I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1288

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 27, 2000

Referred to the Committee on Resources

AN ACT

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’’.
2

S 1288 RFH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds the following:

3 (1) A century of fire suppression, logging, and

4 livestock grazing has altered the ecological balance

5 of New Mexico’s forests.

6 (2) Some forest lands in New Mexico contain

7 an unnaturally high number of small diameter trees

8 that are subject to large, high intensity wildfires

9 that can endanger human lives, livelihoods, and eco10 logical stability.

11 (3) Forest lands that contain an unnaturally

12 high number of small diameter trees have reduced

13 biodiversity and provide fewer benefits to human

14 communities, wildlife, and watersheds.

15 (4) Healthy and productive watersheds mini16 mize the threat of large, high intensity wildfires,

17 provide abundant and diverse wildlife habitat, and

18 produce a variety of timber and non-timber products

19 including better quality water and increased water

20 flows.

21 (5) Restoration efforts are more successful

22 when there is involvement from neighboring commu23 nities and better stewardship will evolve from more

24 diverse involvement.

25 (6) Designing demonstration restoration

26 projects through a collaborative approach may—
3

S 1288 RFH

1 (A) lead to the development of cost effec2 tive restoration activities;

3 (B) empower diverse organizations to im4 plement activities which value local and tradi5 tional knowledge;

6 (C) build ownership and civic pride; and

7 (D) ensure healthy, diverse, and productive

8 forests and watersheds.

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

10 The purposes of this Act are—

11 (1) to promote healthy watersheds and reduce

12 the threat of large, high intensity wildfires, insect in13 festation, and disease in the forests in New Mexico;

14 (2) to improve the functioning of forest eco15 systems and enhance plant and wildlife biodiversity

16 by reducing the unnaturally high number and den17 sity of small diameter trees on Federal, Tribal,

18 State, County, and Municipal forest lands;

19 (3) to improve communication and joint prob20 lem solving among individuals and groups who are

21 interested in restoring the diversity and productivity

22 of forested watersheds in New Mexico;

23 (4) to improve the use of, or add value to, small

24 diameter trees;
4

S 1288 RFH

1 (5) to encourage sustainable communities and

2 sustainable forests through collaborative partner3 ships, whose objectives are forest restoration; and

4 (6) to develop, demonstrate, and evaluate eco5 logically sound forest restoration techniques.

6 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

7 As used in this Act—

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

9 of Agriculture acting through the Chief of the For10 est Service; and

11 (2) the term ‘‘stakeholder’’ includes: tribal gov12 ernments, educational institutions, landowners, and

13 other interested public and private entities.

14 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

15 (a) The Secretary shall establish a cooperative forest

16 restoration program in New Mexico in order to provide

17 cost-share grants to stakeholders for experimental forest

18 restoration projects that are designed through a collabo19 rative process (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Collabo20 rative Forest Restoration Program’’). The projects may

21 be entirely on, or on any combination of, Federal, Tribal,

22 State, County, or Municipal forest lands. The Federal

23 share of an individual project cost shall not exceed eighty

24 percent of the total cost. The twenty percent matching

25 may be in the form of cash or in-kind contribution.
5

S 1288 RFH

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

2 receive funding under this Act, a project shall—

3 (1) address the following objectives—

4 (A) reduce the threat of large, high inten5 sity wildfires and the negative effects of exces6 sive competition between trees by restoring eco7 system functions, structures, and species com8 position, including the reduction of non-native

9 species populations;

10 (B) re-establish fire regimes approximating

11 those that shaped forest ecosystems prior to fire

12 suppression;

13 (C) preserve old and large trees;

14 (D) replant trees in deforested areas if

15 they exist in the proposed project area; and

16 (E) improve the use of, or add value to,

17 small diameter trees;

18 (2) comply with all Federal and State environ19 mental laws;

20 (3) include a diverse and balanced group of

21 stakeholders as well as appropriate Federal, Tribal,

22 State, County, and Municipal government represent23 atives in the design, implementation, and monitoring

24 of the project;
6

S 1288 RFH

1 (4) incorporate current scientific forest restora2 tion information; and

3 (5) include a multi-party assessment to—

4 (A) identify both the existing ecological

5 condition of the proposed project area and the

6 desired future condition; and

7 (B) report, upon project completion, on the

8 positive or negative impact and effectiveness of

9 the project including improvements in local

10 management skills and on the ground results;

11 (6) create local employment or training oppor12 tunities within the context of accomplishing restora13 tion objectives, that are consistent with the purposes

14 of this Act, including summer youth jobs programs

15 such as the Youth Conservation Corps where appro16 priate;

17 (7) not exceed four years in length;

18 (8) not exceed a total annual cost of $150,000,

19 with the Federal portion not exceeding $120,000 an20 nually, nor exceed a total cost of $450,000 for the

21 project, with the Federal portion of the total cost

22 not exceeding $360,000;

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

24 matching contributions; and
7

S 1288 RFH

1 (10) include an agreement by each stakeholder

2 to attend an annual workshop with other stake3 holders for the purpose of discussing the cooperative

4 forest restoration program and projects implemented

5 under this Act. The Secretary shall coordinate and

6 fund the annual workshop. Stakeholders may use

7 funding for projects authorized under this Act to

8 pay for their travel and per diem expenses to attend

9 the workshop.

10 SEC. 6. SELECTION PROCESS.

11 (a) After consulting with the technical advisory panel

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

13 proposals that will receive funding through the Collabo14 rative Forest Restoration Program.

15 (b) The Secretary shall convene a technical advisory

16 panel to evaluate the proposals for forest restoration

17 grants and provide recommendations regarding which pro18 posals would best meet the objectives of the Collaborative

19 Forest Restoration Program. The technical advisory panel

20 shall consider eligibility criteria established in section 5,

21 the effect on long term management, and seek to use a

22 consensus-based decision making process to develop such

23 recommendations. The panel shall be composed of 12 to

24 15 members, to be appointed by the Secretary as follows:
8

S 1288 RFH

1 (1) A State Natural Resource official from the

2 State of New Mexico.

3 (2) At least two representatives from Federal

4 land management agencies.

5 (3) At least one tribal or pueblo representative.

6 (4) At least two independent scientists with ex7 perience in forest ecosystem restoration.

8 (5) Equal representation from—

9 (A) conservation interests;

10 (B) local communities; and

11 (C) commodity interests.

12 SEC. 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATON.

13 The Secretary shall establish a multi-party moni14 toring and evaluation process in order to assess the cumu15 lative accomplishments or adverse impacts of the Collabo16 rative Forest Restoration Program. The Secretary shall

17 include any interested individual or organization in the

18 monitoring and evaluation process. The Secretary also

19 shall conduct a monitoring program to assess the short

20 and long term ecological effects of the restoration treat21 ments, if any, or a minimum of 15 years.

22 SEC. 8. REPORT.

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

24 which funding is made available for this program, the Sec25 retary shall submit a report to the Committee on Energy
9

S 1288 RFH

1 and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and

2 the Committee on Resources of the United States House

3 of Representatives. The report shall include an assessment

4 on whether, and to what extent, the projects funded pursu5 ant to this Act are meeting the purposes of the Collabo6 rative Forest Restoration Program.

7 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 There are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000

9 annually to carry out this Act.

Passed the Senate November 19, 1999.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.