I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1502

To direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to conduct a yield

and cost study of timber management investment opportunities on Federal timberlands in California, Oregon, and Washington, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 29, 1993

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. KOPETSKI, and Mr. HERGER) introduced the

following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Agriculture

and Natural Resources

A BILL

To direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior

to conduct a yield and cost study of timber management

investment opportunities on Federal timberlands in California, Oregon, and Washington, 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 ‘‘Timber Management

5 Improvement Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Under the timber management policy of

2 nondeclining even flow, articulated in section 13(a)

3 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources

4 Planning Act of 1974, the allowable sale quantity

5 for a national forest is a function of total timber

6 growth, which depends on available timberland area

7 and the rate of timber growth.

8 (2) Protecting the northern spotted owl and

9 other factors will lead to reductions in the Federal

10 land available for timber harvesting, leading to de11 clines in harvests and to undesirable declines in tim12 ber industry employment.

13 (3) Increases in timber management invest14 ments on Federal and other lands not protected as

15 spotted owl habitat could offset some of the declines

16 in allowable sale quantities resulting from spotted

17 owl protection.

18 (4) No separate studies of timber management

19 investment opportunities on Federal timberlands

20 have been conducted for more than a decade.

21 (5) The fund established by section 3 of the Act

22 of June 9, 1930 (16 U.S.C. 576b; commonly re23 ferred to as the ‘‘K–V fund’’), was originally estab24 lished to assure adequate funding for timber man25 agement investments for the national forests, but
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1 since 1976, substantial and increasing portions of

2 this fund have been used for wildlife habitat im3 provement, watershed improvement, and other

4 nontimber resource projects.

5 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—

6 (1) identify and examine timber management

7 investment opportunities on Federal timberlands in

8 the States of California, Oregon, and Washington;

9 (2) expand financial assistance programs for

10 timber investments on non-Federal timberlands in

11 the States of California, Oregon, and Washington;

12 and

13 (3) assure that amounts from the fund estab14 lished by section 3 of the Act of June 9, 1930, are

15 available for timber management investments on

16 Federal timberlands, consistent with the original in17 tent of that Act.

18 SEC. 3. TIMBER MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT STUDY.

19 (a) YIELDS AND COSTS REPORT.—The Secretary of

20 Agriculture, acting through the Forest Service, and the

21 Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of

22 Land Management, shall each prepare a report displaying

23 the yields and costs, both financial and environmental, of

24 timber management investment opportunities for lands

25 under their respective jurisdictions in the States of Cali-
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1 fornia, Oregon, and Washington. Timber management in2 vestment opportunities considered shall include—

3 (1) reforestation, including site preparation, di4 rect seeding, planting, and interplanting; and

5 (2) timber stand improvement, including release

6 (manual, chemical, and mechanical), fertilization,

7 pruning, precommercial thinning, and commercial

8 thinning.

9 (b) LAND AND FOREST CLASS.—The report prepared

10 under subsection (a) shall present the yield and cost infor11 mation for each of the following:

12 (1) Timber site productivity class.

13 (2) Current forest condition class, including

14 old-growth, second-growth, sawtimber, poletimber,

15 saplings, seedlings, and nonstock.

16 (3) Land suitability allocation for timber pro17 duction under the appropriate forest plan.

18 (c) LANDS CLASSIFIED AS UNSUITABLE FOR TIM19 BER PRODUCTION.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall in20 clude in the report required by this section—

21 (1) the reasons why lands in Forest Service Re22 gions 5 and 6 are classified as not suitable for tim23 ber production pursuant to the Forest and Range24 land Renewable Resources Planning of 1974, distin-
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1 guishing among timber site productivity classes and

2 current forest conditions; and

3 (2) the specific identity of those lands deemed

4 to be unsuitable for timber production solely due to

5 difficulties in meeting the reforestation requirements

6 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources

7 Planning Act of 1974, and a description of those dif8 ficulties.

9 (d) EXCHANGE AND CONSOLIDATION OF LANDS.—

10 In addition to other matters required to be included in

11 the study under this section, the study shall address op12 portunities for land exchanges with private landowners to

13 consolidate Federal landholdings in the States of Califor14 nia, Oregon, and Washington to enhance reforestation and

15 timber stand improvement.

16 (e) ADVISORY BOARDS.—In order to assure a com17 prehensive and unbiased report on the costs and yields of

18 timber management investment opportunities, the Sec19 retary of Agriculture on a forest-by-forest basis in Forest

20 Service Regions 5 and 6, and the Secretary of the Interior

21 on a district-by-district basis for the Bureau of Land Man22 agement districts subject to this Act, shall establish and

23 consult with advisory boards before releasing a draft of

24 the report required by subsection (a) to the public. The

25 advisory boards shall be comprised of individuals who, in
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1 the appropriate Secretary’s judgment, represent a diver2 sity of views. The appropriate Secretaries shall provide the

3 advisory boards with the opportunity to review and com4 ment on the practices and investments being examined

5 under subsection (a) and on the draft of the report before

6 its release to the public. The Federal Advisory Committee

7 Act shall not apply to advisory boards established under

8 this subsection.

9 (f) CONSULTATION WITH PRIVATE AND OTHER PUB10 LIC TIMBERLAND OWNERS.—(1) In preparing the report

11 required under subsection (a), the Secretary of Agriculture

12 and the Secretary of the Interior shall consult with private

13 and other public timberland owners in the general vicinity

14 of the forest or district, as appropriate, to—

15 (A) identify possible timber management invest16 ments and practices, and

17 (B) identify potential costs and yields of those

18 investments and practices.

19 (2) The report shall include information gathered

20 under this subsection in a manner which protects the pro21 prietary nature of corporate cost information and the cost

22 and yield estimates of the Secretaries.

23 (g) DATE OF SUBMISSION.—The report required by

24 this section shall be submitted to the Congress within 1

25 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
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1 SEC. 4. PRIVATE FOREST LANDS.

2 Section 4 of the Cooperative Forest Assistance Act

3 of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2103) is amended by adding at the

4 end the following:

5 ‘‘(l) Of the amounts appropriated to carry out this

6 section, not less than $1,500,000 shall be made available

7 for assistance under this section in each of the States of

8 California, Oregon, and Washington for planning, refor9 estation, and timber stand improvement practices to fur10 ther second growth management of timber resources to

11 offset the expected decline in timber harvests from Federal

12 lands as a result of listing the northern spotted owl as

13 a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act

14 of 1973. Such assistance shall be concentrated in those

15 counties containing Federal lands designated as habitat

16 conservation areas for the purposes of the protection and

17 recovery of the northern spotted owl.’’.

18 SEC. 5. KNUTSON-VANDENBERG ACT.

19 (a) REFORESTATION OF BLM LANDS.—Section 3 of

20 the Act of June 9, 1930 (16 U.S.C. 576b) is amended—

21 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘SEC. 3.’’; and

22 (2) by adding at the end the following:

23 ‘‘(b) Subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the

24 lands administered by the Secretary of the Interior

25 through the Bureau of Land Management in the same
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1 manner as such subsection applies with respect to national

2 forest lands.’’.

3 (b) REFORESTATION UNDER THE K–V ACT.—Sec4 tion 3(a) of the Act of June 9, 1930 (16 U.S.C. 576b),

5 as amended by subsection (a) of this Act, is amended—

6 (1) by inserting ‘‘or’’ before ‘‘(3)’’; and

7 (2) by striking ‘‘timber, or (4)’’ and all that

8 follows through ‘‘Provided,’’ and inserting ‘‘timber:

9 Provided,’’.

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