What’s being done
Forestry and Watershed Related Congress Bills in 2015
National Forest Ecosystem Improvement Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in Senate (06/25/2015)
This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), acting through the Forest Service, to identify, prioritize, and carry out ecosystem restoration projects on National Forest System land in accordance with applicable land and resource management plans, if any, to accomplish one or more of the following objectives:
- restore terrestrial habitat;
- sustain water quality, water flows, or watershed health and function;
- create, improve, or increase early seral habitat;
- carry out a needed timber stand improvement;
- reduce the risk or extent of insect or disease infestation;
- reduce wildland fire severity potential;
- implement a community wildfire protection plan; or
- establish, recover, or maintain ecosystem resiliency.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1691?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=16
Restoring America’s Watersheds Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in Senate (07/15/2015)
This bill directs the Forest Service to establish a Water Source Protection Program for National Forest System land derived from the public domain. It also authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enter into water source investment partnerships with specified end water users to protect and restore the condition of National Forest watersheds that provide water to non-federal partners.
The bill directs the Forest Service to establish a Watershed Condition Framework for System land derived from the public domain to:
- evaluate and classify the condition of watersheds,
- identify for restoration up to five priority watersheds in each National Forest and up to two priority watersheds in each national grassland,
- develop a watershed restoration action plan for each priority watershed,
- prioritize restoration activities for each watershed restoration action plan,
- implement each watershed restoration action plan, and
- monitor the effectiveness of restoration actions and indicators of watershed health.
The bill reauthorizes the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund for each of FY2016-FY2024.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1780?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=64
National Forest Collaborative Incentive Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in House (06/03/2015)
The USDA, with respect to National Forest System land, and the Department of the Interior, with respect to certain land under its jurisdiction, shall ensure that at least 50% of the project funds reserved by a participating county shall be made available only for projects that: (1) include the sale of timber or other forest products, and (2) implement stewardship objectives that enhance forest ecosystems or restore and improve land health and water quality. Repeals the current limitation of such projects to those for road maintenance, decommissioning, or obliteration or for restoration of streams and watersheds.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2644?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest+water%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=3
Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015
Status: Passed House amended (07/09/2015)
To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and improve forest management activities on National Forest System lands, on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and on tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested lands, and for other purposes. Content includes:
Title I–expedited environmental analysis and availability of categorical exclusions to expedite forest management activities
Title II–salvage and reforestation in response to catastrophic events
Title III–collaborative project litigation requirement
Title IV–secure rural schools and community self-determination act amendments
Title V–stewardship end result contracting
Title VI–additional funding sources for forest management activities
Title VII–tribal forestry participation and protection
Title VIII–miscellaneous forest management provisions
Title IX–major disaster for wildfire on federal land
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2647
State National Forest Management Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in House (09/29/2015)
This bill directs the Department of Agriculture, through the Forest Service, to convey to a state up to 2 million acres of eligible portions of the National Forest System (NFS) in it that it elects to acquire through enactment by the state legislature of a bill meeting certain criteria.
Portions of the NFS conveyed to a state shall be administered and managed primarily for timber production.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3650?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=2
Forest Incentives Program Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in Senate (07/09/2015)
This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a forest incentives program to achieve supplemental greenhouse gas emission reductions and carbon sequestration on U.S. private forest land (eligible land) through:
- carbon incentives contracts, and
- conservation easement agreements.
In selecting projects under such program, USDA shall give priority to contracts and agreements that:
- sequester the most carbon on a per acre basis; and
- create forestry jobs or protect habitats and achieve significant other environmental, economic, and social benefits.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1733
Fostering Opportunities for Resources and Education Spending Through Timber Sales Act of 2015 or the FORESTS Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in House (04/30/2015)
This bill directs the Department of Agriculture to establish at least one Forest Active Management Area within each unit of the National Forest System designated for sustainable forest management for the production of national forest materials (trees, portions of trees, or forest products) and forest active management revenues (derived from the sale of such materials).
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2178?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=23
Healthy Forest Management and Wildfire Prevention Act
Status: Introduced in House (02/03/2015)
Allows a state governor or the Department of Agriculture, with respect the National Forest System, or the Department of the Interior, with respect to public lands, to designate high-risk areas of the national forests and public lands in the state for purposes of addressing: (1) deteriorating forest health conditions due to the bark beetle epidemic or drought, with the resulting imminent risk of devastating wildfires; and (2) the future risk of insect infestations or disease outbreaks through preventative treatments to improve forest health conditions. Excludes wilderness areas and national monuments from designation as high-risk areas. Establishes a 20-year period for such high-risk area designation.
Allows a governor or the department concerned, upon designation of a high-risk area, to provide for the development of proposed emergency hazardous fuels reduction projects for the area. Applies the administrative and judicial review processes of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, with modifications, to such projects.
Amends the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 to extend the duration of contracts to perform services to achieve land management goals for national forests and public lands that meet local and rural community needs.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/695?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=32
Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in Senate (11/17/2015)
Directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), with respect to National Forest System lands, and the Department of the Interior, with respect to public lands, to implement authorized wildfire prevention projects in at-risk forests and on threatened and endangered species habitat in a manner that focuses on surface, ladder, and canopy fuels reduction activities.
Requires projects carried out in at-risk forests to move the federal land from condition class II or III toward condition class I, as those classes were developed by the ForestService Rocky Mountain Research Station in a specified general technical report.
Permits use in a project of: (1) domestic livestock grazing to reduce surface fuel loads and to recover burned areas; and (2) timber harvesting and thinning to reduce ladder and canopy fuel loads for the prevention of wildfire, including catastrophic wildfires.
Directs USDA and Interior to review public petitions for, and make determinations with respect to, the designation of federal lands as at-risk forests or as threatened and endangered species habitats.
Requires notice in the Federal Register of proposed projects and final designated projects and permits public comment on projects as specified.
Instructs USDA and Interior to prepare an environmental assessment for projects that include timber harvesting or grazing.
Instructs USDA and Interior to research what impact any listing of a species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 would have on both forage and timber forest fuel loads. Requires endangered species recovery plans and critical habitat determinations to include a wildfire risk assessment analysis.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2286?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=44
Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2015
Status: Introduced in House (06/04/2015)
Designates certain federal land in the Olympic National Forest in the state of Washington as wilderness and components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Designates certain other land, identified on the same map as such proposed areas, as potential wilderness.
Withdraws the federal land within the boundaries of the designated river segments from: (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2665?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=48
H.R.4151 Amendment
Status: Introduced in House (12/01/2015)
This bill makes permanent the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
Of the appropriations from the LWCF: (1) at least 40% shall be used collectively for federal purposes for certain land and water acquisitions (as currently); (2) at least 40% shall be used collectively to provide financial assistance to states for LWCF purposes and for outdoor recreation, for the Forest Legacy Program, for cooperative endangered species grants, and for the American Battlefield Protection Program; and (3) at least 1.5% or $10 million, whichever is greater, shall be used for projects that secure recreational public access to federal public land for hunting, fishing, or other recreational purposes.
The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture shall consider the acquisition of conservation easements and other similar interests in land where it is appropriate and feasible, taking specified considerations into account.
The bill establishes a National Park Service Critical Maintenance and Revitalization Conservation Fund in the Treasury for the deposit of specified amounts from revenues due and payable to the United States under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4151?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest+water%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=13
National Park and Wilderness Waters Protection Forever Act
Status: Introduced in House (04/28/2015)
Withdraws federal lands within the Rainy River Drainage Basin in Minnesota from all forms of: (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation under the mineral leasing and mineral material laws.
Deems the approval of any lease or permit for activities relating to mining on federal lands in the Basin to be a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. Requires an environmental impact statement conducted for such an action to include consideration of any potential impacts to units of the National Park System (NPS) or land in the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) located in the Basin. Conditions the issuance or renewal of any such lease or permit on a requirement that the permittee or lessee seasonally monitor water quality on such lands throughout the Basin. Requires all mining activities to be suspended if any mining related contamination is detected in any NPS unit or NWPS land in the Basin until all contamination has been remediated.
Bars a federal agency from approving any mining related activities on federal lands in the Basin until the entity holding a lease or permit for that activity has submitted.
Find more at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2072?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22forest+water%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=15
Federal Land Invasive Species Control, Prevention, and Management Act
Status: Introduced in Senate (11/04/2015)
Directs the Department of the Interior (respecting federal land administered through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) (respecting federal land administered through the U.S. Forest Service) to plan and carry out activities on land directly managed by the department concerned to control and manage invasive species in order to inhibit or reduce their populations and to effectuate restoration or reclamation efforts.
Requires the department concerned to develop a strategic plan for the implementation of an invasive species program that endeavors to achieve an annual 5% net reduction of invasive species populations on land managed by that department.