[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 27 (Thursday, February 13, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF THE CLEARWATER BASIN PROJECT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. C.L. ``BUTCH'' OTTER

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 13, 2003

  Mr. OTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise before the House today to introduce 
the Clearwater Basin Project Act, a bill to provide for enhanced 
collaborative forest stewardship management within the Clearwater and 
Nez Perce national forests in Idaho. I am pleased to be joined by 
Congressman Mike Simpson, a fellow Idahoan, in introducing this 
legislation.
  The Forest Service has not been able to adequately address insect 
outbreak, catastrophic fire, and other fish and wildlife habitat and 
ecosystem health issues on the lands it manages within the basin. That 
is why I am introducing The Clearwater Basin Project Act to provide a 
better mechanism to address critical resource issues concerning 
Clearwater and Nez Perce national forest lands. The legislation takes 
advantage of existing collaboration and stewardship mechanisms to 
provide a more effective framework for stakeholders to work with the 
Forest Service to attain some meaningful forest management results on 
the ground.
  In 1996, the state of Idaho established a Federal Land Task Force to 
design potential pilot projects on federal lands. The task force report 
identified a broken decision-making process as part of the problem on 
federal lands. An eight-member working group identified five pilot 
projects on Idaho's federal lands. The legislation I am introducing 
today is a product of that process. The Clearwater Basin Project Act 
implements concepts and addresses needs identified in the Clearwater 
Basin Collaborative Project that was described in the December 2000 
Federal Land Task Force Working Group Report, ``Breaking the 
Gridlock.'' The aims of the original Clearwater Project and the Act are 
to provide a better mechanism to address critical resource issues 
concerning Clearwater and Nez Perce national forest lands within the 
basin.
  This legislation provides an up-to-date, reasonable and realistic 
approach to implementing a pilot project on national forest lands in 
the Clearwater Basin. The Act facilitates forest management through 
consensus-building procedures to expedite identification, scheduling 
and implementation of specific high-priority forest stewardship 
activities. The legislation provides a working test of innovative 
collaborative management, fully within the framework of existing 
environmental laws.
  This legislation requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish 
the Clearwater Advisory Panel (CAP), a collaborative group comprised of 
a broad spectrum of stakeholders in Clearwater Basin national forest 
management. The CAP is to work with the Forest Service, other agencies 
and the public to consider and recommend specific high-priority forest 
stewardship activities to implement over a five-year period within the 
Basin.
  This act does not bypass existing environmental legislation. Rather, 
it requires the Forest Service and other federal agencies to complete 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other consultation and 
coordination procedures for each proposed schedule of activities, 
within one year after the Forest Service issues the public scoping 
notice for the proposed schedule. The appropriate forest supervisor is 
required to review the five-year schedule of activities for each 
forest, then issue a decision document within 30 days regarding whether 
to approve the schedule recommended by the CAP.
  The Act also provides additional authority for stewardship and other 
contracting to prepare and carry out activities recommended and 
approved for priority implementation. Also authorized is monitoring to 
measure the success of the project and to assure accountability and 
determine what funding and other support is needed for the project to 
succeed.
  It is important to note that nothing in this act (1) transfers 
ownership or control of any national forest lands from the United 
States to anyone else; (2) transfers Forest Service national forest 
decision authority to anyone else; (3) exempts Forest Service decisions 
or the priority activities from environmental laws, or from 
administrative appeal and judicial review; or (4) impairs opportunities 
for participation by any interest group or the general public.
  The need for this legislation is greater now then ever. Elk City, a 
small rural community in my district, is an island in a sea of Forest 
Service, Bureau of Land Management, and state lands. The town is 
surrounded by dead and dying timber. However, because of federal 
regulations there is little or no access to the resource. That is 
threatening the local mill and placing the city and its residents at 
risk of catastrophic wildfires. Inaction no longer is an alternative 
for the Clearwater Basin. We cannot sit idly by and watch the forest 
bum. We must take action before our precious resource is destroyed and 
the lives of those dependent upon the resources are changed forever.

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