[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4838 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  2d Session

                               H. R. 4838

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

  To establish a Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps to provide a 
     means by which young adults can carry out rehabilitation and 
 enhancement projects to prevent fire and suppress fires, rehabilitate 
public land affected or altered by fires, and provide disaster relief, 
                        and for other purposes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4838

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
  To establish a Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps to provide a 
     means by which young adults can carry out rehabilitation and 
 enhancement projects to prevent fire and suppress fires, rehabilitate 
public land affected or altered by fires, and provide disaster relief, 
                        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 ``Healthy Forest Youth Conservation 
Corps Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the natural fire regimes of forested public land have 
        been altered by intensive fire suppression;
            (2) fire suppression has led to increased risk of 
        unnaturally severe wildfires that in recent years have 
        destroyed thousands of homes, devastated agricultural crops and 
        livestock, reduced biodiversity, and scorched thousands of 
        areas of soil and natural resources;
            (3) catastrophic wildfires pose a particular threat to 
        communities and wildlife living close to forested wildland, 
        known as the ``wildland-urban interface'';
            (4) each year millions of dollars are spent to fight severe 
        wildfires and protect communities where municipal water 
        supplies, human lives, and property are threatened;
            (5) contracts and cooperative agreements between Federal 
        agencies and State and local governments and other entities 
        empower communities and are cost-effective tools that provide 
        positive social and environmental benefits, and the use of such 
        contracts and agreements should be encouraged as a means to 
        prevent unnaturally severe fires, rehabilitate public land 
        affected or altered by fires, and enhance and maintain 
        environmentally important land and water; and
            (6) joint collaborations between the Federal agencies and 
        service and conservation corps composed of young adults are 
        particularly beneficial, as the collaborations provide--
                    (A) young adults the opportunity to prepare for 
                productive lives while engaged in meaningful and 
                educational public service opportunities; and
                    (B) the public with cost-saving human resources to 
                assist in conserving, maintaining, and protecting 
                public land.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to allow service and conservation corps to enter into 
        agreements with public land management agencies to perform 
        rehabilitation and enhancement projects to prevent fire, 
        rehabilitate public land affected or altered by fires, and 
        suppress fires, and provide disaster relief;
            (2) to offer young adults who are members of a service and 
        conservation corps, particularly young adults who are at-risk 
        or economically disadvantaged, a chance to obtain skills and 
        experience in forest restoration, so that they are better 
        equipped to gain productive employment in the expanding 
        workforce being deployed on National Forest System lands in 
        fuels reduction, post-fire rehabilitation, and other forest 
        health projects, and so that the pool of trained workers in 
        forest restoration is expanded to satisfy the existing and 
        increasing need for such workers;
            (3) to provide those young adults the opportunity to serve 
        their communities and their country; and
            (4) to expand educational opportunities by rewarding 
        individuals who participate in the Healthy Forest Youth 
        Conservation Corps with an increased ability to pursue higher 
        education or employment.

SEC. 4. HEALTHY FOREST YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established a Healthy Forest Youth 
Conservation Corps.
    (b) Participants.--The Corps shall consist of young adults who are 
enrolled as members of a service and conservation corps covered by a 
contract or cooperative agreement entered into under subsection (c).
    (c) Contracts or Agreements.--The Secretary concerned may enter 
into contracts or cooperative agreements directly with--
            (1) any service and conservation corps to carry out a 
        rehabilitation and enhancement project described in subsection 
        (d); or
            (2) a department of natural resources, agriculture, or 
        forestry (or an equivalent department) of any State that has 
        entered into a contract or cooperative agreement with a service 
        and conservation corps to carry out a rehabilitation and 
        enhancement project described in subsection (d).
    (d) Authorized Projects.--Under a contract or cooperative agreement 
entered into under subsection (c), a service and conservation corps may 
carry out a rehabilitation and enhancement project to prevent fire and 
suppress fires, rehabilitate public land affected or altered by fires, 
and provide disaster relief, including--
            (1) a project relating to the National Fire Plan;
            (2) a project relating to the Healthy Forests Restoration 
        Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.); and
            (3) other activities allowed under--
                    (A) a national forest and grassland land management 
                plan; or
                    (B) a Bureau of Land Management land use plan.
    (e) Priority Projects.--In entering into a contract or cooperative 
agreement under subsection (c), the Secretary concerned shall give 
priority to rehabilitation and enhancement projects that will--
            (1) reduce hazardous fuels on public land;
            (2) restore public land affected or imminently threatened 
        by disease or insect infestation;
            (3) rehabilitate public land affected or altered by fires;
            (4) assess windthrown public land or public land at high 
        risk of reburn;
            (5) work to address public land located within relative 
        proximity to a municipal watershed and municipal water supply;
            (6) provide related emergency assistance, such as natural 
        disaster relief and the rescue of lost or injured persons;
            (7) instill in members of the service and conservation 
        corps a work ethic and a sense of personal responsibility;
            (8) be labor-intensive; and
            (9) be planned and initiated promptly.
    (f) Activities Performed by Corps Members Who are Under 18.--A 
young adult under the age of 18 who is enrolled as a member of a 
service and conservation corps covered by a contract or cooperative 
agreement entered into under subsection (c) may perform the following 
types of activities as part of a rehabilitation and enhancement project 
carried out under the contract or cooperative agreement:
            (1) Performance of logistical support at fire caches or 
        with the supply unit in support of a fire suppression project.
            (2) Conducting pre-treatment inventory and other 
        preparatory work, such as building control lines with hand 
        tools, in advance of a prescribed fire project, and conducting 
        post-treatment evaluation and monitoring of the project.
            (3) Participation in fire-prevention patrols and the 
        dissemination of fire prevention information.
            (4) Performance of certain aspects of a Burned Area 
        Emergency Rehabilitation project, approved by the Secretary, if 
        not on site, then in a support role receiving and distributing 
        materials and supplies.
    (g) Supportive Services.--The Secretary concerned may provide such 
services as the Secretary considers to be necessary to carry out this 
Act, including technical assistance, oversight, monitoring, and 
evaluation to or for--
            (1) State departments of natural resources and agriculture 
        (or equivalent agencies);
            (2) service and conservation corps;
            (3) in the case of Indian lands, the applicable Indian 
        tribe;
            (4) in the case of Hawaiian home lands, the applicable 
        State agency in the State of Hawaii; and
            (5) in the case of land under the jurisdiction of an Alaska 
        Native Corporation, the applicable Alaska Native Corporation.
    (h) Other Uses of Funds.--Funds made available under this Act may 
be used to support implementation, monitoring, training, technical 
assistance, and administrative work of service and conservation corps 
covered by a contract or cooperative agreement entered into under 
subsection (c).

SEC. 5. NONCOMPETITIVE HIRING STATUS.

    The Secretary may grant a person who is a former member of the 
Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps with credit for time served as 
a member of the Corps toward future Federal hiring and may provide the 
person with a noncompetitive hiring status for not more than 120 days 
beginning on the date on which the person completed service as a member 
of the Corps.

SEC. 6. NONDISPLACEMENT.

    The nondisplacement requirements of section 177(b) of the National 
and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12637(b)) shall apply to 
activities carried out under this Act.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Alaska native corporation.--The term ``Alaska Native 
        Corporation'' means a Regional Corporation or Village 
        Corporation, as those terms are defined in section 3 of the 
        Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602).
            (2) Hawaiian home lands.--The term ``Hawaiian home lands'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 203 of Public Law 91-
        378 (commonly known as the Youth Conservation Corps Act of 
        1970; 16 U.S.C. 1722).
            (3) Indian lands.--The term ``Indian lands'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 203 of Public Law 91-378 
        (commonly known as the Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970; 16 
        U.S.C. 1722).
            (4) Public land.--The term ``public land'' means--
                    (A) land of the National Forest System (as defined 
                in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable 
                Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)));
                    (B) public lands (as defined in section 103 of the 
                Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 
                U.S.C. 1702)) and other land administered by the 
                Secretary of the Interior through the United States 
                Fish and Wildlife Service;
                    (C) land owned by a State or local agency;
                    (D) Indian lands, with the approval of the 
                applicable Indian tribe;
                    (E) Hawaiian home lands, with the approval of the 
                applicable State agency in the State of Hawaii; and
                    (F) land under the jurisdiction of an Alaska Native 
                Corporation, with the approval of the applicable Alaska 
                Native Corporation.
            (5) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 
                land of the National Forest System described in 
                subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4);
                    (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to 
                public land described in subparagraph (B) of such 
                paragraph; and
                    (C) the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary 
                of the Interior jointly, with respect to land described 
                in subparagraphs (C) through (F) of such paragraph.
            (6) Service and conservation corps.--The term ``service and 
        conservation corps'' means any organization established by a 
        State or local government, nonprofit organization, or Indian 
        tribe that--
                    (A) has a research-validated demonstrable 
                capability to provide productive work to individuals;
                    (B) gives participants a combination of work 
                experience, basic and life skills, education, training, 
                and support services; and
                    (C) provides participants with the opportunity to 
                develop citizenship values through service to their 
                communities and the United States.
            (7) State.--The term ``State'' means--
                    (A) a State;
                    (B) the District of Columbia;
                    (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
                    (D) Guam;
                    (E) American Samoa;
                    (F) the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
                Islands;
                    (G) the Federated States of Micronesia;
                    (H) the Republic of the Marshall Islands;
                    (I) the Republic of Palau; and
                    (J) the United States Virgin Islands.
            (8) Young adult.--The term ``young adult'' means an 
        individual between 16 and 25 years of age.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 28, 2004.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.