I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8731 

To fill vacancies for Forest Service recreation management and planning 

staff in National Forests, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 5, 2020 

Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Mr. CARBAJAL, and Mr. THOMPSON of California) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To fill vacancies for Forest Service recreation management 

and planning staff in National Forests, 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 ‘‘Save Our Forests Act 

5 of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Between 2015 and 2019, on average, 88 

2 percent of wildfires in the United States have been 

3 human-caused. 

4 (2) Human-caused fires tend to occur in or 

5 near the wildland-urban interface (as defined in sec6 tion 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 

7 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511)), where there is a greater 

8 risk to people and communities and a higher cost to 

9 suppress fires. 

10 (3) The wildland-urban interface is the fastest11 growing land use type in the United States, posing 

12 challenges for fire management and suppression. 

13 (4) Over the last 10 years, an average of 

14 64,100 wildfires and an average of 6.8 million acres 

15 burned annually. In 2019, 50,477 wildfires burned 

16 and 4,700,000 acres burned nationwide. Approxi17 mately 65 percent of these acres burned on Federal 

18 land, of which close to 20 percent or 600,000 acres 

19 were National Forest System lands. 

20 (5) The Forest Service suffers from chronic 

21 staffing shortages, with several National Forests 

22 struggling to maintain their acreage with insufficient 

23 recreation management and planning staff. 


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1 SEC. 3. FILLING FOREST SERVICE RECREATION MANAGE2 MENT STAFF VACANCIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture, act4 ing through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall fill va5 cancies in National Forests for Forest Service recreation 

6 management and planning staff, including recreation tech7 nicians, recreation officers, and natural resource man8 agers. 

9 (b) PRIORITY.—In seeking to fill vacancies under 

10 subsection (a), the Secretary shall prioritize filling vacan11 cies in National Forests that— 

12 (1) are at high or very high risk of catastrophic 

13 wildfires; 

14 (2) are located in or near the wildland-urban 

15 interface; and 

16 (3) have experienced an increase in visitation 

17 over the past decade. 

18 (c) TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION AS A FOREST

19 PROTECTION OFFICER.—The Secretary may provide the 

20 opportunity for any individual who fills a vacancy pursu21 ant to subsection (a) to receive training and certification 

22 as a Forest Protection Officer. 

23 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to other funds 

25 that may be available to the Forest Service for the 

26 purposes specified in this section, there is authorized 


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1 to be appropriated to carry out this section such 

2 sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2021 and 

3 each fiscal year thereafter. 

4 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 

5 amounts available under paragraph (1) for each fis6 cal year, not more than 3 percent may be used for 

7 administrative expenses incurred in carrying out this 

8 section. 

Æ 


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