[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 126 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S9719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Mr. Warner, and Ms. Mikulski):
  S. 3023. A bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish 
a program to expand and strengthen cooperative efforts to restore and 
protect forests in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to 
continue and enhance the USDA Forest Service's role in the restoration 
of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Joining me in sponsoring this 
legislation are my colleagues, Senators Warner and Mikulski.
  Forest loss and fragmentation are occurring rapidly in the Chesapeake 
Bay region and are among the most important issues facing the Bay and 
forest management today. According to the National Resources Inventory, 
the States closest to the Bay lost 350,000 acres of forest between 
1987-1997 or almost 100 acres per day. More and more rural areas are 
being converted to suburban developments resulting in smaller 
contiguous forest tracts. These trends are leading to a regional forest 
land base that is more vulnerable to conversion, less likely to be 
economically viable in the future, and is losing its capacity to 
protect watershed health and other ecological benefits, such as 
controlling storm water runoff, erosion and air pollution, all critical 
to the Bay clean-up effort.
  Since 1990, the USDA Forest Service has been an important part of the 
Chesapeake Bay Program. Administered through the Northeastern Area, 
State and Private Forestry, this program has worked closely with 
Federal, State and local partners in the six-state Chesapeake Bay 
region to demonstrate how forest protection, restoration and 
stewardship activities, can contribute to achieving the Bay restoration 
goals. Over the past 12 years, it has provided modest levels of 
technical and financial assistance, averaging approximately $300,000 
year, to develop collaborative watershed projects that address 
watershed forest conservation, restoration and stewardship. With the 
signing of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement, the role of the USDA Forest 
Service has become more important than ever. Among other provisions, 
this Agreement requires the signatories to conserve existing forests 
along all streams and shoreline; promote the expansion and connection 
of contiguous forests; assess the Bay's forest lands; and provide 
technical and financial assistance to local governments to plan for or 
revise plans, ordinances and subdivision regulations to provide for the 
conservation and sustainable use of the forest and agricultural lands. 
To address these goals, the USDA Forest Service must have additional 
resources and authority, and that is what my amendment seeks to 
provide.
  This legislation codifies the roles and responsibilities of the USDA 
Forest Service to the Bay restoration effort. It strengthens existing 
coordination, technical assistance, forest resource assessment and 
planning efforts. It authorizes a small grants program to support local 
agencies, watershed associations and citizen groups in conducting on-
the-ground conservation projects. It also establishes a regional 
applied forestry research and training program to enhance urban, 
suburban and rural forests in the watershed. Finally it authorizes $3.5 
million for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2010, a modest increase 
in view of the six-state, 64,000 square mile watershed. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
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