I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5223

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a pilot program to

evaluate the feasibility and merits of State administration of units of

the National Forest System.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 20, 2000

Mr. SANFORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a pilot

program to evaluate the feasibility and merits of State

administration of units of the National Forest System.

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 ‘‘National Forests Im5 provement Pilot Program Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DEFINITIONS.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

8 (1) National forest management costs taxpayers

9 over $2,000,000,000 per year.
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1 (2) The Forest Service has failed in four Gen2 eral Accounting Office audits to account for how it

3 spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the

4 1990’s, and the General Accounting Office has listed

5 the Forest Service as being at ‘‘high risk’’ of waste,

6 fraud, abuse, or mismanagement.

7 (3) Over 54,000,000 acres of Forest Service

8 land are currently at risk of catastrophic fire.

9 (4) In States where environmental audits are

10 performed, typically States are shown to have a bet11 ter performance record on the forest lands they

12 manage than the Forest Service has on the lands the

13 Forest Service manages.

14 (5) At the same time, most States are required

15 by law to show a return from State-owned forest

16 lands.

17 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act:

18 (1) COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Council’’ means the

19 Forest Stewardship Council.

20 (2) TEST FOREST.—The term ‘‘test forest’’

21 means a unit of the National Forest System in22 cluded in the pilot program.

23 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

24 the Secretary of Agriculture.
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1 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM OF STATE ADMINISTRATION OF

2 NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.

3 (a) PROGRAM REQUIRED; PURPOSE.—The Secretary

4 shall carry out a pilot program in three Forest Service

5 regions to evaluate whether State governments can man6 age and improve National Forest System lands more effec7 tively and efficiently than the Forest Service and reduce

8 Federal expenditures for the National Forest System. The

9 Secretary shall ensure that the Forest Service regions se10 lected represent three different forest ecosystems.

11 (b) CONTRACTS WITH STATES.—The Secretary shall

12 enter into a contract with one State in each Forest Service

13 region selected for the pilot program under which the

14 State will assume management of one unit of the National

15 Forest System in that State on behalf of the Secretary.

16 (c) APPLICABLE LAWS.—The Federal and State laws

17 applicable to a test forest as a unit of the National Forest

18 System shall continue to apply to the test forest notwith19 standing State administration of the test forest under the

20 pilot program, except that the State is not required to fol21 low the standard operating procedures and guidelines con22 tained in the Forest Service handbook.

23 (d) TREATMENT OF FOREST SERVICE EMPLOY24 EES.—Subchapter VI of chapter 33 of title 5, United

25 States Code, shall apply with respect to any employee of

26 the Forest Service who is assigned to duty in a test forest
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1 under a contract entered into under subsection (b). For

2 purposes of section 3373 of such title, an employee so as3 signed shall be deemed to be on detail to a regular work

4 assignment in the Forest Service, as provided in sub5 section (a)(1) of such section.

6 SEC. 4. TEST FOREST EVALUATION.

7 (a) FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL CONTRACT.—

8 The Secretary shall enter into a contract with the Forest

9 Stewardship Council under which the Council shall evalu10 ate the test forests every two years during the course of

11 the pilot program to assess the environmental progress of

12 the test forests under State management. The assessment

13 of environmental progress shall be based on criteria estab14 lished by the Council not later than six months after the

15 date of the enactment of this Act and revised thereafter

16 as the Council considers necessary.

17 (b) REPORT.—The Council shall submit to Congress

18 a report containing the results each biannual evaluation

19 of the test forests’ environmental progress of such lands.

20 (c) EARLY TERMINATION OF PILOT PROGRAM.—Not21 withstanding section 6, if the Council finds that the envi22 ronmental progress of a test forest is worsening based on

23 the criteria established under subsection (a), the Secretary

24 shall terminate the pilot program with respect to that test

25 forest. The State managing the test forest under the pilot
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1 program shall return the test forest to Federal manage2 ment and return all unobligated funds received by the

3 State under section 5 to manage the test forest.

4 SEC. 5. FUNDING.

5 (a) USE OF FOREST SERVICE FUNDS.—The Sec6 retary shall carry out the pilot program by reserving those

7 funds appropriated for the operations of the Forest Serv8 ice that would be used for the management of the test

9 forests in the absence of the pilot program. In anticipation

10 of the more efficient management of the test forests under

11 the pilot program, the Secretary shall incrementally re12 duce the amount reserved for each test forest from the

13 amount expended for the test forest during fiscal year

14 2000 to 50 percent of that amount over 10 years.

15 (b) REVENUES.—A State may keep the revenues it

16 receives from the management of a test forest for contin17 ued management of those lands, except that the sixth

18 paragraph under the heading ‘‘FOREST SERVICE’’ in

19 the Act of May 23, 1908, and section 13 of the Act of

20 March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C. 500), shall continue to apply

21 to such revenues.

22 SEC. 6. DURATION OF PILOT PROGRAM.

23 Subject to section 4(c), the Secretary shall carry out

24 the pilot program over a 10-fiscal year period. After con-
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1 sultation with the Council, the Secretary may extend the

2 pilot program for an additional 10 years.

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