[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4742 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4742

 To declare a state of emergency on Federal lands within the State of 
    California for the immediate reduction in forest fuels for the 
                  prevention of catastrophic wildfire.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 1994

Mr. Herger introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to 
          the Committees on Natural Resources and Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To declare a state of emergency on Federal lands within the State of 
    California for the immediate reduction in forest fuels for the 
                  prevention of catastrophic wildfire.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Forest Fire and 
Pest Emergency Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purpose.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Declaration of emergency.
Sec. 5. Strategic fire plan and budget.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE:

    (a) Findings.--
            (1) Congress accepts the report and findings of the 
        National Commission on Wildlife Disasters, created through the 
        Wildfire Disaster Recovery Act of 1989 in response to the 
        destructive western fire season of 1987 and the Yellowstone 
        fires of 1988. The commission found:
                    (A) Millions of acres of forest, grassland, and 
                desert in the United States face abnormally high risks 
                of wildfire due to altered species composition, 
                excessive fuel buildup, and increased ignition 
                opportunity.
                    (B) The problem is exceptionally severe on the 
                public lands of the western states, where dangerous 
                conditions exist over very large areas and wildfires 
                can attain a size and intensity that defies control.
                    (C) Preventing disaster in such situations can no 
                longer be limited to suppression with engines, air 
                tankers (fixed-wing aircraft that drop chemical 
                retardant), and other firefighting paraphernalia.
                    (D) In many forest situations, fuel reduction by 
                mechanical removal through careful salvage logging, 
                thinning, or other means will be needed before 
                prescribed fire can be safely utilized.
                    (E) The Southern California firestorm of 1993 
                burned nearly 200,000 acres, destroyed over 1,100 
                structures, killed three people and injured over 160, 
                and cost an estimated $1 billion in suppression 
                efforts, damages, and restoration. Soil erosion, mud 
                slides, wildlife habitat loss, and other damage will 
                leave an unforgotten legacy for years to come.
                    (F) In California, 3,500 homes were destroyed by 
                wildlife between 1920-89, but well over 4,200 were 
                destroyed between 1990-93.
                    (G) In 1992, when 24,500 acres of prime timber and 
                recreation lands in the Sierra-typical mixed conifer 
                forest, ladened with heavy fuels, bone dry from the 
                six-year drought, and suffering from drought stress and 
                insect and disease attack, ignited into a raging 
                firestorm, it turned into the most expensive rural 
                wildfire in California history in just four days. Total 
                estimated value lost was $245 million dollars, $16.5 
                million in suppression costs, 2 lives and 72 
                firefighting injuries. After an optimistic salvage 
                recovery, estimated value loss is $5,670 per acre. Cost 
                for prevention fuels treatment average less than $200 
                per acre.
            (2) Based on recent scientific reports, including the 
        California Spotted Owl Report (CASPO) and the Sierra Nevada 
        Ecosystem Project Progress Report (SNEP), Congress finds:
                    (A) The enormous wildfires awaiting ignition on the 
                public lands of the west can no longer be seen as an 
                uncontrollable act of nature; they will be the direct 
                result of negligence in land management, much of which 
                can be traced to the long-standing aversion to fire in 
                all forms.
                    (B) Major reductions in wildfire extent, damage and 
                cost are possible if effective prevention actions are 
                taken in time.
                    (C) Wildfire must be mitigated by preventive land 
                treatments that reduce fuels, break up large contiguous 
                areas of dangerous conditions, improve building 
                standards, and create defensible spaces between 
                flammable fuels and susceptible buildings.
                    (D) Outstanding late-successional forest areas are 
                often found in the less accessible locations, and the 
                potential for losing them to catastrophic wildfire is 
                very high.
                    (E) Stands once kept open by frequent, low-
                intensity lightning fires have been, as a consequence 
                of fire suppression, highly altered both in structure 
                and function by the development of dense, shade 
                tolerant understories that now place them at risk of 
                high-intensity stand- replacing fire.
                    (F) Efforts to reduce catastrophic fire risk to 
                late-successional forest stands, and to maintain key 
                ecosystem processes and biodiversity, are much more 
                likely to require active management in the Sierra 
                Nevada.
                    (G) Activities which reduce forest fuels will 
                provide interim employment and availability of men and 
                equipment for forest fire suppression.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to immediately reduce the 
risk of wildlife on federal forest lands in California, immediately 
reduce the number of dead and dying trees, provide access to needed 
funding contained in the Emergency Firefighting Funds ($190,222,000 for 
Forest Service and $116,674,000 for Department of Interior in FY 94), 
provide access to needed funding contained in the Forest Service 
Emergency Pest Suppression Fund ($15,000,000 in FY 94) and to develop a 
Strategic fire protection plan with associated budget for Congressional 
consideration.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act:
            (1) Natural fuels.--Fuels not directly generated or altered 
        by management activity. This includes fuels that have 
        accumulated as a result of fire exclusion.
            (2) Extreme fire risk.--Areas determined to be extremely 
        vulnerable to wildfire based on a combination of fire history, 
        weather patterns, topography, accessibility, visitor intensity, 
        and fuel loads.
            (3) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means the 
        Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY.

    The United States Congress declares the reduction of natural fuels, 
on Federal lands within the State of California identified as extreme 
fire risk, to constitute an emergency action to prevent or to reduce 
risk to public health or safety or to serious resource loss, for the 
duration of the drought as determined by the Secretaries. 
Notwithstanding direction in land management plans, Congress directs 
the Federal agencies to work cooperatively with State agencies to 
immediately identify areas of extreme fire risk and take immediate 
action to reduce natural fuels. Congress authorizes the use of 
emergency fire suppression funds to reduce natural fuels in such areas 
provided reductions in the Sierra forests are consistent with the fuels 
management guidelines of the California Spotted Owl EA or subsequent 
EIS. In areas identified as requiring additional treatments due to 
drought or pest infestation on National forest lands, the Forest 
Service is directed to prepare a budget request declaring an emergency, 
pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(D) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985.

SEC. 5. STRATEGIC FIRE PLAN AND BUDGET.

    The Federal agencies are further directed to prepare, in 
consultation and coordination with other federal agencies and the State 
of California, a strategic fire plan and annual budget. The plan and 
budget shall be submitted to Congress by March 1, 1995 for inclusion in 
the 1996 appropriations request with a supplemental appropriations 
request, if needed, for 1995 funding of natural fuels treatment.
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