II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1288

To provide incentives for collaborative forest restoration projects on National

Forest System and other public lands in New Mexico, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 28, 1999

Mr. BINGAMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To provide incentives for collaborative forest restoration

projects on National Forest System and other public

lands in New Mexico, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Forest

5 Restoration Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Forest lands in New Mexico that are dense9 ly stocked with small diameter, even-aged trees can
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1 erupt in catastrophic wildfire that can endanger

2 human lives and livelihoods.

3 (2) Forest lands that are densely stocked with

4 small diameter trees can reduce biodiversity and pro5 vide fewer benefits to human communities, wildlife,

6 and watersheds.

7 (3) Healthy and productive watersheds mini8 mize the threat of catastrophic wildfire, provide

9 abundant and diverse wildlife habitat, and produce a

10 variety of timber and non-timber products including

11 better quality water and increased water flows.

12 (4) Restoration efforts are more successful

13 when there is involvement from neighboring commu14 nities and better stewardship will evolve from more

15 diverse involvement.

16 (5) Designating demonstration restoration

17 projects through a collaborative approach may—

18 (A) lead to the development of cost effec19 tive restoration activities;

20 (B) empower diverse organizations to im21 plement activities which value local and tradi22 tional knowledge;

23 (C) build ownership and civic pride; and

24 (D) ensure healthy, diverse, and productive

25 forests and watersheds.
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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

2 The purposes of this Act are—

3 (1) to promote healthy watersheds and reduce

4 the threat of catastrophic wildfire, inset infestation,

5 and disease in the forests in New Mexico;

6 (2) to improve the functioning of forest eco7 systems and enhance plant and wildlife biodiversity

8 by reducing the unnaturally high number and den9 sity of small diameter trees on Federal, State, and

10 tribal forest lands;

11 (3) to improve communication and joint prob12 lem solving among individuals and groups who are

13 interested in restoring the diversity and productivity

14 of forested watersheds in New Mexico;

15 (4) to promote the use of small diameter trees;

16 and

17 (5) to encourage sustainable communities and

18 sustainable forests through collaborative partner19 ships whose objectives are forest restoration.

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

21 As used in this Act—

22 (1) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

23 of Agriculture acting through the Chief of the For24 est Service; and
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1 (2) the term ‘‘stakeholder’’ includes tribal gov2 ernments, educational institutions, landowners, and

3 other interested public and private entities.

4 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

5 (a) The Secretary shall establish a cooperative forest

6 restoration program in New Mexico in order to provide

7 cost-share grants to stakeholders for experimental forest

8 restoration projects that are designed through a collabo9 rative process (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Collabo10 rative Forest Restoration Program’’). The Federal share

11 of an individual project cost shall not exceed eighty per12 cent of the total cost.

13 (b) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to

14 receive funding under this Act, a project shall—

15 (1) achieve one or more of the following

16 objectives—

17 (A) reducing the danger of catastrophic

18 wildfire and re-introducing natural fire regimes

19 on Federal, State, or tribal forest lands;

20 (B) restoring healthy, biologically diverse,

21 and productive watersheds on Federal, State, or

22 tribal forest lands; or

23 (C) improving the use of, or add value to,

24 small diameter trees;
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1 (2) comply with all Federal and State environ2 mental laws;

3 (3) include a diverse and balanced group of

4 stakeholders as well as appropriate Federal, State,

5 and tribal government representatives in the design,

6 implementation, and monitoring of the project;

7 (4) incorporate current scientific forest restora8 tion information;

9 (5) include a multi-party assessment to report,

10 upon project completion, on the impact and effec11 tiveness of the project including improvements in

12 local management skills and on the ground results;

13 (6) create local employment or training oppor14 tunities within the context of accomplishing restora15 tion objectives, that are consistent with the purposes

16 of this Act, including summer youth jobs programs

17 such as the Youth Conservation Corps where appro18 priate;

19 (7) not exceed four years in length;

20 (8) not cost more than $150,000 annually nor

21 $450,000 total;

22 (9) leverage Federal funding through in-kind or

23 matching contributions; and
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1 (10) include an agreement by the stakeholders

2 that they will attend an annual workshop with other

3 groups that receive funding pursuant to this Act.

4 SEC. 6. SELECTION PROCESS.

5 (a) After consulting with the technical advisory panel

6 established in subsection (b), the Secretary shall select the

7 proposals that will receive funding through the Collabo8 rative Forest Restoration Program.

9 (b) The Secretary shall convene a technical advisory

10 panel to evaluate the proposals for forest restoration

11 grants and provide recommendations regarding which pro12 posals would best meet the objectives of the Collaborative

13 Forest Restoration Program. The technical advisory panel

14 shall consider current scientific forest restoration informa15 tion, the effect on long-term management, and seek to use

16 a consensus-based decision making process to develop such

17 recommendations. The panel shall be composed of 12 to

18 15 members, to be appointed by the Secretary as follows:

19 (1) A State Natural Resource official from the

20 State of New Mexico.

21 (2) At least two representatives from Federal

22 land management agencies.

23 (3) At least one tribal or pueblo representative.
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1 (4) At least one academic or other scientist,

2 qualified to address issues of southwestern forest

3 ecology.

4 (5) Equal representation from—

5 (A) conservation interests;

6 (B) local communities; and

7 (C) commodity interests.

8 SEC. 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.

9 The Secretary shall establish a multi-party moni10 toring and evaluation process in order to assess the cumu11 lative accomplishments of the Collaborative Forest Res12 toration Program. The Secretary shall include any inter13 ested individual or organization in the monitoring and

14 evaluation process.

15 SEC. 8. REPORT.

16 No later than five years after the first fiscal year in

17 which funding is made available for this program, the Sec18 retary shall submit a report to the Committee on Energy

19 and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and

20 the Committee on Resources of the United States House

21 of Representatives. The report shall include an assessment

22 on whether, and to what extent, the projects funded pursu23 ant to this Act are meeting the purposes of the Collabo24 rative Forest Restoration Program.

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