Fireshed center

(a) Establishment (1) In general The Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, shall jointly establish an interagency center, to be known as the Fireshed Center (hereinafter referred to as the Center) to carry out the purposes in subsection (b). (2) Composition (A) Divisions The Center shall be comprised of the following divisions: (i) Technology and Engineering. (ii) Data Services. (iii) Analysis and Prediction. (iv) Education and Consultation. (B) Representatives The Center shall be comprised of at least one career representative from each of the following: (i) The Forest Service. (ii) The Bureau of Land Management. (iii) The National Park Service. (iv) The Bureau of Indian Affairs. (v) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (vi) The U.S. Geological Survey. (vii) The Department of Defense. (viii) The Department of Homeland Security. (ix) The Department of Energy. (x) The Federal Emergency Management Agency. (xi) The National Science Foundation. (xii) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (xiii) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (xiv) The National Institute of Standards and Technology. (xv) The United States Fire Administration. (C) Appointments Each representative of a Department, Agency, or other entity specified in subparagraph (B) shall be appointed by the head of that Department, Agency, or other entity, as applicable. (3) Director The representatives appointed under paragraph (2) shall, by majority vote, appoint a Director of the Center, who— (A) shall be an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey or the Forest Service; (B) shall serve an initial term of not more than 7 years; (C) may serve one additional term of not more than 7 years after the initial term described in subparagraph (B); and (D) shall be responsible for the management and operation of the Center. (4) Associate directors In consultation with the representatives appointed under paragraph (2), the Director may appoint such Associate Directors as the Director determines necessary. (5) Additional representation The Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, may jointly appoint additional representatives of Federal agencies, States, Indian Tribes, or local governments to the Center, as the Secretaries determine necessary. (b) Purposes The purposes of the Center are to— (1) comprehensively assess and predict, using data tools (including artificial intelligence) and other decision support products, fire and smoke in the wildland and built environment interface across jurisdictions to inform— (A) land and fuels management; (B) community (including at-risk communities identified in fireshed assessments conducted under section 105) and built environment risk reduction, including the support and development of community wildfire protection plans and evacuation decisions; and (C) public health risk reduction related to wildland fire and smoke, including air quality monitoring and forecasting and smoke prediction models; (D) fire response and management, including the pre-positioning of wildfire suppression personnel and assets based on real-time risk; and (E) post-fire recovery activities, including activities related to vegetation recovery, debris flows and flooding, watershed recovery and protection, and ecosystem health; (2) provide data aggregation, real-time land and fuels management services, and science-based decision support services to inform the purposes specified in subparagraph (A) through (E) of paragraph (1); (3) reduce fragmentation and duplication across Federal land management agencies with respect to predictive service and decision support functions related to wildland fire and smoke, including through the provision of data aggregation described in paragraph (2); (4) promote coordination and sharing of data regarding wildland fire and smoke decision making (including through the provision of data aggregation described in paragraph (2)) to each of the entities specified in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (8); (5) streamline procurement processes for technologies (including technologies identified under the pilot program established under section 303) and cybersecurity systems related to addressing wildland fire and smoke for the purposes of scaling such technologies and systems across Federal agencies; (6) amplify and distribute existing, and develop as necessary, publicly accessible data, models, technologies (including mapping technologies), assessments, and National Weather Service fire weather forecasts to support short- and long-term planning regarding wildland fire and smoke risk reduction and post-fire recovery while avoiding duplicative efforts, as determined by the Director; (7) maintain the Fireshed Registry established under section 103; and (8) disseminate data tools (including artificial intelligence) and other decision support products, for use in manners consistent with the purposes described paragraphs (1) through (7), to the following: (A) Federal agencies. (B) Indian Tribes. (C) State and local governments. (D) Academic or research institutions. (E) Wildland firefighting entities, including applicable incident management teams and geographic coordination centers. (F) Other entities, including public, private, and nonprofit entities, with expertise in land management, air quality, water management, or public health, as determined appropriate by the Director. (c) Memoranda of understanding The Center may enter into memoranda of understanding, contracts, or other agreements with State governments, Indian Tribes, local governments, academic or research institutions, and private entities to improve the information and operations of the Center. (d) Administrative support, technical services, and staff support (1) USGS support The Secretary of the Interior shall make personnel of the U.S. Geological Survey available to the Center for such administrative support, technical services, and development and dissemination of data as the Secretary determines necessary to carry out this section. (2) USFS support The Secretary shall make personnel of the Forest Service available to the Center for such administrative support, technical services, and the development and dissemination of information related to fireshed management and the Fireshed Registry as the Secretary determines necessary to carry out this section. (3) Funding Notwithstanding section 708 of title VII of division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117–328), the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary may enter into agreements to share the management and operational costs of the Center. (e) Rule of construction Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the ownership of any data sources.