A roll call analysis of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act and constituent interests in fire policy

This study examined national wildland fire policy by focusing on the political process. The evolution of federal wildland fire policies was reviewed first. Wildland fire suppression in the long term has resulted in a high accumulation of fuels on federal forestlands. The enactment of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) in 2003 was a natural result of the evolution, intended to address the increasingly violent wildland fires in recent years. Utilizing the voting records on the HFRA, a roll call analysis was conducted to examine a number of factors that might have influenced legislators' voting behavior. Political affiliation was clearly a more vital aspect of the vote for Republicans than for Democrats. Republicans were more supportive of the HFRA and less divided in voting than Democrats. The percentage of the rural population in a congressional district or a state was positively related to the support of fuel reduction projects and the HFRA. Contributions from forest firms to legislators increased the probability of voting for the HFRA while contributions from environmental interest groups decreased it. The forest industry has overspent the environmental interest groups in political contributions by a wide margin and exerted more influences in the voting of HFRA.