THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

The Joint Committee on
Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review

Report # 412

Review of the Mississippi Forestry Commission

Executive Summary

PEER conducted a cycle review of the Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC), which is a review not based on a complaint or allegation of misconduct. State law authorizes the Forestry Commission to prevent, control, and extinguish forest fires; enforce laws pertaining to the protection of forests and woodland in the state; and encourage forest and tree planting for the production of a wood crop and other beneficial purposes.

Forest Protection

PEER found weaknesses in MFC’s Forest Protection division’s method of distributing fire units and fire investigation personnel. MFC bases its assignment of fire fighting units on historically established levels that are disproportionate to basic indicators of need, such as number of forested acres and the number of acres burned. MFC assigns arson investigator resources almost solely within the Southeast District where forty percent of arson cases are reported, rather than basing assignment on needs evident throughout all districts.

MFC’s management cannot assess the cost effectiveness of fire reporting methods because the agency does not capture sources of reports (air surveillance or toll-free calls) and compare this information to cost.

Because MFC does not document the purposes for which its aircraft are used, the agency cannot allocate related costs or evaluate the efficiency of this method of fire, insect, and disease detection within the state’s forested areas.

Forest Management

Within MFC’s Forest Management Services, PEER determined that the lack of accurate and detailed information on some program operations (sixteenth section land management, cost share, and crew assistance) inhibits MFC’s central office managers from making informed decisions on allocation of MFC resources. MFC does not maintain an up-to-date inventory of sixteenth section forestland in accordance with its board directive. Information on landowners’ applying for assistance is retained at the county level until work is completed, rather than being transmitted to the district and central offices to serve as a basis for planning and resource allocation decisions.

Within the Forest Regeneration Program, MFC’s nurseries did not generate enough revenue during three of the past five fiscal years to be self-sufficient. MFC seedling prices are comparable to those of other public nurseries in the southeastern states, but are lower than those of private nurseries.

Recommendations

Distribution of Fire Fighting Units

  1. MFC management should develop a formal mechanism for collecting and analyzing information concerning fire incidence and risk factors in order to use this information as a basis for fire unit assignment. MFC should examine experience factors and area needs, project levels of basic service, and supplement these levels based on risk of forestland damage or loss.

Investigation of Fires

  1. MFC management should evaluate its fire investigative resources and determine the placement of personnel needed to conduct forestry arson investigations across the state. MFC should capture and analyze reliable historical information on district needs for investigators.

  2. MFC should develop and implement performance measurement standards that provide a means of evaluating how arson investigation activities contribute to overall reduction of timber loss. MFC should expand performance measures (the number of arson fires, total acres burned, total number of misdemeanor and felony cases) to include such factors as:
  1. MFC should allocate personnel to investigate fires and collect fire suppression costs based upon statewide fire occurrences. The agency should report detailed information annually by district and county on the number of active and closed fire suppression cases, as well as the costs imposed and collected for each case.

Fire Reporting Methods and Use of Surveillance Aircraft

  1. MFC should identify and capture costs associated with the various methods of fire detection and identify the source of fire reports according to the detection or reporting method. Central decisionmakers should use this information to evaluate the cost efficiency and risk associated with each method.

  2. MFC should revise its flight logs to capture pertinent information such as the purpose of the flight, passenger lists, and the departure and return time. MFC should use such information to evaluate the cost effectiveness of its air surveillance efforts for relevant program areas (e.g., detection and monitoring fire and insect/disease outbreaks).

  3. Given the number of hours flown, MFC should assess the cost effectiveness of each of its eleven aircraft and consider reducing its fleet to minimize costs associated with aircraft usage. MFC should identify the purpose and rate of usage of each aircraft and dispose of units used least or having highest operation costs.

Insect and Disease Control

  1. MFC managers should capture and report information on actual hours spent and costs of conducting aerial surveillance to identify insect and disease infestations.

  2. MFC should identify and track costs associated with ground crew investigation and eradication efforts and the number of insect disease-related technical assists provided to private and industrial landowners.

  3. MFC should assess the historical impact of its efforts and projections of changes in total costs and losses of the state’s insect disease control program.

Sixteenth Section Land

  1. As the manager of state forestland for sixteenth section school trust, MFC should maintain a current inventory of land for which it is responsible. MFC should develop a method of identifying types of forestland, service needs, and acreage.

Landowner Services

  1. MFC should expand its work order system to track pending requests for services so it could be used as a resource for assessing and prioritizing types of services needed by landowners. Such a tracking system would allow the district and central office to know what types of services are requested and provided and to allocate available resources to meet future needs and priorities.

PEER Home Page Download the full report in PDF(344 K)