Management funds the administration of livestock grazing use permits
on the NFS and implementation of environmental reviews of al FS grazing
al otments as statutorily mandated. Funds from the Range Betterment Fund
(appropriated through a separate account listed under the “Other” category) also
may be used for these purposes.
 Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program Fund funds 23
landscape-scale restoration projects in priority landscapes.17
Capital Improvement and Maintenance
The CIM account funds activities to provide and maintain infrastructure across the NFS.
Infrastructure needs extend to roads, trails, dams, bridges, administrative facilities, and recreation
sites (e.g., campgrounds), among others. As of FY2020, these activities are funded through three
budget line items, or program areas, within the CIM account: facilities, roads, and trails.
From FY2011 to FY2020, the CIM account at times included other budget line items. For
example, prior to FY2018, CIM included a budget line item for the Legacy Roads and Trails
Program. This program provided funds for road and trail repair, maintenance, and
decommissioning specifical y for water quality purposes. The budget line item funding was
discontinued in FY2018, though Congress directed the FS to continue to address these types of

17 T he Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program was first authorized in FY2009 and was authorized to
receive $40.0 million annually, subject to appropriations ( P.L. 111-11, T itle IV). T he program was extended through
FY2023, and the authorization was increased to $80.0 million annually, subject to appropriations ( P.L. 115-334, T itle
VII, §8629).
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projects along with other roads and trails infrastructure projects.18 Similar language was included
for FY2019 and FY2020 appropriations.19
As another example, prior to FY2017, the CIM account had a specific budget line item to address
the FS’s backlog of deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance includes maintenance and
repairs that were not performed when they should have been or were scheduled to be performed
and put off or delayed for a future period.20 After FY2017, funding for deferred-maintenance
needs was no longer provided as a specific line item but was incorporated into the facilities,
roads, and trails programs.21
The Roads and Trails Fund, one of the FS’s mandatory appropriations accounts, also pertains to
infrastructure needs. Starting in FY2008, however, appropriations laws have transferred—or
deferred—the funds in the account to the U.S. Treasury, which means the collections have not
been available to the FS since FY2007. Appropriations documents show the deferral of these
funds as a reduction to CIM funding, with an average reduction of $15.8 mil ion annual y from
FY2011 through FY2020. (For additional information, see “Roads and Trails Fund,” below.)
Forest and Rangeland Research
The FRR account funds research and development efforts to provide scientific information and
new technologies to support sustainable forest and rangeland management. FRR includes two
programs: Research and Development (R&D) and the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)
Program.
R&D funds applied and basic research across the FS’s seven research stations and 81
experimental forests and ranges. Starting in FY2018, this account includes funding al ocated to
support the Joint Fire Science Program and other research regarding wildland fires, activities
which previously were funded as budget line items in the WFM account. The Joint Fire Science
Program is a grant program administered in partnership with the Department of the Interior to
fund research regarding wildland fire.
The FIA program is a continuous census of forest resources throughout the United States; it
provides data and analysis regarding the extent and status of forested lands throughout the
country.22 The FS uses remote sensing data and field data collected from a series of permanently

18 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Legislative Text and Explanatory Statement for the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141), Book 2 of 2, committee print, 115th Cong., 2nd sess., 2018,
House Print 29-457, p. 1178.
19 For FY2019, see U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Making Further Continuing Appropriations
for the Departm ent of Hom eland Security for FY2019 and for Other Purposes, conference report to accompany
H.J.Res. 31, 116th Cong., 1st sess., February 13, 2019, H.Rept. 116-9, p. 748. For FY2020, see U.S. Congress, House
Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Departm ent of the
Interior, Environm ent, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2020 , report to accompany H.R. 3052, 116th Cong.,
1st sess., June 3, 2019, H.Rept. 116-100, pp. 110-111; and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations,
Subcommittee on Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Departm ent of the Interior,
Environm ent, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2020, report to accompany S. 2580, 116th Cong., 1st sess.,
September 26, 2019, S.Rept. 116-123, p. 108.
20 T his definition is taken from Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, “Statement of Federal Financial
Accounting Standards 42: Deferred Maintenance and Repairs” in the FASAB Handbook of Federal Accounting
Standards and Other Pronouncem ents, as Am ended, June 30, 2018, p. 1463 (pdf), at http://files.fasab.gov/pdffiles/
2018_fasab_handbook.pdf.
21 For more information on deferred maintenance on federal lands, see CRS Report R43997, Deferred Maintenance of
Federal Land Managem ent Agencies: FY2009 -FY2018 Estim ates and Issues, by Carol Hardy Vincent .
22 16 U.S.C. §1642(3).
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established research sites. The data are collected through an annualized sampling process in
which a representative sample of plots in each state is surveyed at regular intervals, with the goal
of each plot being sampled every 5 to 10 years.23
State and Private Forestry
The SPF account funds programs to provide financial and technical assistance to nonfederal
forest owners and managers, including programs to address international forestry issues.24 The
programs are primarily grant or cost-sharing programs, and they include support for planning and
implementing forest restoration projects; promoting urban forestry; enhancing state and rural
wildfire management capabilities; promoting the use of forest products; and protecting
forestlands from wildfires, insects and diseases, or conversion to non-forest uses.
Since FY2018, SPF has included total funding for the Cooperative Fire Assistance program. Until
FY2014, the program was funded through appropriations to both the SPF and the WFM accounts;
from FY2014 through FY2017, the program was funded entirely through appropriations to the
WFM account. Similarly, since FY2014, SPF has included total funding for the Forest Health
Program, which previously was funded through appropriations to both the SPF and the WFM
accounts.
SPF includes funding for the Forest Legacy Program, a cost-share grant program for forest land
acquisition. Through FY2020, appropriations for the Forest Legacy Program were derived from
the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).25
Land Acquisition
The LA account funds activities to enable the FS to acquire lands or interests in lands (e.g.,
easements).26 The LA account is funded through appropriations derived from the LWCF.27 Funds
in the LA account cover expenses related to the purchase cost of lands, waters, or interests therein
and administrative costs, such as title searches, land surveys, and appraisals. In addition, funds
from the LA account may be used for cash equalization payments, in which the FS provides a
cash payment (up to 25%) to equalize values in a land exchange.28
In addition to this LA account, appropriations laws provide funding for two smal er land
acquisition accounts. These two appropriations—one for land acquisitions under special acts and
one to complete land exchanges—are included in the “Other” account, described below.

23 Hawaii and the U.S. territories do not have established plots. Plots for interior Alaska were established in 2014
(Environmental Protection Agency, Annex 3-Part B: “ Methodological Descriptions for Additional Source or Sink
Categories” in Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Em issions and Sinks, 1990 -2018, EPA 430-R-20-002, April 13, 2020,
p. A.419).
24 For more information on FS assistance programs, see CRS Report R45219, Forest Service Assistance Programs, by
Anne A. Riddle and Katie Hoover.
25 54 U.S.C. §§200301 et seq. For more information on the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and funding
for the Forest Legacy Program, see CRS Report R44121, Land and Water Conservation Fund: Appropriations for
“Other Purposes”, by Carol Hardy Vincent .
26 For more information on FS land acquisition, see CRS Report RL34273, Federal Land Ownership: Acquisition and
Disposal Authorities, coordinated by Carol Hardy Vincent .
27 54 U.S.C. §§200301 et seq. For more information on the LWCF, see CRS Report RL33531, Land and Water
Conservation Fund: Overview, Funding History, and Issues, by Carol Hardy Vincent .
28 43 U.S.C. §1716.
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Other
In addition to the larger accounts described above, the FS receives discretionary appropriations to
several relatively smal accounts, listed below. These accounts are combined into an “Other”
category for this report.
 Acquisition of Land for National Forests, Special Acts. These funds are used
to acquire lands in specified national forests in Nevada, Utah, California, and
Arkansas, as authorized under various authorities (or special acts).
 Acquisition of Lands to Complete Land Exchanges. These funds provide for
the acquisition of lands with funds collected from the exchange or sale of
national forest lands, as authorized under various authorities.
 The Range Betterment Fund. Appropriations from this fund are derived from
receipts from grazing permit fees on FS lands.29 Funds are to be used for range
rehabilitation, protection, and improvement projects.
 Gifts, Donations, and Bequests for Research. Appropriations from this account
are derived from gifts, donations, and bequests received from outside sources to
establish or operate any forest and rangeland research facility or program.30
 Management of National Forest Lands for Subsistence Uses. These funds are
used to fulfil the FS’s obligation to provide a subsistence priority to rural
Alaskans to harvest fish and wildlife on federal lands.31
 Communication Site Management. In FY2020, funds were provided for
administering special-use authorizations for communication sites on NFS lands.32
The funds are derived from offsetting collections from the fees charged to
process and monitor communication site applications.
Supplemental Discretionary Appropriations
In addition to regular discretionary appropriations, at times Congress has provided the FS with
additional funds, general y referred to as supplemental appropriations. These funds often—
though not always—are provided in an appropriations law enacted after the regular annual law.
For instance, Division B of the CARES Act provided supplemental appropriations for the FS for
FY2020,33 after enactment of the regular appropriations law for that year (Division D of the
Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020).34 In some cases, however, funds were provided
in the regular annual appropriations law but designated as additional. For example, Division E of
the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, included $500.0 mil ion in additional funds
for the FS for FY2019 as part of the agency’s annual appropriation.35 Later, Title VII of the
Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019, provided additional

29 43 U.S.C. §1751. For more information on livestock grazing fees on FS lands, see CRS Report RS21232, Grazing
Fees: Overview and Issues, by Carol Hardy Vincent .
30 16 U.S.C. §1643(b).
31 16 U.S.C. §§3111-3126.
32 P.L. 115-331, §8705, as amended by P.L. 116-94, Division D, §416.
33 CARES Act (P.L. 116-136).
34 T he Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94). In some cases, the same law has contained regular
and supplemental appropriations for FS. See, for example, P.L. 108-447, Division E, T itle IV.
35 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 116-6).
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supplemental appropriations for the FS for FY2019.36 Supplemental funds are provided
frequently to respond to disasters or to replenish funds for wildland fire management (see the
“Fire Borrowing” section for more information), and they have been appropriated to several
different FS discretionary accounts. The supplemental appropriations contribute to the annual
fluctuation in FS discretionary funding levels (see Figure 4).
Congress sometimes has designated FS supplemental appropriations as being of an emergency
nature (referred to as emergency supplemental appropriations in this report). Emergency funding
is not subject to certain procedural and statutory limits on discretionary spending.37 However, not
al FS supplemental appropriations have received the emergency designation. For example, the
supplemental appropriations provided in FY2013 and FY2014 were not designated as emergency,
and thus they were subject to budget enforcement. In some cases, the emergency designation has
meant a lower budgetary score for a total appropriation that is higher in nominal dollars than
another total appropriation. For instance, the FS received discretionary appropriations for FY2014
of $5.48 bil ion and for FY2017 of $5.60 bil ion (in nominal dollars). These totals included
supplemental appropriations of $600.0 mil ion in FY2014 and $342.0 mil ion in FY2017. The
FY2014 supplemental funding was not emergency-designated, but the FY2017 supplemental
funding was emergency-designated. Thus, the budgetary score of $5.25 bil ion for FY2017 was
lower than the budgetary score of $5.48 bil ion for FY2014.
Funds provided pursuant to the wildfire adjustment are not emergency-designated, but they are
treated similarly in terms of budgetary scoring, albeit under a different budgetary mechanism.
Thus, although the total discretionary appropriation for FY2020 was $7.50 bil ion, the budgetary
score was $5.48 bil ion. This is because the $1.95 bil ion wildfire adjustment and $7.0 mil ion in
emergency supplemental appropriations were not counted toward the discretionary spending limit
for that year.

36 Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019 (P.L. 116-20).
37 2 U.S.C. §901(b)(2)(A)(i).
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Figure 4. FS Regular and Supplemental Discretionary Appropriations,
FY2011-FY2020
(bil ions of dol ars)

Sources: Prepared by CRS using data derived from annual appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations
acts, committee reports, explanatory statements, and detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate
Committees on Appropriations.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this figure. Suppl. = supplemental. FY2020 discretionary
appropriations figures may change if additional appropriations are enacted for the fiscal year.
Discretionary Appropriations Data and Trends
As discussed, FS discretionary appropriations fluctuated annual y but general y increased over the
10-year period from FY2011 to FY2020. The annual fluctuations were driven in part by
supplemental appropriations, which were provided in 7 of the 10 fiscal years (including the
wildfire adjustment in FY2020). On average, the FS received $6.21 bil ion annual y in
discretionary appropriations, in constant dollars, over the period in question.38 The FS received
the least discretionary funding in FY2012 and the most in FY2020, in both constant and nominal
dollars. The FS received $7.50 bil ion in FY2020, an increase of 37% over the FY2011
appropriation in constant dollars.39 Table 3 shows account-level discretionary appropriations for
each year over the past 10 fiscal years. (See also Table A-1 in the appendix for a more detailed
discretionary appropriations table, including amounts of supplemental and rescinded funding.)

38 In nominal dollars, the FS received an average of $5.77 billion annually in discretionary appropriations between
FY2011 and FY2020.
39 In nominal dollars, the FS’s FY2020 discretionary appropriation was a 60% increase over the FY2011 appropriation.
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Figure 5. FS Discretionary Appropriations by Account, FY2011-FY2020
(bil ions of dol ars)

Sources: Prepared by CRS using data derived from annual appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations
acts, committee reports, explanatory statements, and detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate
Committees on Appropriations.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this figure. WFM = Wildland Fire Management; NFS =
National Forest System; CIM = Capital Improvement and Maintenance; SPF = State and Private Forestry; FRR =
Forest and Rangeland Research; LA = Land Acquisition; Other = several smal er accounts combined.
The majority of FS discretionary appropriations go to two accounts: WFM and NFS, as shown in
Figure 5 and Figure 6. Combined, these two accounts have received 82% of average annual
appropriations since FY2011. The WFM account received 53% of average annual appropriations
from FY2011 to FY2020, and it received more than 50% of total discretionary appropriations in
al but two years. The WFM figures reflect supplemental appropriations. Notwithstanding the
supplemental appropriations, however, WFM stil received the largest portion of the FS’s
discretionary funding (44%) between FY2011 and FY2020.
In some cases, fluctuations in funding distributions resulted in part from structural changes. For
example, starting in FY2018, some programs that had been funded through the WFM account
were transferred to other accounts. The largest of the transferred programs—Hazardous Fuels—
was moved to the NFS account, and smal er programs were moved to the SPF and FRR accounts.
Some of the fluctuation in funding distribution from FY2017 to FY2018 reflects these structural
changes rather than a substantive change in program funding. Figure 6 depicts the move of
Hazardous Fuels from WFM to NFS.
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Figure 6. Distribution of FS Discretionary Appropriations

Sources: Prepared by CRS using data derived from annual appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations
acts, committee reports, explanatory statements, and detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate
Committees on Appropriations.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this figure. WFM = Wildland Fire Management; NFS =
National Forest System; Al Other FS Accounts include appropriations to the other FS discretionary accounts,
including Capital Improvement and Maintenance, State and Private Forestry, Forest and Rangeland Research,
Land Acquisition, and several smal er accounts. Funding for the Hazardous Fuels program is included to il ustrate
the effect of its transfer from WFM to NFS on the distribution of funding between those accounts.

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Table 3. FS Discretionary Appropriations by Account, FY2011-FY2020
(mil ions of dol ars)

FY2011
FY2012
FY2013
FY2014
FY2015
FY2016
FY2017a
FY2018
FY2019
FY2020
FRR
$306.6
$295.3
$279.9
$292.8
$296.0
$291.0
$288.5
$297.0
$301.0
$308.0
SPF
277.6
252.9
239.7
230.0
232.7
237.0
216.9
337.1
347.5
347.0
NFS
1,542.2
1,554.1
1,455.3
1,496.3
1,494.3
1,509.4
1,513.3
1,944.4
2,023.0
1,991.5
CIM
459.6
382.1
346.5
333.0
343.4
348.2
348.0
525.6
467.0
466.8
LA
32.9
52.5
49.8
43.5
47.5
63.4
54.4
64.3
72.6
76.9
WFM
2,058.5
2,050.2
2,547.7
3,077.3
2,636.4
3,909.3
3,175.4
3,406.8
3,725.3
4,307.6
Otherb
7.5
7.1
5.7
6.7
6.0
6.0
6.0
5.7
5.1
6.4
Total
4,685.0
4,594.3
4,924.5
5,479.6
5,056.2
6,364.3
5,596.3
6,580.9
6,941.4
7,504.2
Constant (FY2020) $
5,474.6
5,268.7
5,545.4
6,054.0
5,522.4
6,890.1
5,952.9
6,841.0
7,078.4
7,504.2
Sources: Prepared by CRS using data derived from annual appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations acts, committee reports, explanatory statements, and
detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.
Notes: Accounts are listed in the order in which they appear in appropriations laws. FRR = Forest and Rangeland Research; SPF = State and Private Forestry; NFS =
National Forest System; CIM = Capital Improvement and Maintenance; LA = Land Acquisition; WFM = Wildland Fire Management, which also includes appropriations to
FS’s FLAME and wildfire adjustment accounts. See footnote 5 for additional information about this table. See Table A-1 for a detailed table with account-level
information on regular-enacted and supplemental appropriations and rescissions. Column totals may not add due to rounding.
a. The FY2017 total reflects a general rescission of $6.2 mil ion.
b. “Other” reflects appropriations to several relatively smal FS discretionary accounts, including for specified land acquisition activities; the Range Betterment Fund;
gifts, donations, and bequests for research; management of national forest lands for subsistence use; and , in FY2020, communication site management.
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Forest Service Mandatory Appropriations40
FS mandatory appropriations accounted for 11% of the FS’s total annual appropriations on
average from FY2011 through FY2020. Over that period, FS mandatory appropriations fluctuated
annual y, particularly over the second half of the decade, as shown in Figure 7 and Table 4. The
fluctuations were related in part to the expiration and reauthorization of a program funded
through one FS mandatory account (Payments to States Funds). The following section includes a
description of each FS mandatory account with FY2019 mandatory appropriations above $25
mil ion (listed in decreasing order of appropriations). FS mandatory accounts with FY2019
mandatory appropriations below $25 mil ion are grouped and listed together at the end of the
section.
On average, the mandatory appropriation from FY2011 through FY2020 was $782.5 mil ion in
constant FY2020 dollars.41 The FY2020 mandatory appropriation is estimated to be $692.3
mil ion, below the 10-year average.42
The following section provides information on mandatory appropriations. It includes a
description of each FS mandatory account. For each account, the following section also includes
the amount of appropriations for FY2019, the most recent year for which final data are available.
Data for FY2020 mandatory appropriations are estimates and are subject to revision, in part
because many of the accounts are based on receipts or collections from throughout the fiscal year,
which ended on September 30, 2020, and fiscal year totals have not been compiled to date.

40 For a discussion of the issues related to mandatory appropriations and data on FS FY2018 mandatory appropriations,
see CRS Report R45994, Federal Land Managem ent Agencies’ Mandatory Appropriations Accounts, coordinated by
Carol Hardy Vincent .
41 In nominal dollars, the average mandatory appropriation was $723.3 million annually from FY2011 to FY2020.
42 In nominal dollars, the FY2020 mandatory appropriation is an increase of 51% over the FY2011 mandatory
appropriation.
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Figure 7. FS Mandatory Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020
(mil ions of dol ars)

Sources: Prepared by CRS using information from annual FS budget justifications.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this figure. FY2020 mandatory appropriations figures are
estimates and are subject to revision.
Table 4. FS Mandatory Appropriations, FY2011-FY2020
(mil ions of dol ars)
Constant (FY2020)

Nominal Dollars
Dollars
FY2011
$458.4
$535.6
FY2012
720.4
826.1
FY2013
775.1
872.8
FY2014
833.1
920.4
FY2015
830.4
907.0
FY2016
891.5
965.1
FY2017
443.8
472.1
FY2018
705.1
733.0
FY2019
883.2
900.7
FY2020
692.3
692.3
10-Year Average
723.3
782.5
Sources: Prepared by CRS using information from annual FS budget justifications.
Notes: See footnote 5 for additional information about this table. FY2020 mandatory appropriations figures are
estimates and are subject to revision.
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FY2019 Mandatory Appropriations Data
FY2019 mandatory appropriations for the FS were $883.2 mil ion. This amount is 11% of the
FS’s total FY2019 appropriations ($7.83 bil ion). These mandatory appropriations were in about
two dozen accounts.43 Of those accounts, seven had mandatory appropriations each exceeding
$25.0 mil ion in FY2019, with the largest account containing $293.5 mil ion. The remaining
accounts had appropriations of less than $25 mil ion each in FY2019; eight of those accounts had
less than $1 mil ion each, including two accounts with no new mandatory spending authority in
FY2019. Table 5 shows the FS mandatory appropriations for FY2019.
Agency receipts fund many of these accounts, although one is supplemented by the General Fund
of the Treasury, as needed. In addition, import tariffs fund one account and license fees fund
another. Almost al of the accounts support agency activities, though some are used to make
revenue-sharing payments with states, local, or tribal governments.
Table 5. FS Mandatory Appropriations, by Account, FY2019
(in mil ions of dol ars)
FS Account
FY2019
Accounts with $25.0 Million or More

Payment to States Fundsa
$293.5
Cooperative Work—Knutson-Vandenberg (K-V) Trust Fund
253.6
Recreation Fee Program, FSb
97.0
Cooperative Work—Other Trust Fund
89.5
Timber Salvage Sale Fund
45.8
Reforestation Trust Fund
30.0
Stewardship Contracting Fund
26.3
Accounts with Less Than $25.0 Million

Operation and Maintenance of FS Quarters
10.1
Brush Disposal
9.4
Restoration of Forest Lands and Improvements
6.0
Land Between the Lakes Management and Trust Fundc
5.3
Cost Recovery (Land Uses)
5.0
Timber Sales Pipeline Restoration
3.0
Conveyance of Administrative Sites
2.7
Timber Purchaser Election Road Construction
2.0
Forest Botanical Products
1.5
Midewin National Tal grass Prairie Rental Fees
0.7
Commercial Filming and Stil Photography Land Use Fees
0.6
Organizational Camps Program
0.5

43 In this report, four FS mandatory spending accounts have been combined into two accounts due to their similarity
and relatively small size, as noted in Table 5. In addition, two FS mandatory accounts did not have new mandatory
spending authority in FY2019, though one account had carryover from prior fiscal years.
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FS Account
FY2019
Licensee Programs: Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owld
0.5
FS Go Green Program
0.2
Site-Specific Lands Act
<0.1
Roads and Trails Fund
0
Quinault Special Management Area Fund
0
Total Mandatory Appropriations
883.2
Source: FS, FY2021 Budget Justification, February 2020, at https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/usfs-
fy-2021-budget-justification.pdf.
Notes: Accounts are listed in decreasing order of FY2019 mandatory appropriations. The table does not reflect
two accounts with no new funding in FY2019. Amounts in column may not sum to total shown due to rounding.
a. The Payment to States Funds account consists of several funds that are used to issue payments to specified
state and local governments under several different authorities. The FS general y groups the funds together
for reporting purposes. At times, the FS provides additional details about each fund and associated payment,
but it did not do so for FY2019 in the FY2021 Budget Justification.
b. This total includes $25.3 mil ion col ected by the FS from recreation.gov and used for administration of this
reservation service.
c. These are two separate accounts but were combined for this table. The Land Between the Lakes
Management permanent appropriation had $5.2 mil ion in mandatory appropriations for FY2019. The Land
Between the Lakes Trust Fund had $0.1 mil ion in mandatory appropriations for FY2019.
d. These are two separate accounts but were combined for this table. The Smokey Bear Licensee Program had
$0.4 mil ion in mandatory appropriations for FY2019, and the Woodsy Owl Licensee Program had <$0.1
mil ion in mandatory appropriations for FY2019.
Mandatory Accounts44
The following section includes a description of each FS mandatory account with FY2019
mandatory appropriations above $25 mil ion (listed in decreasing order of appropriations). FS
mandatory accounts with FY2019 mandatory appropriations below $25 mil ion are grouped and
listed together at the end of the section.
Payment to States Funds
Payment to States Funds provide compensation or revenue-sharing payments to specified state
and local governments.45 The payments are required by different laws with varying (but
sometimes related) purposes and disbursement formulas, as summarized below. The funds
general y consist of receipts from sales, leases, rentals, or other fees for using NFS lands or
resources (e.g., timber sales, certain recreation fees, and communication site leases).
 25% Revenue-Sharing Payments.46 The Act of May 23, 1908, requires states to
receive annual payments of 25% of the average gross revenue generated over the
previous seven years on the national forests in the state, for use on roads and

44 Accounts in this section are described in decreasing order of funding.
45 In most cases, the payments are made to states but the states do not retain any of the funds. T he states pass the funds
to the specified local government entities (i.e., counties, townships, and others). In some cases, the payments may be
made directly to the local government entity.
46 T his program is sometimes referred to as Payments to States.
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schools in the counties containing those lands.47 Funded through receipts, the
payment is made to the state after the end of the fiscal year. The state cannot
retain any of the funds but al ocates the payment to the counties based on the area
of national forest land in each county.
 SRS Payments. The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination
Act of 2000 (SRS) authorized an optional, alternative payment to the FS 25%
revenue-sharing payments.48 The payment amount is determined by a formula
based in part on historical revenue payments that declines overal by 5%
annual y. Similar to the 25% revenue-sharing payments, the payment is made
after the end of the fiscal year and the bulk of the payment is to be used for roads
and schools in the counties containing national forests. The FS may retain a
portion of the payment for use on specified projects. Funding for the payment
comes first from receipts and, if necessary, is supplemented through transfers
from the General Fund of the Treasury. The original authorization for SRS
payments expired at the end of FY2006, but Congress reauthorized the payments
several times (through various laws) and payments were made annual y from
FY2001 through FY2016. The authorization expired for the FY2016 SRS
payment, and counties received the 25% revenue-sharing payment for one year,
in FY2017. Congress then reauthorized the SRS payments for four years
(FY2017 through FY2020).49 Because SRS payments are disbursed after the
fiscal year ends, the FY2019 payment was made in FY2020 and the FY2020
payment is set to be made in FY2021.
 National Grassland Fund Payments. These payments are authorized by the
Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, which requires payments of 25% of net (rather
than gross) receipts directly to the counties for roads and schools in the counties
where the national grasslands are located.50 These payments are sometimes
referred to as Payments to Counties, because the payment is made directly to the
counties and al ocation is based on the national grassland acreage in each county.
 Payments to Minnesota Counties. Enacted in 1948, this program pays three
northern Minnesota counties 0.75% of the appraised value of the land, without
restrictions on using the funds.51
The funding level in the Payments to States Funds account varies annual y, depending on
fluctuations in revenue from the NFS and whether SRS is authorized. For example, over the 10
years from FY2011 to FY2020, annual mandatory appropriations averaged $270.5 mil ion, in
nominal dollars. The FY2017 appropriation ($73.1 mil ion, nominal dollars) was much lower
than the annual average. This low figure occurred primarily because of the expiration of SRS

47 16 U.S.C. §500.
48 16 U.S.C. §§7101-7153. T he Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (SRS; P.L. 106-
393) also authorized payments for certain lands managed by Bureau of Land Management. For more information on the
SRS program, see CRS Report R41303, The Secure Rural Schools and Com m unity Self-Determ ination Act:
Background and Issues, by Katie Hoover.
49 P.L. 115-141, Division O, §§401-402, and P.L. 116-94, Division H, T itle III.
50 7 U.S.C. §1012.
51 T hye-Blatnik Act of June 22, 1948 (16 U.S.C. §577g). Also known as the Superior National Forest Land
Consolidation Act .
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payments for that year. SRS payments general y are higher than 25% payments and often require
supplemental funding from the General Fund of the Treasury.
Cooperative Work—Knutson-Vandenberg Trust Fund
The Knutson-Vandenberg (K-V) Trust Fund was established by the Act of June 6, 1930, and is
funded through revenue generated by timber sales.52 The FS determines the amount collected on
each sale, which can be up to 100% of receipts from the sale. The fund is used for two purposes.
First, the fund is used on the site of the timber sale to reforest and improve timber stands or to
mitigate and enhance non-timber resource values. Second, unobligated balances from the fund
may be used for specified land management activities within the same FS region in which the
timber sale occurred.53 Because the deposits are determined on a sale-by-sale basis, the balance in
the fund varies from year to year.
Recreation Fee Program, Forest Service
The FS charges and collects recreational fees under several programs and deposits those funds
into the Recreation Fees account to be used for specified purposes. Under the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), the FS is one of five federal agencies authorized to
charge, collect, and retain fees for specified recreational activities on federal lands.54 FLREA
directs that at least 80% of the fees collected from the FS are to be available without further
appropriation for use at the site where they were collected. The FS typical y uses the money for
visitor services, law enforcement, and other purposes authorized under FLREA.
In addition to its FLREA authorization, the FS is authorized to collect and retain fees at two
specific sites: Grey Towers National Historic Site and the Shasta-Trinity National Recreation
Area (NRA).55 The FS is authorized to use the fees collected at the Grey Towers National Historic
Site for program support and administration. The agency may use the fees collected at the Shasta-
Trinity NRA for the same purposes as FLREA, as wel as for direct operating or capital costs
associated with the issuance of a marina permit. The FS also administers the multiagency
National Recreation Reservation Service program, which collects reservation fees for those
recreational facilities on federal lands that al ow reservations. The FS is responsible for collecting
the fees and issuing pass-through payments to other agencies.
Appropriations to this fund vary depending on fee rates, the number of locations charging fees,
and the number of visitors to FS lands.

52 16 U.S.C. §576. For more information on federal timber sales, see CRS Report R45688, Timber Harvesting on
Federal Lands, by Anne A. Riddle.
53 In the FY2006 Interior Appropriations Act (P.L. 109-54 §412), Congress authorized the use of Knutson-Vandenberg
funds for “watershed restoration, wildlife habitat improvement, control of insects, diseases, and noxious weeds,
community protection activities, and the maintenance of forests roads within the Forest Service region in which the
timber sale occurred.”
54 16 U.S.C. §§6801-6814. The other agencies are the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service,
National Park Service, and Bureau of Reclamation. For more information, see CRS In Focus IF10151, Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancem ent Act: Overview and Issues, by Carol Hardy Vincent .
55 T he authority to charge, collect, and retain fees at the Grey T owers National Historic Site was provided in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 (P.L. 108-447 §348). T he authority to charge, collect, and retain fees from
marina special use permits at Shasta-T rinity National Recreation Area was first provided through FY2014 by the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (P.L. 110-161 §422), and was extended through FY2019 by the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76).
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Cooperative Work—Other Trust Fund
This trust fund collects deposits from cooperators and partners for use on NFS lands or to fund
research programs.56 The deposits may be made under an assortment of instruments, including
cooperative agreements, permits, or contracts, and with a variety of partners, for services
involving any aspect of forestry ranging from timber measurement to fire protection, among
others. These services vary widely in scope and duration, and the associated deposits also vary
widely, commensurate with the scale of those services. The deposits may be made pursuant to a
specific agreement or project, or they may include funds pooled from multiple cooperators for
later spending on related projects. The amount of deposits is specified in each instrument.
Because the fund consists of deposits under many individual cooperative agreements or other
instruments, the funding level varies considerably from year to year.
Timber Salvage Sale Fund
The Timber Salvage Sale Fund is funded through receipts from timber sales (or portions of sales)
designated as salvage by the FS, and its funds may be used to prepare, sel , and administer other
salvage sales.57 Salvage sales involve the timely removal of insect-infested, dead, damaged, or
down trees that are commercial y usable to capture some of the economic value of the timber
resource before it deteriorates or to remove the associated trees for stand improvement. The fund
may be used for timber sales with any salvage component.58
Appropriations to this fund vary from year to year, based on factors that influence tree mortality
(e.g., catastrophic wildfires, insect infestations) and on market fluctuations for the demand and
price of the harvested timber.
Reforestation Trust Fund
The Reforestation Trust Fund was created in 1980 to eliminate the backlog of reforestation and
timber stand improvement work on NFS lands.59 Deposits to this account come from tariffs on
specified imported wood products, up to $30.0 mil ion annual y.60 Funds may be used for a range
of activities related to reforestation (e.g., site preparation for natural regeneration, seeding, or tree
planting) and to improve timber stands (e.g., removal of vegetation to reduce competition,
fertilization). Funding general y has been at or around the maximum of $30.0 mil ion annual y.

56 T his fund was established pursuant to the Act of June 30, 1914 (16 U.S.C. §498), and expanded substantially in the
National Forest Roads and T rails Act (16 U.S.C. §537).
57 T he T imber Salvage Sale Fund was established by §14(h) of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16
U.S.C. §472a(h)).
58 Sales with a salvage component may use funds derived from the T imber Salvage Sale Fund in proportion to the size
of the salvage component.
59 Recreational Boating Safety and Facilities Improvement Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. §1606a). T he fund was to be
terminated at the end of FY1984 and any remaining funds were to be transferred to the states for reforesting nonfederal
lands. T hose provisions were repealed, however, which effectively extended the fund indefinitely. T he termination was
repealed by §422 the Surface T ransportation Assistance Act of 1982 (P.L. 97-424). T he fund transfer was repealed by
an unnumbered provision under the heading “National Forest System” in the Department of the Interior and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 1986, in P.L. 99-190.
60 T he deposits come from tariffs on specified subheadings primarily within Chapter 44 of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States, available at https://hts.usitc.gov/current. As shown in this source, from FY2014 through
FY2018, average estimated duties collected for the specified products were $127.4 million annually.
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Stewardship Contracting Fund
Congress authorized the FS to combine timber sale contracts and land restoration services
contracts into stewardship contracts.61 Doing so al ows the FS to retain and use the revenue
generated from timber sales to offset the cost of specified restoration work on NFS lands. The FS
is authorized to retain any receipts in excess of the cost of the restoration work in its Stewardship
Contracting Fund and to use those funds on future stewardship contracts. Funding varies based on
the extent to which receipts are in excess of costs.
FS Mandatory Accounts with Less Than $25.0 Million in FY2019
FS had several additional accounts with mandatory appropriations of less than $25.0 mil ion each
in FY2019:
 Operation and Maintenance of Forest Service Quarters. This account al ows the
agency to collect rent from employees who use government-owned housing and
to use the funds to maintain and repair the structures.62
 Brush Disposal. This account receives money from timber purchasers. The fund
is used on timber sale sites to dispose of treetops, limbs, and other debris from
timber cutting; reduce fire and insect hazards; assist reforestation; and conduct
related activities. The FS identifies the amount required to cover the costs of
those activities for each timber sale.63
 Restoration of Forest Lands and Improvements. This account is funded through
recoveries from judgements, settlements, bond forfeitures, and related actions
from permittees or timber purchasers who fail to complete the required work. The
funds are used to complete the work or repair any associated damage.
 Land Between the Lakes Management and Trust Fund. This account consists of
two separate accounts related to the management of the Land Between the Lakes
NRA.64 The accounts are funded primarily through charges, user fees, and
receipts generated on the NRA. The funds are available for NRA management.
 Cost Recovery (Land Uses). The FS is authorized to collect and retain fees to
cover the costs of processing and monitoring certain special-use authorizations
for the use and occupancy of NFS lands.65 The processing and monitoring fees
are based on the estimated number of hours it wil take the FS to process the
application (or renew the authorization) and monitor the activity to ensure
compliance with the authorization. The rates are updated annual y to adjust for
inflation. Funding varies based on the number and type of special-use
authorizations.

61 16 U.S.C. §6591c. Stewardship contracting was first authorized on a pilot basis in FY1999 ( P.L. 105-277) and was
extended and expanded several times before being made permanent in 2014. T he authority is also available to the
Bureau of Land Management. For more information on stewardship contracts, see CRS In Focus IF11179, Stewardship
End Result Contracting: Forest Service and Bureau of Land Managem ent, by Anne A. Riddle.
62 5 U.S.C. §5911.
63 Act of August 11, 1916 (16 U.S.C. §490).
64 Land Between the Lakes Protection Act (P.L. 105-277, 16 U.S.C. §460lll).
65 16 U.S.C. §497e. T he authority originally was provided in §331 of Appendix C—H.R. 3423, enacted in §1000(a)(3)
of Division B of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000 (P.L. 106-113). It was made permanent by §425 of
Division G of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (P.L. 113-76).
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 Timber Sales Pipeline Restoration. This account is funded through the federal
share of receipts from certain canceled-but-reinstated timber sales.66 Up to 75%
of the receipts from these sales may be used to prepare additional sales, and the
other 25% of the receipts are to be used for recreation projects on FS land.
 Conveyance of Administrative Sites. This account is funded through receipts from
the conveyance of unneeded administrative sites and may be used for building
maintenance, rehabilitation, and construction.67
 Timber Purchaser Election Road Construction. This account is funded through
deposits from timber purchasers that elect to have the FS conduct any required
road construction work related to the timber sale. Funds are used to pay for the
road construction costs.
 Forest Botanical Products. This account is funded through receipts generated
from the sale of forest botanical products (e.g., bark, mushrooms, wildflowers).
The funds are available for program administration.
 Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Rental Fees. This account is funded through
user fees, rental fees, and facilities or equipment sales from the Midewin
National Tal grass Prairie.68 Funds may be used for compensation payments to
the state and local government, restoration and improvement projects, and
program administration.
 Commercial Filming and Still Photography Land Use Fees. This account is
funded through land use fees for commercial filming or photography. The funds
may be used for program administration.
 Organizational Camps Program. This account is funded through land use fees for
organizational camp programs. The funds may be used for program
administration and other specified purposes.
 Licensee Programs: Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl. This account consists of two
separate accounts related to licensee programs. These accounts are funded
through licensee royalty fees, and the funds are used to support nationwide
initiatives related to wildfire prevention and environmental conservation.
 FS Go Green Program. This account is funded through revenue generated from
recycling or other waste reduction or prevention programs. Its funds are used to
implement other recycling, waste reduction, or prevention programs.
 Site-Specific Lands Act. This account is funded through receipts collected from
land sales pursuant to special acts enacted by Congress. The funds are used for

66 16 U.S.C. §1611 note. T hese timber sales originally were offered or awarded under §318 of the FY1990 Interior
appropriations act (P.L. 101-381) but were halted in 1992, after the marbled murrelet was list ed as a threatened species
under the Endangered Species Act (P.L. 93-205, 87 Stat. 884. 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544). T he FS was directed to
reinstate the sales by the 1995 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations and Rescissions Act ( P.L. 104-19, §2001(k)).
T his provision, as well as the other provisions in §2001, was commonly referred to as the salvage tim ber rider around
the time of enactment. The Bureau of Land Management also operates a T imber Sales Pipeline Restoration Fund.
67 Forest Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act (FREA) of 2005 ( P.L. 109-54, 16 U.S.C. §580d note).
T he authority originally was authorized through September 30, 20 06, but has been extended through September 30,
2020, through several reauthorizations. Prior to the enactment of FREA, the authority was provided on a pilot basis in
P.L. 107-63 §329.
68 Illinois Land Conservation Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-106 Title XXIX, 16 U.S.C. §1609 note).
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land or facility improvements within the same national forest or state, or as
otherwise specified.
In addition, the FS had two accounts with no new budget authority in FY2019:
 Roads and Trails Fund.69 This account is funded through 10% of the receipts
generated from specified NFS uses and activities. The funds may be used for
construction and maintenance activities on the roads and trails in the national
forests. Annual y since FY2008, appropriations laws have directed these funds to
be transferred to the General Fund of the Treasury.
 Quinault Special Management Area Fund. This account is funded through
receipts generated on the Quinault Special Management Area in the Olympic
National Forest. The funds are used for program administration and to share
revenues with the Quinault Tribe and the State of Washington.70 There were no
mandatory appropriations in FY2019, though the account had funds carried over
from prior fiscal years.71
Issues
Congress considers the appropriate level of funding for FS accounts and programs through the
annual discretionary appropriations process and through the enactment, amendment,
reauthorization, or expiration of statutes providing for mandatory spending. FS appropriations
also raise several related policy issues for Congress. Congressional attention has centered on three
of these issues—fire borrowing, budget administration, and account restructuring. These issues
are discussed below.
Fire Borrowing
Overal appropriations to the FS for wildfire-related activities have increased considerably since
the 1990s. A significant portion of that increase is related to rising suppression costs, even during
years of relatively mild wildfire activity, although the costs vary annual y and are difficult to
predict. Through various actions and mechanisms, Congress has addressed concerns about the
cost of WFM general y and suppression activities specifical y, as discussed below.
Due to the emergency nature of fire control activities, appropriations laws provide the FS
authority to transfer money out of other discretionary accounts if suppression funds become
depleted; this is often referred to as fire borrowing.72 When such transfers have occurred,
Congress typical y has enacted supplemental appropriations to repay the transferred funds and/or
to replenish the agency’s wildfire accounts, though sometimes these funds have been provided in
subsequent fiscal years. Congress sometimes—but not always—has provided these supplemental
funds outside of discretionary budget constraints. In other years, the supplemental funding was

69 16 U.S.C. §501.
70 P.L. 100-638.
71 FS, FY2021 Budget Justification, February 2020, at https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/usfs-fy-2021-
budget-justification.pdf, p. 107.
72 T he transfer authority is granted annually through language in the administrative provisions section for the FS in the
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations acts.
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subject to discretionary budget constraints and thus could be considered as having “competed”
with other programs funded through the Interior appropriations bil .
The authority to access additional funds for suppression operations provides the FS flexibility to
respond quickly in time-sensitive emergency situations. However, critics contend the authority is
too broad and could provide little incentive to manage suppression costs.73 The FS—and the
Government Accountability Office (GAO)—also have asserted that fire borrowing is disruptive to
the FS’s non-fire operations and hinders the agency’s ability to carry out its statutory
missions.74 According to the FS, borrowing from other program accounts—even when repaid in
subsequent appropriations—creates uncertainty in the availability of funds and affects program
implementation. In addition, some programs are time sensitive (e.g., land sales) and may suffer
adverse impacts (e.g., changing land prices) if and when delayed by fire transfers, according to
GAO.75
Some Members of Congress also have expressed concern about the impact of fire borrowing on
other FS activities and about the increasing portion of the FS budget used for suppression. The
FLAME account was intended in part to address fire borrowing impacts.76 In establishing
FLAME, the conferees on the FY2010 Interior appropriations bil stated their intent that the
funding in the FLAME account, together with appropriations to the WFM account, should fully
fund anticipated wildfire suppression needs and prevent future borrowing of funds from non-fire
programs.77 In practice, though the FLAME account created an additional account for suppression
operations, fire borrowing stil occurred during the years the FLAME account was active
(FY2010-FY218).
The wildfire adjustment also is intended to address fire borrowing impacts, and it is an additional
account for suppression operations. The wildfire adjustment, however, al ows additional funding
for wildfire suppression without needing to enact supplemental appropriations or borrow from,
then replenish, other accounts. As noted, under the wildfire adjustment, any additional funding
that Congress elects to appropriate over the FY2015 baseline essential y would not be subject to
discretionary spending limits, up to the specified maximum.78 However, because the statutory
limits for discretionary spending are in effect only until FY2021, the wildfire adjustment would
no longer apply if no new limits were enacted. If new limits are statutorily established for any
year between FY2022 and FY2027, then the wildfire adjustment wil remain applicable.

73 National Academy of Public Administration, Wildfire Suppression: Strategies for Containing Costs, September
2002.
74 See for example, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Wildfire Suppression: Funding Transfers Cause
Project Cancellations and Delays, Strained Relationships, and Managem ent Disruptions, GAO-04-612, June 2004;
testimony of FS Chief T om T idwell, in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Hearing
to Receive Testim ony on the Federal Governm ent’s Role in Wildfire Managem ent, the Im pact of Fires on Com m unities,
and Potential Im provem ents to Be Made in Fire Operations, 114th Cong., 1st sess., May 5, 2015; and FS, Fire Transfer
Im pact by State, June 9, 2014, at http://www.fs.fed.us/publications/forest -service-fire-transfer-state-impacts.pdf.
75 GAO-04-612.
76 U.S. Congress, Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Acts, 2010, 111th
Cong., 1st sess., October 28, 2009, H.Rept. 111-316, p.104.
77 H.Rept. 111-316, p. 104.
78 For more information on budgetary adjustments, see CRS Report R45778, Exceptions to the Budget Control Act’s
Discretionary Spending Lim its, by Megan S. Lynch.
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Budget Administration
A 2018 GAO report identified several issues with the FS’s administrative controls regarding
appropriations and budget management.79 Among other findings, GAO determined the FS did not
have adequate processes or controls to ensure appropriated amounts were used as designated,
unobligated no-year appropriations were reviewed for continued need, or fire borrowing transfers
into the WFM account were implemented correctly. According to GAO, these weaknesses could
lead to the FS submitting budget requests to Congress based on inadequate information. GAO
general y recommended the FS develop or update policies to address these areas.
In FY2017—prior to publication of the 2018 GAO report—Congress began including language
and directives in annual appropriations laws intended to “increase transparency and confidence in
the [FS’s] management of its programs and activities.”80 These directives included requiring the
FS to submit quarterly balance reports for al discretionary and mandatory accounts and directing
the FS to centralize, standardize, and improve the budgeting, accounting, procurement, and
financial management practices and processes across FS regions and programs.81 Congress also
placed fiscal-year limitations on the appropriations to most FS accounts; previously, Congress
had provided appropriations to most FS accounts as no-year funds. Congress directly responded
to the GAO report in FY2018 and continued to include language and directives intended to
increase transparency and improve the FS’s budget administration in appropriations laws in
subsequent fiscal years.82
The Administration requested a budgetary restructuring in FY2020 in part to respond to the
concerns raised by Congress and the issues identified by GAO.83 The proposal was to establish a
FS general management appropriations account.84 This account would have replaced the FS’s
practice of using cost pools from each program account to pay for certain fixed costs, overhead,
and administrative expenses. The proposal also would have established new salary and expense
budget line items within several FS accounts and programs in an effort to provide more
transparency for program funding. This proposal is discussed further in the following “Account
Restructuring” section.
Account Restructuring
The FS’s account structure has changed over time, including during the period from FY2011
through FY2020. The programs through which certain activities have been funded have varied
over the years. Additional accounts and programs have been created; others have been combined
or eliminated. Some structural changes already have been enacted for FY2021, with the potential

79 GAO, Forest Service: Improvements Need in Internal Controls over Budget Execution Process, GAO-18-56, January
31, 2018, at https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-56. Hereinafter referred to as GAO-18-56.
80 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, committee print,
prepared by Legislative T ext and Explanatory Statement for P.L. 115-31, 115th Cong., 1st sess., H.Prt. 25-289
(Washington: GPO, 2017), p. 1129.
81 T he quarterly reports are available on the FS Budget website, under “Appropriations-Related Questions from
Congress,” at https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/budget-performance.
82 Explanatory Statement Accompanying Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Congressional Record, vol. 164,
No.50—Book II (March 22, 2018), p. H2625.
83 FS, FY2020 Budget Justification, March 2019, p. 177, at https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/budget-performance.
Hereinafter cited as FS, FY2020 Budget Justification.
84 FS, FY2020 Budget Justification, p. 177.
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for more changes, as described below. These changes may improve congressional oversight
moving forward but may make examining funding trends over time more chal enging.
In response to congressional direction to improve FS accounting, budgeting, and management
practices, the Administration requested a budgetary restructuring in FY2020.85 In response to the
request, both the House- and the Senate-passed versions of the FY2020 Interior appropriations
bil sought to establish a Forest Service Operations (FSO) account and to provide new salary and
expense budget line items within several FS accounts and programs. The FY2020 appropriations
law directed the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an FSO account no later than October 1,
2020, and to submit a report to the House Appropriations Committee no later than November 1,
2020, detailing the account adjustments.86 The act specified that the FSO account was to be used
for base salary and expenses for general administrative and management support functions; costs
of facility maintenance, repairs, and leases for buildings and sites; costs of utility and other
business expenses; and costs of other administrative support functions. For FY2021, the FS
request incorporated the FSO account and proposed additional changes.87 For FY2021, the House
Appropriations Committee indicated continued support for the restructuring but noted there was
not sufficient information to implement the changes at the time of consideration of the FY2021
appropriations.88
In addition, Congress authorized new mandatory spending for the FS in the Great American
Outdoors Act (GAOA).89 Pursuant to the GAOA, funding that previously was provided through
discretionary appropriations is set to be provided through mandatory appropriations starting in
FY2021. For example, the GAOA made the LWCF mandatory spending; this change means
programs that previously received appropriations from the LWCF (e.g., the Forest Legacy
Program; programs under the LA account) wil be considered mandatory spending starting in
FY2021. In addition, the GAOA established the National Parks and Public Land Legacy
Restoration Fund to address deferred-maintenance needs across several federal agencies,
including the FS. The FS is set to receive 15% of the annual deposits to the fund (for FY2021-
FY2025), which are derived from a portion of federal energy sales.

85 FS, FY2020 Budget Justification, p. 177.
86 P.L. 116-94, Division D, §435.
87 FS, FY2021 Budget Justification, February 2020, p. 137, at https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/budget-
performance.
88 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Bill, 2021, report to accompany H.R. 7612, 116th Cong., 2nd sess., July 14, 2020, H.Rept. 116-448, p.
112.
89 For more information on the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA, P.L. 116-152), see CRS In Focus IF11636, The
Great Am erican Outdoors Act, P.L. 116-152, by Carol Hardy Vincent, Laura B. Comay, and Bill Heniff Jr.
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Appendix. Detailed Discretionary
Appropriations Data
The following table details the discretionary appropriations provided to the Forest Service (FS)
from FY2011 through FY2020. It general y distinguishes regular-enacted appropriations,
supplemental appropriations, and enacted rescissions. In addition, the table details wildfire
funding, including appropriations provided pursuant to the wildfire adjustment, and regular,
supplemental, and rescinded appropriations for the Wildland Fire Management (WFM) and
FLAME accounts.

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Table A-1. Detailed Forest Service (FS) Discretionary Appropriations by Account, FY2011-FY2020
(mil ions of dol ars)

FY2011
FY2012
FY2013
FY2014
FY2015
FY2016
FY2017a
FY2018
FY2019
FY2020
FRR
$306.6
$295.3
$279.9
$292.8
$296.0
$291.0
$288.5
$297.0
$301.0
$308.0
Regular
$306.6
$295.3
$279.9
$292.8
$296.0
$291.0
$288.5
$297.0
$300.0
$305.0
Emerg. Suppl.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
$1.0
$3.0
SPF
277.6
252.9
239.7
230.0
232.7
237.0
216.9
337.1
347.5
347.0
Regular
277.6
252.9
239.7
230.0
232.7
237.0
228.9
335.5
337.0
347.0
Emerg. Suppl.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
7.5
12.0
—
Rescissions
—
—
—
—
—
—
-12.0
-5.9
-1.5
—
NFS
1,542.2
1,554.1
1,455.3
1,496.3
1,494.3
1,509.4
1,513.3
1,944.4
2,023.0
1,991.5
Regular
1,542.2
1,554.1
1,455.3
1,496.3
1,494.3
1,509.4
1,513.3
1,923.8
1,938.0
1,957.5
Emerg. Suppl.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
20.7
85.0
34.0
CIM
459.6
382.1
346.5
333.0
343.4
348.2
348.0
525.6
467.0
466.8
Regular
472.6
394.1
354.3
350.0
360.4
364.2
364.0
449.0
446.0
455.0
Emerg. Suppl.
—
—
4.2
—
—
—
—
91.6
36.0
26.8
Deferral
-13.0
-12.0
-12.0
-17.0
-17.0
-16.0
-16.0
-15.0
-15.0
-15.0
LA
32.9
52.5
49.8
43.5
47.5
63.4
54.4
64.3
72.6
76.9
Regular
32.9
52.5
49.8
43.5
47.5
63.4
54.4
64.3
72.6
78.9
Rescissions
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
-2.0
WFM
2,058.5
2,050.2
2,547.7
3,077.3
2,636.4
3,909.3
3,175.4
3,406.8
3,725.3
4,307.6
WFM
2,168.0
1,974.9
1,868.8
2,162.3
2,333.3
2,386.3
2,833.4
2,380.3
2,505.0
2,350.6
Suppl.b
—
—
379.9
600.0
—
—
—
500.0
500.0

Emerg.
—
—
—
—
—
700.0
—
184.5
720.3
7.0
Suppl.c
CRS-31

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FY2011
FY2012
FY2013
FY2014
FY2015
FY2016
FY2017a
FY2018
FY2019
FY2020
Rescissionsd
-200.0
-240.0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
FLAME
290.4
315.4
299.0
315.0
303.1
823.0
342.0
—
—
—
Emerg.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
342.0
—
—
Suppl.e
Rescissionsf
-200.0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
WF Adj.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1,950.0
Otherg
7.5
7.1
5.7
6.7
6.0
6.0
6.0
5.7
5.1
6.4
Total
4,685.0
4,594.3
4,924.5
5,479.6
5,056.2
6,364.3
5,596.3
6,580.9
6,941.4
7,504.2
Constant (FY2020) $
5,474.6
5,268.7
5,545.4
6,054.0
5,522.4
6,890.1
5,952.9
6,841.0
7,078.4
7,504.2
Sources: Prepared by the Congressional Research Service using data derived from annual appropriations acts, supplemental appropriations acts, committee reports,
explanatory statements, and detailed funding tables prepared by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.
Notes: FRR = Forest and Rangeland Research; Regular = regular-enacted appropriations; Emerg. Suppl. = emergency-designated supplemental appropriations; SPF =
State and Private Forestry; Rescissions = revocation of budgetary authority; NFS = National Forest System; CIM = Capital Improvement and Maintenance; LA = Land
Acquisition; WFM = Wildland Fire Management; Suppl. = supplemental appropriations; FLAME = reserve account established pursuant to the Federal Land Assistance,
Management, and Enhancement Act (P.L. 111-88, Division A, Title V, 43 U.S.C. §§1748a et seq.); WF Adj. = wildfire adjustment. See footnote 5 for additional information
about this table. Column totals may not add due to rounding.
a. The FY2017 total reflects a rescission of $6.2 mil ion, which was not al ocated from a specific account.
b. The FY2018 and FY2019 figures reflect appropriations designated as “additional” but provided in the regular appropriations law for each fiscal year. The FY2013 and
FY2014 figures reflect appropriations provided in a supplemental appropriations law enacted after the regular appropriations for each fiscal year. For al four fiscal
years, the funds were not emergency-designated.
c. This row reflects emergency-designated supplemental appropriations provided to the WFM account.
d. This row reflects rescissions from the WFM account.
e. This row reflects emergency-designated supplemental appropriations provided to the FLAME account.
f.
This row reflects rescissions from the FLAME account.
g. “Other” reflects appropriations to several relatively smal FS discretionary accounts, including for specified land acquisition activities; the Range Betterment Fund;
gifts, donations, and bequests for research; management of national forest lands for subsistence use; and , in FY2020, communication site management.

CRS-32

Forest Service Appropriations: Ten-Year Data and Trends (FY2011-FY2020)

Author Information

Katie Hoover

Specialist in Natural Resources Policy

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