I 

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.

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

3 SECTION 1. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT. 

4 The Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 

5 U.S.C. 2101 note; Public Law 95313) is amended by add6 ing at the end the following new section: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 21. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

3 program using geospatial and information management 

4 technologies (including remote sensing imaging and deci5 sion support systems) to inventory, monitor, characterize, 

6 assess, and identify forest stands and potential forest 

7 stands on—

8 ‘‘(1) units of the National Forest System; and 

9 ‘‘(2) private forest land, with the consent of the 

10 owner of the land. 

11 ‘‘(b) MEANS.—The Secretary shall carry out the pro12 gram through the use of—

13 ‘‘(1) remote sensing technology of the National 

14 Aeronautics and Space Administration and the 

15 United States Geological Survey; 

16 ‘‘(2) emerging geospatial capabilities in re17 search activities; 

18 ‘‘(3) validating techniques, including coordina19 tion and reconciliation with existing data through 

20 field verification, using application demonstrations; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(4) integration of results into pilot operational 

23 systems. 

24 ‘‘(c) ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED.—In carrying out 

25 the program, the Secretary shall address issues, includ26 ing—
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1 ‘‘(1) early detection, identification, and assess2 ment of environmental threats (including insect, dis3 ease, invasive species, fire, acid deposition, and 

4 weather-related risks and other episodic events); 

5 ‘‘(2) loss or degradation of forests; 

6 ‘‘(3) degradation of the quality forest stands 

7 caused by inadequate forest regeneration practices; 

8 ‘‘(4) quantification of carbon uptake rates; 

9 ‘‘(5) management practices that focus on pre10 venting further forest degradation; and 

11 ‘‘(6) characterization of vegetation types, den12 sity, fire regimes, post-fire effects, and condition 

13 class. 

14 ‘‘(d) EARLY WARNING SYSTEM.—In carrying out the 

15 program, the Secretary shall develop a comprehensive 

16 early warning system for potential catastrophic environ17 mental threats to forests to increase the likelihood that 

18 forest managers will be able to—

19 ‘‘(1) isolate and treat a threat before the threat 

20 gets out of control; and 

21 ‘‘(2) prevent epidemics, such as the American 

22 chestnut blight in the first half of the twentieth cen23 tury, that could be environmentally and economically 

24 devastating to forests. 
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1 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATION.—To carry out this section, 

2 the Secretary shall designate a facility in the Ochoco Na3 tional Forest headquarters within Forest Service Region 

4 6 that will address the issues described in subsection (c), 

5 with a particular emphasis on coniferous forest stands in 

6 the Western United States.

7 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec9 essary to carry out this section.’’.

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