About 51  percent of the land in the Arizona border region is managed by the federal  government, primarily by the Forest Service within the Department of  Agriculture, four agencies within the Department of the Interior—the  Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish  and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service (NPS)—and the  Department of Defense (DOD). Number, Cause, Size, and Location of Wildland Fires in the Arizona Border Region

From 2006 through 2010, at least 2,467 wildland fires occurred in the  Arizona border region. Most of these fires were caused by human activity,  burned less than 1 acre each, and were ignited on federal or tribal land. 2). Of the 2,467 wildland fires included in our review, the majority of the  fires—1,553, or 63 percent—were ignited on federal or tribal lands. Fire suppression costs. Impacts on ranching operations. Impacts on tourism. According to our analysis of federal emergency treatment  plans and discussions with federal agency and tribal officials, the most  common environmental effects of wildland fire in the region are expansion  of nonnative plant species, degraded endangered species habitat, and  soil erosion. Federal Agencies Did Not Conduct Investigations of All Human-Caused Wildland Fires and Thus Cannot Determine the Number Ignited by Illegal Border Crossers

The frequency with which illegal border crossers have caused wildland  fires on federal lands in the Arizona border region is not fully known, in  part because federal land management agencies did not conduct  investigations of all human-caused wildland fires that occurred on their  lands as called for by interagency policy. Federal Fire Investigators Identified Illegal Border Crossers as a Suspected Cause of Ignition in 30 of the 77 Fires They Investigated

Based on our review of agency investigation reports, illegal border  crossers were a suspected cause of ignition for 30 of the 77 investigated  wildland fires, or about 39 percent. Without Comprehensive Fire Investigation Results, Federal Agencies Lack Key Data Needed to Target Their Fire Prevention Efforts

Without complete data on the cause of wildland fires on the lands that  they manage, federal agencies are hampered in their ability to target their  efforts and resources at preventing future wildland fires. The Presence of Illegal Border Crossers Has Complicated Fire Suppression Activities, and Agencies’ Responses May Not Fully Address the Issue

The presence of illegal border crossers has increased the complexity of  fire suppression activities in the border region, according to federal  agency officials, because it can endanger firefighters’ safety, complicate  the use of radio communications, and limit the use of certain types of fire  suppression activities. Firefighters may be distracted by the presence of illegal border crossers. Agencies Have Taken Steps to Mitigate Threats to Firefighters in the Arizona Border Region but Do Not Have a Formal Risk-Based Approach for Using Their Resources

The Forest Service has taken a number of actions to mitigate the threats  to firefighters’ safety in the Arizona border region—which other agencies  have generally followed. 1. However, such an approach has  not been developed or implemented for the Arizona border region. Recommendations for Executive Action

We recommend that the following five actions be taken:    To ensure agencies have the data needed to identify wildland fire  prevention activities and to ensure resources are effectively targeted,  the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior should direct the Chief  of the Forest Service, the Directors of the Bureau of Land  Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service,  and the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to take the following  actions: (1) re-examine the policy that all human-caused wildland fires  be investigated; (2) once the agencies have determined the  appropriate level of investigations, develop a strategy for determining  which fires to investigate, including specific criteria to help select and  prioritize those fire incidents that should be investigated; and (3)  develop a systematic process to use the information identified in the  investigations to better target fire prevention activities and resources. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

The objectives of our review were to determine (1) the number, cause,  size, and location of wildland fires in Arizona that occurred within 100  miles of the U.S.-Mexico border from 2006 through 2010; (2) economic  and environmental effects of significant human-caused wildland fires (i.e.,  those fires that burned 10 or more acres); (3) the extent to which federal  agencies determined that illegal border crossers were the ignition source  of fires on federal lands; and (4) ways, if any, in which the presence of  illegal border crossers has affected fire suppression activities in the  Arizona border region. Finally, we visited the region and discussed  with federal, tribal, and state officials, as well as private industry  representatives and private citizens in the ranching community, the  economic and environmental damage that has occurred as a result of  human-caused wildland fires. Because of extensive resource commitments on the part of the  agencies in response to the severe 2011 wildland fire season in Arizona  and the amount of resources needed to provide us with investigation  reports, we limited our request to investigation reports for human-caused  wildland fires burning at least 1 acre, which cumulatively comprised more  than 99 percent of the acreage burned by human-caused wildland fires in  the region from 2006 through 2010.
Why GAO Did This Study

Wildland fires can result from both natural and human causes. Human-caused wildland fires are of particular concern in Arizona--especially within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border because this is a primary area of entry for illegal border crossers and GAO has previously reported that illegal border crossers have been suspected of igniting wildland fires. Over half of the land in the Arizona border region is managed by the federal government--primarily by the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and four agencies within the Department of the Interior. These agencies collaborate with state, tribal, and local entities to respond to wildland fires. GAO was asked to examine, for the region, the (1) number, cause, size, and location of wildland fires from 2006 through 2010; (2) economic and environmental effects of human-caused wildland fires burning 10 or more acres; (3) extent to which illegal border crossers were the ignition source of wildland fires on federal lands; and (4) ways in which the presence of illegal border crossers has affected fire suppression activities. GAO reviewed interagency policies and procedures; analyzed wildland fire data; and interviewed federal, tribal, state, and local officials, as well as private citizens..

What GAO Found

From 2006 through 2010, at least 2,467 wildland fires occurred in the Arizona border region. Of this number, 2,126, or about 86 percent, were caused by human activity. The majority of these fires--1,364--burned less than 1 acre each. About 63 percent or 1,553 of the 2,467 fires were ignited on federally managed land or tribal land. Human-caused wildland fires that burned 10 or more acres had a number of economic and environmental impacts on the Arizona border region, but these impacts cannot be fully quantified because comprehensive data are not available. Specifically, these fires resulted in (1) over $35 million in fire suppression costs by federal and state agencies, (2) destruction of property, (3) impacts on ranching operations, and (4) impacts on tourism. Similarly, these fires had several environmental impacts, such as the expansion of nonnative plant species, degraded endangered species habitat, and soil erosion. However, the full economic and environmental impacts cannot be determined because complete information about these impacts is not available. The total number of fires ignited by illegal border crossers on federal lands in the Arizona border region is not fully known, in part because federal land management agencies have not conducted investigations of all human-caused wildland fires that occurred on these lands, as called for by agency policy, and the agencies do not have a strategy for selecting fires they do investigate. Of the 422 human-caused wildland fires that occurred on Forest Service, Interior, or tribal lands and burned at least 1 acre from 2006 through 2010, only 77 were investigated. According to land management agency officials, the lack of trained fire investigators was the primary reason for the limited number of investigations. Of the investigations conducted, 30 identified illegal border crossers as a suspected source of ignition. Agency policy notes that identifying trends in fire causes is critical to the success of fire prevention programs, but without better data on the specific ignition sources of human-caused wildland fires in the region, the agencies are hampered in their ability to target their efforts to prevent future wildland fires. The presence of illegal border crossers has complicated fire suppression activities in the Arizona border region. According to agency officials, the presence of illegal border crossers has increased concerns about firefighter safety and, in some instances, has required firefighters to change or limit the tactics they use in suppressing fires. For example, the presence of illegal border crossers has limited firefighting activities at night and complicated the use of aerial firefighting methods. The agencies have taken some steps to mitigate the risks to firefighters by, for example, using law enforcement to provide security. However, none of the agencies have developed or implemented a risk-based approach for addressing these challenges. Consequently, law enforcement resources are routinely dispatched to all fires regardless of the risk, which may prevent the agencies from using their limited resources most efficiently. Moreover, while the Forest Service has developed a formal policy for addressing the risks to firefighters in the region, the other agencies have neither formally adopted this policy nor developed their own.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends, among other things, that the agencies develop strategies for selecting fires to investigate and establish a risk-based approach for utilizing law enforcement resources. In their comments on a draft of this report, the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior generally agreed with these recommendations.