---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 6702"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "6702"
heading: "Purposes"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/6702"
units:
  - "Chapter 86 — Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention"
---

# §6702. Purposes


The purposes of this chapter are—

- (1) to enhance the capacity to develop, transfer, apply, monitor, and regularly update practical science-based forest [restoration](/usc/16/6703.md?p=7) treatments that will reduce the risk of severe wildfires, and improve the health of [dry forest and woodland ecosystems](/usc/16/6703.md?p=3) in the [interior West](/usc/16/6703.md?p=5);
- (2) to synthesize and adapt scientific findings from conventional research programs to the implementation of forest and woodland [restoration](/usc/16/6703.md?p=7) on a landscape scale;
- (3) to facilitate the transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge required to understand the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of wildfire on ecosystems and landscapes;
- (4) to require the [Institutes](/usc/16/6703.md?p=4) established under this chapter to collaborate with Federal agencies—
  - (A) to use ecological [restoration](/usc/16/6703.md?p=7) treatments to reverse declining forest health and reduce the risk of severe wildfires across the forest landscape; and
  - (B) to design, implement, monitor, and regularly revise representative wildfire treatments based on the use of [adaptive ecosystem management](/usc/16/6703.md?p=1-A);
- (5) to assist [land managers](/usc/16/6703.md?p=6-A) in—
  - (A) treating acres with [restoration](/usc/16/6703.md?p=7)-based applications; and
  - (B) using new management technologies (including the transfer of understandable information, assistance with environmental review, and field and classroom training and collaboration) to accomplish the goals identified in—
    - (i) the National Fire Plan;
    - (ii) the report entitled “Protecting People and Sustaining Resources in Fire-Adapted Ecosystems-A Cohesive Strategy” (65 Fed. Reg. 67480); and
    - (iii) the report entitled “10-Year Comprehensive Strategy: A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment” of the Western Governors’ Association;
- (6) to provide technical assistance to collaborative efforts by [affected entities](/usc/16/6703.md?p=2) to develop, implement, and monitor [adaptive ecosystem management](/usc/16/6703.md?p=1-A) [restoration](/usc/16/6703.md?p=7) treatments that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible; and
- (7) to assist Federal and non-[Federal land](/usc/16/3102.md?p=2) managers in providing information to the public on the role of fire and fire management in [dry forest and woodland ecosystems](/usc/16/6703.md?p=3) in the [interior West](/usc/16/6703.md?p=5).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 108–317, § 3, Oct. 5, 2004, 118 Stat. 1205.)