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16 USC § 6702 - Purposes

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t16/s6702"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "16 USC § 6702 - Purposes"
title_number: 16
title_name: "CONSERVATION"
section_number: "6702"
section_name: "Purposes"
chapter_number: 86
chapter_name: "SOUTHWEST FOREST HEALTH AND WILDFIRE PREVENTION"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 108–317, § 3, Oct. 5, 2004, 118 Stat. 1205.)"
---

# § 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 treatments that will reduce the risk of severe wildfires, and improve the health of dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West;

**(2)** to synthesize and adapt scientific findings from conventional research programs to the implementation of forest and woodland restoration 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 established under this chapter to collaborate with Federal agencies—

**(A)** to use ecological restoration 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;

**(5)** to assist land managers in—

**(A)** treating acres with restoration-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 to develop, implement, and monitor adaptive ecosystem management restoration treatments that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible; and

**(7)** to assist Federal and non-Federal land managers in providing information to the public on the role of fire and fire management in dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West.

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