I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5098

To provide incentives for collaborative forest restoration and wildland fire

hazard mitigation projects on National Forest System land and other

public and private lands in Colorado, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 27, 2000

Mr. UDALL of Colorado (for himself and Mr. HEFLEY) 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 provide incentives for collaborative forest restoration and

wildland fire hazard mitigation projects on National Forest System land and other public and private lands in

Colorado, 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 ‘‘Colorado Forest Res5 toration and Fire Reduction Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) More than a century of intensive fire sup2 pression, logging, livestock grazing, and urban devel3 opment has altered the ecological dynamic of Colo4 rado’s forests.

5 (2) Much of Colorado’s 26,000,000 acres of for6 est land consists of dense young ponderosa pine and

7 Douglas fir stands characterized by small diameter

8 trees and excessive fuel buildups on the forest floor.

9 (3) These unnaturally crowded forests generally

10 contain a large number of stressed unhealthy trees

11 susceptible to catastrophic wildland fires and other

12 risks. Such conditions reduce biodiversity, provide

13 fewer benefits to human communities, wildlife, and

14 watersheds, and pose a tremendous risk to both

15 human and natural resources.

16 (4) Risk to human life and property is greatly

17 increased along Colorado’s Front Range where rap18 idly expanding urban populations are increasingly

19 intermingled with forested wildlands.

20 (5) Nearly 1,000,000 people currently live with21 in Colorado’s Red Zone, an area characterized by

22 6,300,000 acres of forest land at high risk for cata23 strophic wildfire. Over 400 rural and volunteer fire

24 departments provide initial attack and frontline pro25 tection in the complex and hazardous landscapes.
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1 (6) A severe wildfire on Colorado’s highly erod2 ible soils can result in disastrous flood events and

3 sediment deposition if the fire is followed by heavy

4 rains. This combination of events poses a particular

5 threat to the water supply for metropolitan Denver

6 and the State’s other Front Range cities.

7 (7) Healthy and productive forested watersheds

8 minimize the threat of large, high-intensity wildfires,

9 provide abundant and diverse wildlife habitat, and

10 produce a variety of timber and nontimber products,

11 including better quality water and increased water

12 flows.

13 (8) Restoration efforts are more successful

14 when there is involvement from Federal and State

15 land managers as well as neighboring communities

16 and interested stakeholders, when projects are

17 prioritized in high-risk areas where watershed health

18 and human lives and property are threatened, and

19 when both decisions and implementation activities

20 are carried out across ownership boundaries.

21 (9) Designing demonstration restoration

22 projects through a collaborative approach may—

23 (A) lead to the development of cost-effec24 tive restoration activities;
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1 (B) empower diverse organizations to im2 plement activities which value local and tradi3 tional knowledge;

4 (C) build ownership and civic pride; and

5 (D) ensure healthy, diverse, and productive

6 forests and watersheds.

7 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

8 The purposes of this Act are as follows:

9 (1) To promote healthy watersheds and reduce

10 the threat of large, high-intensity wildfires in the

11 forests of Colorado.

12 (2) To reduce the risk to human life and prop13 erty, including that of fire protection personnel, in

14 Colorado’s red zone.

15 (3) To improve the functioning of forest eco16 systems and enhance plant and wildlife biodiversity

17 by reducing the unnaturally high number and den18 sity of small diameter trees on Federal, tribal, State,

19 county, private, and municipal forest lands.

20 (4) To improve communication and joint prob21 lem solving among Federal, State, and local land

22 managers, as well as other individuals and groups

23 who are interested in restoring the diversity of for24 ested watersheds in Colorado.
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1 (5) To improve the use of, or add value to,

2 small diameter trees.

3 (6) To encourage sustainable communities and

4 sustainable forests through collaborative partner5 ships focused on forest restoration and hazard re6 duction.

7 (7) To develop, demonstrate, and evaluate eco8 logically sound forest restoration techniques.

9 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

10 For the purposes of this Act the following definitions

11 apply:

12 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

13 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the

14 Chief of the Forest Service.

15 (2) RED ZONE.—The term ‘‘red zone’’ means

16 the lands so identified on the map entitled ‘‘Inter17 face Areas of High Forest Fire Risk in Colorado’’,

18 dated July 2000.

19 (3) STAKEHOLDER.—The term ‘‘stakeholder’’

20 includes forest landowners, local communities and

21 political leaders, tribal governments, conservation or22 ganizations, educational institutions, and other in23 terested public and private entities.
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1 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

2 (a) COOPERATIVE FOREST PROTECTION AND RES3 TORATION PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish a co4 operative forest protection and restoration program in Col5 orado in order to provide cost-share grants to stakeholders

6 for forest restoration projects that are designed through

7 a collaborative process (hereinafter in this Act referred to

8 as the ‘‘Collaborative Forest Protection and Restoration

9 Program’’). The projects may be entirely on, or involve

10 any combination of, Federal, tribal, State, county, private,

11 or other municipal forest lands in the red zone, except

12 lands within the National Wilderness Preservation Sys13 tem. Prioritization, decisionmaking, and implementation

14 of approved projects should be on a cross-boundary, land15 scape-scale basis with both State and Federal land man16 agers able to act as agents of the other. The cost-share

17 grants shall be administered by the State Forester, in co18 operation with the Forest Service as established by the

19 Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978. The Federal

20 share of an individual project cost shall not exceed 80 per21 cent of the total cost. The 20 percent matching may be

22 in the form of cash or in-kind contributions.

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

24 receive funding under this Act, a project shall accomplish

25 the following:

26 (1) Address the following objectives:
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1 (A) Reduce the threat of large, high-inten2 sity wildfires in the wildland-urban interface

3 and the negative effects of excessive competition

4 between trees by restoring ecosystem functions,

5 structures, and species composition, including

6 the reduction of nonnative species populations.

7 (B) Reestablish fire regimes approximating

8 those that shaped forest ecosystems prior to in9 tensive fire suppression.

10 (C) Improve the ability of State and local

11 fire departments to safely and effectively pro12 vide initial attack in the wildland-urban inter13 face.

14 (D) Preserve old trees and trees with a di15 ameter of 12 inches or more.

16 (E) Preserve roadless areas.

17 (F) Mitigate areas at high risk for flood,

18 erosion, or sediment damage following a

19 wildland fire, rehabilitate areas that have expe20 rienced such fire-related damage, or both.

21 (G) Improve the use of, or add value to,

22 small diameter trees.

23 (2) Comply with all Federal and State environ24 mental laws.
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1 (3) Prioritize restoration and hazard reduction

2 activities which can be conducted across ownership

3 boundaries for the benefit of a larger landscape or

4 watershed.

5 (4) Include a diverse and balanced group of

6 stakeholders as well as appropriate Federal, tribal,

7 State, county, and municipal government representa8 tives in the design, implementation, and monitoring

9 of the project.

10 (5) Incorporate current scientific forest restora11 tion information.

12 (6) Include a multiparty assessment to—

13 (A) identify both the existing ecological

14 condition of the proposed project area and the

15 desired future condition; and

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

17 positive or negative impact and effectiveness of

18 the project.

19 (7) Create local employment or training oppor20 tunities within the context of accomplishing restora21 tion objectives that are consistent with the purposes

22 of this Act.

23 (8) Leverage Federal funding through in-kind

24 or matching contributions.
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1 (9) 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) DETERMINATION OF PROJECT FUNDING PRIOR12 ITIES.—Prior to the selection of projects, the State For13 ester and Regional Forester shall meet with the technical

14 advisory panel established in subsection (c) to determine

15 priorities for project funding.

16 (b) SELECTION OF PROPOSALS TO BE FUNDED.—

17 After consulting with the technical advisory panel, the

18 State Forester and the Regional Forester shall jointly rec19 ommend to the Secretary priority projects for funding.

20 The Secretary shall then select the proposals that will re21 ceive funding through the Collaborative Forest Protection

22 and Restoration Program.

23 (c) TECHNICAL ADVISORY PANEL.—The Secretary

24 shall convene a technical advisory panel, to be jointly ad25 ministered by the State Forester and the Regional For-
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1 ester, for the purpose of setting protection and restoration

2 priorities, evaluating all projects proposed for forest res3 toration grants, and providing recommendations regarding

4 which proposals would best meet the objectives of the Col5 laborative Forest Protection and Restoration Program.

6 The technical advisory panel shall be composed of 10 to

7 13 members to be recommended by the State Forester and

8 Regional Forester and appointed by the Secretary as fol9 lows:

10 (1) A State Natural Resource official from the

11 State of Colorado.

12 (2) At least two representatives from Federal

13 land management agencies.

14 (3) At least one tribal representative.

15 (4) At least one representative of the State’s

16 local and volunteer fire departments.

17 (5) At least two independent scientists with ex18 perience in forest ecosystem restoration.

19 (6) An equal number of representatives from

20 each of the following:

21 (A) Conservation interests.

22 (B) Local communities.

23 (C) Commodity interests.
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1 SEC. 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.

2 The Secretary shall establish a multiparty monitoring

3 and evaluation process in order to assess the cumulative

4 accomplishments or adverse impacts of the Collaborative

5 Forest Protection and Restoration Program. The Sec6 retary shall include any interested individual or organiza7 tion in the monitoring and evaluation process. The Sec8 retary also shall conduct a monitoring program to assess

9 the short- and long-term ecological effects of the restora10 tion treatments, if any, for a minimum of 15 years.

11 SEC. 8. REPORT.

12 Not later than five years after the first fiscal year

13 in which funding is made available for this program, the

14 Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on En15 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com16 mittee on Resources of the House of Representatives. The

17 report shall include an assessment on whether, and to

18 what extent, the projects funded pursuant to this Act are

19 meeting the purposes of the Collaborative Forest Protec20 tion and Restoration Program.

21 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

23 annually to carry out this Act.

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