II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 868

To make forestry insurance plans available to owners and operators of private

forest land, to encourage the use of prescribed burning and fuel treatment methods on private forest land, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 22, 1999

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself and Mr. MACK) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,

and Forestry

A BILL

To make forestry insurance plans available to owners and

operators of private forest land, to encourage the use

of prescribed burning and fuel treatment methods on

private forest land, 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 ‘‘Forestry Initiative to

5 Restore the Environment Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FORESTRY INSURANCE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 508 of the Federal Crop

8 Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1508) is amended in subsections
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1 (l) and (m)(2) by inserting after ‘‘generally available from

2 private companies’’ each place it appears the following: ‘‘in

3 a State or area at rates and terms that are normal for

4 privately underwritten policies, as determined by the Cor5 poration’’.

6 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.—Section 508 of the Federal

7 Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1508) is amended by adding

8 at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(o) FORESTRY INSURANCE PILOT PROGRAM.—The

10 Corporation shall conduct a pilot program in at least 4

11 States under which the Corporation shall offer forestry in12 surance plans to indemnify owners and operators of pri13 vate forest land that is used to produce a variety of types

14 of timber for loss of yield or prevented planting due to

15 drought, flood, or other natural disaster (as determined

16 by the Secretary), with an emphasis on small, nonindus17 trial owners and operators of private forest land.’’.

18 SEC. 3. FORESTRY INCENTIVES PROGRAM.

19 Section 4(a) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance

20 Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2103(a)) is amended in the second

21 sentence by inserting ‘‘increased seedling production ca22 pacity,’’ after ‘‘prescribed burning,’’.
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1 SEC. 4. RURAL FIRE PREVENTION AND CONTROL.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 10(b) of the Cooperative

3 Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2106(b)) is

4 amended—

5 (1) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the

6 following:

7 ‘‘(2) provide financial, technical, and related as8 sistance to State foresters or equivalent State offi9 cials, and through them to other agencies and indi10 viduals, for the prescribed use of burning on private

11 forest land for the prevention, control, and suppres12 sion of fire, including providing grants to pay up to

13 75 percent of the cost of carrying out the burning’’;

14 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ after

15 the semicolon;

16 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at

17 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

18 (4) by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(5) develop, in cooperation with the Adminis20 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency, edu21 cational and outreach programs and materials on

22 prescribed use of burning for the prevention, control,

23 and suppression of fire.’’.

24 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

25 10(e) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978

26 (16 U.S.C. 2106(e)) is amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘, (2),’’;

2 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para3 graph (3); and

4 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol5 lowing:

6 ‘‘(2) PRESCRIBED BURNING.—There are au7 thorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection

8 (b)(2) $10,000,000 for each fiscal year.’’.

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