[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3922 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3922

  To eliminate the regional system of organizing the National Forest 
 System and to replace the regional offices of the Forest Service with 
                             State offices.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 20, 1998

  Mr. Skeen introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To eliminate the regional system of organizing the National Forest 
 System and to replace the regional offices of the Forest Service with 
                             State offices.

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

SECTION 1. STATE ORGANIZATION OF NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.

    (a) Elimination of Regions and Regional Offices.--Beginning not 
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall no longer administer the National Forest 
System using the organizational structure of Forest Service regions. By 
the end of the one-year period beginning on the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall eliminate the 10 existing regional 
offices of the Forest Service and replace such offices with State 
offices as provided in subsection (b).
    (b) State Forest Service Offices.--
            (1) Establishment.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary 
        of Agriculture shall establish a State office of the Forest 
        Service in each State containing any portion of the National 
        Forest System. The Forest Service office for a State shall be 
        responsible for the administration of National Forest System 
        lands within the State.
            (2) Multi-state offices.--The Secretary may establish a 
        Forest Service office under paragraph (1) to serve more than 
        one State, or consolidate separate offices previously 
        established under paragraph (1), if the Secretary determines 
        that the total acreage of National Forest System lands in a 
        particular State does not justify a separate Forest Service 
        office for that State and the National Forest System lands in 
        that State can be readily managed through a Forest Service 
        office in another State.
            (3) Definition of state.--In this subsection, the term 
        ``State'' includes Guam, Puerto Rico, the Trust Territories of 
        the Pacific Islands, and the Virgin Islands.
    (c) Technical Support Centers.--To facilitate the cost-effective 
provision of technical support to State Forest Service offices 
established under subsection (b), the Secretary of Agriculture may 
establish up to six technical support centers in the United States for 
the Forest Service. The Secretary shall establish such a center at the 
same location as a State office.
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