[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1314 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1314

  To expedite procedures for hazardous fuels reduction activities on 
  National Forest System lands established from the public domain and 
 other public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, to 
improve the health of National Forest System lands established from the 
public domain and other public lands administered by the Bureau of Land 
                  Management, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 23, 2003

Mr. Bingaman (for himself, Mr. Daschle, Mrs. Murray, and Ms. Cantwell) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
               Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To expedite procedures for hazardous fuels reduction activities on 
  National Forest System lands established from the public domain and 
 other public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, to 
improve the health of National Forest System lands established from the 
public domain and other public lands administered by the Bureau of Land 
                  Management, 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 ``Collaborative Forest Health Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) The term ``at-risk community'' means--
                    (A) an urban wildland ``interface'' or ``intermix'' 
                community as those terms were defined by the 
                Secretaries on January 4, 2001 (66 FR 753), or
                    (B) consisting of a collection of homes or other 
                structures with basic infrastructure and services, such 
                as utilities, collectively maintained transportation 
                routes, and emergency services;
                            (i) on which conditions are conducive to 
                        large-scale fire disturbance events; and
                            (ii) for which a significant risk exists of 
                        a resulting spread of the fire disturbance 
                        event, after ignition, which would threaten 
                        human life and property.
            (2) The term ``community protection zone'' means an at-risk 
        community and an area within one-half mile of an at-risk 
        community.
            (3) The term ``Secretaries'' means the Secretary of 
        Agriculture with respect to National Forest System lands and 
        the Secretary of the Interior with respect to public lands 
        administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
            (4) The term ``1890 Institution'' means a college or 
        university eligible to receive funds under the Act of August 
        30, 1890 (7 U.S.C. 321 et seq.), including Tuskegee University.
            (5) The term ``Federal lands'' means public lands as 
        defined in section 103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and 
        Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1702(e)) and the National Forest 
        System as defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland 
        Renewable Resources Planning Act (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).

SEC. 3. EXPEDITED PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS.

    (a) Categorical Exclusion.--Subject to subsection (h), the 
Secretaries may find that a proposed hazardous fuels reduction project, 
including prescribed fire, that removes no more than 250,000 board feet 
of merchantable wood products or removes as salvage 1,000,000 board 
feet or less of merchantable wood products and assures regeneration of 
harvested or salvaged areas will not individually or cumulatively have 
a significant effect on the human environment and, therefore, neither 
an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is 
required.
    (b) Public Meeting.--Prior to implementing a project pursuant to 
subsection (a), the Secretaries shall conduct a public meeting at an 
appropriate location proximate to the administrative unit of the 
Federal lands in which the project will be conducted. The Secretaries 
shall provide advance notice of the date and time of the meeting.
    (c) Collaboration.--
            (1) The Secretaries shall identify projects implemented 
        pursuant to this section through a collaborative framework as 
        described in the Implementation Plan for the 10-year 
        Comprehensive Strategy for a Collaborative Approach for 
        Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the 
        Environment, dated May 2002, developed pursuant to the 
        Conference Report to the Department of the Interior and Related 
        Agencies Appropriations Act, FY 2001 (H. Rept. 106-646) to 
        reduce hazardous fuels. Any project carried out pursuant to 
        this section shall be consistent with the applicable forest 
        plan, resource management plan, or other applicable agency 
        plans.
            (2) The Secretaries shall ensure that local level 
        collaboration includes Tribal representatives, local 
        representatives from Federal and State agencies, local 
        governments, landowners, other stakeholders, and community-
        based groups.
            (3) The Secretaries shall establish incentives or 
        performance measures to ensure that Federal employees are 
        committed to collaboration.
    (d) Acreage Limitation.--In implementing this section, the 
Secretaries shall implement projects on an aggregate area of not more 
than 20 million acres of Federal lands. This amount is in addition to 
the existing hazardous fuels reduction program that implements projects 
on approximately 2.5 million acres each year.
    (e) Administrative Appeals.--Projects implemented pursuant to this 
section shall not be subject to the appeal requirements of section 322 
of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations 
Act, 1993 (16 U.S.C. 1612 note) or review by the Department of the 
Interior Board of Land Appeals. Nothing in this section affects 
projects for which scoping has begun prior to enactment of this Act.
    (f) Conclusive Presumption.--Within--
            (1) the community protection zone; or
            (2) municipal watersheds in which National Environmental 
        Policy Act documentation and analysis has been completed and no 
        new road construction is allowed, no timber sales are allowed, 
        and no log skidding machines are allowed,
unless there are extraordinary circumstances, the decision of either 
Secretary that a proposed hazardous fuels reduction project authorized 
by subsection (a) is categorically excluded is conclusive as a matter 
of law and shall not be subject to judicial review. This conclusive 
determination shall apply in any judicial proceeding brought to enforce 
the National Environmental Policy Act pursuant to this section.
    (g) Excluded Federal Lands.--This section does not apply to any 
Federal lands--
            (1) included in a wilderness study area or a component of 
        the National Wilderness Preservation System; or
            (2) where logging is prohibited or restricted by an Act of 
        Congress, presidential proclamation, or agency determination.
    (h) Extraordinary Circumstances.--For all projects proposed 
pursuant to this section, if there are extraordinary circumstances, the 
Secretaries shall follow agency procedures related to categorical 
exclusions and extraordinary circumstances consistent with Council on 
Environmental Quality regulations.
    (i) Reduce Fire Risk and Improve Forest Health.--
            (1) In order to ensure that the agencies are implementing 
        projects pursuant to this section that reduce the risk of 
        unnaturally intense wildfires and improve forest health, the 
        Secretaries--
                    (A) shall not construct or reconstruct new 
                temporary or permanent roads in inventoried roadless 
                areas;
                    (B) shall maintain the integrity of mature and old 
                growth stands appropriate for each ecosystem type and 
                shall focus on thinning from below for all forest 
                thinning projects;
                    (C) shall use integrated pest management techniques 
                to forestall significant fuel loading in areas infested 
                by native insects;
                    (D) shall require a slash treatment plan when 
                thinning to reduce hazardous fuels in areas with insect 
                mortality and limit timber salvage activity to areas 
                with fifty percent or more mortality; and
                    (E) shall deposit in the Treasury of the United 
                States all revenues and receipts generated from 
                projects implemented pursuant to this Act.
            (2) In addition to the requirements set forth in paragraph 
        (1), the Secretaries shall ensure that projects implemented in 
        municipal watersheds protect or enhance water quality or water 
        quantity.
            (3) The Secretaries shall not use goods-for-service 
        contracting to implement projects pursuant to this section.
    (j) Long-Term Fuel Management.--In implementing hazardous fuels 
reduction projects pursuant to this section, the Secretaries shall 
ensure that--
            (1) funding to assure completion of all phases of the 
        project be committed by the management unit before the project 
        begins;
            (2) a follow-up treatment plan describing the long-term 
        maintenance activities to keep the treated areas within the 
        historical range of variability, and the project costs, shall 
        accompany all proposed projects; and
            (3) a system to track the budgeting and implementation of 
        follow-up treatments shall be used to account for the long-term 
        maintenance of areas managed to reduce hazardous fuels.
    (k) Hazardous Fuels Reduction Funding Focus.--In order to focus 
hazardous fuels reduction activities on the highest priority areas 
where critical issues of human safety and property loss are the most 
serious and within municipal watersheds, the Secretaries shall expend 
at least seventy percent of the hazardous fuels operations funds 
provided annually only on projects within the community protection zone 
or within municipal watersheds.
    (l) Communities.--
            (1) The Secretaries shall expend at least thirty percent of 
        the hazardous fuels operations funds provided annually on 
        projects that benefit small businesses that use small diameter 
        material and woody debris removed in hazardous fuels reduction 
        treatments and are located in small, economically disadvantaged 
        communities.
            (2) To conduct a project under this section, the 
        Secretaries shall use local preference contracting and best 
        value contracting. Best value contracting criteria includes--
                    (A) the ability of the contractor to meet the 
                ecological goals of the projects;
                    (B) the use of equipment that will minimize or 
                eliminate impacts on soils; and
                    (C) benefits to local communities such as ensuring 
                that the byproducts are processed locally.
    (m) Monitoring.--
            (1) The Secretaries shall jointly establish a commission to 
        complete an assessment of the positive or negative impacts and 
        effectiveness of projects implemented under this section. The 
        commission shall be composed of 12 to 15 members with equal 
        representation from conservation interests, local communities, 
        and commodity interests. The Commission shall submit a report 
        to Congress within 36 months after the date of enactment of 
        this Act. The report must include identification of the total 
        dollar value of contracts awarded to natural resource related 
        small or micro-enterprises, Youth Conservation Corps crews or 
        related partnerships, entities that hired and trained local 
        people to complete the contract or agreement, or local entities 
        that meet the criteria to qualify for the Historically 
        Underutilized Business Zone Program pursuant to section 32 of 
        the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657a).
            (2)(A) The Secretaries shall establish a multiparty 
        monitoring, evaluation, and accountability process in order to 
        assess a representative sampling of the projects implemented 
        pursuant to this section.
            (B) The Secretaries shall ensure that monitoring data is 
        collected and compiled in a way that the general public can 
        easily access. The Secretaries may collect the data using 
        cooperative agreements, grants, or contracts with small or 
        micro-enterprises, Youth Conservation Corps work crews or 
        related partnerships with State, local, and other non-Federal 
        conservation corps.
            (3) Funds to implement this section shall be derived from 
        hazardous fuels operations funds.
    (n) Sunset.--The provisions of this section shall expire five years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, except that a project for 
which a decision notice, or memorandum in the case of a categorical 
exclusion, has been issued before the end of such period may continue 
to be implemented using the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 4. INSECT INFESTATIONS.

    (a) During fiscal years 2004 and 2008, the Secretaries jointly 
shall make available from funds otherwise available in the Treasury, 
without further appropriation, $25,000,000 each fiscal year to conduct 
a systematic information gathering program on certain insect types that 
have caused large-scale damage to forest ecosystems in order to 
complete research that can be applied to forest management treatment 
and product utilization.
    (b) The Secretaries shall establish and carry out the program in 
cooperation with scientists from universities and forestry schools, 
State agencies, and private and industrial land owners. The Secretaries 
shall designate universities and forestry schools, including Land Grant 
Colleges and Universities and 1890 institutions, to carry out the 
program.
    (c) The Secretaries shall ensure that the program includes research 
on--
            (1) determining how to best use mechanical thinning and 
        prescribed fire to modify fire behavior and reduce fire risk, 
        and to improve the scientific basis for design, implementation 
        and evaluation of hazardous fuels reduction treatments;
            (2) gathering systematic information on insect types, 
        including Emerald Ash Borers, Gypsy Moth, Red Oak Borers, Asian 
        Longhorned Beetles, and Bark Beetles, that have caused large-
        scale damage to forest ecosystems, to establish early detection 
        programs for insect and disease infestation in order to prevent 
        massive breakouts, to determine the correlation between insect 
        mortality and fire risk in specific forest types, and to test 
        silvicultural systems that use integrated pest management; and
            (3) developing new technologies and markets for value-added 
        products that use the byproducts of insect infestation or 
        hazardous fuels reduction treatments.

SEC. 5. FIREFIGHTER SAFETY AND TRAINING.

    The Secretaries shall track funds expended for firefighter safety 
and training and including a line item for such expenditures in future 
budget requests.

SEC. 6. BORROWING AUTHORITY FOR FIRE SUPPRESSION.

    (a) The Secretary of Agriculture may request up to $250 million in 
a fiscal year from the Secretary of the Treasury to cover fire 
suppression costs that exceed the amount of funding available to the 
Forest Service for fire suppression in a fiscal year.
    (b) Upon such request, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make 
such sums available to the Secretary of Agriculture, without further 
appropriation.
    (c) Upon amounts being appropriated by Congress to reimburse funds 
transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to this section, 
such amounts shall be deposited in the Treasury.

SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON THE COMPETITIVE SOURCING INITIATIVE.

    The Competitive Sourcing Initiative and the Office of Management 
and Budget Circular No. A-76, dated May 29, 2003, shall not apply to 
the Forest Service.

SEC. 8. WILDFIRE RISK REDUCTION AND BURNED AREA RESTORATION.

    (a) In General.--During fiscal years 2004 through 2008, the 
Secretaries jointly shall make available from funds otherwise available 
in the Treasury, without further appropriation, $100,000,000 each 
fiscal year to reduce the risk of wildfire to structures and restore 
burned areas on tribal lands, nonindustrial private lands, and State 
lands using the authorities available pursuant to this section, the 
National Fire Plan and the Emergency Watershed Protection program.
    (b) Cost Share Grants.--In implementing this section, the 
Secretaries may make cost-share grants to Indian tribes, local fire 
districts, municipalities, homeowner associations, and counties, to 
remove, transport, and dispose of hazardous fuels around homes and 
property to--
            (1) prevent structural damage as a result of wildfire, or
            (2) to restore or rehabilitate burned areas on non-Federal 
        lands.
    (c) Non-Federal Contribution.--The non-Federal contribution may be 
in the form of cash or in-kind contribution.
    (d) Priority.--Priority for such funds shall be given to areas 
where the applicable local government has enacted ordinances for 
wildland areas requiring or promoting brush clearance around homes and 
requiring fire-retardant building materials for new construction.
    (e) Availability of Funds.--Amounts appropriated in one fiscal year 
and unobligated before the end of that fiscal year shall remain 
available for use in subsequent fiscal years.
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