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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2421

To implement the recommendations of the Northern Forest Lands Council.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 28, 1995

Mr. BASS (for himself, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. HINCHEY, and

Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To implement the recommendations of the Northern Forest

Lands Council.

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 ‘‘Northern Forest Stew5 ardship Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. DECLARATIONS.

7 With respect to the Northern Forest, in the States

8 of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, Con9 gress declares that—
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1 (1) people have a right to participate in deci2 sions that affect them;

3 (2) the rights of private property owners must

4 be respected;

5 (3) natural systems must be sustained over the

6 long-term air, soil, water, and the diversity of plant

7 and animal species;

8 (4) the history and culture of the Northern

9 Forest and the connections between people and the

10 land must be respected;

11 (5) the Federal Government must work in part12 nership with State and local governments;

13 (6) differences among the 4 Northern Forest

14 States must be recognized;

15 (7) people must appreciate that the Northern

16 Forest has values that are important beyond the

17 boundaries of the forest;

18 (8) public funds are scarce; the greatest public

19 benefit must be secured for any additional invest20 ment;

21 (9) proposals must be judged by their long-term

22 benefits;

23 (10) programs and regulations should be con24 tinually evaluated, built upon, and improved before

25 new ones are created; and
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1 (11) this Act is enacted to implement the will

2 of the States, local governments, businesses, land3 owners, and concerned citizens, as described by the

4 consensus report of the Northern Forest Lands

5 Council submitted to Congress in September 1994.

6 SEC. 3. MARKETING COOPERATIVES.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall

8 provide technical assistance to the States of Maine, New

9 Hampshire, New York, and Vermont to organize market10 ing cooperatives of willing landowners to collectively grow,

11 process, prepare for market, and market raw forest prod12 ucts in interstate and foreign commerce and to serve other

13 stewardship goals collectively among willing landowners.

14 (b) STUDY.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall pre15 pare a study of the Northern Forest region to assess—

16 (1) landowner interest in creating marketing co17 operatives;

18 (2) forest-related economic and environmental

19 benefits that could be enhanced through marketing

20 cooperatives including the development of domestic

21 processing plants, access to professional foresters

22 and forest scientists, biodiversity protection, and

23 long-term sustainability; and

24 (3) barriers to creating marketing cooperative

25 for forest landowners.
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1 SEC. 4. PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture, act3 ing through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall, at the

4 request of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, New

5 York, and Vermont, provide technical assistance in work6 ing with the forest products industry, forest-dependent

7 communities, interested citizens, and scientists, as appro8 priate, to define benchmarks of sustainability and estab9 lish practical techniques for implementing and monitoring

10 principles of sustainability.

11 (b) PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY.—For the pur12 poses of subsection (a), principles of sustainability may

13 include—

14 (1) maintenance of soil productivity;

15 (2) conservation of water quality, wetlands, and

16 riparian zones;

17 (3) maintenance or creation of a healthy bal18 ance of forest age classes;

19 (4) continuous flow of timber, pulpwood, and

20 other forest products;

21 (5) improvement of the overall quality of the

22 timber resource as a foundation for more value23 added opportunities;

24 (6) addressing scenic quality by limiting adverse

25 aesthetic impacts of forest harvesting, particularly in

26 high-elevation areas and vistas;
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1 (7) conservation and enhancment of habitats

2 that support a full range of native flora and fauna;

3 (8) protection of unique or fragile natural

4 areas; and

5 (9) continuation of opportunities for traditional

6 recreation.

7 SEC. 5. NORTHERN FOREST RESEARCH COOPERATIVE.

8 The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the

9 Northeast Forest Experiment Station and other programs

10 administered by the Chief of the Forest Service, shall co11 operate with the States of Maine, New Hampshire, New

12 York, and Vermont, the land grant universities of those

13 States, natural resource and forestry schools, and other

14 interested parties in collecting, coordinating, and promot15 ing—

16 (1) research at those universities on ecosystem

17 health, forest management, product development, ec18 onomics, and related fields;

19 (2) forest management practices for use by land

20 managers to maximize multiresource benefits and

21 ecosystem health;

22 (3) technology transfer to the wood products in23 dustry on efficient processing, pollution prevention,

24 and energy conservation; and
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1 (4) the dissemination of existing and new infor2 mation to landowners, public and private resource

3 managers, State forest citizen advisory committees,

4 and the general public through information clearing5 house activities.

6 SEC. 6. INTERSTATE COORDINATION STRATEGY.

7 (a) MEETINGS OF FOREST SERVICE REPRESENTA8 TIVE AND REPRESENTATIVES OF STATES.—The Chief of

9 the Forest Service shall make a representative of the State

10 and Private Forest Program available to meet jointly at

11 least once a year with representatives of the States of

12 Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont to co13 ordinate the implementation of Federal, State, and local

14 interests in the Northern Forest.

15 (b) APPOINTMENT.—Representatives of a State may

16 include—

17 (1) the State forester, commissioner of forestry,

18 or equivalent officer with responsibility for setting

19 forestry policy for the State;

20 (2) 1 representative appointed by the presiding

21 officer of each house of the State legislature;

22 (3) a citizen advisory committee appointed by

23 the Governor; and

24 (4) the congressional delegation of the State.
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1 SEC. 7. LABOR SAFETY AND TRAINING.

2 The Secretary of Labor, in cooperation with the Sec3 retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the For4 est Service, shall provide technical assistance to forest5 based industry groups to—

6 (1) improve workplace safety;

7 (2) establish and expand appropriate training

8 programs; and

9 (3) encourage the development of equipment

10 and methods of timber harvesting that are safer

11 than those currently in use, profitable, and environ12 mentally compatible.

13 SEC. 8. LAND CONSERVATION.

14 (a) FEDERAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of Agri15 culture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service,

16 and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di17 rector of the Park Service and Director of the United

18 States Fish and Wildlife Service, at the request of the

19 State of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, or New York,

20 shall provide technical and financial assistance for the

21 planning and acquisition of land and easements.

22 (b) CRITERIA.—The planning process to prioritize

23 land conservation shall include the following criteria:

24 (1) Conservation of and access to outstanding

25 recreational values such as hunting, fishing, trap26 ping, camping, boating, and hiking opportunities.
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1 (2) Outstanding biological diversity, ecological

2 value, geological features, and ecosystem function.

3 (3) Willing seller with community approval.

4 (4) Outstanding scenic value.

5 (5) The potential of losing any of the values de6 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4) as the result

7 of conversion of land to a nonforest use.

8 (c) METHOD OF ACQUISITION.—The Secretary may

9 acquire lands or easements for purposes of this Act by

10 donation, purchase or exchange, or otherwise with the con11 sent of the owner of the lands.

12 (d) LAND ACQUISITION.—Federal and State coopera13 tive acquisition projects may be carried out with funding

14 provided exclusively by the Federal Government or with

15 funding provided by both the Federal Government and the

16 State government according to Federal conservation objec17 tives and State conservation objectives.

18 (e) COMPLEMENTARY PROGRAM.—The Secretary of

19 the Interior shall conduct activities under this section as

20 a complement to the State Comprehensive Outdoor Recre21 ation Plan for each Northern Forest State and with a

22 landscape perspective.

23 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

24 are authorized to be appropriated, out of the land and

25 water conservation fund established by section 2 of the
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1 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16

2 U.S.C. 460l–4), such sums as are necessary to carry out

3 this section.

4 SEC. 9. LANDOWNER LIABILITY EXEMPTION.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

6 (1) many landowners allow free access by the

7 general public to private lands for recreational pur8 poses; and

9 (2) when landowners make their resources

10 available for public enjoyment without a fee, land11 owners should not be liable for acts based on the

12 mere fact of ownership of undeveloped land and

13 awareness that a citizen or citizens were using their

14 land.

15 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con16 gress that States should enact laws that protect forest

17 land owners from liability of responsible use of private

18 lands by citizens who use private lands free of charge.

19 SEC. 10. NONGAME CONSERVATION.

20 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

21 (1) private landowners often manage their lands

22 in ways that produce a variety of public benefits in23 cluding wildlife habitat; and
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1 (2) there should be more incentives for private

2 landowners to exceed current forest management

3 standards and responsibilities under Federal laws.

4 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the

5 Congress that Congress should make it a priority to con6 sider legislation that creates a funding mechanism to sup7 port the conservation of nongame fish and wildlife and as8 sociated recreation activities on public and private lands

9 and does not replace, substitute, or duplicate existing laws

10 that support game fish and wildlife.

11 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

12 There is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years

13 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 such sums as are nec14 essary to carry out sections 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of this Act

15 and section 2371 of the Rural Economic Development Act

16 of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6601) in the States of Maine, New

17 Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.

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