Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 477 § 477.777 — Agency

Agency request budget; expenditures; report. (1) As part of the preparation of the agency request budget submitted to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services pursuant to ORS 291.208 for the State Forestry Department, the State Forester shall prepare, in addition to any amounts budgeted for forest protection districts pursuant to ORS 477.205 to 477.281, a request for a General Fund appropriation for the following purposes: (a) Providing funds for the purchase of emergency fire suppression costs insurance under ORS 477.775. (b) Acquiring and placing centrally managed fire suppression resources for statewide use. (c) Acquiring fast-mobilizing, short-term contingency resources to be used based on predictions of severe fire weather, widespread lightning events or serious resource shortage due to a heavy fire season in this state, in the western region of the United States or nationally. (d) Enhancing forest protection district resources in cases where land productivity or other economic factors seriously limit the ability of the State Forester to perform fire protection responsibilities. (e) Mitigating forest patrol assessment rates in cases where land productivity or other economic factors seriously limit the ability of the owners of forestlands in the forest protection district to comply with ORS 477.210 (1). (f) Providing funds for centralized administration costs. (g) Making deposits into the State Forestry Department Large Wildfire Fund established by ORS 526.128 to provide funding for costs associated with obligations to the General Fund due to estimated emergency firefighting costs. (h) Providing amounts to offset the annual costs of fire protection provided by the State Forester for certain forestland under ORS 526.375. (2) The State Forester shall utilize critical discretion in the expenditure of the funds provided to the State Forestry Department pursuant to the separate request required under subsection (1) of this section. (3) The State Forester shall report to the Emergency Board, each year, after the close of the fire season, on: (a) The nature and severity of the fire season; (b) The moneys expended on fire suppression, including moneys expended on resources acquired in accordance with subsection (1)(b) and (c) of this section and moneys expended for emergency firefighting costs; (c) The balance remaining from the biennial appropriation; and (d) Any matters arising out of the fire season that may require attention or warrant future consideration by the board or the Legislative Assembly. (4) When reporting the nature and severity of the fire season under subsection (3) of this section, for each fire consuming 1,000 or more acres, the State Forester shall provide information regarding: (a) The number of buildings that were damaged or destroyed by fire during the fire season. (b) The number of acres of forestland that were burned during the fire season and an estimate of the economic value of the effects on the forestland. (c) The number of acres of grazing land that were burned during the fire season and an estimate of the economic value of the effects on the grazing land. (d) Any other information the State Forester deems relevant. [2005 c.802 §2; 2013 c.619 §4; 2015 c.517 §1; 2016 c.117 §72; 2025 c.581 §28]