[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1502 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1502

To direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to conduct a 
 yield and cost study of timber management investment opportunities on 
  Federal timberlands in California, Oregon, and Washington, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 29, 1993

 Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Kopetski, and Mr. Herger) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on 
                   Agriculture and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to conduct a 
 yield and cost study of timber management investment opportunities on 
  Federal timberlands in California, Oregon, and Washington, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Timber Management Improvement Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Under the timber management policy of nondeclining even 
        flow, articulated in section 13(a) of the Forest and Rangeland 
        Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, the allowable sale 
        quantity for a national forest is a function of total timber 
        growth, which depends on available timberland area and the rate 
        of timber growth.
            (2) Protecting the northern spotted owl and other factors 
        will lead to reductions in the Federal land available for 
        timber harvesting, leading to declines in harvests and to 
        undesirable declines in timber industry employment.
            (3) Increases in timber management investments on Federal 
        and other lands not protected as spotted owl habitat could 
        offset some of the declines in allowable sale quantities 
        resulting from spotted owl protection.
            (4) No separate studies of timber management investment 
        opportunities on Federal timberlands have been conducted for 
        more than a decade.
            (5) The fund established by section 3 of the Act of June 9, 
        1930 (16 U.S.C. 576b; commonly referred to as the ``K-V 
        fund''), was originally established to assure adequate funding 
        for timber management investments for the national forests, but 
        since 1976, substantial and increasing portions of this fund 
        have been used for wildlife habitat improvement, watershed 
        improvement, and other nontimber resource projects.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) identify and examine timber management investment 
        opportunities on Federal timberlands in the States of 
        California, Oregon, and Washington;
            (2) expand financial assistance programs for timber 
        investments on non-Federal timberlands in the States of 
        California, Oregon, and Washington; and
            (3) assure that amounts from the fund established by 
        section 3 of the Act of June 9, 1930, are available for timber 
        management investments on Federal timberlands, consistent with 
        the original intent of that Act.

SEC. 3. TIMBER MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT STUDY.

    (a) Yields and Costs Report.--The Secretary of Agriculture, acting 
through the Forest Service, and the Secretary of the Interior, acting 
through the Bureau of Land Management, shall each prepare a report 
displaying the yields and costs, both financial and environmental, of 
timber management investment opportunities for lands under their 
respective jurisdictions in the States of California, Oregon, and 
Washington. Timber management investment opportunities considered shall 
include--
            (1) reforestation, including site preparation, direct 
        seeding, planting, and interplanting; and
            (2) timber stand improvement, including release (manual, 
        chemical, and mechanical), fertilization, pruning, 
        precommercial thinning, and commercial thinning.
    (b) Land and Forest Class.--The report prepared under subsection 
(a) shall present the yield and cost information for each of the 
following:
            (1) Timber site productivity class.
            (2) Current forest condition class, including old-growth, 
        second-growth, sawtimber, poletimber, saplings, seedlings, and 
        nonstock.
            (3) Land suitability allocation for timber production under 
        the appropriate forest plan.
    (c) Lands Classified As Unsuitable For Timber Production.--The 
Secretary of Agriculture shall include in the report required by this 
section--
            (1) the reasons why lands in Forest Service Regions 5 and 6 
        are classified as not suitable for timber production pursuant 
        to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning of 
        1974, distinguishing among timber site productivity classes and 
        current forest conditions; and
            (2) the specific identity of those lands deemed to be 
        unsuitable for timber production solely due to difficulties in 
        meeting the reforestation requirements of the Forest and 
        Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, and a 
        description of those difficulties.
    (d) Exchange and Consolidation of Lands.--In addition to other 
matters required to be included in the study under this section, the 
study shall address opportunities for land exchanges with private 
landowners to consolidate Federal landholdings in the States of 
California, Oregon, and Washington to enhance reforestation and timber 
stand improvement.
    (e) Advisory Boards.--In order to assure a comprehensive and 
unbiased report on the costs and yields of timber management investment 
opportunities, the Secretary of Agriculture on a forest-by-forest basis 
in Forest Service Regions 5 and 6, and the Secretary of the Interior on 
a district-by-district basis for the Bureau of Land Management 
districts subject to this Act, shall establish and consult with 
advisory boards before releasing a draft of the report required by 
subsection (a) to the public. The advisory boards shall be comprised of 
individuals who, in the appropriate Secretary's judgment, represent a 
diversity of views. The appropriate Secretaries shall provide the 
advisory boards with the opportunity to review and comment on the 
practices and investments being examined under subsection (a) and on 
the draft of the report before its release to the public. The Federal 
Advisory Committee Act shall not apply to advisory boards established 
under this subsection.
    (f) Consultation With Private and Other Public Timberland Owners.--
(1) In preparing the report required under subsection (a), the 
Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior shall 
consult with private and other public timberland owners in the general 
vicinity of the forest or district, as appropriate, to--
            (A) identify possible timber management investments and 
        practices, and
            (B) identify potential costs and yields of those 
        investments and practices.
    (2) The report shall include information gathered under this 
subsection in a manner which protects the proprietary nature of 
corporate cost information and the cost and yield estimates of the 
Secretaries.
    (g) Date of Submission.--The report required by this section shall 
be submitted to the Congress within 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act.

SEC. 4. PRIVATE FOREST LANDS.

    Section 4 of the Cooperative Forest Assistance Act of 1978 (16 
U.S.C. 2103) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(l) Of the amounts appropriated to carry out this section, not 
less than $1,500,000 shall be made available for assistance under this 
section in each of the States of California, Oregon, and Washington for 
planning, reforestation, and timber stand improvement practices to 
further second growth management of timber resources to offset the 
expected decline in timber harvests from Federal lands as a result of 
listing the northern spotted owl as a threatened species under the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973. Such assistance shall be concentrated 
in those counties containing Federal lands designated as habitat 
conservation areas for the purposes of the protection and recovery of 
the northern spotted owl.''.

SEC. 5. KNUTSON-VANDENBERG ACT.

    (a) Reforestation of BLM Lands.--Section 3 of the Act of June 9, 
1930 (16 U.S.C. 576b) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' after ``Sec. 3.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the lands 
administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of 
Land Management in the same manner as such subsection applies with 
respect to national forest lands.''.
    (b) Reforestation Under the K-V Act.--Section 3(a) of the Act of 
June 9, 1930 (16 U.S.C. 576b), as amended by subsection (a) of this 
Act, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``or'' before ``(3)''; and
            (2) by striking ``timber, or (4)'' and all that follows 
        through ``Provided,'' and inserting ``timber: Provided,''.

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