The Forest Service needs to continue working to address persistent management challenges to ensure it’s spending an increasingly limited budget efficiently and effectively, GAO told a House Appropriations Committee panel recently.
The Forest Service has made some progress with management challenges in the areas of wildland fire management, program data, and financial and performance accountability, but difficulties continue, according to GAO-11-423T.
Recent GAO reports have identified additional challenges related to program oversight and strategic planning and GAO said strategies are still needed to ensure effective use of wildland fire management funds.
The agency also still needs a cohesive wildland fire strategy that identifies potential long-term options for reducing hazardous fuels and responding to fires, said the report.
It said that while the agency’s financial accountability has improved, the Forest Service continues to struggle to implement adequate internal controls over its funds and to demonstrate how its expenditures relate to the goals in the agency’s strategic plan.
Further, the agency has yet to develop a national land tenure strategy that would protect the public’s interest in land exchanges and return fair value to taxpayers from such exchanges.
Finally, the Forest Service needs a more systematic, risk-based approach to allocate its law-enforcement resources, something that could help it ensure it is deploying resources effectively, GAO said.