Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery and Economic Stability Act of 1996

Summary: Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery and Economic Stability Act of 1996 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a pilot project within the Plumas, Lassen, and Tahoe National Forests, California, to demonstrate the effectiveness of specified resource management activities recommended by the Quincy Library Group.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery 
and Economic Stability Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. PILOT PROJECT FOR PLUMAS, LASSEN, AND TAHOE NATIONAL FORESTS TO 
              IMPLEMENT QUINCY LIBRARY GROUP PROPOSAL.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) As a consequence of fire suppression and an over-
        accumulation of natural fuels, forest stands in the Sierra 
        Nevada, particularly within the Plumas National Forest, Lassen 
        National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger District of the 
        Tahoe National Forest in the State of California, have been 
        highly altered both in structure and function by the 
        development of dense, shade tolerant understories that place 
        such forest stands at an unnatural risk of epidemic mortality 
        from disease and insect infestations and high-intensity stand-
        replacing fire.
            (2) Enhanced resource management activities, including 
        thinning, salvage logging, pruning, brush clearing, prescribed 
        fire, and uneven-aged timber stand management (using individual 
        tree and group selection) are necessary throughout these three 
        national forests to mitigate unnatural tree mortality, reduce 
        fuel loads, break up fuel continuity in areas of fire prone 
        forest, and achieve long-term forest health.
            (3) Communities in the Sierra Nevada throughout northern 
        California rely upon the revenues derived from the sale of 
        forest products from Federal lands for education, roads, basic 
        infrastructure, and overall economic stability.
            (4) The Quincy Library Group of northern California is a 
        coalition of representatives of the timber industry, 
        environmental organizations, citizens, and local communities 
        that formed to develop a resource management program for 
        Federal lands in the Sierra Nevada that could be carried out in 
        a manner that simultaneously maximizes forest health, cost-
        effectiveness, and social and economic benefits to forest-
        dependent communities.
            (5) The agreement reached by this group in 1993, known as 
        the Quincy Library Group Proposal of 1993, recommended a 
        localized, adaptive management strategy for designated lands in 
        the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the 
        Sierraville Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest for 
        implementing, in a cost-effective manner, the resource 
        management activities necessary to reduce fire risk and enhance 
        forest health while providing greater economic stability to 
        forest-dependent communities.
            (6) Implementation of the resource management activities 
        recommended in the Quincy Library Group Proposal of 1993 as a 
        pilot project on these national forests can demonstrate the 
        feasibility of utilizing locally-developed adaptive management 
        strategies that may be applicable throughout California and the 
        intermountain northwest.
    (b) Pilot Project Required.--
            (1) Implementation and purpose.--The Secretary of 
        Agriculture, acting through the Forest Service, shall conduct a 
        pilot project on the Federal lands described in paragraph (2) 
        to implement and demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource 
        management activities described in subsection (d), as 
        recommended in the Quincy Library Group Proposal of 1993.
            (2) Pilot project area.--The Secretary shall conduct the 
        pilot project on the Federal lands within the Plumas National 
        Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger 
        District of the Tahoe National Forest in the State of 
        California depicted on the map entitled ``Quincy Library Group 
        Community Stability Proposal'', dated June 1993. The map shall 
        be on file and available for inspection in the appropriate 
        offices of the Forest Service.
    (c) Exclusion of Certain Lands; Exception.--
            (1) Exclusion.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), all 
        spotted owl habitat areas and protected activity centers 
        located within the pilot project area designated under 
        subsection (b)(2) will be deferred from timber harvesting 
        during the term of the pilot project.
            (2) Exception for designated catastrophic event areas.--The 
        Secretary may designate an area within the pilot project area 
        that is otherwise precluded from timber harvesting pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) and subsection (b)(2) as a catastrophic event 
        area in which the resource management activities described in 
        subsection (d) may be applied if the Secretary, upon completion 
        of an environmental impact statement, finds that--
                    (A) the area proposed for designation has 
                experienced disturbances from wildfires, insect 
                infestations, disease, drought, or other natural causes 
                and will suffer further environmental degradation, such 
                as soil erosion, stream damage, or habitat loss, in the 
                absence of the resource management activities; and
                    (B) implementation of one or more resource 
                management activities described in subsection (d) in 
                the area proposed for designation is likely to reduce 
                or prevent continued environmental degradation.
            (3) Notice of proposed designation.--Immediately upon 
        publication of the draft environmental impact statement 
        required under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall publish in 
        the Federal Register notice of any prospective decision to 
        designate a catastrophic event area under such paragraph on the 
        basis of the environmental impact statement. The notice shall--
                    (A) set forth the location of the affected area;
                    (B) describe the forest health conditions in such 
                area;
                    (C) provide the reasons for proposing to designate 
                the area as a catastrophic event area; and
                    (D) contain a brief description of the resource 
                management activity or activities that the Secretary 
                proposes to select for the area.
            (4) Public comment.--The Secretary shall provide a 45-day 
        period for the submission of public comments regarding a draft 
        environmental impact statement prepared under paragraph (2) and 
        any prospective decision to designate, on the basis of the 
        environmental impact statement, a catastrophic event area. The 
        comment period shall begin on the date of the publication of 
        the draft environmental impact statement or the date notice is 
        published under paragraph (3) of the prospective decision to 
        designate the catastrophic event area, whichever is later. 
        During the comment period, the Secretary shall hold a hearing 
        on the decision in a community near the area proposed for 
        designation.
    (d) Resource Management Activities.--During the term of the pilot 
project, the Secretary shall implement and carry out the following 
resource management activities on the Federal lands included within the 
pilot project area designated under subsection (b)(2):
            (1) Construction of a strategic system of defensible, 
        shaded fuelbreaks on not less than 50,000 acres per year.
            (2) Implementation, on an acreage rather than volume basis, 
        of uneven-aged forest management prescriptions utilizing 
        individual tree selection and group selection to achieve a 
        desired future condition of an all-age, multi-story, fire 
        resistant forest.
    (e) Cost-Effectiveness.--In conducting the pilot project, Secretary 
shall use the most cost-effective means available, as determined by the 
Secretary, to implement resource management activities described in 
subsection (d).
    (f) Effect on Multiple Use Activities.--The Secretary shall not 
rely on the resource management activities described in subsection (d) 
as a basis for administrative action limiting other multiple use 
activities on Federal lands included within the pilot project area 
designated under subsection (b)(2).
    (g) Funding.--
            (1) Source of funds.--In conducting the pilot project, the 
        Secretary shall use--
                    (A) those funds that were specifically provided to 
                the Forest Service by the Secretary during fiscal year 
                1996 to begin implementing resource management 
                activites according to the Quincy Library Group 
                Proposal of 1993; and
                    (B) other funds as are appropriated for the 
                administration of Plumas National Forest, Lassen 
                National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger District of 
                the Tahoe National Forest.
            (2) Prohibition on use of certain funds.--The Secretary may 
        not conduct the pilot project using funds appropriated for any 
        other unit of the National Forest System.
    (h) Term of Pilot Project.--The Secretary shall conduct the pilot 
project during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
this Act and ending on the later of the following:
            (1) The date on which the Secretary completes amendment of 
        the land and resource management plans for Plumas National 
        Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National Forest 
        pursuant to subsection (i).
            (2) The date that is five years after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
    (i) Corresponding Forest Plan Amendments.--Commencing on the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall initiate a process to 
amend the land and resource management plans for the Plumas National 
Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National Forest to, where 
appropriate--
            (1) incorporate the pilot project and area designations 
        made by subsection (b) and the resource management activities 
        described in subsection (d); and
            (2) make other changes warranted by the analyses conducted 
        in compliance with section 102(2) of the National Environmental 
        Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)), section 6 of the Forest 
        and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 
        U.S.C. 1604), and other applicable laws.
    (j) Reporting Requirements.--Not later than January 1 of each year 
during the term of the pilot project, the Secretary shall submit to 
Congress a report on the status of the pilot project. The report shall 
include at least the following:
            (1) An accounting of the use of funds specified in 
        subsection (g)(1)(A) until such funds are fully expended.
            (2) A description of total acres treated, forest health 
        improvements, fire risk reductions, water yield increases, and 
        other natural resources-related benefits achieved by the 
        implementation of the resource management activities described 
        in subsection (d).
            (3) A description of the economic benefits to local 
        communities achieved by the implementation of the pilot 
        project.
            (4) A comparison of the revenues generated by, and costs 
        incurred in, the implementation of the resource management 
        activities with the revenues generated by, and costs incurred 
        in, timber management of the Federal lands included in the 
        pilot project area during each of the fiscal years 1992 through 
        1996.
            (5) A schedule for the resource management activities to be 
        undertaken in the pilot project area during the next fiscal 
        year.