As many of you may already know, Congress amended the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (Public Law 110-343, October 3, 2008) as part of the federal "bailout" bill back in October. One of the major changes was to Title III of the law, which covers the use of county funds paid by the USDA Forest Service and the US Department of the Interior to counties in 41 states and Puerto Rico in lieu of taxes.

The law was changed to say that Title III funds may be used only to carry out the Firewise Communities program, develop community wildfire protection plans, and reimburse for emergency services paid for by counties and performed on Federal land (e.g. search and rescue, firefighting).

The Firewise program worked with the USDA Forest Service to provide more detail after the law came into effect about how counties could use the funds to meet the new letter and spirit of the law.You can learn more about the Title III changes and the interpretation of how funding can be used by counties for Firewise activities by visiting http://www.fs.fed.us/srs/Title-III-FAQs.shtml.