3.0.0 1691 2023-01-11T13:30:37Z 2023-01-11T13:30:37Z Senate S 2015-06-25 114 sseg00 Energy and Natural Resources Committee Senate Standing sseg03 Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee Hearings by 2015-07-16T18:22:23Z Referred to 2015-06-25T17:16:28Z 2015-07-16 sseg00 Energy and Natural Resources Committee sseg03 Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 114-400. Committee 2015-06-25 sseg00 Energy and Natural Resources Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. IntroReferral 2015-06-25 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress B001261 Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] John Barrasso R WY N F000444 Sen. Flake, Jeff [R-AZ] JEFF FLAKE R AZ 2015-07-07 False H000338 Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT] ORRIN HATCH R UT GRANT 2015-07-15 False Public Lands and Natural Resources Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration Ecology Endangered and threatened species Environmental assessment, monitoring, research Fires Forests, forestry, trees Land use and conservation Pest management Water quality Watersheds Wildlife conservation and habitat protection Public Lands and Natural Resources 00 2015-06-25 Introduced in Senate 2015-10-07T16:35:11Z National Forest Ecosystem Improvement Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), acting through the Forest Service, to identify, prioritize, and carry out ecosystem restoration projects on National Forest System land in accordance with applicable land and resource management plans, if any, to accomplish one or more of the following objectives:

  • restore terrestrial habitat;
  • sustain water quality, water flows, or watershed health and function;
  • create, improve, or increase early seral habitat;
  • carry out a needed timber stand improvement;
  • reduce the risk or extent of insect or disease infestation;
  • reduce wildland fire severity potential;
  • implement a community wildfire protection plan; or
  • establish, recover, or maintain ecosystem resiliency.

USDA may not carry out an ecosystem restoration project on any area of System land in the National Wilderness Preservation System or on which removal of vegetation is prohibited by law.

USDA must accomplish restoration treatments throughout the National Forest System on 1 million acres using certain mechanical treatment methods and on another 1 million acres using prescribed fire.

USDA shall prepare an environmental assessment in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for each ecosystem restoration project that accomplishes one or more objectives of this Act.

USDA shall study, develop, and describe in each ecosystem restoration project both the proposed action and a no-action alternative.

USDA shall establish within the Forest Service an arbitration program as an alternative dispute resolution process in lieu of judicial review for specified types of ecosystem restoration projects.

The judicial review of an action challenging an ecosystem restoration project under this Act shall be subject to specified plaintiff bonding requirements.

A categorical exclusion is made available to USDA for certain forest management activities in order to: (1) expedite specified critical response actions, (2) expedite salvage operations in response to catastrophic events, and (3) meet forest plan goals for early successional forests.

(A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.)

For each forest management activity covered by a categorical exclusion granted by this title, USDA shall satisfy the interagency consultation obligations under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 by achieving compliance with certain alternative consultation procedures established by federal regulation.

]]> National Forest Ecosystem Improvement Act of 2015 Display Title National Forest Ecosystem Improvement Act of 2015 Official Title as Introduced A bill to expedite and prioritize forest management activities to achieve ecosystem restoration objectives, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced National Forest Ecosystem Improvement Act of 2015 Introduced in Senate 2015-06-25T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114s1691is/xml/BILLS-114s1691is.xml 2015-07-16 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 114-400. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.