[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8731 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8731

To fill vacancies for Forest Service recreation management and planning 
           staff in National Forests, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 2020

Mr. Panetta (for himself, Mr. Carbajal, and Mr. Thompson of California) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To fill vacancies for Forest Service recreation management and planning 
           staff in National Forests, 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 ``Save Our Forests Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Between 2015 and 2019, on average, 88 percent of 
        wildfires in the United States have been human-caused.
            (2) Human-caused fires tend to occur in or near the 
        wildland-urban interface (as defined in section 101 of the 
        Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511)), 
        where there is a greater risk to people and communities and a 
        higher cost to suppress fires.
            (3) The wildland-urban interface is the fastest-growing 
        land use type in the United States, posing challenges for fire 
        management and suppression.
            (4) Over the last 10 years, an average of 64,100 wildfires 
        and an average of 6.8 million acres burned annually. In 2019, 
        50,477 wildfires burned and 4,700,000 acres burned nationwide. 
        Approximately 65 percent of these acres burned on Federal land, 
        of which close to 20 percent or 600,000 acres were National 
        Forest System lands.
            (5) The Forest Service suffers from chronic staffing 
        shortages, with several National Forests struggling to maintain 
        their acreage with insufficient recreation management and 
        planning staff.

SEC. 3. FILLING FOREST SERVICE RECREATION MANAGEMENT STAFF VACANCIES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 
Chief of the Forest Service, shall fill vacancies in National Forests 
for Forest Service recreation management and planning staff, including 
recreation technicians, recreation officers, and natural resource 
managers.
    (b) Priority.--In seeking to fill vacancies under subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall prioritize filling vacancies in National Forests 
that--
            (1) are at high or very high risk of catastrophic 
        wildfires;
            (2) are located in or near the wildland-urban interface; 
        and
            (3) have experienced an increase in visitation over the 
        past decade.
    (c) Training and Certification as a Forest Protection Officer.--The 
Secretary may provide the opportunity for any individual who fills a 
vacancy pursuant to subsection (a) to receive training and 
certification as a Forest Protection Officer.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--In addition to other funds that may be 
        available to the Forest Service for the purposes specified in 
        this section, there is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
        out this section such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 
        2021 and each fiscal year thereafter.
            (2) Administrative expenses.--Of the amounts available 
        under paragraph (1) for each fiscal year, not more than 3 
        percent may be used for administrative expenses incurred in 
        carrying out this section.
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