[Senate Report 108-254]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 477
108th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 108-254
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COOPERATIVE FORESTRY ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1978
_______
April 26, 2004.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1910]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which
was referred the bill (S. 1910) to direct the Secretary of
Agriculture to carry out an inventory and management program
for forests derived from public domain land, having considered
the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and
recommends that the bill do pass.
Purpose of the Measure
The purpose of S. 1910 is to direct the Secretary of
Agriculture to carry out an inventory and management program
for forests derived from public domain land.
Background and Need
Recent focus on restoring the health of and reducing
hazardous fuels in forested lands in our National Forests has
highlighted the importance of accurately identifying and
monitoring the location, type, and conditions of forest stands.
This information also is crucial in developing a comprehensive
early warning system for potential catastrophic environmental
threats to these forests. Such a system would significantly
increase the likelihood that forest managers could isolate and
treat any such outbreak before it gets out of control. Recent
advances in technology offer promising methods for collecting
this information more efficiently and effectively.
A program designed to accomplish these goals already is
authorized for some National Forest lands, but its focus is
limited to the Eastern United States. These continues to be a
need to develop this information for National Forest lands in
the West, however.
Legislative History
During the development of the Healthy Forest Restoration
Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-148 (2003), the program authorized
by S. 1910 was included in the Act as it passed the Senate. In
conference, however, the Senate language was dropped in favor
of more limited language from the House bill that focused on
forest in the East. See. e.g., H.R. Rep. No. 108-386 at 43-44
(2003); tit. VI, Sec. 601, Pub. L. No. 108-148 (2003).
S. 1910 was introduced in the Senate by Senator Wyden on
November 20, 2003. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
held a hearing on February 12, 2004. At the business meeting on
March 24, 2004, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
ordered the measure favorably reported without amendment.
Committee Recommendations
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in
an open business session on March 24, 2004, by a unanimous
voice vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass
S. 1920.
Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1 amends section 17 of the Cooperative Forestry
Assistance Act of 1978 bystriking the effective date of the
original Act and inserting new language addressing forest inventory and
management.
Subsection (a) of the amendment directs the Secretary to
carry out a program to inventory, monitor, characterize, assess
and identify forest stands on National Forest System lands
derived from the public domain and private forest land with the
consent of the landowner.
Subsection (b) of the amendment requires the use of remote
sensing technology, emerging geospatial research capabilities,
validating techniques, and integrated results.
Subsection (c) of the amendment directs the Secretary to
address early detection of environmental threats such as
insect, disease, invasive species, fire, acid deposition, and
weather-related risks and other episodic events, forest
degradation, carbon uptake, management practices, and forest
characterization.
Subsection (d) of the amendment requires the development of
an early warning system for potential catastrophic
environmental threats to forests.
Subsection (e) of the amendment designates the Ochoco
National Forest headquarters in Prineville, Oregon, to address
the issues in described subsection (c), with emphasis on
coniferous stands in the Western United States.
Subsection (f) of the amendment authorizes appropriations.
Cost and Budgetary Considerations
The following estimate of the costs of this measure has
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, March 29, 2004.
Hon. Pete V. Domenici,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1910, a bill to
direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out an inventory
and management program for forests derived from public domain
land.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Megan
Carroll.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth M. Robinson
(For Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director).
Enclosure.
S. 1910--A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out an
inventory and management program for forests derived from
public domain land
Summary: S. 1910 would authorize the appropriation of funds
necessary for the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a
program to assess the health of certain federal and private
forests, primarily in western states. The bill would direct the
Secretary to develop means of detecting potentially
catastrophic environmental threats to those forests and
specifies that those efforts should be carried out from a
facility in the Ochoco National Forest in Oregon.
Based on information from the Forest Service about the
level of effort and resources needed to meet those
requirements, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1910 would
cost $2 million in 2005 and $24 million over the 2005-2009
period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. The
bill would not affect direct spending or revenues. S. 1910
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would
impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: For this
estimate, CBO assumes that S. 1910 will be enacted near the
start of fiscal year 2005 and that amounts estimated to be
necessary will be provided each year. Estimates of outlays are
based on historical spending patterns for similar activities.
The estimated budgetary impact of S. 1910 is shown in the
following table. The costs of this legislation fall within
budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
--------------------------------------------
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
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CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Estimated authorization level...................................... 5 5 5 5 5
Estimated outlays.................................................. 2 6 6 5 5
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Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 1910
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMR and would impose no costs on state, local, or
tribal governments.
Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Megan Carroll. Impact
on State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Marjorie Miller.
Impact on the Private Sector: Selena Caldera.
Estimate approved by: Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
Regulatory Impact Evaluation
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out S. 1910.
The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of
imposing Government-established standards or significant
economic responsibilities on private individuals and
businesses. Private land only will be considered with the
consent of the landowner.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of S. 1910.
Executive Communications
On February 12, 2004, the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources requested legislative reports from the Department of
Agriculture and the Office of Management and Budget setting
forth executive views on S. 1910. The testimony provided by the
Department of Agriculture at the Subcommittee hearing follows:
Statement of USDA Forest Service, Department of Agriculture
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for
the opportunity to present the Department of Agriculture's
views on S. 1910, a bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture
to carry out an inventory and management program for forests
derived from public domain land with the purpose of providing
long term solutions to forest health issues. The Department of
Agriculture supports S. 1910.
On December 3, 2003, President Bush signed into law the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) of 2003 to reduce the
threat of destructive wildfires while upholding environmental
standards and encouraging early public input during review and
planning processes. The legislation is based on sound science
and helps further the President's Healthy Forests Initiative
pledge to care for America's forests and rangelands, reduce the
risk of catastrophic fire to communities, help save the lives
of firefighters and citizens, and protect threatened and
endangered species. The HFRA also authorizes a forest stand
inventory and monitoring program to improve detection for and
response to environmental threats on National Forest lands
other than those NFS lands reserved from the public domain and
private lands with the owners' consent.
S. 1910, as introduced, would complement the Healthy Forest
Restoration Act by authorizing an inventory and management
program on National Forest lands reserved from the public
domain with an emphasis on forest stands in the Western United
States. The bill would amend the Cooperative Forestry
Assistance Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture
to use geospatial and information management technologies to
inventory, monitor, and identify National Forest System and
private (with landowner consent) forest stands through the
application of remote sensing technology of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United
States Geological Survey; emerging geospatial capabilities in
research activities; field verification to validate techniques;
and integrating the results into pilot operational systems.
Under the provisions of the S. 1910, the Secretary would
address: (1) environmental threats (including insect, disease,
invasive species, fire, acid deposition, and weather-related
risks and other episodic events); (2) forest degradation, and
preventive management practices; (3) quantification of carbon
uptake rates; and (4) characterization of vegetation types,
density, fire regimes, and post-fire effects. The bill would
require the Secretary to develop a comprehensive early warning
system for potential catastrophic environmental forest threats.
The Secretary would also designate and maintain a facility
in the Ochoco National Forest headquarters in Prineville,
Oregon, to address these issues.
S. 1910 is important because if recognizes the critical
need to help identify priorities and monitor progress as
implementation of the National Fire Plan, the President's
Healthy Forests Initiative and the Healthy Forest Restoration
Act proceeds. Current condition class and fire regime maps
require updating, and by using remote sensing the Forest
Service can track changes in condition class over time as
vegetation changes and projects are implemented on the ground.
Opportunities exist to work with NASA, other agencies and the
commercial sector to use state-of-the-art technologies in earth
observations, from aircraft and spacecraft, and output from
predictive models to improve the timeliness and accuracy of
forest and rangeland inventories, monitor changes over time,
and detect insect and disease infestations.
Several existing Forest Service programs are well
positioned to help address the issues identified in the
proposed legislation.
The Forest Service participates in national and
international monitoring efforts for disturbances, forest
health, and sustainability. Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) is a
national program designed to determine the status, changes, and
trends in indicators of forest condition on an annual basis.
The FHM program uses data from ground plots and surveys, aerial
surveys, and other biotic and abiotic data sources and develops
analytical approaches to address forest health issues that
affect the sustainability of forest ecosystems.
Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) is the Nation's forest
census. The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collects data
and reports annually on strategic-scale status and trends in
the Nation's forests, including data on forest threats,
degradation, and vegetation characterization. These reports
cover status and trends in forest area and location; species,
size, and health of trees; total tree growth, mortality, and
removals by harvest; wood production and utilization rates by
various products; and forest land ownership. The FIA program
includes information relating to tree crown condition, lichen
community composition, soils, ozone indicator plants, complete
vegetative diversity, and coarse woody debris. In addition to
strategic-scale analysis, National Forest land managers are
highly interested in monitoring forests at the stand level.
Active stand-level inventory programs are underway in several
Regions and could be applied in the forests of eastern Oregon.
A part of the President's Climate Change Science program
involves interagency activity focused on integrating land-based
and remote sensing inventories of carbon. This integration is
done through partnerships at a variety of work units across the
United States to cover all forest ecosystems. Forest Service
Research and Development produces the national forest carbon
inventory, through a multi-disciplinary national team, and
includes quantification of carbon uptake. Other research
activities develop carbon uptake estimates, carbon management
systems, and management practices that protect and enhance
forest health and productivity.
The agency also participates in developing detection,
monitoring and mitigation systems for invasive species at
various scales. The Forest Health Protection program of the
Forest Service works closely with other Federal and State
partners to detect and eradicate new invasions of invasive
forest insects and pathogens, such as the Asian longhorned
beetle, emerald ash borer, and sudden oak death, with the aim
of reducing future impacts to urban and forest environments.
The proposed inventory program in S. 1910, especially
integrated with the existing inventory and monitoring
activities of the Forest Service and our state partners, would
complement those programs in important ways. Specifically,
increasing emphasis on stand-level monitoring will be of great
interest to land managers and others involved in planning and
implementing specific forest management projects on the ground.
Linking these programs would support an effective early warning
system that will enable land managers to isolate and treat
before the threat gets out of control; and prevent epidemics
that could be environmentally and economically devastating to
forests.
The Central Oregon location presents opportunities to pilot
technologies due to the diverse forest types ranging from wet
Douglas fir and mountain hemlock at the crest of the Cascades
to dry juniper and sagebrush at the lower elevations, and the
various forest types in-between. Forests across central Oregon
are representative of most of the coniferous forests across the
west. Insects and diseases present include Mountain Pine
Beetle, spruce budworm, various root rots, and mistletoe. An
Inventory Center on the Ochoco National Forest would provide an
opportunity to integrate and synthesize important forest health
and fuels information from Forest Service Research and
Development, State and Private Forestry and National Forest
Systems.
We would like to work with the communities on the exact
location of the center within the Prineville community. We
believe there may be sites other than the headquarters building
which would serve the purposes of the bill.
We look forward to working with the committee and others
interested in addressing healthy forest ecosystems. This
concludes my testimony. I would be happy to answer any
questions that you may have.
Changes in Existing Law
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
S. 1910, as ordered reported, are shown as follows (existing
law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
COOPERATIVE FORESTRY ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1978
(Public Law 95-313; 92 Stat. 365)
* * * * * * *
[EFFECTIVE DATE
[Sec. 17. The provisions of this Act shall become effective
October 1, 1978.]
SEC. 17. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT.
(a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out a program
using geospatial and information management technologies
(including remote sensing imaging and decision support systems)
to inventory, monitor, characterize, assess, and identify
forest stands and potential forest stands on--
(1) units of the National Forest System derived from
public domain land; and
(2) private forest land, with the consent of the
owner of the land.
(b) Means.--The Secretary shall carry out the program
through the use of--
(1) remote sensing technology of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration and the United
States Geological Survey;
(2) emerging geospatial capabilities in research
activities;
(3) validating techniques, including coordination and
reconciliation with existing data through field
verification, using application demonstrations; and
(4) integration of results into pilot operational
systems.
(c) Issues To Be Addressed.--In carrying out the program,
the Secretary shall address issues including--
(1) early detection, identification, and assessment
of environmental threats (including insect, disease,
invasive species, fire, acid deposition, and weather-
related risks and other episodic events);
(2) loss or degradation of forests;
(3) degradation of the quality forest stands caused
by inadequate forest regeneration practices;
(4) quantification of carbon uptakes rates;
(5) management practices that focus on preventing
further forest degradation; and
(6) characterization of vegetation types, density,
fire regimes, post-fire effects, and condition class.
(d) Early Warning System.--In carrying out the program, the
Secretary shall develop a comprehensive early warning system
for potential catastrophic environmental threats to forests to
increase the likelihood that forest managers will be able to--
(1) isolate and treat a threat before the threat gets
out of control; and
(2) prevent epidemics, such as the American chestnut
blight in the first half of the twentieth century, that
could be environmentally and economically devastating
to forests.
(e) Administration.--To carry out this section, the
Secretary shall designate and maintain a facility in the Ochoco
National Forest headquarters in Prineville, Oregon, that will
address the issues described in subsection (c), with a
particular emphasis on coniferous forest stands in the Western
United States.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this
section.
* * * * * * *