[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5376 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5376

  To enhance the authorities of the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
 Secretary of the Interior to reduce catastrophic wildfire threats to 
                    communities and the environment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2002

Mr. Combest (for himself, Mr. Stenholm, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Hansen, Mr. 
McInnis, and Mr. Berry) (all by request) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to 
     the Committee on Agriculture, 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 enhance the authorities of the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
 Secretary of the Interior to reduce catastrophic wildfire threats to 
                    communities and the environment.

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

SECTION 1. EMERGENCY HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION PLAN.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (c) and notwithstanding the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Secretaries of 
Agriculture and the Interior shall conduct projects consistent with the 
Implementation Plan for the 10-year Comprehensive Strategy for a 
Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities 
and the Environment, May 2002, developed pursuant to the Conference 
Report to the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 2001 (House Report 106-646) to reduce hazardous 
fuels within any areas of Federal land under the jurisdiction of the 
Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior that are 
outside of Congressionally designated Wilderness Areas and that the 
appropriate Secretary determines qualifies as a fire risk condition 
class three area. Any project carried out under this section shall be 
consistent with the applicable forest plan, resource management plan, 
or other applicable agency plans.
    (b) Priority.--In implementing projects under this section, the 
Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior shall give highest priority 
to--
            (1) wildland urban interface areas;
            (2) municipal watersheds;
            (3) forested or rangeland areas affected by disease, insect 
        activity, or wind throw; or
            (4) areas susceptible to a catastrophic reburn.
    (c) Acreage Limitation.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), in 
        implementing this section, the Secretaries of Agriculture and 
        the Interior shall treat an aggregate area of not more than 
        10,000,000 acres of Federal land.
            (2) Additional acres.--If the limitation in paragraph (1) 
        is reached, the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior may 
        treat additional acres of Federal land that qualifies as fire 
        risk condition class three.
    (d) Process.--The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior shall 
jointly develop--
            (1) notwithstanding the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a 
        collaborative process with interested parties consistent with 
        the Implementation Plan described in subsection (a) for the 
        selection of projects carried out under this section consistent 
        with subsection (b); and
            (2) in cooperation with the Secretary of Commerce, 
        expedited consultation procedures for threatened or endangered 
        species.
    (e) Administrative Process.--Projects conducted under this section 
shall not be subject to--
            (1) administrative review by the Department of the Interior 
        Office of Hearings and Appeals; or
            (2) the Forest Service appeals process and regulations.
    (f) Judicial Review.--
            (1) Review of projects.--Any application for judicial 
        review under this or any other law of a project selected under 
        this section shall--
                    (A) be filed in the Federal District Court for the 
                district in which the Federal lands are located within 
                60 days after legal notice of the decision to conduct a 
                project under this section is made to the public in a 
                manner as determined by the appropriate Secretary;
                    (B) be completed not later than 360 days from the 
                date such request for review is filed with the 
                appropriate court unless the District Court determines 
                that a longer time is needed; and
                    (C) not provide for the issuance of a temporary 
                restraining order or a preliminary injunction
            (2) Process review.--The processes developed under 
        subsection (d) shall not be subject to judicial review.
    (g) Relation to Other Laws.--The authorities provided to the 
Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior in this section are in 
addition to the authorities provided in any other provision of law, 
including section 706 of Public Law 107-206 with respect to Beaver Park 
Area and the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve within the Black Hills National 
Forest.

SEC. 2. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTING.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of 
the Interior may enter into stewardship contracts with private persons 
or other public or private entities to perform services to achieve land 
management goals for the national forests and other Federal lands.
    (b) Land Management Goals.--The land management goals to be 
accomplished using a contract under subsection (a) may include--
            (1) road and trail maintenance or obliteration to restore 
        or maintain water quality;
            (2) enhancement, restoration and maintenance of soil 
        productivity, habitat for wildlife and fisheries, or other 
        resource values;
            (3) use of prescribed fires to improve the composition, 
        structure, condition, and health of forests, woodlands, and 
        rangelands or to improve wildlife habitat;
            (4) removing vegetation or other activities to promote 
        healthy forest stands, woodlands, and rangelands, to reduce 
        fire hazards, or to achieve other land management objectives;
            (5) watershed restoration and maintenance; and
            (6) control of noxious and exotic weeds and reestablishing 
        native plant species.
    (c) Contracts.--
            (1) Award procedures.--
                    (A) Forest service.--In connection with contracts 
                under subsection (a), for the purposes of meeting the 
                requirement for selling timber or forest products at 
                not less than the appraised value pursuant to section 
                14 of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 
                U.S.C. 472a), the Secretary of Agriculture may take 
                into account the value the services received from the 
                contractor and may consider the contractor's 
                performance under other public and private contracts 
                and the contractor's ability to meet performance 
                measures and outcomes consistent with the goals of 
                subsection (b) with respect to the contract.
                    (B) Department of the interior.--In connection with 
                contracts under subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
                Interior may award the contract on a best-value basis, 
                including consideration of the contractor's performance 
                under other public and private contracts and the 
                contractor's ability to meet performance measures and 
                outcomes consistent with the goals of subsection (b) 
                with respect to the contract.
            (2) Multi-year term.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
        of law and subject to any such requirements as the Director of 
        the Office of Management and Budget may prescribe, the term of 
        any contract entered into under subsection (a) may exceed 5 
        years but may not exceed 10 years.
            (3) Offsets.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary of Agriculture and 
                Secretary of the Interior may apply the value of the 
                removed timber or forest products, or other vegetative 
                materials, removed as an offset against the cost of 
                services received in connection with contracts under 
                subsection (a).
                    (B) Methods of appraisal.--The value of forest 
                products, other vegetative materials, or timber used as 
                offsets under subparagraph (A) shall, be determined --
                            (i) using existing agency guidelines 
                        commensurate with the quality and quantity of 
                        products to be removed;
                            (ii) through a competitive bidding process; 
                        or
                            (iii) using a unit of measure appropriate 
                        to the contracts.
                    (C) Excess offset value.--If the offset value of 
                the products exceeds the value of the resource 
                improvement treatments, the Secretary of Agriculture 
                and the Secretary of the Interior may collect any 
                excess offset value and apply it as provided in 
                subsection (d).
    (d) Receipts.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Agriculture and the 
        Secretary of the Interior may collect monies from a contract 
        under subsection (a) so long as collection is secondary to the 
        land management goals in subsection (b).
            (2) Use.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law and 
        subject to any such requirements as the Director of the Office 
        of Management and Budget may prescribe, funds described in 
        paragraph (1) and subsection (c)(3)(C) shall--
                    (A) be made available to the Secretary that 
                collected the funds without further appropriation and 
                remain available until expended;
                    (B) in the case of funds collected by the Secretary 
                of Agriculture--
                            (i) be used by the Secretary of Agriculture 
                        for activities under a contract authorized by 
                        this section; or
                            (ii) deposited into the Knutson-Vandenberg 
                        Fund authorized by the Act of June 9, 1930, 
                        commonly known as the Knutson-Vandenberg Act 
                        (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.); and
                    (C) in the case of funds collected by the Secretary 
                of the Interior be used by the Secretary of the 
                Interior for activities under a contract authorized by 
                this section.
            (3) Relation to other laws.--The value of services received 
        by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
        Interior under a contract authorized by this section and any 
        payments made or resources provided by the contractor or the 
        Secretaries under such a contract shall not be considered to be 
        monies received from the National Forest System or other 
        Federal lands under any other provision of law, including, but 
        not limited to--
                    (A) the Act of June 9, 1930, commonly known as the 
                Knutson-Vandenberg Act (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.);
                    (B) section 3 of the Materials Act of 1947 (30 
                U.S.C. 603); or
                    (C) provisions regarding Oregon and California 
                Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant Lands Trust 
                Lands (43 U.S.C. 1181f and 1181f-1; 43 U.S.C. 1735 and 
                1736a).
    (e) Costs of Removal.--The Secretary of Agriculture may collect 
deposits from contractors covering the costs of removal of timber or 
other forest products pursuant to the Act of August 11, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 
490); and the next to the last paragraph under the heading ``Forest 
Service'' under the heading ``Department of Agriculture'' in the Act of 
June 30, 1914 (16 U.S.C. 498); notwithstanding the fact that the timber 
purchasers did not harvest the timber.
    (f) Performance and Payment Guarantees Under a Service Contract.--
The Secretaries may require performance and payment bonds, in 
accordance with sections 103-2 and 103-3 of part 28 of the Federal 
Acquisition Regulation (48 C.F.R. Chapter 1, 28.103-2, 28.103-3), in an 
amount that the contracting officer considers sufficient to protect the 
government's interest in the estimated value of the products to be 
removed under contract under subsection (a).
    (g) Authorities.--In carrying out this section, the Secretary of 
Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior may use existing 
contracting authorities and procedures or may develop by regulation new 
authorities and procedures.
    (h) Reporting Requirements.--To ensure accountability and a full 
cost accounting of work completed under this authority, the Secretaries 
shall be required to separately track the full costs of individual 
contracts and the value of the forest products exchanged for such work. 
The Secretaries shall report annually to the Congress on--
            (1) the status of development, execution, and 
        administration of contracts authorized under subsection (a);
            (2) the specific accomplishments that have resulted; and
            (3) the full cost of projects completed under contracts 
        entered into under subsection (a) including a separate 
        accounting of--
                    (A) the value of services received;
                    (B) payments received from the sale of timber and 
                forest products; and
                    (C) the difference between the payments received 
                for such timber and forest products and the fair market 
                value for such timber and forest products.

SEC. 3. REPEAL.

    Section 322 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 1993, Public Law 102-381 (commonly known as the 
``Appeals Reform Act''; 16 U.S.C. 1612 note), is repealed.

SEC. 4. BALANCE OF SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM ENVIRONMENTAL HARMS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) past land management practices, particularly fire 
        suppression, have severely altered many fire-adapted forest and 
        rangeland ecosystems;
            (2) such severely altered ecosystems are less resilient and 
        more vulnerable to long-term harm by fire, drought, insects, 
        disease, loss of biological diversity, and by exotic or 
        invasive species;
            (3) such degradation and replacement of native fire-adapted 
        forest and rangeland ecosystems causes irreparable harm to the 
        public interest by increasing risk to public health, safety, 
        property, and diminishing the biological productivity of the 
        land and natural resources of the Nation, including loss of 
        forest and rangeland resources, native species, habitat for 
        threatened and endangered species, recreation opportunities, 
        watershed protection, soils, and the economic and social values 
        that depend upon such resources;
            (4) mechanical thinning of forests and rangeland, reduction 
        of natural fuels through prescribed fire, and similar land 
        management practices are necessary to restore the diversity and 
        resilience of native fire-adapted forests and rangelands; and
            (5) the public interest in such restoration, including 
        avoiding irreparable harm to forest and rangeland ecosystems if 
        restorative action is not taken, typically outweighs the short-
        term effects of restoration projects on the quality of the 
        water, air, soils, and habitat of threatened and endangered 
        species.
    (b) Standard for Injunctive Relief.--In any action under section 
703 of title 5, United States Code or any other law for writs of 
prohibitory or mandatory injunction against agency action in which the 
agency has found that such action is necessary to restore fire-adapted 
forest or rangeland ecosystems, the reviewing court shall consider the 
public interest in avoiding long-term harm to such ecosystems and shall 
give deference to any agency finding, based upon information in its 
administrative record, that the public interest in avoiding the short-
term effects of such action is outweighed by the public interest in 
avoiding long-term harm to such ecosystems.
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