[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2696 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.2696

                       One Hundred Eighth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four


                                 An Act


 
 To establish Institutes to demonstrate and promote the use of adaptive 
 ecosystem management to reduce the risk of wildfires, and restore the 
 health of fire-adapted forest and woodland ecosystems of the interior 
                                  West.

    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 ``Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire 
Prevention Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
        (1) there is an increasing threat of wildfire to millions of 
    acres of forest land and rangeland throughout the United States;
        (2) forest land and rangeland are degraded as a direct 
    consequence of land management practices, including practices to 
    control and prevent wildfires and the failure to harvest 
    subdominant trees from overstocked stands that disrupt the 
    occurrence of frequent low-intensity fires that have periodically 
    removed flammable undergrowth;
        (3) at least 39,000,000 acres of land of the National Forest 
    System in the interior West are at high risk of wildfire;
        (4) an average of 95 percent of the expenditures by the Forest 
    Service for wildfire suppression during fiscal years 1990 through 
    1994 were made to suppress wildfires in the interior West;
        (5) the number, size, and severity of wildfires in the interior 
    West are increasing;
        (6) of the timberland in National Forests in the States of 
    Arizona and New Mexico, 59 percent of such land in Arizona, and 56 
    percent of such land in New Mexico, has an average diameter of 9 to 
    12 inches diameter at breast height;
        (7) the population of the interior West grew twice as fast as 
    the national average during the 1990s;
        (8) catastrophic wildfires--
            (A) endanger homes and communities;
            (B) damage and destroy watersheds and soils; and
            (C) pose a serious threat to the habitat of threatened and 
        endangered species;
        (9) a 1994 assessment of forest health in the interior West 
    estimated that only a 15- to 30-year window of opportunity exists 
    for effective management intervention before damage from 
    uncontrollable wildfire becomes widespread, with 8 years having 
    already elapsed since the assessment;
        (10) healthy forest and woodland ecosystems--
            (A) reduce the risk of wildfire to forests and communities;
            (B) improve wildlife habitat and biodiversity;
            (C) increase tree, grass, forb, and shrub productivity;
            (D) enhance watershed values;
            (E) improve the environment; and
            (F) provide a basis in some areas for economically and 
        environmentally sustainable uses;
        (11) sustaining the long-term ecological and economic health of 
    interior West forests and woodland, and their associated human 
    communities requires preventing severe wildfires before the 
    wildfires occur and permitting natural, low-intensity ground fires;
        (12) more natural fire regimes cannot be accomplished without 
    the reduction of excess fuels and thinning of subdominant trees 
    (which fuels and trees may be of commercial value);
        (13) ecologically based forest and woodland ecosystem 
    restoration on a landscape scale will--
            (A) improve long-term community protection;
            (B) minimize the need for wildfire suppression;
            (C) improve resource values;
            (D) improve the ecological integrity and resilience of 
        these systems;
            (E) reduce rehabilitation costs;
            (F) reduce loss of critical habitat; and
            (G) protect forests for future generations;
        (14) although landscape scale restoration is needed to 
    effectively reverse degradation, scientific understanding of 
    landscape scale treatments is limited;
        (15) rigorous, objective, understandable, and applied 
    scientific information is needed for--
            (A) the design, implementation, monitoring, and adaptation 
        of landscape scale restoration treatments and improvement of 
        wildfire management;
            (B) the environmental review process; and
            (C) affected entities that collaborate in the development 
        and implementation of wildfire treatment.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
        (1) to enhance the capacity to develop, transfer, apply, 
    monitor, and regularly update practical science-based forest 
    restoration treatments that will reduce the risk of severe 
    wildfires, and improve the health of dry forest and woodland 
    ecosystems in the interior West;
        (2) to synthesize and adapt scientific findings from 
    conventional research programs to the implementation of forest and 
    woodland restoration on a landscape scale;
        (3) to facilitate the transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge 
    required to understand the socioeconomic and environmental impacts 
    of wildfire on ecosystems and landscapes;
        (4) to require the Institutes established under this Act to 
    collaborate with Federal agencies--
            (A) to use ecological restoration treatments to reverse 
        declining forest health and reduce the risk of severe wildfires 
        across the forest landscape; and
            (B) to design, implement, monitor, and regularly revise 
        representative wildfire treatments based on the use of adaptive 
        ecosystem management;
        (5) to assist land managers in--
            (A) treating acres with restoration-based applications; and
            (B) using new management technologies (including the 
        transfer of understandable information, assistance with 
        environmental review, and field and classroom training and 
        collaboration) to accomplish the goals identified in--
                (i) the National Fire Plan;
                (ii) the report entitled ``Protecting People and 
            Sustaining Resources in Fire-Adapted Ecosystems-A Cohesive 
            Strategy'' (65 Fed. Reg. 67480); and
                (iii) the report entitled ``10-Year Comprehensive 
            Strategy: A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland 
            Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment'' of the 
            Western Governors' Association;
        (6) to provide technical assistance to collaborative efforts by 
    affected entities to develop, implement, and monitor adaptive 
    ecosystem management restoration treatments that are ecologically 
    sound, economically viable, and socially responsible; and
        (7) to assist Federal and non-Federal land managers in 
    providing information to the public on the role of fire and fire 
    management in dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior 
    West.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
        (1) Adaptive ecosystem management.--
            (A) Definition.--The term ``adaptive ecosystem management'' 
        means a natural resource management process under which 
        planning, implementation, monitoring, research, evaluation, and 
        incorporation of new knowledge are combined into a management 
        approach that--
                (i) is based on scientific findings and the needs of 
            society;
                (ii) treats management actions as experiments;
                (iii) acknowledges the complexity of these systems and 
            scientific uncertainty; and
                (iv) uses the resulting new knowledge to modify future 
            management methods and policy.
            (B) Clarification.--This paragraph shall not define the 
        term ``adaptive ecosystem management'' for the purposes of the 
        Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 
        (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.).
        (2) Affected entities.--The term ``affected entities'' 
    includes--
            (A) land managers;
            (B) stakeholders;
            (C) concerned citizens; and
            (D) the States of the interior West, including political 
        subdivisions of the States.
        (3) Dry forest and woodland ecosystem.--The term ``dry forest 
    and woodland ecosystem'' means an ecosystem that is dominated by 
    ponderosa pines and associated dry forest and woodland types.
        (4) Institute.--The term ``Institute'' means an Institute 
    established under section 5(a).
        (5) Interior west.--The term ``interior West'' means the States 
    of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
        (6) Land manager.--
            (A) In general.--The term ``land manager'' means a person 
        or entity that practices or guides natural resource management.
            (B) Inclusions.--The term ``land manager'' includes a 
        Federal, State, local, or tribal land management agency.
        (7) Restoration.--The term ``restoration'' means a process 
    undertaken to move an ecosystem or habitat toward--
            (A) a sustainable structure of the ecosystem or habitat; or
            (B) a condition that supports a natural complement of 
        species, natural function, or ecological process (such as a 
        low-intensity fire).
        (8) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
    Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.
        (9) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means--
            (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief 
        of the Forest Service; and
            (B) the Secretary of the Interior.
        (10) Stakeholder.--The term ``stakeholder'' means any person 
    interested in or affected by management of forest or woodland 
    ecosystems.
        (11) Subdominant trees.--Are trees that occur underneath the 
    canopy or extend into the canopy but are smaller and less vigorous 
    than dominant trees.
        (12) Overstocked stands.--Where the number of trees per acre 
    exceeds the natural carrying capacity of the site.
        (13) Resilience.--The ability of a system to absorb disturbance 
    without being pushed into a different, possibly less desirable 
    stable state.

SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF INSTITUTES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary 
of the Interior, shall--
        (1) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
    Act, establish Institutes to promote the use of adaptive ecosystem 
    management to reduce the risk of wildfires, and restore the health 
    of forest and woodland ecosystems, in the interior West; and
        (2) provide assistance to the Institutes to promote the use of 
    collaborative processes and adaptive ecosystem management in 
    accordance with paragraph (1).
    (b) Location.--
        (1) Existing institutes.--The Secretary may designate an 
    institute in existence on the date of enactment of this Act to 
    serve as an Institute established under this Act.
        (2) States.--Of the Institutes established under this Act, the 
    Secretary shall establish 1 Institute in each of--
            (A) the State of Arizona, to be located at Northern Arizona 
        University;
            (B) the State of New Mexico, to be located at New Mexico 
        Highlands University, while engaging the full resources of the 
        consortium of universities represented in the Institute of 
        Natural Resource Analysis and Management (INRAM); and
            (C) the State of Colorado.
    (c) Duties.--Each Institute shall--
        (1) develop, conduct research on, transfer, promote, and 
    monitor restoration-based hazardous fuel reduction treatments to 
    reduce the risk of severe wildfires and improve the health of dry 
    forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West;
        (2) synthesize and adapt scientific findings from conventional 
    research to implement restoration-based hazardous fuel reduction 
    treatments on a landscape scale using an adaptive ecosystem 
    management framework;
        (3) translate for and transfer to affected entities any 
    scientific and interdisciplinary knowledge about restoration-based 
    hazardous fuel reduction treatments;
        (4) assist affected entities with the design of adaptive 
    management approaches (including monitoring) for the implementation 
    of restoration-based hazardous fuel reduction treatments; and
        (5) provide peer-reviewed annual reports.
    (d) Qualifications.--Each Institute shall--
        (1) develop and demonstrate capabilities in the natural, 
    physical, social, and policy sciences; and
        (2) explicitly integrate those disciplines in the performance 
    of the duties listed in subsection (c).
    (e) Cooperation.--Each Institute may cooperate with--
        (1) researchers and cooperative extension programs at colleges, 
    community colleges, and universities in the States of Arizona, New 
    Mexico, and Colorado that have a demonstrated capability to conduct 
    research described in subsection (c); and
        (2) other organizations and entities in the interior West (such 
    as the Western Governors' Association).
    (f) Annual Work Plans.--As a condition of the receipt of funds made 
available under this Act, for each fiscal year, each Institute shall 
develop in consultation with the Secretary, for review by the 
Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, an 
annual work plan that includes assurances, satisfactory to the 
Secretaries, that the proposed work of the Institute will serve the 
informational needs of affected entities.
    (g) Establishment of Additional Institutes.--If after 2 years after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary finds that the 
Institute model established at the locations named in subsection (b)(2) 
would be constructive for other interior West States, the Secretary may 
establish 1 institute in each of those States.

SEC. 6. COOPERATION BETWEEN INSTITUTES AND FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    In carrying out this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the 
Secretary of the Interior--
        (1) to the extent that funds are appropriated for the purpose, 
    shall provide financial and technical assistance to the Institutes 
    to carry out the duties of the Institutes under section 5;
        (2) shall encourage Federal agencies to use, on a cooperative 
    basis, information and expertise provided by the Institutes;
        (3) shall encourage cooperation and coordination between 
    Federal programs relating to--
            (A) ecological restoration;
            (B) wildfire risk reduction; and
            (C) wildfire management technologies;
        (4) notwithstanding chapter 63 of title 31, United States Code, 
    may--
            (A) enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, and 
        interagency personnel agreements to carry out this Act; and
            (B) carry out other transactions under this Act;
        (5) may accept funds from other Federal agencies to supplement 
    or fully fund grants made, and contracts entered into, by the 
    Secretaries;
        (6) may support a program of internships for qualified 
    individuals at the undergraduate and graduate levels to carry out 
    the educational and training objectives of this Act;
        (7) shall encourage professional education and public 
    information activities relating to the purposes of this Act; and
        (8) may promulgate such regulations as the Secretaries 
    determine are necessary to carry out this Act.

SEC. 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary, in 
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, shall complete and 
submit to the Committee on Resources and the Committee on Agriculture 
of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources of the Senate a detailed evaluation of the programs 
and activities of each Institute--
        (1) to ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that the 
    research, communication tools, and information transfer activities 
    of each Institute are sufficient to achieve the purposes of this 
    Act, including--
            (A) implementing active adaptive ecosystem management 
        practices at the landscape level;
            (B) reducing unnecessary planning costs;
            (C) avoiding duplicative and conflicting efforts;
            (D) increasing public acceptance of active adaptive 
        ecosystem management practices; and
            (E) achieving general satisfaction on the part of affected 
        entities;
        (2) to determine the extent to which each Institute has 
    implemented its duties under section 5(c); and
        (3) to determine whether continued provision of Federal 
    assistance to each Institute is warranted.
    (b) Termination of Assistance.--If, as a result of an evaluation 
under subsection (a), the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary 
of the Interior, determines that an Institute does not qualify for 
further Federal assistance under this Act, the Institute shall receive 
no further Federal assistance under this Act until such time as the 
qualifications of the Institute are reestablished to the satisfaction 
of the Secretaries.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this Act $15,000,000 for each fiscal year.
    (b) Limitation.--No funds made available under subsection (a) shall 
be used to pay the costs of constructing any facilities.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.