II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1033 

To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to provide for 

stewardship contracting projects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 3, 2017 

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

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 

to provide for stewardship contracting projects, 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. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTING PROJECTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Healthy Forests Restoration 

5 Act of 2003 is amended— 

6 (1) by striking section 604 (16 U.S.C. 6591c); 

7 (2) by redesignating sections 601, 602, and 603 

8 (16 U.S.C. 6591, 6591a, 6591b) as sections 701, 

9 702, and 703, respectively; 


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1 (3) by redesignating title VI (16 U.S.C. 6591 

2 et seq.) (as amended by paragraphs (1) and (2)) as 

3 title VII; 

4 (4) in section 703(a) (as so redesignated), in 

5 the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 

6 ‘‘section 602(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 702(d)’’; 

7 and 

8 (5) by inserting after title V (16 U.S.C. 6571 

9 et seq.) the following: 

10 ‘‘TITLE VI—STEWARDSHIP 

11 CONTRACTING 

12 ‘‘SEC. 601. DEFINITIONS. 

13 ‘‘In this title: 

14 ‘‘(1) CHIEF.—The term ‘Chief’ means the Sec15 retary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Serv16 ice. 

17 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

18 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

19 ‘‘(3) STEWARDSHIP CONTRACT.—The term 

20 ‘stewardship contract’ means a contract or agree21 ment entered into under section 602. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 602. PROJECTS. 

23 ‘‘The Chief may enter into a stewardship contracting 

24 project contract or agreement, as appropriate, with a pri25 vate person or another public entity to perform services 


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1 to achieve land management goals described in section 603 

2 for the National Forest System that meet local and rural 

3 community needs. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 603. LAND MANAGEMENT GOALS. 

5 ‘‘The land management goals of a project under sec6 tion 602 may include any of the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) Road and trail maintenance or obliteration 

8 to restore or maintain water quality. 

9 ‘‘(2) Soil productivity, habitat for wildlife and 

10 fisheries, or other resource values. 

11 ‘‘(3) Setting of prescribed fires to improve the 

12 composition, structure, condition, and health of 

13 stands or to improve wildlife habitat. 

14 ‘‘(4) Removing vegetation or other activities— 

15 ‘‘(A) to promote healthy forest stands; 

16 ‘‘(B) to reduce fire hazards; or 

17 ‘‘(C) to achieve other land management ob18 jectives. 

19 ‘‘(5) Watershed restoration and maintenance. 

20 ‘‘(6) Restoration and maintenance of wildlife 

21 and fish. 

22 ‘‘(7) Control of noxious and exotic weeds and 

23 reestablishing native plant species. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 604. AGREEMENTS OR CONTRACTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE.—A private person 

3 or public entity for the performance of services under a 

4 stewardship contract shall be selected on a best-value 

5 basis, including consideration of the private person or pub6 lic entity under other public or private agreements or con7 tracts. 

8 ‘‘(b) CONTRACT FOR SALE OF PROPERTY.—Notwith9 standing any other provision of law, a contract entered 

10 into under section 602 may, at the discretion of the Sec11 retary, be considered a contract for the sale of property 

12 under such terms as the Secretary may establish. 

13 ‘‘(c) TERM.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para15 graph (2), the Chief may enter into a contract under 

16 section 602 in accordance with section 3903 of title 

17 41, United States Code. 

18 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM.—The period of a stewardship 

19 contract shall be not longer than 10 years. 

20 ‘‘(d) OFFSETS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief may apply the 

22 value of timber or other forest products removed as 

23 an offset against the cost of services received under 

24 a stewardship contract. 


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1 ‘‘(2) METHODS OF APPRAISAL.—The value of 

2 timber or other forest products used as an offset 

3 under paragraph (1)— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall be determined using appropriate 

5 methods of appraisal commensurate with the 

6 quantity of products to be removed; and 

7 ‘‘(B) may— 

8 ‘‘(i) be determined using a unit of 

9 measure appropriate to the stewardship 

10 contracts; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) include valuing products on a 

12 per-acre basis. 

13 ‘‘(e) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—Notwithstanding 

14 subsections (d) and (g) of section 14 of the National For15 est Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a), the Chief 

16 may enter into a stewardship contract. 

17 ‘‘(f) CONTRACTING OFFICER.—Notwithstanding any 

18 other provision of law, the Secretary may determine the 

19 appropriate contracting officer to enter into and admin20 ister a stewardship contract. 

21 ‘‘(g) FIRE LIABILITY PROVISIONS.—Not later than 

22 90 days after February 7, 2014, the Chief shall issue for 

23 use in each stewardship contract fire liability provisions 

24 that are in substantially the same form as the fire liability 

25 provisions contained in— 


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1 ‘‘(1) integrated resource timber contracts, as 

2 described in the Forest Service contract numbered 

3 2400–13, part H, section H.4; and 

4 ‘‘(2) timber sale contracts conducted pursuant 

5 to section 14 of the National Forest Management 

6 Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a). 

7 ‘‘SEC. 605. RECEIPTS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief may collect amounts 

9 from a stewardship contract if the collection is a secondary 

10 objective of negotiating the stewardship contract that will 

11 best achieve the purposes of this title. 

12 ‘‘(b) USE.—Amounts from a stewardship contract— 

13 ‘‘(1) may be retained by the Chief; and 

14 ‘‘(2) shall be available for expenditure without 

15 further appropriation— 

16 ‘‘(A) at the project site from which the 

17 amounts are collected; or 

18 ‘‘(B) at another project site. 

19 ‘‘(c) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

21 provision of law, the value of services received by the 

22 Chief under a stewardship contract, and any pay23 ments made or resources provided by the contractor 

24 or the Chief, shall not be considered amounts re25 ceived from the National Forest System. 


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1 ‘‘(2) KNUTSON-VANDENBERG ACT.—The Act of 

2 June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the ‘Knutson3 Vandenberg Act’) (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.), shall not 

4 apply to a stewardship contract. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 606. COSTS OF REMOVAL. 

6 ‘‘The Chief may collect deposits from a contractor to 

7 cover the costs of removal of timber or other forest prod8 ucts (including timber that the contractor did not harvest) 

9 under— 

10 ‘‘(1) the Act of August 11, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 

11 490); and 

12 ‘‘(2) the Act of June 30, 1914 (16 U.S.C. 498). 

13 ‘‘SEC. 607. PERFORMANCE AND PAYMENT GUARANTEES. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief may require perform15 ance and payment bonds under sections 28.103–2 and 

16 28.103–3 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in an 

17 amount that the contracting officer considers sufficient to 

18 protect the investment in receipts by the Federal Govern19 ment generated by the contractor from the estimated value 

20 of the forest products to be removed under a stewardship 

21 contract. 

22 ‘‘(b) EXCESS OFFSET VALUE.—If the offset value of 

23 the forest products described in subsection (a) exceeds the 

24 value of the resource improvement treatments, the Chief 

25 may— 


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1 ‘‘(1) collect any residual receipts under the Act 

2 of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the ‘Knutson3 Vandenberg Act’) (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.); and 

4 ‘‘(2) apply the excess to other authorized stew5 ardship projects. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 608. MONITORING AND EVALUATION. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief shall establish and 

8 participate in a multiparty monitoring and evaluation 

9 process that assesses the stewardship contracting projects 

10 conducted under this title. 

11 ‘‘(b) PARTICIPANTS.—Participants in the process de12 scribed in subsection (a) may include— 

13 ‘‘(1) any cooperating governmental agency, in14 cluding a tribal government; and 

15 ‘‘(2) any other interested group or individual. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 609. REPORTING. 

17 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after February 7, 2014, and 

18 annually thereafter, the Chief shall submit to the Com19 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Sen20 ate and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 

21 Representatives a report on— 

22 ‘‘(1) the status of development, execution, and 

23 administration of stewardship contracts; 

24 ‘‘(2) the specific accomplishments that have re25 sulted from stewardship contracts; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) the role of local communities in the devel2 opment of stewardship contract plans.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The table of con4 tents for the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 

5 U.S.C. 6501 note; Public Law 108–148) is amended by 

6 striking the items relating to title VI and inserting the 

7 following: 

‘‘TITLE VI—STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTING 

‘‘Sec. 601. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 602. Projects. 

‘‘Sec. 603. Land management goals. 

‘‘Sec. 604. Agreements or contracts. 

‘‘Sec. 605. Receipts. 

‘‘Sec. 606. Costs of removal. 

‘‘Sec. 607. Performance and payment guarantees. 

‘‘Sec. 608. Monitoring and evaluation. 

‘‘Sec. 609. Reporting. 

‘‘TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS 

‘‘Sec. 701. Forest stands inventory and monitoring program to improve detection of and response to environmental threats. 

‘‘Sec. 702. Designation of treatment areas. 

‘‘Sec. 703. Administrative review.’’. 

Æ 


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