I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5007

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to use stewardship contracting

under which the receipts from the sale of timber and other forest products from National Forest System lands are available to the Secretary

to conduct other resource activities on such lands for the improvement

and restoration of healthy forest ecosystems.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 20, 1994

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

Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to use stewardship

contracting under which the receipts from the sale of

timber and other forest products from National Forest

System lands are available to the Secretary to conduct

other resource activities on such lands for the improvement and restoration of healthy forest ecosystems.

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 Forest Stew5 ardship Contracting Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS, PURPOSES, AND DEFINITIONS.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings:

4 (1) In many of the units of the National Forest

5 System, current conditions, such as heavy fuel loads,

6 tree density, and increased threats from catastrophic

7 fires, disease, and insect infestations, adversely af8 fect the biodiversity, health, and sustainability of the

9 forest ecosystems of such units.

10 (2) The current authority granted to resource

11 managers of units of the National Forest System

12 does not provide for the distribution of revenues

13 from the sale of timber and other forest products to

14 accomplish ecosystem restoration work under a sin15 gle contract.

16 (3) A new and innovative contracting process

17 for the National Forest System is required to meet

18 Federal goals of improving forest resource conditions

19 through implementation of ecosystem management.

20 (4) The improvement of the forest resource is

21 important to the long-term viability of species found

22 on National Forest System lands.

23 (5) Ecosystem restoration work performed as

24 part of a timber sale contract would improve em25 ployment opportunities in communities near units of
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1 the National Forest System to the benefit of long2 term economic health and community stability.

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol4 lows:

5 (1) To improve and restore the health of forest

6 resources through implementation of ecosystem man7 agement.

8 (2) To provide for employment opportunities

9 and economic stability for communities near units of

10 the National Forest System.

11 (3) To provide for needed flexibility in procure12 ment and funding practices and in the distribution

13 of revenues from timber and other forest products to

14 assist in implementation of ecosystem management.

15 (4) To provide the Secretary of Agriculture

16 with the authority to enter into stewardship con17 tracts to achieve management requirements pre18 scribed in the following provisions of law:

19 (A) The Act of June 4, 1897 (commonly

20 known as the Organic Administration Act; 16

21 U.S.C. 473–475, 477–482, 551).

22 (B) The Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act

23 of 1960 (16 U.S.C. 528–531).

24 (C) The Forest and Rangeland Renewable

25 Resources Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600–1614).
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1 (D) Section 14 of the National Forest

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

3 (E) The Act of May 23, 1908, and section

4 13 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C.

5 500).

6 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act:

7 (1) ACCOUNT.—The term ‘‘Account’’ means the

8 Stewardship Account established under section 5.

9 (2) STEWARDSHIP CONTRACT.—The term

10 ‘‘stewardship contract’’ means a contract under

11 which receipts from the sale of timber or other for12 est products are available to finance other resource

13 activities for the improvement and restoration of for14 est ecosystems of units of the National Forest

15 System.

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

17 the Secretary of Agriculture.

18 (4) RESOURCE ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘re19 source activities’’ includes site preparation, replant20 ing, fish and wildlife habitat enhancement, silvi-cul21 tural treatments, watershed improvement, fuel treat22 ments (including prescribed burning), and road ob23 literation.

24 (5) RESOURCE MANAGER.—The term ‘resource

25 manager’ refers to the line officer responsible for
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1 management decisios associated with project imple2 mentation on a unit of a national forest.

3 SEC. 3. USE OF STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTS.

4 (a) USE AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall estab5 lish and implement in the Forest Service a program to

6 use stewardship contracts for the sale of timber and forest

7 products on National Forest System lands using resource

8 activities that provide for the health of the forest, sustain9 able ecosystems and economic assistance to forest re10 source-dependent communities.

11 (b) DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF CONTRACTS.—The

12 Secretary shall develop a standard stewardship contract

13 for use throughout the National Forest System. Each re14 source manager of a unit of the National Forest System

15 may enter into stewardship contracts with qualified non16 Federal entities (as established in regulations relating to

17 procurement by the Federal Government or as determined

18 by the Secretary). Contracts should clearly describe the

19 desired future condition for each resource managed under

20 the contract and the evaluation criteria to be used to de21 termine acceptable performance. The Secretary shall en22 sure that resource managers give such preferential treat23 ment to small businesses, including small business con24 cerns within the meaning of section 3(a) of the Small

25 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)), in the awarding of stew-
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1 ardship contracts as is required under existing laws and

2 policies relating to the allocation of timber sale programs

3 in the Forest Service. The length of a stewardship con4 tract shall be consistent with the requirements of section

5 14 of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16

6 U.S.C. 472a).

7 (c) SELECTION OF AREAS FOR CONTRACTS.—In se8 lecting areas within units of the National Forest System

9 to be subject to stewardship contracts, the Secretary and

10 resource managers shall base the selection on the need to

11 improve forest health, maintain and improve soil and

12 water quality, and improve fisheries and wildlife habitat.

13 Priority shall be given to wildland interface areas with re14 spect to reducing fire hazards and minimizing the effects

15 of insect and disease infestations.

16 (d) APPLICATION OF CONTRACTS.—Subject to sub17 section (e), the Secretary may apply all or part of the reve18 nues received from the sale of timber or any other forest

19 products resulting to the Federal Government under a

20 stewardship contract as an offset against the cost of other

21 resource activities undertaken by the Secretary.

22 (e) EFFECT ON OTHER REVENUE REQUIREMENTS.—

23 Required deposits shall continue to be made to the Na24 tional Forest Fund, and 25 percent of the actual value

25 of timber removed under stewardship contracts shall re-
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1 main available for payments to States, as required under

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

3 March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C. 500). The Secretary shall first

4 collect revenues to make such payments before exercising

5 the authority provided in subsection (d).

6 (f) SUPPLEMENTATION OF CONTRACTS.—Appro7 priated funds may be included in a stewardship contract

8 before the award of the contract if—

9 (1) the monies are available from the current

10 annual appropriation; and

11 (2) the monies are provided for the benefiting

12 function.

13 SEC. 4. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACT RECEIPTS AND EXPENDI14 TURES.

15 (a) RECEIPTS.—Monetary receipts, as part of the

16 payment for timber and other forest products under stew17 ardship contracts, shall be deposited in a designated fund

18 to be known as the ‘‘Stewardship Account’’. Amounts in

19 the Account shall be used to make payments to States

20 under the Act of May 23, 1908, and section 13 of the

21 Act of March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C. 500) and to fund re22 source activities. Amounts in the Account are hereby ap23 propriated and shall be available to the Secretary until ex24 pended, except that those amounts found by the Secretary

25 to be in excess to the needs of the Secretary shall be trans-
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1 ferred to miscellaneous receipts in the Treasury of the

2 United States.

3 (b) EXPENDITURES.—Not less than 80 percent of

4 amounts in the Account available for resource activities

5 shall be used for the direct costs of such resource activi6 ties.

7 (c) REPORTING.—As part of the annual report of the

8 Secretary to Congress, the Secretary shall include an ac9 counting of revenues, expenditures, and accomplishments

10 related to the stewardship contracts.

11 SEC. 5. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.

12 All stewardship contracts shall comply with existing

13 applicable laws, and nothing in this Act may be construed

14 as modifying the provisions of any other law except as ex15 plicitly provided in this Act.

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