[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5341 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5341

To authorize and direct the Secretary of Agriculture to take actions to 
 promptly address the risk of fire and insect infestation in National 
              Forest System lands, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 5, 2002

 Mr. Taylor of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the 
 Committee on Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize and direct the Secretary of Agriculture to take actions to 
 promptly address the risk of fire and insect infestation in National 
              Forest System lands, 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 ``National Forest Fire Fuels Reduction 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ACTIONS TO ADDRESS FIRE HAZARDS DUE TO INSECT AND DISEASE 
              INFESTATION AND TREE OVERCROWDING IN NATIONAL FOREST 
              SYSTEM LANDS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Forest health conditions within National Forest System 
        lands are deteriorating and immediate action to cut timber on 
        these lands is in the public interest.
            (2) Pending litigation prevents timely action to reduce the 
        risk of wildfire in National Forest System lands.
            (3) Existing administrative and legal processes cannot 
        address the fire danger in time to enable the Secretary of 
        Agriculture to take action to reduce the danger.
            (4) Immediate action to address the fire danger in an 
        environmentally responsive manner is supported by the States 
        and local governments, local industry users, and some 
        environmental groups.
            (5) The Forest Service and State and local fire officials 
        are encouraged to take actions as necessary to create a 
        defensible fuel zone within State owned lands adjacent to 
        National Forest System lands.
    (b) Fire and Insect Risk Reduction in Existing Timber Sale Analysis 
Areas.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary is 
        authorized to cut additional timber within or outside the 
        existing cutting units for National Forest System timber sales 
        and within the analysis areas for these sales as is necessary 
        to reduce insect and disease infestation or fire hazard.
            (2) Criteria.--In implementing additional timber harvests 
        within the timber sale analysis areas referred to in paragraph 
        (1), the Secretary shall use, in order of priority, the 
        following criteria:
                    (A) Areas within \1/4\ mile of private properties 
                where private property owners have taken or are taking 
                actions to cut timber on their lands.
                    (B) Stands that are a fire hazard or insect and 
                disease infested, and are near private lands or in 
                proximity to communities.
                    (C) Areas that have the highest intensity or 
                concentration of insect or disease infestation that 
                will move to other areas.
                    (D) Stands that are a fire hazard or insect and 
                disease infested, and are near areas of high resource 
                value where retaining green trees is important, such as 
                wildlife habitats, sensitive landscapes, forest growth, 
                recreation areas, and developments.
                    (E) Stands that are a high fire hazard or insect 
                and disease infested, and are within skidding distance 
                of existing roads.
                    (F) Concentrations of insect or disease infested 
                trees or areas that are high fire hazards due to 
                accumulated forest debris.
                    (G) Stands with the highest density that are most 
                susceptible to insect or disease attack and are in 
                close proximity to infested trees.
    (c) Use of Forest Fire Fuels Reduction Sale Funds.--To conduct 
timber sales under this section, the Secretary may use forest timber 
sale funds otherwise available to the Secretary.
    (d) Sales in Preparation.-- Any timber sale in preparation on the 
date of the enactment of this Act shall be subject to the provisions of 
this section.
    (e) Use of Available Authorities.--The Secretary shall make use of 
all available authority, including the employment of private 
contractors and the use of expedited fire contracting procedures, to 
prepare and advertise timber sales under this section.
    (f) Exemptions.--The preparation, solicitation, and award of forest 
fire fuels reduction timber sales shall be exempt from the requirements 
of the Competition in Contracting Act (41 U.S.C. 253 et seq.) and the 
implementing regulations in the Federal Acquisition Regulation issued 
pursuant to section 25(c) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy 
Act (41 U.S.C. 421(c)) and any departmental acquisition regulations and 
the notice and publication requirements in section 18 of such Act (41 
U.S.C. 416) and 8(e) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)) and 
the implementing regulations in the Federal Acquisition Regulations and 
any departmental acquisition regulations.
    (g) Cost Considerations.--Forest fire fuels reduction timber sales 
undertaken pursuant to this section shall not be precluded because the 
costs of such activities are likely to exceed the revenues derived from 
such activities.
    (h) Effect of Forest Fire Fuels Reduction Timber Sales.--The 
Secretary shall not substitute forest fires fuels reduction timber 
sales conducted for planned non-forest fire fuels reduction timber 
sales.
    (i) Reforestation of Forest Fire Fuels Reduction Timber Sale 
Parcels.--The Secretary shall plan and implement reforestation of each 
parcel of land harvested under a forest fire fuels reduction timber 
sale conducted as expeditiously as possible after completion of the 
harvest on the parcel, but in no case later than any applicable 
restocking period required by law or regulation.
    (j) Effect on Judicial Decisions.--The Secretary may conduct forest 
fire fuels reduction timber sales notwithstanding any decision, 
restraining order, or injunction issued by a United States court before 
the date of the enactment of this section.
    (k) Direction To Complete Timber Sales on Lands.--Notwithstanding 
any other law (including a law under the authority of which any 
judicial order may be outstanding on or after the date of enactment of 
this Act), the Secretary shall expeditiously prepare, offer, and award 
timber sale contracts on Federal lands described in the ``Record of 
Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management 
Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl'', 
signed by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
Agriculture on April 13, 1994. The Secretary may conduct timber sales 
under this subsection notwithstanding any decision, restraining order, 
or injunction issued by a United States court before the date of the 
enactment of this section. The issuance of any regulation pursuant to 
section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(d)) 
to ease or reduce restrictions on non-Federal lands within the range of 
the northern spotted owl shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of 
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), given the analysis included in the Final 
Supplemental Impact Statement on the Management of the Habitat for Late 
Succession and Old Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of 
the Northern Spotted Owl, prepared by the Secretary of Agriculture and 
the Secretary of the Interior in 1994, which is, or may be, 
incorporated by reference in the administrative record of any such 
regulation. The issuance of any such regulation pursuant to section 
4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(d)) shall 
not require the preparation of an environmental impact statement under 
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)).
    (l) Administrative Review.--Forest fire fuels reduction timber 
sales and any decision of the Secretary concerned in connection with 
such sales, shall not be subject to administrative review.
    (m) Judicial Review.--
            (1) Place and time of filing.--A forest fire fuels 
        reduction timber sale to be conducted, and a timber sale shall 
        be subject to judicial review only in the United States 
        district court for the district in which the affected Federal 
        lands are located. Any challenge to such sale must be filed in 
        such district court within 15 days after the date of initial 
        advertisement of the challenged sale. The Secretary may not 
        agree to, and a court may not grant, a waiver of the 
        requirements of this paragraph.
            (2) Effect of filing on agency action.--For 45 days after 
        the date of the filing of a challenge to a forest fire fuels 
        reduction timber sale, the Secretary shall take no action to 
        award the challenged sale.
            (3) Prohibition on restraining orders, preliminary in-
        junctions, and relief pending review.--No restraining order, 
        preliminary injunction, or injunction pending appeal shall be 
        issued by any court of the United States with respect to any 
        decision to prepare, advertise, offer, award, or operate a 
        forest fire fuels reduction timber sale or any decision to 
        prepare, advertise, offer, award, or operate a timber sale 
        pursuant to this section. Section 705 of title 5, United States 
        Code, shall not apply to any challenge to such a sale.
            (4) Standard of review.--The courts shall have authority to 
        enjoin permanently, order modification of, or void an 
        individual forest fire fuels reduction timber sale if it is 
        determined by a review of the record that the decision to 
        prepare, advertise, offer, award, or operate such sale was 
        arbitrary and capricious or otherwise not in accordance with 
applicable law (other than those laws specified in subsection (f) or 
(p)).
            (5) Time for decision.--Civil actions filed under this 
        subsection shall be assigned for hearing at the earliest 
        possible date. The court shall render its final decision 
        relative to any challenge within 45 days from the date such 
        challenge is brought, unless the court determines that a longer 
        period of time is required to satisfy the requirement of the 
        United States Constitution. In order to reach a decision within 
        45 days, the district court may assign all or part of any such 
        case or cases to one or more Special Masters, for prompt review 
        and recommendations to the court.
            (6) Procedures.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, the court may set rules governing the procedures of any 
        proceeding brought under this subsection which set page limits 
        on briefs and time limits on filing briefs and motions and 
        other actions which are shorter than the limits specified in 
        the Federal rules of civil or appellate procedure.
            (7) Appeal.--Any appeal from the final decision of a 
        district court in an action brought pursuant to this subsection 
        shall be filed not later than 30 days after the date of 
        decision.
    (n) Exclusion of Certain Federal Lands.--
            (1) Exclusion.--The Secretary may not select, authorize, or 
        undertake any forest fire fuels reduction timber sale on any 
        excluded lands described in paragraph (2).
            (2) Description of excluded lands.--The lands referred to 
        in paragraph (1) are as follows:
                    (A) Any area on Federal lands included in the 
                National Wilderness Preservation System.
                    (B) Any roadless area on Federal lands recommended 
                by the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management for 
                wilderness designation in its most recent land 
                management plan in effect as of the date of the 
                enactment of this Act.
                    (C) Any area on Federal lands on which timber 
                harvesting for any purpose is prohibited by statute.
    (o) Rule Making.--The Secretary is not required to issue formal 
rules under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, to implement 
this section or carry out the authorities provided by this section.
    (p) Effect on Other Laws.--The documents and procedures required by 
this section for the preparation, advertisement, offering, awarding, 
and operation of any forest fire fuels reduction timber sale shall be 
deemed to satisfy the requirements of the following applicable Federal 
laws (and regulations implementing such laws):
            (1) The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning 
        Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.).
            (2) The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976(43 
        U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
            (3) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
        U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
            (4) The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
        seq.).
            (5) The National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 
        472a et seq.).
            (6) The Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (16 U.S.C. 
        528 et seq.).
            (7) Any compact, executive agreement, convention, treaty, 
        and international agreement, and implementing legislation 
        related thereto.
     (q) Threatened or Endangered Species.--No sale unit shall be 
released or completed under this subsection if any threatened or 
endangered bird species is known to be nesting within the acreage that 
is the subject of the sale unit.
    (r) Roadless Character.--The actions authorized by this section 
shall not affect the determination of any area's wilderness capability, 
wilderness suitability, or roadless character.
    (s) Reporting.--The Secretary shall report to Congress on the 
implementation of this section on or by November 30, 2002 and every 6 
months thereafter.
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