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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3566 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3566

To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to establish a 
  program using geospatial and information management technologies to 
 inventory, monitor, characterize, assess, and identify forest stands 
          and potential forest stands, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 2003

Mr. Walden of Oregon introduced the following bill; which was referred 
 to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on 
 Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to establish a 
  program using geospatial and information management technologies to 
 inventory, monitor, characterize, assess, and identify forest stands 
          and potential forest stands, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT.

    The Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2101 
note; Public Law 95313) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new section:

``SEC. 21. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out a program using 
geospatial and information management technologies (including remote 
sensing imaging and decision support systems) to inventory, monitor, 
characterize, assess, and identify forest stands and potential forest 
stands on--
            ``(1) units of the National Forest System; and
            ``(2) private forest land, with the consent of the owner of 
        the land.
    ``(b) Means.--The Secretary shall carry out the program through the 
use of--
            ``(1) remote sensing technology of the National Aeronautics 
        and Space Administration and the United States Geological 
        Survey;
            ``(2) emerging geospatial capabilities in research 
        activities;
            ``(3) validating techniques, including coordination and 
        reconciliation with existing data through field verification, 
        using application demonstrations; and
            ``(4) integration of results into pilot operational 
        systems.
    ``(c) Issues To Be Addressed.--In carrying out the program, the 
Secretary shall address issues, including--
            ``(1) early detection, identification, and assessment of 
        environmental threats (including insect, disease, invasive 
        species, fire, acid deposition, and weather-related risks and 
        other episodic events);
            ``(2) loss or degradation of forests;
            ``(3) degradation of the quality forest stands caused by 
        inadequate forest regeneration practices;
            ``(4) quantification of carbon uptake rates;
            ``(5) management practices that focus on preventing further 
        forest degradation; and
            ``(6) characterization of vegetation types, density, fire 
        regimes, post-fire effects, and condition class.
    ``(d) Early Warning System.--In carrying out the program, the 
Secretary shall develop a comprehensive early warning system for 
potential catastrophic environmental threats to forests to increase the 
likelihood that forest managers will be able to--
            ``(1) isolate and treat a threat before the threat gets out 
        of control; and
            ``(2) prevent epidemics, such as the American chestnut 
        blight in the first half of the twentieth century, that could 
        be environmentally and economically devastating to forests.
    ``(e) Administration.--To carry out this section, the Secretary 
shall designate a facility in the Ochoco National Forest headquarters 
within Forest Service Region 6 that will address the issues described 
in subsection (c), with a particular emphasis on coniferous forest 
stands in the Western United States.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.''.
                                 <all>
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