PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004

SOUTHWEST FOREST HEALTH AND WILDFIRE

PREVENTION ACT OF 2004

118 STAT. 1204 PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004

Public Law 108–317

108th Congress

An Act

To establish Institutes to demonstrate and promote the use of adaptive ecosystem

management to reduce the risk of wildfires, and restore the health of fire-adapted

forest and woodland ecosystems of the interior West.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Southwest Forest Health and

Wildfire Prevention Act of 2004’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that—

(1) there is an increasing threat of wildfire to millions

of acres of forest land and rangeland throughout the United

States;

(2) forest land and rangeland are degraded as a direct

consequence of land management practices, including practices

to control and prevent wildfires and the failure to harvest

subdominant trees from overstocked stands that disrupt the

occurrence of frequent low-intensity fires that have periodically

removed flammable undergrowth;

(3) at least 39,000,000 acres of land of the National Forest

System in the interior West are at high risk of wildfire;

(4) an average of 95 percent of the expenditures by the

Forest Service for wildfire suppression during fiscal years 1990

through 1994 were made to suppress wildfires in the interior

West;

(5) the number, size, and severity of wildfires in the interior

West are increasing;

(6) of the timberland in National Forests in the States

of Arizona and New Mexico, 59 percent of such land in Arizona,

and 56 percent of such land in New Mexico, has an average

diameter of 9 to 12 inches diameter at breast height;

(7) the population of the interior West grew twice as fast

as the national average during the 1990s;

(8) catastrophic wildfires—

(A) endanger homes and communities;

(B) damage and destroy watersheds and soils; and

(C) pose a serious threat to the habitat of threatened

and endangered species;

(9) a 1994 assessment of forest health in the interior West

estimated that only a 15- to 30-year window of opportunity

exists for effective management intervention before damage

16 USC 6701.

16 USC 6701

note.

Southwest Forest

Health and

Wildfire

Prevention Act of

2004.

Arizona.

New Mexico.

Oct. 5, 2004

[H.R. 2696]

PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004 118 STAT. 1205

from uncontrollable wildfire becomes widespread, with 8 years

having already elapsed since the assessment;

(10) healthy forest and woodland ecosystems—

(A) reduce the risk of wildfire to forests and communities;

(B) improve wildlife habitat and biodiversity;

(C) increase tree, grass, forb, and shrub productivity;

(D) enhance watershed values;

(E) improve the environment; and

(F) provide a basis in some areas for economically

and environmentally sustainable uses;

(11) sustaining the long-term ecological and economic

health of interior West forests and woodland, and their associated human communities requires preventing severe wildfires

before the wildfires occur and permitting natural, low-intensity

ground fires;

(12) more natural fire regimes cannot be accomplished

without the reduction of excess fuels and thinning of subdominant trees (which fuels and trees may be of commercial value);

(13) ecologically based forest and woodland ecosystem restoration on a landscape scale will—

(A) improve long-term community protection;

(B) minimize the need for wildfire suppression;

(C) improve resource values;

(D) improve the ecological integrity and resilience of

these systems;

(E) reduce rehabilitation costs;

(F) reduce loss of critical habitat; and

(G) protect forests for future generations;

(14) although landscape scale restoration is needed to effectively reverse degradation, scientific understanding of landscape scale treatments is limited;

(15) rigorous, objective, understandable, and applied scientific information is needed for—

(A) the design, implementation, monitoring, and

adaptation of landscape scale restoration treatments and

improvement of wildfire management;

(B) the environmental review process; and

(C) affected entities that collaborate in the development

and implementation of wildfire treatment.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

The purposes of this Act are—

(1) to enhance the capacity to develop, transfer, apply,

monitor, and regularly update practical science-based forest

restoration treatments that will reduce the risk of severe

wildfires, and improve the health of dry forest and woodland

ecosystems in the interior West;

(2) to synthesize and adapt scientific findings from conventional research programs to the implementation of forest and

woodland restoration on a landscape scale;

(3) to facilitate the transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge

required to understand the socioeconomic and environmental

impacts of wildfire on ecosystems and landscapes;

(4) to require the Institutes established under this Act

to collaborate with Federal agencies—

16 USC 6702.

118 STAT. 1206 PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004

(A) to use ecological restoration treatments to reverse

declining forest health and reduce the risk of severe

wildfires across the forest landscape; and

(B) to design, implement, monitor, and regularly revise

representative wildfire treatments based on the use of

adaptive ecosystem management;

(5) to assist land managers in—

(A) treating acres with restoration-based applications;

and

(B) using new management technologies (including the

transfer of understandable information, assistance with

environmental review, and field and classroom training

and collaboration) to accomplish the goals identified in—

(i) the National Fire Plan;

(ii) the report entitled ‘‘Protecting People and Sustaining Resources in Fire-Adapted Ecosystems-A Cohesive Strategy’’ (65 Fed. Reg. 67480); and

(iii) the report entitled ‘‘10-Year Comprehensive

Strategy: A Collaborative Approach for Reducing

Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment’’ of the Western Governors’ Association;

(6) to provide technical assistance to collaborative efforts

by affected entities to develop, implement, and monitor adaptive

ecosystem management restoration treatments that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible;

and

(7) to assist Federal and non-Federal land managers in

providing information to the public on the role of fire and

fire management in dry forest and woodland ecosystems in

the interior West.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) ADAPTIVE ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT.—

(A) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘adaptive ecosystem

management’’ means a natural resource management

process under which planning, implementation, monitoring,

research, evaluation, and incorporation of new knowledge

are combined into a management approach that—

(i) is based on scientific findings and the needs

of society;

(ii) treats management actions as experiments;

(iii) acknowledges the complexity of these systems

and scientific uncertainty; and

(iv) uses the resulting new knowledge to modify

future management methods and policy.

(B) CLARIFICATION.—This paragraph shall not define

the term ‘‘adaptive ecosystem management’’ for the purposes of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources

Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.).

(2) AFFECTED ENTITIES.—The term ‘‘affected entities’’

includes—

(A) land managers;

(B) stakeholders;

(C) concerned citizens; and

(D) the States of the interior West, including political

subdivisions of the States.

16 USC 6703.

PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004 118 STAT. 1207

(3) DRY FOREST AND WOODLAND ECOSYSTEM.—The term

‘‘dry forest and woodland ecosystem’’ means an ecosystem that

is dominated by ponderosa pines and associated dry forest

and woodland types.

(4) INSTITUTE.—The term ‘‘Institute’’ means an Institute

established under section 5(a).

(5) INTERIOR WEST.—The term ‘‘interior West’’ means the

States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and

Utah.

(6) LAND MANAGER.— (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘land manager’’ means a

person or entity that practices or guides natural resource

management.

(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘land manager’’ includes

a Federal, State, local, or tribal land management agency.

(7) RESTORATION.—The term ‘‘restoration’’ means a process

undertaken to move an ecosystem or habitat toward—

(A) a sustainable structure of the ecosystem or habitat;

or

(B) a condition that supports a natural complement

of species, natural function, or ecological process (such as

a low-intensity fire).

(8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.

(9) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ means—

(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the

Chief of the Forest Service; and

(B) the Secretary of the Interior.

(10) STAKEHOLDER.—The term ‘‘stakeholder’’ means any

person interested in or affected by management of forest or

woodland ecosystems.

(11) SUBDOMINANT TREES.—Are trees that occur underneath the canopy or extend into the canopy but are smaller

and less vigorous than dominant trees.

(12) OVERSTOCKED STANDS.—Where the number of trees

per acre exceeds the natural carrying capacity of the site.

(13) RESILIENCE.—The ability of a system to absorb disturbance without being pushed into a different, possibly less desirable stable state.

SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF INSTITUTES.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, shall—

(1) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment

of this Act, establish Institutes to promote the use of adaptive

ecosystem management to reduce the risk of wildfires, and

restore the health of forest and woodland ecosystems, in the

interior West; and

(2) provide assistance to the Institutes to promote the

use of collaborative processes and adaptive ecosystem management in accordance with paragraph (1).

(b) LOCATION.—

(1) EXISTING INSTITUTES.—The Secretary may designate

an institute in existence on the date of enactment of this

Act to serve as an Institute established under this Act.

(2) STATES.—Of the Institutes established under this Act,

the Secretary shall establish 1 Institute in each of—

Deadline.

16 USC 6704.

118 STAT. 1208 PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004

(A) the State of Arizona, to be located at Northern

Arizona University;

(B) the State of New Mexico, to be located at New

Mexico Highlands University, while engaging the full

resources of the consortium of universities represented in

the Institute of Natural Resource Analysis and Management (INRAM); and

(C) the State of Colorado.

(c) DUTIES.—Each Institute shall—

(1) develop, conduct research on, transfer, promote, and

monitor restoration-based hazardous fuel reduction treatments

to reduce the risk of severe wildfires and improve the health

of dry forest and woodland ecosystems in the interior West;

(2) synthesize and adapt scientific findings from conventional research to implement restoration-based hazardous fuel

reduction treatments on a landscape scale using an adaptive

ecosystem management framework;

(3) translate for and transfer to affected entities any scientific and interdisciplinary knowledge about restoration-based

hazardous fuel reduction treatments;

(4) assist affected entities with the design of adaptive

management approaches (including monitoring) for the

implementation of restoration-based hazardous fuel reduction

treatments; and

(5) provide peer-reviewed annual reports.

(d) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each Institute shall—

(1) develop and demonstrate capabilities in the natural,

physical, social, and policy sciences; and

(2) explicitly integrate those disciplines in the performance

of the duties listed in subsection (c).

(e) COOPERATION.—Each Institute may cooperate with—

(1) researchers and cooperative extension programs at colleges, community colleges, and universities in the States of

Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado that have a demonstrated

capability to conduct research described in subsection (c); and

(2) other organizations and entities in the interior West

(such as the Western Governors’ Association).

(f) ANNUAL WORK PLANS.—As a condition of the receipt of

funds made available under this Act, for each fiscal year, each

Institute shall develop in consultation with the Secretary, for review

by the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior,

an annual work plan that includes assurances, satisfactory to the

Secretaries, that the proposed work of the Institute will serve

the informational needs of affected entities.

(g) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADDITIONAL INSTITUTES.—If after 2 years

after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary finds

that the Institute model established at the locations named in

subsection (b)(2) would be constructive for other interior West

States, the Secretary may establish 1 institute in each of those

States.

SEC. 6. COOPERATION BETWEEN INSTITUTES AND FEDERAL AGENCIES.

In carrying out this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with

the Secretary of the Interior—

(1) to the extent that funds are appropriated for the purpose, shall provide financial and technical assistance to the

16 USC 6705.

PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004 118 STAT. 1209

Institutes to carry out the duties of the Institutes under section

5;

(2) shall encourage Federal agencies to use, on a cooperative

basis, information and expertise provided by the Institutes;

(3) shall encourage cooperation and coordination between

Federal programs relating to—

(A) ecological restoration;

(B) wildfire risk reduction; and

(C) wildfire management technologies;

(4) notwithstanding chapter 63 of title 31, United States

Code, may—

(A) enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, and

interagency personnel agreements to carry out this Act;

and

(B) carry out other transactions under this Act;

(5) may accept funds from other Federal agencies to supplement or fully fund grants made, and contracts entered into,

by the Secretaries;

(6) may support a program of internships for qualified

individuals at the undergraduate and graduate levels to carry

out the educational and training objectives of this Act;

(7) shall encourage professional education and public

information activities relating to the purposes of this Act; and

(8) may promulgate such regulations as the Secretaries

determine are necessary to carry out this Act.

SEC. 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after the date of

enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary,

in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, shall complete

and submit to the Committee on Resources and the Committee

on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a detailed

evaluation of the programs and activities of each Institute—

(1) to ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that

the research, communication tools, and information transfer

activities of each Institute are sufficient to achieve the purposes

of this Act, including—

(A) implementing active adaptive ecosystem management practices at the landscape level;

(B) reducing unnecessary planning costs;

(C) avoiding duplicative and conflicting efforts;

(D) increasing public acceptance of active adaptive ecosystem management practices; and

(E) achieving general satisfaction on the part of

affected entities;

(2) to determine the extent to which each Institute has

implemented its duties under section 5(c); and

(3) to determine whether continued provision of Federal

assistance to each Institute is warranted.

(b) TERMINATION OF ASSISTANCE.—If, as a result of an evaluation under subsection (a), the Secretary, in consultation with the

Secretary of the Interior, determines that an Institute does not

qualify for further Federal assistance under this Act, the Institute

shall receive no further Federal assistance under this Act until

such time as the qualifications of the Institute are reestablished

to the satisfaction of the Secretaries.

Deadline.

16 USC 6706.

118 STAT. 1210 PUBLIC LAW 108–317—OCT. 5, 2004

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 2696:

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 108–397, Pt. 1 (Comm. on Resources).

SENATE REPORTS: No. 108–252 (Comm. on Energy and Natural Resources).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 149 (2004):

Feb. 24, considered and passed House.

Sept. 15, considered and passed Senate.

Æ

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appropriated to

carry out this Act $15,000,000 for each fiscal year.

(b) LIMITATION.—No funds made available under subsection

(a) shall be used to pay the costs of constructing any facilities.

Approved October 5, 2004.

16 USC 6707.