By Bradners’ Alaska Legislative Digest

House Bill 370, bringing state law into line with longstanding joint state and federal wildland firefighting policy, passed the House March 17 on a 35-1 vote. The bill allows the Department of Natural Resources to consider other values, including cabins or other manmade structures, when planning long term or immediate responses to wildland fires. Current law limits DNR to protection of natural resources, but the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Management Plan has been considering other values in its planning since 1985. The bill also replaces the term "forest fires" with "wildland fires" in state law.