II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1253

To provide to the Federal land management agencies the authority and

capability to manage effectively the Federal lands in accordance with

the principles of multiple use and sustained yield, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 3, 1997

Mr. CRAIG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To provide to the Federal land management agencies the

authority and capability to manage effectively the Federal lands in accordance with the principles of multiple

use and sustained yield, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Public Lands Management Improvement Act of 1997’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Definitions.
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Sec. 4. Supplemental authority.

Sec. 5. Transition.

TITLE I—ENSURING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND

IMPLEMENTATION OF FEDERAL LAND PLANNING

Sec. 101. Purposes.

PART A—IN GENERAL

Sec. 102. Mission of the land management agencies.

Sec. 103. Scientific basis for Federal lands decisions.

PART B—RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY PLANNING

Sec. 104. Levels of planning.

Sec. 105. Contents of planning and allocation of decisions to each planning

level.

Sec. 106. Planning deadlines.

Sec. 107. Plan amendments and revisions.

Sec. 108. Disclosure of funding constraints on planning and management.

Sec. 109. Consideration of Federal lands-dependent communities.

Sec. 110. Participation of local, multi-interest committees.

Sec. 111. Ecosystem management principles.

Sec. 112. Fully allocated costs.

Sec. 113. Citizen petitions for plan amendments or revisions.

Sec. 114. Budget and cost disclosures.

Sec. 115. Monitoring and maintenance of planning; adaptive management.

PART C—CHALLENGES TO PLANNING

Sec. 116. Administrative appeals.

Sec. 117. Judicial review.

TITLE II—COORDINATION AND COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER

ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

Sec. 201. Purposes.

Sec. 202. Environmental analysis.

Sec. 203. Wildlife protection.

Sec. 204. Water quality protection.

Sec. 205. Air quality protection.

Sec. 206. Meetings with users of the Federal lands.

TITLE III—DEVELOPMENT OF ECOREGION ASSESSMENTS

Sec. 301. Purpose.

Sec. 302. Authorization and notice of assessments.

Sec. 303. Status, effect, and application of assessments.

Sec. 304. Applicability of other laws.

Sec. 305. Report to Congress.

Sec. 306. Pacific Northwest Forest Plan review.

TITLE IV—DEVELOPMENT OF A GLOBAL RENEWABLE

RESOURCES ASSESSMENT

Sec. 401. Purposes.

Sec. 402. Global Renewable Resources Assessment.
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Sec. 403. National Council on Renewable Resources Policy.

Sec. 404. Repeal of certain provisions of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable

Resources Planning Act.

TITLE V—ADMINISTRATION

PART A—IN GENERAL

Sec. 501. Confirmation of the Chief of the Forest Service.

Sec. 502. Monitoring funds.

Sec. 503. Interagency transfer and interchange authority.

Sec. 504. Fees for processing records requests.

Sec. 505. Off-budget study.

PART B—NONFEDERAL LANDS

Sec. 506. Access to adjacent or intermingled non-Federal lands.

Sec. 507. Exchanges of Federal lands for non-Federal lands.

PART C—THE FOREST RESOURCE

Sec. 508. Forest health credits in sales of forest products.

Sec. 509. Special funds.

Sec. 510. Private contractors.

Sec. 511. Non-harvested forest products sales.

Sec. 512. Exemption from strict liability for the recovery of fire suppression

costs.

TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS

Sec. 601. Regulations.

Sec. 602. Authorization for appropriations.

Sec. 603. Effective date.

Sec. 604. Savings clauses.

Sec. 605. Severability.

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds as follows:

3 (1) The Bureau of Land Management, Depart4 ment of the Interior, and the Forest Service, De5 partment of Agriculture, are comprised of profes6 sionals with considerable expertise and judgment to

7 manage Federal lands within their jurisdictions.

8 (2) In 1976, the Congress enacted the Federal

9 Land Planning and Management Act and the Na10 tional Forest Management Act which declared mul-
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1 tiple use and sustained yield to be the basic prin2 ciples under which the two land management agen3 cies are to manage their Federal lands.

4 (3) These principles of multiple use and sus5 tained yield enjoy strong support from the American

6 public and among the diverse stakeholders in Fed7 eral land management.

8 (4) These same Management Acts established

9 resource management planning processes as the

10 method for engaging the land management agencies’

11 expertise and professional judgment in, applying the

12 multiple use and sustained yield principles to, and

13 obtaining the views of the public on, management of

14 these Federal lands.

15 (5) Nevertheless, in the two decades since the

16 Management Acts were passed, fundamental flaws in

17 the planning and decision making processes estab18 lished by these Acts have become apparent and have

19 caused all stakeholders, whether they favor resource

20 protection or resource extraction, to express increas21 ing dissatisfaction with and distrust of these proc22 esses.

23 (6) These numerous flaws threaten the integrity

24 of the Federal lands planning and decision making

25 processes and undermine the ability of the agencies
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1 to fulfill their statutory land management respon2 sibilities and accomplish management that is well

3 grounded in science.

4 (7) The intent of the Congress that the land

5 management agencies would complete the planning

6 required by the Management Acts within a discrete

7 time frame and the new resource management plans

8 would provide secure guidance for subsequent man9 agement activities has not been met.

10 (8) Although mid-eighties deadlines were set by

11 statute or regulation for completing the new re12 source management plan, initial planning remains

13 unfinished twenty years after enactment of the Man14 agement Acts even as new planning is undertaken.

15 (9) The land management agencies are engaged

16 in a perpetual cycle of planning through the continu17 ous preparation of interim policies, plan amend18 ments, and plan revisions that preclude the provision

19 to both agency professionals and the public of any

20 secure guidance for predictable management of the

21 Federal lands.

22 (10) Although the Management Acts antici23 pated and directed that only two layers of plan24 ning—multiple-use resource management planning

25 for each national forest, Bureau of Land Manage-
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1 ment district, or other designated planning unit, and

2 site-specific planning for management activities—be

3 undertaken, the agencies have engaged in planning

4 at multiple layers—regional, ecoregion, watershed,

5 etc.—without license or direction from statute or

6 regulation.

7 (11) These new layers of planning have not

8 been applied uniformly on the Federal lands; fre9 quently have ignored the multiple use mandates of

10 the Management Acts and, instead, have focussed

11 narrowly on a single resource, even a single species

12 of wildlife; have been undertaken without consistent

13 agency-wide direction; have been conducted without

14 the meaningful opportunities for public participation

15 established for planning by the Management Acts;

16 and have resulted in guidance that often conflicts

17 with the planning that is prescribed by the Manage18 ment Acts.

19 (12) The procedures and requirements of other

20 environmental laws often burden with increased

21 costs and delays, conflict with, and frustrate the

22 planning and management processes established by

23 the Management Acts; effectively transfer the plan24 ning and management decision making authority

25 from the professionals in the land management
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1 agencies to officials of other agencies; and sanction

2 decisions by those officials who are not expert in

3 land management and are less familiar with the af4 fected resources, activities, and sites. Without doubt,

5 Congress has failed to reconcile the procedures and

6 requirements of other environmental laws with the

7 planning and management processes established by

8 the Management Acts.

9 (13) Increasingly, even after the land manage10 ment agencies reach decisions on the planning and

11 management of Federal lands implementation of

12 those decisions is barred by administrative appeals

13 and litigation. These myriad administrative appeals

14 and lawsuits have delayed substantially completion

15 of planning; encumbered and, at times, paralyzed

16 plan implementation and management activities;

17 drained scarce agency resources; and, on several oc18 casions, compelled the Congress to enact emergency

19 provisions to restore land management authority to

20 the agencies.

21 (14) The loss in goods and services from Fed22 eral lands resulting from these numerous flaws in

23 Federal land planning and decisionmaking has in24 creased this Nation’s dependency on foreign sources

25 for certain resources and has encouraged imports
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1 from countries with land management policies and

2 priorities that are far less environmentally respon3 sive.

4 (15) New concepts in Federal land manage5 ment, such as ecosystem management and adaptive

6 management, are not recognized in the Management

7 Acts and are being imposed on or incorporated in

8 Federal land planning and management without

9 statutory authority.

10 (16) New processes developed by stakeholders

11 to better participate in Federal land planning and

12 decision making, such as the community-based col13 laborative deliberations of the Quincy Library Group

14 and Applegate Partnership, are not recognized or

15 encouraged by the Management Acts.

16 (17) The provisions of section 322 of Public

17 Law 102–381 (106 Stat. 1419) requiring the Forest

18 Service to establish a streamlined administrative ap19 peals process for management activities has expired

20 and these well-received Congressional requirements

21 for processing administrative appeals should be re22 stored and expanded to include appeals of decisions

23 concerning planning, as well as decisions on manage24 ment activities, made by the Bureau of Land Man25 agement, as well as the Forest Service.
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1 (18) The Management Acts were passed at a

2 time when the ecosystems on the Federal lands were

3 regarded generally as healthy, but now many, exten4 sive forested areas of Federal lands are undergoing

5 or are threatened by an unprecedented forest health

6 crisis.

7 (19) These numerous flaws in the laws pertain8 ing to Federal land management and in the planning

9 and decisionmaking for Federal lands, particularly

10 the multiple layers and perpetual existence of plan11 ning, the increasing intervention of other agencies,

12 and the constant barrage of administrative and judi13 cial challenges, have escalated the land management

14 agencies’ costs of managing the Federal lands even

15 as their ability to secure actual management accom16 plishments on these lands has diminished substan17 tially.

18 (20) All stakeholders have incurred injuries—

19 both environmental and economic—from these plan20 ning and decision making flaws, but none more than

21 the local resource dependent communities, which

22 have little or no protection under the Management

23 Acts and have experienced the loss of wages, reve24 nues, and public services, and resultant social insta25 bility.
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1 (21) Although the Management Acts and their

2 implementing regulations contain detailed instruc3 tions to the land management agencies on planning

4 procedures and contents, they are virtually silent in

5 providing guidance or authority to enable the agen6 cies to implement resource management plans,

7 thereby devaluing the term ‘‘Management’’ common

8 to both their titles.

9 (22) As described in the United States General

10 Accounting Office report, ‘‘Forest Service Decision11 making: A Framework for Improving Performance,’’

12 April 1997, these flaws in the laws pertaining to

13 Federal land management and in the planning and

14 decision making for Federal lands, and the increas15 ing distrust in the laws and decision making experi16 enced by virtually all stakeholders in the Federal

17 lands, have both contributed to and been

18 compounded by the lack of a clear mission statement

19 for the land management agencies.

20 (23) Additional Congressional direction for the

21 planning of, and implementation of planning on, the

22 Federal lands is required to ensure that the predict23 ability in Federal land management intended by the

24 Management Acts is achieved, that the land manage25 ment agencies are able to exercise fully their consid-
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1 erable management expertise and judgment, that the

2 public can be heard in land management decisions,

3 and that the adverse environmental effects and eco4 nomic and social dislocation which result from the

5 present flaws in the planning processes are avoided.

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

7 (a) SPECIFIC TERMS.—As used in this Act, the

8 term—

9 (1) ‘‘Agencies’’ means the Bureau of Land

10 Management, Department of the Interior, with re11 spect to the lands described in paragraph (4)(A),

12 and the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture,

13 with respect to the lands described in paragraph

14 (4)(B).

15 (2) ‘‘Committees of Congress’’ means the Com16 mittee on Resources and Committee on Agriculture

17 of the House of Representatives, and the Committee

18 on Energy and Natural Resources and the Commit19 tee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the

20 United States Senate;

21 (3) ‘‘ecosystem management’’ means an ap22 proach to implementation of the principles of mul23 tiple-use and sustained-yield on the Federal lands

24 which employs current understanding of ecosystem

25 processes to evaluate the effects of management
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1 strategies on ecosystem health and productivity in

2 conjunction with attainment of planned outputs of

3 goods, services, and amenities.

4 (4) ‘‘Federal lands’’ means—

5 (A) those lands managed by the Bureau of

6 Land Management and defined in section

7 103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Manage8 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. § 1702(e)); and

9 (B) those lands in the National Forest

10 System, including units of the national grass11 lands, managed by the Forest Service and de12 fined in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range13 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of

14 1974 (16 U.S.C. § 1609(a));

15 (5) ‘‘resource management plans’’ means land

16 use plans prepared by the Bureau of Land Manage17 ment for units of the lands described in paragraph

18 (4)(A) pursuant to section 202 of the Federal Land

19 Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.

20 § 1712) and this Act, and land and resource man21 agement plans prepared by the Forest Service for

22 units of the lands described in paragraph (4)(B)

23 pursuant to section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland

24 Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, as
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1 amended by the National Forest Management Act of

2 1976 (16 U.S.C. § 1604), and this Act; and

3 (6) ‘‘Secretaries’’ or ‘‘Secretary’’ means the

4 Secretary of the Interior with respect to the lands

5 described in paragraph (4)(A) and the Secretary of

6 Agriculture with respect to the lands described in

7 paragraph (4)(B).

8 (b) OTHER TERMS.—Terms used in this Act shall

9 have the same meaning they are accorded in the Federal

10 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.

11 § 1701 et seq.) with respect to the lands described in para12 graph (4)(A) and in the Forest and Rangeland Renewable

13 Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. § 1600 et

14 seq.) with respect to the lands described in paragraph

15 (4)(B).

16 SEC. 4. SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY.

17 The provisions of this Act apply to all Federal lands

18 and supplement the Federal Land Policy and Management

19 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq.), the Forest and

20 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, as

21 amended by the National Forest Management Act of 1976

22 (16 U.S.C. § 1600 et seq.), and other laws applicable to

23 the Federal lands. Except as otherwise provided in this

24 Act, in the event of conflict or inconsistency between this

25 Act and any other law referred to in this section, this Act
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1 shall prevail: Provided, That, for any Federal lands des2 ignated as units of the National Wilderness Preservation

3 System, National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or Na4 tional Trails System, the provisions of law governing man5 agement of those systems or specific units shall prevail

6 whenever such provisions conflict or are inconsistent with

7 this Act.

8 SEC. 5. TRANSITION.

9 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, any plan,

10 policy, or guidance of the Agencies with respect to the

11 Federal lands in effect on the date of enactment of this

12 Act shall continue to apply to such lands until such plan,

13 policy, or guidance is revised, amended, changed, or termi14 nated in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

15 TITLE I—ENSURING THE EFFEC16 TIVENESS AND IMPLEMENTA17 TION OF FEDERAL LAND

18 PLANNING

19 SEC. 101. PURPOSES.

20 The purposes of this title are to establish a mission

21 for the Agencies in the management of the Federal lands;

22 to provide Congressional direction on, and eliminate fun23 damental flaws in, the conducting and implementing of

24 planning for the Federal lands; to avoid the environ25 mental, economic, and social injuries that result from
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1 those flaws and the past absence of direction; and to

2 achieve predictability in the management of, and timely

3 and cost-effective accomplishment of management activi4 ties on, the Federal lands.

5 PART A—IN GENERAL

6 SEC. 102. MISSION OF THE LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCIES.

7 The mission of the Secretary of Agriculture and the

8 Forest Service, and of the Secretary of the Interior and

9 the Bureau of Land Management, shall be to manage the

10 Federal lands under their respective jurisdictions to fur11 nish a sustainable flow of multiple goods, services, and

12 amenities while protecting and providing a full range and

13 diversity of natural habitats of native species in a dynamic

14 manner over the landscape.

15 SEC. 103. SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR FEDERAL LANDS DECI16 SIONS.

17 In rendering decisions concerning resource manage18 ment plans for and management activities on Federal

19 lands, each Secretary shall utilize the best scientific and

20 commercial data available to the Secretary.
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1 PART B—RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND

2 MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY PLANNING

3 SEC. 104. LEVELS OF PLANNING.

4 (a) PLANNING LEVELS.—Subject to subsection (c),

5 the Secretaries shall conduct no more than two levels of

6 planning for the Federal lands, comprised of—

7 (1) multiple-use planning in the form of re8 source management plans for planning units; and

9 (2) site or area specific planning for manage10 ment activities.

11 (b) PLANNING UNIT SIZE.—Each Secretary may des12 ignate planning units of whatever size and number the

13 Secretary deems appropriate.

14 (c) OTHER ANALYSES OR ASSESSMENTS.—Each Sec15 retary may conduct analyses or assessments for geographi16 cal areas larger or smaller than the designated planning

17 units, including ecoregion assessments pursuant to title

18 III, but shall not apply the results of such analyses or

19 assessments to the affected Federal lands unless the re20 source management plans for the planning units encom21 passing such lands are amended or revised in accordance

22 with this Act and other applicable law.

23 (d) NONCOMPLYING PLANS.—(1) The Secretaries

24 shall have three years from the date of enactment of this

25 Act to amend or revise resource management plans in ac26 cordance with this Act to modify and incorporate any poli-
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1 cies contained in any plans applicable to the Federal lands

2 which are effective on the date of enactment of this Act

3 and which do not comply with subsection (a).

4 (2) All noncomplying plans referred to in paragraph

5 (1) shall terminate three years from the date of enactment

6 of this Act.

7 (3) A noncomplying plan referred to in paragraph (1)

8 shall no longer apply to Federal lands in a planning unit

9 upon its termination date established by paragraph (2) or

10 when the resource management plan for such lands has

11 been amended pursuant to paragraph (1), whichever is

12 earlier.

13 SEC. 105. CONTENTS OF PLANNING AND ALLOCATION OF

14 DECISIONS TO EACH PLANNING LEVEL.

15 (a) PLAN CONTENTS.—(1) Each resource manage16 ment plan shall contain the following basic elements which

17 shall be accorded equal consequence by the Secretary con18 cerned:

19 (A) a statement of goals and objectives for the

20 management of the Federal lands to which the plan

21 applies during the term of the plan;

22 (B) the allocation of land uses to areas of the

23 Federal lands to which the plan applies;
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1 (C) determinations of outputs of goods and

2 services from the Federal lands to which the plan

3 applies annually and for the term of the plan; and

4 (D) policies necessary to ensure compliance

5 with the requirements of this Act and other applica6 ble law for the conservation of the resources and

7 protection of the environment on the Federal lands

8 to which the plan applies: Provided, That, to the

9 maximum extent feasible consistent with this Act

10 and other applicable law, such policies shall not be

11 prescriptive requirements generally applicable to the

12 planning unit and, instead, shall provide guidance

13 for the determination, during the planning for each

14 management activity, of specific requirements that

15 are addressed to the precise conditions of the lands

16 and resources to be affected by such activity.

17 (2) Each resource management plan also shall con18 tain—

19 (A) a statement of historical uses, and trends

20 in conditions, of the resources on the Federal lands

21 subject to the plan;

22 (B) a schedule and procedure for monitoring

23 the implementation of the plan, the management of

24 the Federal lands subject to the plan, and trends in

25 the conditions and uses of resources on the Federal
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1 lands subject to the plan, as required by section

2 115(b)(1); and

3 (C) criteria for determining when circumstances

4 on the Federal lands subject to the plan warrant

5 adaptive management of the resources of such lands

6 pursuant to section 115(b).

7 (b) ASSIGNMENT OF DECISIONS TO PLANNING LEV8 ELS.—(1)(A) Each Secretary shall promulgate regulations

9 that assign to each level of planning for Federal lands au10 thorized by section 104(a) the analyses and decisions to

11 be made at that level.

12 (B) All analyses and decisions to be conducted in the

13 levels of planning for Federal lands authorized in sub14 section (a) shall be assigned exclusively to a specific level

15 and may not be conducted or made, or reconsidered, at

16 the level to which they are not assigned.

17 (2) The regulations required by paragraph (1) shall

18 provide that, among other matters—

19 (A) in resource management plans: in addition

20 to the matters specified in subsection (a) and sec21 tions 108, 109, 111, and 112, resource inventories

22 and analyses of cumulative effects of planning deci23 sions and subsequent management activities shall be

24 conducted; the relationship of each plan to relevant

25 State and local plans shall be discussed; Federal
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1 land which may be exchanged or otherwise made

2 available for disposal shall be identified; and deci3 sions concerning wilderness, lands unsuitable for cer4 tain activities, and visual objectives, shall be made;

5 and

6 (B) in the planning for specific management ac7 tivities: Analyses of site specific resources and ef8 fects shall be conducted; decisions concerning the de9 sign of and requirements for a management activity,

10 including decisions related to water quality, method

11 for harvesting forest products, and revenue benefits

12 from other economic matters pertaining to the activ13 ity, shall be made; and a schedule and procedures

14 for monitoring the effects of the activity shall be es15 tablished.

16 SEC. 106. PLANNING DEADLINES.

17 (a) Except as provided in section 104(d), the dead18 lines for completing planning and management activities

19 and all decisions associated therewith on the Federal lands

20 shall be:

21 (1) for preparation of a resource management

22 plan, 30 months;

23 (2) for development of an amendment to a re24 source management plan which is determined to be

25 significant, 12 months, and for development of an
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1 amendment to a resource management plan which is

2 determined not to be significant, 9 months;

3 (3) for revision of a resource management plan,

4 24 months; and

5 (4) for a decision on a management activity

6 which is determined to be significant in accordance

7 with regulations that define significant, 9 months,

8 and for a decision on a management activity which

9 is determined not be significant in accordance with

10 regulations that define not significant, 6 months.

11 (b) The deadline established in subsection (a) for any

12 activity or decision deemed to be a ‘‘rule’’ as defined in

13 5 U.S.C. § 804(3) shall be the date on which such activity

14 or decision is submitted to each House of the Congress

15 and the Comptroller General pursuant to 5 U.S.C.

16 § 801(a)(1)(A).

17 SEC. 107. PLAN AMENDMENTS AND REVISIONS.

18 (a) INCONSISTENT OR CONFLICTING PLAN PROVI19 SIONS OR FEDERAL LANDS POLICIES OR DECISIONS.—

20 Except as provided in subsection (b), no policy may be

21 applied to or decision made on a resource management

22 plan or a management activity, or the Federal lands sub23 ject to such plan or activity, if that policy or decision is

24 inconsistent with any provisions of the plan, including any

25 of the basic elements specified in section 105(a)(1).
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1 (b) RESTORING PLAN CONFORMITY; MAKING RE2 QUIRED PLANNING CHANGES.—(1) Whenever, as a result

3 of monitoring the implementation of a resource manage4 ment plan pursuant to section 115(b), planning a manage5 ment activity on Federal lands to which the plan applies,

6 or other circumstance, the Secretary concerned determines

7 that a conflict exists between any of the provisions of the

8 plan or that a policy or decision the Secretary would other9 wise establish or make is inconsistent with a provision of

10 the plan, whether the provision concerns a goal, land allo11 cation, output determination, or environmental require12 ment, the Secretary shall initiate immediately the process

13 to amend or revise the plan to eliminate the conflict, in14 consistency, or departure: Provided, That the Secretary,

15 for a single specific management activity within any class

16 of management activities, may waive any provision in a

17 resource management plan without an amendment to or

18 revision of the plan if such provision does not implement

19 a nondiscretionary statutory requirement and the Sec20 retary determines in writing that the waiver is in the pub21 lic interest.

22 (2) Any change in the management of any Federal

23 lands that is required by a law enacted, regulation promul24 gated, or court order issued, or is warranted by new infor25 mation that becomes available, after the resource manage-
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1 ment plan which applies to such lands is adopted shall

2 be effected by an amendment to or revision of the plan,

3 and, except where the Secretary determines such law or

4 court order requires otherwise and publishes the deter5 mination in the Federal Register, shall not become effec6 tive until the amendment or revision is adopted.

7 (c) PLAN REVISIONS.—Whenever a resource manage8 ment plan is revised, the Secretary shall consider all provi9 sions of the plan and all Federal lands and resources sub10 ject to the plan in the decision and environmental analysis

11 documents associated with the revision and may not ad12 dress only those provisions, lands, or resources which may

13 be identified by the Agency, any other Federal agency, or

14 any segment of the public at the time of revision as requir15 ing review or alteration.

16 (d) CONTINUATION OF MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

17 DURING PLANNING.—(1) No management activities shall

18 be stayed during the process of preparing an amendment

19 to or revision of a resource management plan in anticipa20 tion of changes to be made by the amendment or revision,

21 except as otherwise required by this Act, court order, or

22 a formal declaration of the Secretary published in the Fed23 eral Register: Provided, That a specific management activ24 ity may be stayed by the responsible agency official for
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1 a purpose that is unrelated to the purpose or likely effect

2 of the amendment or revision.

3 (2) The authority for a formal declaration pursuant

4 to paragraph (1) may not be delegated.

5 (3) Except as provided in paragraph (1) or required

6 by court order, an amendment to or revision of a resource

7 management plan shall not become effective until final de8 cisions on management activities on the Federal lands to

9 which the plan applies that are scheduled to be made dur10 ing the amendment or revision process have been made.

11 (e) EFFECT OF PLAN AMENDMENT OR REVISION.—

12 Whenever a resource management plan is amended or re13 vised, the Secretary shall consider, and discuss in the envi14 ronmental analysis documents, associated with the amend15 ment or revision, any effect which such amendment or re16 vision may have on the basic elements, as identified in sec17 tion 105(a)(1), that are contained in the plan prior to

18 completion of the amendment or revision process. The de19 cision document on the amendment or revision shall in20 clude a discussion of the reasons why such effect is nec21 essary and any steps that were or shall be undertaken to

22 ameliorate any adverse economic or social consequences

23 which will or could result from such effect.
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1 SEC. 108. DISCLOSURE OF FUNDING CONSTRAINTS ON

2 PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT.

3 The environmental analysis accompanying each re4 source management plan, or amendment to or revision of

5 a resource management plan, shall consider generally for

6 each alternative, and the decision on such plan shall deter7 mine specifically for the plan, how implementation of the

8 alternative or plan will be affected by, and what goals and

9 objectives, land allocations, outputs, and policies as set

10 forth in section 105(a)(1) shall be effective for the alter11 native or plan, within a range of possible levels of funding

12 of Agency programs determined reasonable by the Sec13 retary, with at least one level which provides less funds

14 annually, and one level which provides more funds annu15 ally, than the level of funding for the current fiscal year.

16 SEC. 109. CONSIDERATION OF FEDERAL LANDS-DEPEND17 ENT COMMUNITIES.

18 (a) RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONSIDERATION OF COM19 MUNITIES.—In preparing, amending, or revising a re20 source management plan, the Secretary shall consider if,

21 and explain whether, the plan maintains to the maximum

22 extent feasible under this Act and other applicable law the

23 stability of each community dependent on the resources

24 of the Federal lands to which the plan applies.

25 (b) PROCEDURE.—The Secretary shall conduct dur26 ing, and publish in the environmental analysis document
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1 prepared in, the process of preparing a resource manage2 ment plan, or an amendment to or revision of such a plan,

3 an analysis for each community dependent on the re4 sources of the Federal lands to which the plan applies

5 that: (i) Examines the impacts of planning alternatives on

6 the community, including its revenues and budget, the

7 level and quality of its public services, wages for its resi8 dents, and its social conditions; (ii) explains how resource

9 allocations for the planning alternatives would comport

10 with or differ from historic community expectations; and

11 (iii) describe how those impacts were considered in select12 ing a preferred alternative.

13 (c) DEFINITION.—(1) The term ‘‘community depend14 ent on the resources of the Federal lands’’ means a com15 munity which is located in a proximity to Federal lands

16 and is significantly affected socially, economically, or envi17 ronmentally by the allocation of uses of one or more of

18 the resources of those lands.

19 (2) The Secretaries, in consultation with the Sec20 retaries of Commerce and Labor, shall establish by regula21 tions the criteria for identifying communities dependent

22 on the resources of the Federal lands as defined in para23 graph (1).
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1 SEC. 110. PARTICIPATION OF LOCAL, MULTI-INTEREST

2 COMMITTEES.

3 (a) INDEPENDENT COMMITTEES.—(1) The Secretar4 ies shall include and analyze in any documentation under

5 section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act

6 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)) related to the development

7 of a resource management plan, or an amendment of or

8 revision to such plan, and consider and discuss in any de9 cision document on such plan, amendment, or revision,

10 any alternative for such plan, amendment, or revision de11 veloped by an independent committee of local interests as

12 defined in paragraph (5).

13 (2) If more than two independent committees of local

14 interests are established and submit alternatives pursuant

15 to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall conduct the analysis

16 required by paragraph (1) on the alternative submitted by

17 each of the two committees which the Secretary deter18 mines to be most broadly representative of the various

19 local interests likely to be affected by the plan, amend20 ment, or revision referred to in paragraph (1). The Sec21 retary shall endeavor to consolidate for analysis or other22 wise discuss alternatives propounded by committees other

23 than the two selected committees.

24 (3) If the entirety or a significant part of an alter25 native of an independent committee of local interests ana26 lyzed pursuant to paragraph (1) is adopted by the Sec-
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1 retary, the Secretary may provide to the committee ade2 quate monies from the appropriate fund established pur3 suant to section 502 or, if such monies are insufficient,

4 appropriated funds to enable the committee to monitor the

5 implementation and effects of the plan, amendment, or re6 vision in accordance with the schedule and procedures for

7 monitoring provided in the plan, amendment, revision, or

8 activity referred to in paragraph (1).

9 (4) Independent committees of local interests shall

10 not be established or funded by either Secretary and shall

11 not be subject to the provisions of the Federal Advisory

12 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).

13 (5) For purposes of this section ‘‘independent com14 mittee of local interests’’ shall mean a committee or other

15 entity formed by and composed of representatives of two

16 or more interests active on the Federal lands to which the

17 plan, amendment, revision, or activity referred to in para18 graph (1) would apply: Provided, That at least one such

19 interest shall be concerned principally with the production

20 of a commodity resource or resources from such lands and

21 at least one such interest shall be concerned principally

22 with use or protection of a noncommodity resource or re23 sources on such lands.

24 (b) COMMITTEES ESTABLISHED BY THE SECRETAR25 IES.—(1) Each Secretary is authorized and encouraged to
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1 establish committees corresponding to the planning units

2 established pursuant to section 104.

3 (2) The membership of each committee established

4 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be broadly representative

5 of the various local interests likely to be affected by the

6 planning and management of the Federal lands within the

7 planning unit for which the committee is established.

8 (3) Each committee established pursuant to para9 graph (1) is authorized to—

10 (A) advise each Secretary prior to any decision

11 by the Secretary to adopt a resource management

12 plan, or an amendment to or revision of the resource

13 management plan, applicable to the planning unit

14 for which the committee is established; and

15 (B) monitor the implementation of the plan,

16 amendment, or revision.

17 (4) Each Secretary shall—

18 (A) in accordance with procedures established

19 by regulation, seek the advice of the committees es20 tablished pursuant to paragraph (1) as provided in

21 paragraph (3)(A); and

22 (B) provide to the committees established pur23 suant to paragraph (1) adequate monies from the

24 appropriate fund established pursuant to section 502

25 or, if such monies are insufficient, appropriated
30

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1 funds to permit the committees to conduct the mon2 itoring provided for in paragraph (3)(B).

3 SEC. 111. ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES.

4 The Secretaries shall consider and discuss in the en5 vironmental analysis documents prepared for resource

6 management plans, and amendments to and revisions of

7 such plans, ecosystem management principles. Such prin8 ciples shall be consistent, and shall not be authority for

9 noncompliance, with the other requirement of this Act and

10 other law applicable to resource management plan docu11 ments and decisions.

12 SEC. 112. FULLY ALLOCATED COSTS ANALYSIS.

13 The Secretaries shall specify, in the environmental

14 analysis documents prepared for resource management

15 plans, and amendments to and revisions of such plans, the

16 fully allocated cost including foregone revenues, expressed

17 as a user or cost-per-beneficiary, of each noncommodity

18 output from the Federal lands to which the plans apply.

19 SEC. 113. CITIZEN PETITIONS FOR PLAN AMENDMENTS OR

20 REVISIONS.

21 (a) PETITION FILING.—(1) A person may challenge

22 a resource management plan, or an amendment to or revi23 sion of such plan, after the deadline for filing an adminis24 trative appeal thereof established pursuant to section

25 116(b)(3) solely—
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1 (A) on the basis of new information, law, or

2 regulation, as defined in this section, that is perti3 nent to the issue on which challenge is based; and

4 (B) by a petition to the concerned Secretary of

5 amendment or revision of the plan.

6 (2) The petition shall be filed in accordance with reg7 ulations adopted by the Secretary.

8 (b) PETITION DECISION.—(1) The Secretary shall

9 accept or deny a petition pursuant to subsection (a) in

10 writing within 90 days of receipt thereof.

11 (2) The decision of the Secretary to accept or deny

12 a petition shall be subject to section 7 of the Endangered

13 Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. § 1536) and shall not be

14 subject to section 102 of the National Environmental Pol15 icy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4332).

16 (c) EFFECT OF PETITION DECISION.—(1) If the Sec17 retary accepts a petition pursuant to subsection (a), the

18 amendment or revision process shall begin on the date of

19 acceptance.

20 (2) If the Secretary denies a petition pursuant to sub21 section (a), or fails to render a decision on such petition

22 within 90 days of receipt thereof, the petition may seek

23 immediate judicial review pursuant to section 117.

24 (d) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, ‘‘new

25 information, law, or regulation’’ means any material and
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1 significant information related to resource management

2 plan, or an amendment to or revision of such plan, that

3 was not known to and considered by the Secretary in the

4 development of the plan, amendment, or revision, and any

5 law or regulation not in effect when the decision was made

6 to adopt the plan, amendment, or revision.

7 SEC. 114. BUDGET AND COST DISCLOSURES.

8 (a) PLAN IMPLEMENTATION.—Commencing with the

9 fiscal budget for the fiscal year following enactment of this

10 Act, the requests presented by the President to the Con11 gress governing the planning and management of Federal

12 lands shall include as an appendix to the budget a state13 ment of what funds would be required to achieve 100

14 percentum of annual outputs specified in, and otherwise

15 implement fully, the resource management plan for each

16 planning unit of the Federal lands.

17 (b) PLAN PREPARATION.—On or before July 1 of

18 each year after the date of enactment of this Act, each

19 Secretary shall submit a report to the Committees of Con20 gress that provides the total cost and costs per function

21 or procedure incurred in the preparation of each resource

22 management plan, ecoregion assessment, and significant

23 amendment to or revision of any such plan or assessment,

24 which is published in the preceding calendar year. Such

25 costs shall include the costs of the Agency responsible for
33

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1 preparation of the plan, amendment, or revision and of

2 any other Federal agency which participates in the prepa3 ration of the plan, amendment, or revision or prepares an

4 opinion, report, or comments on the compliance of the

5 plan, amendment, or revision with any Federal law or reg6 ulation administered by such agency.

7 SEC. 115. MONITORING AND MAINTENANCE OF PLANNING;

8 ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT.

9 (a) PLAN CONTRIBUTION STATEMENT.—Each Sec10 retary shall report in writing in each decision to undertake

11 a management activity on the Federal lands that such de12 cision contributes to or, at a minimum does not preclude,

13 achievement of the goals, land allocations, outputs, or poli14 cies of the applicable resource management plan.

15 (b) MONITORING FOR PLAN COMPLIANCE.—(1)

16 Using monies from the Monitoring Funds established pur17 suant to section 502 and, where such monies are insuffi18 cient, appropriated funds, each Secretary shall monitor,

19 on a schedule established by each resource management

20 plan but no less than every two years, the implementation

21 of the plan and management of the Federal lands subject

22 to the plan and trends in the conditions or uses of the

23 resources on such lands to—

24 (A) ensure that no goal, land allocation, output,

25 or policy of the plan is constructively changed
34

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1 through a pattern of management activities or of

2 failures to undertake management activities; and

3 (B) determine if circumstances warrant adapt4 ive management of any of the resources, to be au5 thorized either—

6 (i) in accordance with requirements and

7 procedures prescribed in the plan, if such man8 agement will not require or result in any change

9 in the basic elements of the plan as described

10 in section 105(a), or

11 (ii) by amendment to or revision of the

12 plan.

13 (2)(A) If the Secretary finds that a change described

14 in paragraph (1)(A) has occurred, the Secretary shall di15 rect that corrective management activities be undertaken

16 to restore compliance with the affected resource manage17 ment plan or that the plan be amended or revised.

18 (B) If the Secretary finds the circumstances de19 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) to exist and to require an

20 amendment to or revision of the plan, the plan shall be

21 amended or revised.

22 PART C—CHALLENGES TO PLANNING

23 SEC. 116. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS.

24 (a) APPEALS REGULATIONS.—Each Secretary shall

25 promulgate regulations to govern administrative appeals
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1 of decisions to approve resource management plans, and

2 amendments to and revisions of such plans, and to ap3 prove or disapprove management activities for or on the

4 Federal lands.

5 (b) APPEALS REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations re6 quired by subsection (a) shall—

7 (1) provide that any person may bring an ad8 ministrative appeal of a decision to approve a re9 source management plan, or amendment to or revi10 sion of such a plan, or to approve, disapprove, or

11 otherwise take final action on a management activity

12 if he or she has submitted written comments during

13 the preparation of such plan, amendment, revision,

14 or activity on the issue or issues for which adminis15 trative review is sought: Provided, That this para16 graph shall not apply when no opportunity is ac17 corded to the public to present such written com18 ments;

19 (2) provide that an administrative appeal of a

20 decision to approve a resource management plan, or

21 amendment to or revision of such a plan, may not

22 challenge any analysis or decision assigned to man23 agement activities pursuant to section 105(b)(2)(B)

24 and an administrative appeal of a decision to ap25 prove, disapprove, or otherwise take final action on
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1 a management activity may not challenge any analy2 sis or decision assigned to resource management

3 plans pursuant to section 105(b)(2)(A).

4 (3) require that a person who seeks administra5 tive review of a resource management plan, or an

6 amendment to or revision of such plan, on the basis

7 of new information, law, or regulation as defined in

8 section 113(d) must petition for an amendment or

9 revision of the affected plan in accordance with such

10 section;

11 (4) establish deadlines after the final decisions

12 to adopt a plan, amendment, or revision, or to ap13 prove, disapprove, or take final action on an activity,

14 by which any administrative appeal, other than a pe15 tition pursuant to section 113, must be filed: Pro16 vided, That such deadlines shall be not more than

17 120 days after a plan or revision decision, 90 days

18 after an amendment decision, and 45 days after an

19 activity decision;

20 (5) establish deadlines after the filing of admin21 istrative appeals pursuant to paragraph (4) by which

22 final decision on the appeals must be rendered: Pro23 vided, That such deadlines shall be not more than

24 120 days after the date of filing of an appeal of a

25 plan or a revision, 90 days after the date of filing
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1 of an appeal of an amendment, and 45 days after

2 the date of filing of an appeal of an activity: Pro3 vided further, That the Secretary may extend the

4 deadline for a specific appeal for more than 15 days

5 by a written statement which provides the reasons

6 for such extension;

7 (6) provide that, in the event of a failure to

8 render a final decision on an administrative appeal

9 by the deadline established pursuant to paragraph

10 (5), the decision on which the appeal is based is

11 deemed to be a final agency action for the purpose

12 of chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code;

13 (7) provide that the Secretary shall consider

14 and balance the environmental and/or economic in15 jury to any affected persons in determining whether

16 to issue a stay pending the appeal or petition;

17 (8) provide that no administrative stay shall ex18 tend beyond, or be imposed after—

19 (A) the conclusion of the applicable period

20 for filing an administrative appeal established

21 pursuant to paragraph (4) if no appeal is timely

22 filed;

23 (B) 30 days from the date of, or deadline

24 established pursuant to paragraph (4) for a

25 final decision on an appeal of a resource man-
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1 agement plan or an amendment to or revision

2 of such a plan;

3 (C) 30 days from the date of, or deadline

4 established pursuant to paragraph (5); and

5 (D) 15 days from the date of, or deadline

6 established pursuant to paragraph (5) for, a

7 final decision on an appeal of a management

8 activity; and

9 (9) establish categories of or criteria for man10 agement activities which, because of emergency,

11 time-sensitive, or other exigent circumstances, shall

12 not be eligible for administrative appeals and for

13 which lawsuits may be filed immediately after the

14 decisions to authorize such activities.

15 (c) REPEALER.—The regulations required of the For16 est Service by this section shall replace any regulations

17 promulgated pursuant to section 322 of Public Law 102–

18 381 (106 Stat. 1419–1420). Upon the effective date of

19 the regulations of the Forest Service required by this sec20 tion, such section 322 is repealed.

21 SEC. 117. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

22 (a) VENUES.—(1) Any suit to challenge a resource

23 management plan, or an amendment of or a revision to

24 such a plan, shall be filed in the United States Circuit

25 Court of Appeals for the circuit in which are located the
39

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1 Federal lands to which the plan applies: Provided, That

2 if the Federal lands to which a plan applies are located

3 in more than one circuit, the suit shall be filed in the

4 Court of Appeals for the circuit which contains the largest

5 portion of such lands.

6 (2) Any suit filed to challenge a management activity

7 or decision to deny a petition for amendment or revision

8 of a resource management plan shall be filed in the United

9 States district court for the district in which are located

10 the Federal lands on which the activity would occur or

11 to which the plan applies: Provided, That if the Federal

12 lands to which the plan applies are located in more than

13 one district, the suit shall be filed in the district court

14 for the district which contains the largest portion of such

15 lands.

16 (b) STANDING.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), any

17 person (including a person that sustains economic injury

18 as a direct or indirect result of the implementation of, or

19 a violation of, this Act, the Federal Land Policy and Man20 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq.), or the

21 Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act

22 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. § 1600 et seq.), or a regulation issued

23 under any such Act by the United States or any agency

24 or official of the United States) may—
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1 (A) To the full extent permitted by the Con2 stitution without regard to any prudential limita3 tions, commence a civil suit to—

4 (i) remedy any violation of any such Act or

5 a regulation issued under any such Act by the

6 United States or any agency or official of the

7 United States; or

8 (ii) challenge any such Act or a regulation

9 issued under any such Act or the implementa10 tion of the Act or the regulation; and

11 (B) intervene as a matter of right in any suit

12 brought under any such Act that threatens to cause

13 injury to the person or relates to any injury sus14 tained by the person, which intervenor shall have the

15 same right to present argument and to accept or re16 ject potential settlements as do the parties to the

17 suit.

18 (2) Standing to obtain judicial review of a resource

19 management plan, an amendment of or a revision to such

20 a plan, or a management activity shall be available only

21 to persons who have—

22 (A) participated in the preparation of such

23 plan, amendment, revision, or activity through the

24 submission of written comments on the issue or is25 sues for which judicial review is sought, unless an
41

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1 opportunity to submit such comments was not pro2 vided to the public;

3 (B) raised such issue or issues in seeking ad4 ministrative review pursuant to section 116 of such

5 plan, amendment, revision, or activity, other than an

6 activity subject to section 116(b)(9); and

7 (C) exhausted the opportunities for administra8 tive review pursuant to section 116, except for an

9 activity subject to section 116(b)(9).

10 (c) DEADLINES.—(1) Any suit brought pursuant to

11 this section must be filed not more than 90 days after

12 the final decision on the administrative appeal of a re13 source management plan, or an amendment or a revision

14 of such plan, and not more than 30 days after the decision

15 to deny a petition for amendment or revision of a resource

16 management plan, the final decision on an administrative

17 appeal of a management activity not subject to section

18 116(b)(9), or the decision to approve or disapprove a man19 agement activity subject to section 116(b)(9): Provided,

20 That, for any suit based on a law which requires advanced

21 notice of suit, the notice must be filed by the applicable

22 deadline and the suit must be filed within 7 days after

23 the conclusion of the notice period.

24 (2) Except as provided in subsection (d), the plan,

25 amendment, revision, activity, or petition shall not be
42

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1 reviewable either directly or indirectly as part of any other

2 decision concerning the Federal lands for compliance with

3 any provision of law or regulation in existence at the con4 clusion of the applicable period established by paragraph

5 (1).

6 (d) SUITS BASED ON NEW INFORMATION, LAW, OR

7 REGULATION.—A suit brought pursuant to this section

8 shall not allege or rely upon new information, law, or regu9 lation as defined in section 113(d) unless the party has

10 petitioned the Secretary pursuant to such section and the

11 Secretary has denied such petition or approved such peti12 tion and completed the amendment or revision process.

13 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD.—The record before

14 the court in any suit brought pursuant to this section shall

15 be limited to the administrative record and such additional

16 written evidence as the court shall permit.

17 TITLE II—COORDINATION AND

18 COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER

19 ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

20 SEC. 201. PURPOSES.

21 The purposes of this title are to coordinate, and elimi22 nate conflicting, procedures of the Federal land manage23 ment and other environmental laws; to assign clear re24 sponsibility for meeting the standards and requirements

25 of such laws, and securing protection of the environment
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1 and resources, on the Federal lands; and to reduce the

2 time and cost, and thereby improve the efficiency and ef3 fectiveness, in achieving such protection.

4 SEC. 202. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS.

5 (a) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN ANALYSIS.—(1)

6 In developing a resource management plan or a revision

7 to such a plan, the Secretary shall prepare an environ8 mental impact statement pursuant to section 102(2)(C)

9 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42

10 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C)).

11 (2) The environmental impact statement required by

12 paragraph (1) shall analyze all matters in the resource

13 management plan, including those assigned to resource

14 management plans by subsections (a) and (c)(1), and by

15 regulation pursuant to subsection (b), of section 103 of

16 this Act, and contain all other analyses required to be in17 cluded in environmental impact statements by this Act

18 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42

19 U.S.C. § 4321, et seq.).

20 (3) In developing an amendment to a resource man21 agement plan, the Secretary shall prepare either an envi22 ronmental impact statement or an environmental assess23 ment as may be required by section 102(2) of the National

24 Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)).

25 The statement or assessment shall contain all analyses re-
44

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1 quired by this Act and the National Environmental Policy

2 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4321, et seq.).

3 (b) MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY ANALYSIS.—(1) In plan4 ning a management activity on the Federal lands, other

5 than an activity which the Secretary determines to be cat6 egorically excluded from the requirements of section

7 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

8 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)), the Secretary shall prepare an en9 vironmental assessment pursuant to section 102(2)(E) of

10 such Act (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(E)) which shall be tiered

11 to, and incorporate by reference the relevant analysis in,

12 the environmental impact statement on the applicable re13 source management plan: Provided, That, if the Secretary,

14 in the discretion of, and in accordance with regulations

15 promulgated by, the Secretary, determines that the nature

16 or scope of potential environmental consequences of a

17 management activity is substantially different from or

18 greater than the nature or scope of the consequences con19 sidered in the environmental impact statement on the ap20 plicable resource management plan, the environmental

21 analysis document for the activity shall be an environ22 mental impact statement pursuant to section 102(2)(C)

23 of such Act.

24 (2) The environmental assessment or environmental

25 impact statement required by paragraph (1) shall analyze
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1 the matters associated with the management activity

2 which are assigned to management activities by subsection

3 (c)(2), and by regulation pursuant to subsection (b), of

4 section 105.

5 SEC. 203. WILDLIFE PROTECTION.

6 (a) ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT ANALYSIS.—(1) In

7 developing a resource management plan, an amendment

8 to or revision of such a plan, or a management activity

9 on the Federal lands, the Agency, on the basis of the best

10 scientific and commercial data available, shall ensure, pur11 suant to section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973

12 (16 U.S.C. § 1536), that the plan, amendment, revision,

13 or activity is not likely to jeopardize the continued exist14 ence of any species determined to be endangered or threat15 ened, or result in the destruction or adverse modification

16 of habitat of such species designated as critical, pursuant

17 to section 4 of such Act, except that the Agency, upon

18 certification pursuant to paragraph (2), shall perform all

19 functions in the processes established in subsections (a)

20 through (c) of such section 7 (16 U.S.C. § 1536(a)–(c))

21 which are assigned by such subsections or implementing

22 regulations to the Secretary of the Interior (other than

23 functions to be performed by the Bureau of Land Manage24 ment) or the Secretary of Commerce, or their designees.
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1 (2)(A) Each Agency may apply to the Director, U.S.

2 Fish and Wildlife Service, to be certified to perform, pur3 suant to paragraph (1), all functions in the processes es4 tablished in subsection (a) through (c) of section 7 of the

5 Endangered Species Act of 1973. The application shall

6 contain a detailed summary of the personnel and funds

7 available to, and the procedures adopted by, the Agency

8 to perform such functions.

9 (B) The Director shall have 30 days from the date

10 of submission to notify the Agency of any further informa11 tion required by the Director to consider the application

12 submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A).

13 (C) The Director, in consultation with the Director

14 of the National Marine Fisheries Service, shall render a

15 decision on an application submitted pursuant to subpara16 graph (A) within 90 days of the receipt thereof or of the

17 submission by the Agency of further information pursuant

18 to subparagraph (B), whichever is later: Provided, That

19 if the Director fails to render a decision by such date, the

20 Agency shall be deemed certified to perform the functions

21 described in subparagraph (A).

22 (D) The decision of the Director on an application

23 submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall provide a

24 detailed explanation of the reasons therefor and be pub25 lished in the Federal Register.
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1 (E) The decision of the Director on an application

2 submitted pursuant to paragraph (A) shall not be subject

3 to subsections (a) through (c) of section 7 of the Endan4 gered Species Act of 1973 and section 102(2) of the Na5 tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.

6 § 4332(2)).

7 (F) If an application of an Agency to be certified pur8 suant to this paragraph is denied, the Agency may file

9 a subsequent application or applications pursuant to sub10 paragraph (B) until such time as it receives certification.

11 (b) EFFECT ON MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES.—(1)

12 Whenever a species is determined to be an endangered

13 species or threatened species, or critical habitat is des14 ignated, pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered Species

15 Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. § 1533) and the species or habitat

16 is located on Federal lands, the Agency with jurisdiction

17 over such lands shall determine whether the procedure es18 tablished by section 7(a)(2) of such Act (16 U.S.C.

19 § 1536(a)(2)) and subsection (a) of this section is required

20 on each resource management plan applicable to such

21 lands within 90 days of the date of the determination or

22 designation. Any amendment to or revision of a resource

23 management plan resulting from the determination or des24 ignation which requires such procedure shall be completed
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1 within 12 months or 18 months, respectively, from the

2 date of the determination or designation.

3 (2) If the procedure prescribed by section 7(a)(2) of

4 such Act and subsection (a) of this section is required on

5 a resource management plan (or an amendment to or revi6 sion of the plan), the Agency implementing the plan may

7 authorize, fund, or carry out any agency action that is

8 consistent with the plan prior to completion of the proce9 dure on the plan if the procedure prescribed by such sec10 tion 7(a)(2) and subsection (a) of this section concerning

11 the same species or critical habitat is conducted on the

12 action or if such procedure is not required on the action.

13 SEC. 204. WATER QUALITY PROTECTION.

14 Any management activity on the Federal lands which

15 constitutes a nonpoint source of water pollution, including,

16 but not limited to, any activity associated with the harvest17 ing and transporting of forest products, which is certified

18 by the State in which such Federal lands are located to

19 meet best management practices or the functional equiva20 lent thereof shall be deemed to be in compliance with any

21 applicable requirements arising from any area wide waste

22 treatment management plan under section 208, and any

23 management program under section 319(b), of the Clean

24 Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1288 and 1329(b)): Provided,
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1 That the Agency is not required to seek such certification

2 for any management activity.

3 SEC. 205. AIR QUALITY PROTECTION.

4 Notwithstanding the provisions of section 118(a) of

5 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7418), upon a finding

6 by a forest supervisor of the Forest Service or a district

7 manager of the Bureau of Land Management that a pre8 scribed use of fire on Federal lands within the jurisdiction

9 of such official would reduce the risk of greater emissions

10 from a wildfire and will be conducted in a manner that

11 minimizes impacts on air quality to the extent practicable,

12 such use shall be deemed to be in compliance with any

13 applicable requirements of any State implementation plan

14 under section 110 of such Act (42 U.S.C. § 7410), and

15 any requirements imposed by the U.S. Environmental

16 Protection Agency under such Act.

17 SEC. 206. MEETINGS WITH USERS OF THE FEDERAL LANDS.

18 To improve and coordinate the management of Fed19 eral lands, the Secretary may, in his discretion, meet to

20 discuss matters of mutual concern with one or more: hold21 ers of or applicants for permits, leases, contracts, or other

22 authorizations for use of the Federal lands; other persons

23 who conduct activities on the Federal lands; persons who

24 own or manage lands adjacent to the Federal lands; or

25 representatives thereof. The Federal Advisory Committee
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1 Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to meetings with any

2 such individuals under this section: Provided, That noth3 ing in this section shall be deemed to affect the exemption

4 from the Federal Advisory Committee Act provided for

5 meetings with elected officers of State, local and tribal

6 governments by section 204(b) of the Unfunded Mandates

7 Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. § 1534(b)).

8 TITLE III—DEVELOPMENT OF

9 ECOREGION ASSESSMENTS

10 SEC. 301. PURPOSE.

11 The purpose of this title is to authorize the develop12 ment, and prescribe the use, of assessments of manage13 ment issues that transcend the boundaries of Federal land

14 planning units established pursuant to section 102 and

15 land ownerships in order to inform resource management

16 planning and the planning of management activities on the

17 Federal lands.

18 SEC. 302. AUTHORIZATION AND NOTICE OF ASSESSMENTS.

19 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Each Secretary is authorized

20 to prepare or participate in the preparation of ecoregion

21 assessments, which, in the Secretary’s discretion, may en22 compass all Federal lands and lands of other ownership

23 within a region specified by the Secretary: Provided, That

24 non-Federal lands may be included in an assessment only
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1 upon the written concurrence of the Governor or Gov2 ernors in whose States the lands are located.

3 (b) CONGRESSIONAL AND PUBLIC NOTIFICATION.—

4 (1) Ninety days prior to initiating any ecoregion assess5 ment pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary or Sec6 retaries shall submit to the Committees of Congress as

7 defined in section 3(2) and publish in the Federal Register

8 a notice of intention to prepare the assessment.

9 (2) The notice required by paragraph (1) shall in10 clude a description of the region and lands to be included

11 in the assessment; the officials to be responsible for the

12 ecoregion assessment; the estimated cost of, and deadlines

13 for, the assessment; the charter for, or other instructions

14 concerning, the conduct and substance of the assessment;

15 the procedures for ensuring participation of the affected

16 States, local governments, and tribes and the public in the

17 preparation of the assessment; a thorough explanation of

18 how the ecoregion was identified and the attributes which

19 establish the ecoregion; and the detailed reasons for the

20 decision to initiate the assessment.

21 SEC. 303. STATUS, EFFECT, AND APPLICATION OF ASSESS22 MENTS.

23 (a) NON-DECISIONAL STATUS.—The assessments

24 prepared pursuant to section 302 shall not contain any

25 decisions concerning resource management planning or
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1 management activities on the Federal lands. Any decision

2 concerning resource management planning or manage3 ment activities which reflects or employs information or

4 analyses contained in an assessment prepared pursuant to

5 section 302 shall be made in accordance with section

6 104(c) and this section.

7 (b) APPLICATION OF ASSESSMENTS.—(1) Within 180

8 days of the completion of an assessment pursuant to sec9 tion 302, each Forest Supervisor of the Forest Service and

10 State Director of the Bureau of Land Management with

11 jurisdiction over Federal lands to which the assessment

12 applies shall review the assessment and determine whether

13 the information contained therein warrants an amendment

14 to or revision of any resource management plan applicable

15 to such lands as required by section 104(c).

16 (2) If an amendment or revision is determined war17 ranted pursuant to paragraph (1), such amendment or re18 vision shall be completed within the applicable deadline es19 tablished by section 106 and otherwise comply with the

20 requirements of this Act and other applicable law.

21 (3) Until an amendment of or revision to a resource

22 management plan based on an assessment is completed

23 pursuant to paragraph (2), no management activity on

24 Federal lands to which the plan applies shall be delayed

25 or altered on the basis of the assessment.
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1 (4) No Federal official shall use an assessment, or

2 any documents prepared pursuant to this title, to regulate,

3 or otherwise apply the assessment or documents to, non4 Federal lands.

5 SEC. 304. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS.

6 In accordance with the limited status provided in sec7 tion 303(a) for an assessment prepared pursuant to this

8 title, each such assessment shall not be subject to section

9 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

10 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)), and subsections (a) through (d) of

11 section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16

12 U.S.C. § 1536(a)–(d)).

13 SEC. 305. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

14 Each Secretary shall submit a report to the Commit15 tees of Congress as defined in section 3(a)(2) on or before

16 January 1, 1998, and January 1 of each second year

17 thereafter, on any assessments prepared pursuant to sec18 tion 302, any implications for Federal land management

19 derived from such assessments, and any amendments of

20 or revisions to resource management plans based on such

21 assessments. Each report also shall contain an analysis

22 by the Secretary of the benefits and detriments of such

23 assessments and any recommendations of the Secretary

24 for improving the content and application of such assess25 ments.
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1 SEC. 306. PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOREST PLAN REVIEW.

2 (a) REVIEW.—With funds appropriated pursuant to

3 subsection (d) or other Act, the Consortium of Regional

4 Forest Assessment Centers, through the University of

5 Washington, (hereinafter in this section referred to as the

6 ‘‘Consortium’’) is authorized to conduct a review of the

7 Pacific Northwest Forest Plan, and supporting docu8 mentation, including the April 13, 1994, ‘‘Record of Deci9 sion for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of

10 Land Management Planning Documents Within the

11 Range of the Northern Spotted Owl’’; February 1994

12 ‘‘Final Environmental Impact Statement on Management

13 of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old-Growth Forest

14 Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted

15 Owl’’; and the July 1993 Report of the Forest Ecosystem

16 Management Assessment Team, entitled ‘‘Forest Eco17 system Management: An Ecological, Economic, and Social

18 Assessment’’ (hereinafter in this section referred to as the

19 ‘‘Plan’’).

20 (b) CONTENTS.—The review authorized by subsection

21 (a) shall include assessments of the following—

22 (1) the significance, validity, and appropriate23 ness of the scientific information, assumptions, and

24 modelling employed in the decision to adopt the

25 Plan;
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1 (2) the significance, validity, and appropriate2 ness of any pertinent information, assumptions, and

3 modelling not employed in the decision to adopt the

4 Plan;

5 (3) whether the Plan will achieve the resource

6 protection purposes, goals, or objectives established

7 in, or underlying, it;

8 (4) whether the Plan is achieving and will

9 achieve the resource production purposes, goals, or

10 objectives established in, or underlying, it;

11 (5) the operational and cost efficiencies to be

12 effected by the Plan and whether other methods or

13 alternative approaches would be more efficient; and

14 (6) any recommendations for changes in the

15 Plan, including any suggestions for administrative or

16 legislative action.

17 (c) COMPLETION AND SUBMISSION.—(1) The review

18 authorized by subsection (a) shall be completed not later

19 than 180 days after receipt of the funds appropriated pur20 suant to subsection (d).

21 (2) The review authorized by subsection (a) shall be

22 submitted by the Consortium to the Committees of Con23 gress.

24 (3) The Consortium shall not submit, nor shall any

25 officer or agency of the United States have any authority
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1 to require the Consortium to submit, the review authorized

2 by subsection (a), or any testimony concerning the review,

3 to any officer or agency of the United States for approval,

4 comments, or review prior to the submission of the review

5 or testimony to the Committees of Congress.

6 (d) APPROPRIATION AUTHORIZATION.—There are

7 authorized to be appropriated for use by the Consortium

8 to conduct the review authorized by subsection (a) such

9 sums as are necessary, but not more than $5,000,000.

10 Such sums shall be disbursed to the Consortium by the

11 Secretary of the Treasury.

12 (e) AGENCY COOPERATION.—Each department,

13 agency, or instrumentality of the executive branch of the

14 Federal government shall respond promptly and fully to

15 any request for information or documents pertaining to

16 the Plan submitted to it by the Consortium.

17 TITLE IV—DEVELOPMENT OF A

18 GLOBAL RENEWABLE RE19 SOURCES ASSESSMENT

20 SEC. 401. PURPOSES.

21 The purposes of this title are to eliminate a level of

22 Forest Service planning in accordance with section 104(a);

23 to repeal the provisions of the Forest and Rangeland Re24 newable Resources Planning Act of 1974 concerning the

25 Renewable Resources Assessment and Renewable Re-
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1 source Program, which continually have been altered by

2 other agencies and political appointees within the Execu3 tive Branch and routinely have been ignored by the Forest

4 Service as a guide to the development of resource manage5 ment plans and management activities; to provide for the

6 preparation of a Global Renewable Resources Assessment;

7 and to establish an independent National Council on Re8 newable Resources Policy to be responsible for the Assess9 ment.

10 SEC. 402. GLOBAL RENEWABLE RESOURCES ASSESSMENT.

11 (a) ASSESSMENT.—(1) In recognition of the vital im12 portance of renewable resources of the forest, range, and

13 other associated lands to national and international social,

14 economic, and environmental well-being, and of the neces15 sity for a long term perspective in the use and conserva16 tion of such resources and lands, the National Council on

17 Renewable Resources Policy established under section 403

18 shall prepare a Global Renewable Resources Assessment

19 (hereinafter in this title referred to as the ‘‘Assessment’’).

20 (2) The Assessment shall be prepared and submitted

21 to the Committees of Congress not later than five years

22 from the date of enactment of this Act and within each

23 successive five year period thereafter.

24 (b) ASSESSMENT CONTENTS.—The Assessment shall

25 include but not be limited to—
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1 (1) an analysis of present and anticipated na2 tional and international uses, demand for, and sup3 ply of the renewable resources, with an emphasis on

4 pertinent supply and demand and price relationship

5 trends;

6 (2) an inventory of present and potential na7 tional and international renewable resources, and an

8 evaluation of opportunities for improving their yield

9 of tangible and intangible goods and services, to10 gether with estimates of investment costs and direct

11 and indirect returns the various governments;

12 (3) an analysis of the environmental con13 straints, and the effects thereof, on production of

14 the renewable resources in the United States and in

15 other countries;

16 (4) an analysis of the extent to which the pro17 grams of other countries for management of renew18 able resources ensure sustainable use and production

19 of such resources;

20 (5) a description of national and international

21 programs and responsibilities in research on renew22 able resources and management of public and pri23 vate forest, range, and other associated lands;

24 (6) a discussion of important policy consider25 ations, laws, regulations, and other factors expected
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1 to influence and affect significantly the use, owner2 ship, and management of public and private forest,

3 range, and other associated lands; and

4 (7) recommendations for administrative or leg5 islative changes or initiatives to be undertaken by

6 the Agencies or Congress.

7 SEC. 403. NATIONAL COUNCIL ON RENEWABLE RESOURCES

8 POLICY.

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established a

10 National Council on Renewable Resources Policy (herein11 after in this title referred to as the ‘‘Council’’) to perform

12 the functions authorized in subsection (b).

13 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Council shall

14 be—

15 (1) to prepare and submit to the Committees of

16 Congress of the Global Renewable Resources Assess17 ment required by section 402;

18 (2) from time to time during the five year peri19 ods between each Assessment, as it deems appro20 priate, to submit recommendations for administra21 tive changes or initiatives to the Agencies or legisla22 tive changes or initiatives to the Committees of Con23 gress; and

24 (3) to conduct such analyses as requested by

25 the Committees of Congress or the Agencies.
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1 (c) MEMBERSHIP; CHAIR.—(1) The Council shall be

2 composed of fifteen members, including five members ap3 pointed by the President, five members appointed by the

4 President pro tempore of the Senate, and five members

5 appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

6 (2) The Chair of the Council shall be selected from

7 among its members.

8 (d) TERMS; VACANCIES.—(1) Except as provided in

9 paragraphs (2) and (3), each member of the Council shall

10 hold office for a term of seven years and until a successor

11 is appointed.

12 (2) Any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring

13 prior to the expiration of the term for which the member’s

14 predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the re15 mainder of such term.

16 (3) The terms of the five members appointed by each

17 official which first take office after the enactment of this

18 Act shall expire as designated by the official at the time

19 of the appointment, one at the end of three years, one

20 at the end of four years, one at the end of five years, one

21 at the end of six years, and one at the end of seven years.

22 (4) A vacancy in the Council shall not impair the

23 right of the remaining members to perform the functions

24 authorized in subsection (b).
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1 (e) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—(1) The Council shall

2 have an Executive Director, who shall be appointed (with3 out regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code,

4 governing appointments in the competitive service) by the

5 Council and serve at the pleasure of the Council.

6 (2) The Executive Director shall report to the Council

7 and assume such duties as the Council may assign.

8 (f) COMPENSATION.—(1) The members of the Coun9 cil who are not officers or employees of the United States,

10 while attending conferences, hearings, or meetings of the

11 Council or while otherwise serving at the request of the

12 Chair shall each be entitled to receive compensation at a

13 rate not in excess of the maximum rate of pay for grade

14 GS–18, as provided in the General Schedule under section

15 5332 of title 5, United States Code, including travel time,

16 and while away from their homes or regular places of busi17 ness shall each be reimbursed for travel expenses, includ18 ing per diem in lieu of subsistence as authorized by section

19 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for persons in Govern20 ment service employed intermittently.

21 (2) The Executive Director shall be paid at a rate

22 of pay not in excess of the rate of pay for grade GS–18,

23 as provided in the General Schedule under section 5332

24 of title 5, United States Code.
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1 (g) CONTRACT AUTHORITY; FEDERAL AGENCY CO2 OPERATION.—(1) In the performance of its functions, the

3 Council is authorized to contract with the National Acad4 emy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering

5 (acting through the National Research Council), the Con6 sortium of Regional Forest Assessment Centers, and other

7 nongovernmental entities, for the investigation of matters

8 within their competence.

9 (2) The heads of the departments, agencies, and in10 strumentalities of the executive branch of the Federal

11 Government shall cooperate with the Council in the per12 formance of its functions, and shall furnish to the Council

13 such information as the Council deems necessary to carry

14 out its functions. To the maximum extent feasible, the

15 Council shall avoid undertaking, and shall incorporate in

16 the Assessment as warranted, survey, inventory, or data

17 collection activities otherwise conducted or capable of

18 being conducted by agencies of the executive branch of the

19 Federal Government, including the Forest Inventory and

20 Analysis prepared by the Forest Service.

21 (h) APPOINTMENT OF PERSONNEL.—In addition to

22 authority to appoint personnel subject to the provisions

23 of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in

24 the competitive service, and to pay such personnel in ac25 cordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter
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1 III of chapter 53 of such title relating to classification and

2 General Schedule pay rates, the Council shall have author3 ity to enter into contracts with private or public organiza4 tions who may furnish the Council with such administra5 tive and technical personnel as may be necessary to carry

6 out the purposes of this title. Personnel furnished by such

7 organizations under this subsection are not, and shall not

8 be considered to be, Federal employees for any purposes,

9 but in the performance of their duties shall be guided by

10 the standards which apply to employees of the legislative

11 branches under rules 41 and 43 of the Senate and House

12 of Representatives, respectively.

13 (i) RULES AND POWERS OF THE COUNCIL.—(1) The

14 Council is authorized to establish such procedural and ad15 ministrative rules as are necessary for the performance of

16 its functions.

17 (2) The Council, by one or more of its members or

18 by such agents as it may designate, may conduct any hear19 ing or other inquiry necessary or appropriate to its func20 tions.

21 (j) TRANSMITTALS OF THE ASSESSMENT, BUDGET

22 REQUESTS, AND LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS.—(1)

23 Whenever the Council submits any budget estimate or re24 quest to the President or the Office of Management and

25 Budget, it shall transmit concurrently copies of that esti-
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1 mate or request to the Appropriations Committees of the

2 Senate and House of Representatives.

3 (2) Whenever the Council transmits the Assessment,

4 analyses, or recommendations referred to in subsection (b)

5 or any testimony or any comments on legislation to the

6 Agencies, the President, or the Office of Management and

7 Budget, it shall transmit concurrently copies thereof to the

8 Committees of Congress. No officer or agency of the Unit9 ed States shall have any authority to require the Council

10 to submit its Assessment, analyses, recommendations re11 ferred to in subsection (b), or any testimony or any com12 ments on legislation, to any officer or agency of the United

13 States for approval, comments, or review prior to the sub14 mission of the Assessment, analyses, recommendations,

15 testimony or comments to the Committees of Congress.

16 In instances where the Council voluntarily seeks to obtain

17 such comments or review of any officer or agency of the

18 United States, the Council shall include a description of

19 such actions in the Assessment, analyses, recommenda20 tions, testimony, or comments which it transmits to the

21 Congress.
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1 SEC. 404. REPEAL OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE FOR2 EST AND RANGELAND RENEWABLE RE3 SOURCES PLANNING ACT.

4 The following sections of the Forest and Rangeland

5 Renewable Resources Planning Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1601 et

6 seq.) (as redesignated by section 2 of, and otherwise

7 amended by, the National Forest Management Act of

8 1976 (90 Stat. 2949) are amended—

9 (1) in section 3—

10 (A) by deleting subsections (a), (b), and

11 (c);

12 (B) in subsection (d)—

13 (i) by redesignating paragraphs (1),

14 (2), and (3) as subsections (a), (b), (c), re15 spectively;

16 (ii) in paragraph (1), redesignated as

17 subsection (a) by clause (i), by deleting

18 ‘‘budget together with the annual report

19 provided for under section 8(c) of this

20 Act,’’ and inserting ‘‘budget,’’; and

21 (iii) in paragraph (3), redesignated as

22 subsection (c) by clause (i), by deleting

23 ‘‘subsection (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘section’’;

24 and

25 (C) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub26 section (d);
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1 (2) by deleting section 4 in its entirety;

2 (3) in section 5, by deleting ‘‘As a part of the

3 Assessment, the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’;

4 (4) in section 6—

5 (A) in subsection (a), by deleting ‘‘As a

6 part of the Program provided for by section 3

7 of this Act, the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’; and

8 (B) in subsection (g)(3), by deleting ‘‘de9 veloped to achieve the goals of the Program’’;

10 (5) in section 7, by deleting ‘‘Assessment, re11 source surveys, and Program’’ and inserting ‘‘re12 source surveys’’; and

13 (6) by deleting section 8 in its entirety.

14 TITLE V—ADMINISTRATION

15 PART A—IN GENERAL

16 SEC 501. CONFIRMATION OF THE CHIEF OF THE FOREST

17 SERVICE.

18 (a) CONFIRMATION.—The Forest Service, Depart19 ment of Agriculture, shall be headed by the Chief who

20 shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice

21 and consent of the Senate. As an exercise of the rule22 making power of the Senate, any nomination of the Chief

23 submitted to the Senate for confirmation, and referred to

24 a committee, shall be referred to the Committee on Agri25 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the Committee on
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1 Energy and Natural Resources. No person may undertake

2 the functions or exercise the authority of a Chief for more

3 than 180 days without the advice and consent of the Sen4 ate.

5 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—In nominating a Chief for ap6 pointment pursuant to paragraph (1), the President shall

7 select a person who is exceptionally qualified for such posi8 tion by virtue of:

9 (1) Possession of a degree in a scientific or en10 gineering discipline that is relevant to decisions con11 cerning management of the Federal lands;

12 (2) for a period of not less than 5 years, having

13 had direct responsibility for, and possessed and exer14 cised authority to make decisions concerning, the

15 management, or research pertaining to the manage16 ment, of Federal lands or other lands administered

17 for purposes that are not dissimilar to the purposes

18 for which Federal lands are managed; and

19 (3) for a period of not less than 5 years, having

20 administered a program or office which has or had

21 a number of employees equal to or greater than the

22 average number of full-time equivalent employees in

23 national forest supervisors’ offices of the Forest

24 Service on or about the date of the appointment.
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1 SEC. 502. MONITORING FUNDS.

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of

3 the Interior shall establish a Public Lands Monitoring

4 Fund and the Secretary of Agriculture shall establish a

5 Forest Lands Monitoring Fund.

6 (b) PAYMENT INTO FUNDS.—(1) Any revenues from

7 Federal lands described in section 3(a)(4)(A) received by

8 the Secretary of the Interior in any fiscal year in excess

9 of revenues from such lands projected for the Bureau of

10 Land Management in the baseline budget of the President

11 for such fiscal year, minus the funds necessary to make

12 payments to States or local governments under other laws

13 concerning the distribution of revenues derived from such

14 lands, shall be deposited into the Public Lands Monitoring

15 Fund.

16 (2) Any revenues from Federal lands described in sec17 tion 3(a)(4)(B) received by the Secretary of Agriculture

18 in any fiscal year in excess of revenues from such lands

19 projected for the Forest Service in the baseline budget of

20 the President for such fiscal year, minus the funds nec21 essary to make payments to States or local governments

22 under other laws concerning the distribution of revenues

23 derived from such lands, shall be deposited in the Forest

24 Lands Monitoring Fund.

25 (c) USE OF FUND MONIES.—(1) Funds deposited

26 into the Public Lands Monitoring Fund shall be available,
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1 without fiscal year limitation or further appropriation, to

2 the Secretary of the Interior to conduct the monitoring

3 required by section 115(b) or pursuant to section

4 110(a)(3) or 110(b)(4)(B).

5 (2) Funds deposited in the Forest Lands Monitoring

6 Fund shall be available, without fiscal year limitation or

7 further appropriation, to the Secretary of Agriculture to

8 conduct the monitoring required by section 115(b) or pur9 suant to section 110(a)(3) or 110(b)(4)(B).

10 SEC. 503. INTERAGENCY TRANSFER AND INTERCHANGE AU11 THORITY.

12 (a) TRANSFER AND INTERCHANGE AUTHORITY.—To

13 facilitate land management or achieve other authorized

14 public purposes, the Secretary of the Interior, with respect

15 to Federal lands described in section 3(a)(4)(A) which are

16 within or adjacent to Federal lands described in section

17 3(a)(4)(B), and the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect

18 to Federal lands described in section 3(a)(4)(B) which are

19 within or adjacent to Federal lands described in section

20 3(a)(4)(A), are authorized to transfer to the other Sec21 retary jurisdiction over lands not exceeding 5,000 acres

22 in size or to interchange jurisdiction over lands not exceed23 ing an aggregate of 10,000 acres per transaction.
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1 (b) CONDITIONS.—(1) Transfers or interchanges

2 made pursuant to this section shall be without reimburse3 ment or transfer of funds.

4 (2) Lands transferred or interchanged pursuant to

5 this section shall become a part of the unit and managed

6 in accordance with the laws, rules, and regulations of the

7 agency and administrative unit to which jurisdiction has

8 been transferred.

9 (3) A transfer or interchange pursuant to this section

10 shall not alter, amend, or modify any legislative designa11 tion or provisions applicable to the affected lands prior

12 to the transaction.

13 (4) The transfer of lands under this section shall be

14 subject to valid existing rights.

15 (c) PUBLIC NOTICE.—The Secretaries shall publish

16 in the Federal Register at least 30 days prior to any trans17 fer or interchange to be made pursuant to this section a

18 notice of such transaction, together with a description of

19 the resource management objectives or public interest to

20 be served by such transaction.

21 SEC. 504. FEES FOR PROCESSING RECORDS REQUESTS.

22 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec23 retaries may not waive or reduce any fee applicable to the

24 processing of a request that exceeds $1,000, or of multiple

25 requests from the same company, organization, or other
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1 entity, including any affiliates or members of the same

2 company, organization or other entity, that exceed $1,000

3 within a 6-month period, for records under section 1 of

4 the Act of September 6, 1996, as amended (5 U.S.C.

5 § 552).

6 SEC. 505. OFF-BUDGET STUDY.

7 Within twelve months from the date of enactment of

8 this Act, the United States General Accounting Office

9 shall conduct, and report to the Committees of Congress

10 the results of, a study of the feasibility and likely effects

11 of prohibiting any appropriations of funds to the Forest

12 Service and Bureau of Land Management, except for ac13 tivities of such agencies conducted on or related to non14 Federal lands, and permitting such agencies to retain for

15 their use, without further approval of, or appropriation by,

16 Congress and without fiscal year limitation, all revenues

17 collected from the Federal lands, with revenues from min18 eral activities on Federal lands identified in section

19 3(a)(4)(B) retained by the Forest Service, minus the

20 funds necessary to make payments to State and local gov21 ernments under other laws concerning the distribution of

22 revenues from the Federal lands.
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1 PART B—NON-FEDERAL LANDS

2 SEC. 506. ACCESS TO ADJACENT OR INTERMINGLED NON3 FEDERAL LANDS.

4 (a) DEADLINES.—(1) Each Secretary shall process

5 any application for access over, upon, under, or through

6 Federal lands within the jurisdiction of the Secretary to

7 nonFederal land pursuant to section 1323 of the Alaska

8 National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C.

9 § 3210) within 180 days of receipt of a complete applica10 tion.

11 (2)(A) Each Secretary shall notify in writing an ap12 plicant for access in accordance with this section whether

13 an application is complete within 15 days of receipt there14 of.

15 (B) If a Secretary finds an application for access in

16 accordance with this section to be incomplete, the Sec17 retary shall describe in detail in the notice required by

18 subparagraph (A) what additional information is nec19 essary to render the application complete.

20 (3)(A) If an application for access in accordance with

21 this section has not been fully processed by the deadline

22 established in paragraph (1), it shall be deemed approved

23 as described in the application.

24 (B) If the Secretary fails to notify an applicant for

25 access in accordance with this section by the deadline es-
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1 tablished in paragraph (2)(A), the application shall be

2 deemed complete.

3 (b) ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS AND REQUIRE4 MENTS.—(1) The environmental analysis documents re5 quired by section 102(2) of the National Environmental

6 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)) and section 7

7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. § 1536)

8 shall consider the environmental effects of the construc9 tion, maintenance and use of the access across the Federal

10 lands and shall not consider the use of the non-Federal

11 lands to be accessed.

12 (2) Any limitation or condition on the access which

13 the Secretary is permitted to impose pursuant to section

14 1323 of the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation

15 Act shall limit or condition solely the construction, mainte16 nance, or use of the access across the Federal lands and

17 not the use of the non-Federal lands to be accessed.

18 SEC. 507. EXCHANGES OF FEDERAL LANDS FOR NON19 FEDERAL LANDS.

20 Section 206 of the Federal Land Policy and Manage21 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. § 1716) is amended:

22 (1) In subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after

23 ‘‘(b)’’ and adding at the end thereof the following

24 paragraphs:
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1 ‘‘(2)(A) An environmental assessment shall be

2 the document prepared for any exchange under this

3 Act pursuant to section 102(2) of the National Envi4 ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)).

5 Such document shall not include any assessment of

6 the future use or development of the Federal land

7 after it is conveyed by exchange, except for consider8 ation of any plans or proposals for such land avail9 able to the Secretary concerned prior to publication

10 of the environmental assessment.

11 ‘‘(B) For any land exchange required by an Act

12 of Congress in which the specific lands or interests

13 in lands to be exchanged are described, unless other14 wise required by such Act, no documentation pursu15 ant to section 102(2) of the National Environmental

16 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)) shall be

17 required.

18 ‘‘(C) Any procedure required for an exchange

19 under this Act pursuant to section 7(a) of the En20 dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. § 1536(a))

21 shall be completed within 45 days after the date on

22 which the procedure is initiated.

23 ‘‘(D) After completion of an exchange under

24 this Act, the Secretary concerned shall not, except as

25 otherwise provided by law or regulation, undertake
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1 or authorize any action on the non-Federal land or

2 interest in land acquired in the exchange until the

3 Secretary has complied with section 102(2) of the

4 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and sec5 tion 7(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973

6 concerning such action, and completed any necessary

7 amendment to or revision of the land management

8 plan applicable to such land.

9 ‘‘(3) The Secretary concerned shall complete

10 processing, and make a final decision, on any ex11 change under this Act within one year from the date

12 of submission of the application for the exchange.

13 ‘‘(4) The non-Federal land or interest in land

14 to be included in any exchange under this Act shall

15 be valued without the application of any Federal or

16 State restriction concerning an environmental value

17 or resource the protection of which is considered by

18 the Secretary concerned as a public benefit to be ob19 tained by the exchange.

20 ‘‘(5) The Secretary concerned may employ com21 petitive methods to dispose by exchange of Federal

22 lands or interests in lands which are unique in char23 acter, which have values atypical of the general mar24 ket, for which market data is limited, or for which

25 competitive interest is demonstrated. The Secretary
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1 concerned is not obligated to select the highest value

2 property offered in exchange for such Federal lands

3 or interests and may reject any and all proposals for

4 exchange.

5 ‘‘(6) The Secretary concerned may prequalify

6 Federal lands or interests in lands for exchange as

7 a means of preliminary identification of lands or in8 terests suitable for disposal. For the purposes of this

9 paragraph, the term ‘‘prequalify’’ means conducting

10 the necessary assessments and inventories for lands

11 or interests with the recognition that such assess12 ments and inventories may need to be updated or

13 completed in greater detail to reflect changes occur14 ring after the date on which the Secretary

15 prequalified the lands or interests.

16 ‘‘(7) For Federal lands or interests in lands ac17 quired by a State in exchange for school trust lands

18 held by the State, the Secretary concerned, in lieu

19 of conducting a cultural assessment under section

20 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16

21 U.S.C. 470f ) on such lands or interests prior to

22 their transfer, may enter into an agreement with the

23 State which provides for protection of archaeological

24 resources and sites known or later discovered on
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1 such lands or interests to the maximum extent prac2 ticable under State law.

3 ‘‘(8) Existing exchange authorities of the Sec4 retary of Agriculture may be used to exchange feder5 ally owned subsurface rights underlying non-Federal

6 surface lands located within the boundaries of a unit

7 of the National Forest System, or where the Federal

8 subsurface rights were acquired under the

9 Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 (7

10 U.S.C. 1010–1012) which are administered as part

11 of the National Forest System. Any such exchange

12 shall not conflict with any prior Federal sale or lease

13 of subsurface resources as determined through con14 sultation between the Secretary of Agriculture and

15 the Secretary of the Interior prior to any such ex16 change.

17 ‘‘(9)(A) Amounts received by the Secretary con18 cerned under paragraph (1) shall be deposited in

19 special funds established in the Treasury of the

20 United States for the Bureau of Land Management

21 and Forest Service, subject to subparagraph (B).

22 Amounts in each fund, subject to appropriations,

23 shall be available to the Secretary concerned for

24 processing land exchanges, including cash equali25 zation.
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1 ‘‘(B) Amounts in each fund referred to in sub2 paragraph (A) may not exceed $12,000,000 at any

3 time. Amounts received by the Secretary concerned

4 under this section which, but for this subparagraph,

5 would be added to each fund shall instead be covered

6 into the Treasury of the United States as mis7 cellaneous receipts.’’.

8 (2) In subsection (h), by striking out ‘‘$150,000’’

9 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘$500,000’’.

10 PART C—THE FOREST RESOURCE

11 SEC. 508. FOREST HEALTH CREDITS IN SALES OF FOREST

12 PRODUCTS.

13 (a) AUTHORITY TO ISSUE FOREST HEALTH CRED14 ITS.—(1) The Secretaries are authorized to require, as a

15 condition of any specific salvage sale of forest products

16 from the Federal lands or any sale of forest products con17 stituting a forest health enhancement project pursuant to

18 section 509, that the purchaser undertake a forest health

19 management activity or activities as defined in subsection

20 ( j) which address effects of the operation of the sale or

21 past sales of forest products or involve vegetation manage22 ment within the area of the sale or the area in which such

23 effects are located.
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1 (2) A condition described in paragraph (1) may be

2 included in a contract of sale only when the Secretary de3 termines that—

4 (A) the land management objectives of the for5 est health management activity or activities can be

6 accomplished most efficiently when performed as

7 part of the sale contract; and

8 (B) it is unlikely that the forest health manage9 ment activity or activities will be performed except

10 under the authority of this section.

11 (3) The original term of any sale contract with a con12 dition described in paragraph (1) shall not exceed three

13 years.

14 (b) FINANCING AND SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING.—(1)

15 Financing of the forest health management activity or ac16 tivities in a contract for a sale under the authority of sub17 section (a) shall be accomplished by including provisions

18 in the contract for amortization of the cost of such activity

19 or activities through issuance of forest health credits to

20 the purchaser which offset such cost against the pur21 chaser’s payment for the forest products materials.

22 (2)(A) Appropriated funds may be used to assist the

23 forest health management activity or activities in a con24 tract for sale under the authority of subsection (a) if such

25 funds are provided by the resource function or functions
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1 that directly benefit from the performance of the activity

2 or activities and are available from the annual appropria3 tion of such function or functions during the fiscal year

4 in which the sale is offered.

5 (B) The amount to be paid from appropriated funds

6 for each forest health management activity shall be in7 cluded in the prospectus, and published in the advertise8 ment, for the sale.

9 (c) DETERMINING FOREST HEALTH CREDITS.—(1)

10 Prior to the advertisement of a sale under the authority

11 of subsection (a), the Secretary shall determine the

12 amount of forest health credits to be allocated to each for13 est health management activity to be performed by the

14 purchaser under the contract.

15 (2) A description of the forest health management ac16 tivity or activities to be performed by the purchaser, and

17 the amount of forest health credits allocated to each activ18 ity, shall be included in the prospectus, and published in

19 the advertisement, for the sale.

20 (d) CHANGED CONDITIONS.—The Secretary, with the

21 concurrence of the purchaser of a sale under the authority

22 of subsection (a), may alter the scope of work of a forest

23 health management activity or activities, and the amount

24 of forest health credits for the activity or activities, in the
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1 sale after award of the sale and prior to operation of the

2 sale when warranted by a change in conditions.

3 (e) TRANSFER OF FOREST HEALTH CREDITS.—

4 Each Secretary may permit the transfer of unused forest

5 health credits from one sale under the authority of sub6 section (a) to another such sale held by the same pur7 chaser if such other sale applies to Federal lands that are

8 under the jurisdiction of such Secretary and located in the

9 same State as the original sale.

10 (f) EXISTING PROCEDURES.—To the extent feasible,

11 in preparing, awarding, and administering sales under the

12 authority of subsection (a), each Secretary shall adhere

13 to the procedures and requirements developed by the For14 est Service for sales of forest products requiring road con15 struction by sale purchasers pursuant to section 4(2) of

16 the National Forest Roads and Trails Act (16 U.S.C.

17 § 535(2)): Provided, That nothing in this section shall be

18 deemed to require or authorize any alteration in the proce19 dures or requirements for sales of forest products under

20 section 4(2) including the applicable provisions of the

21 small business set-aside program and procedures for cal22 culating payments to counties of a portion of sale receipts.

23 (g) COST CONSIDERATIONS.—Sales under the au24 thority of subsection (a) shall not be precluded because

25 the costs of such sales are likely to exceed the revenues
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1 derived from such sales nor shall such sales be considered

2 in any calculations concerning the revenue effects of forest

3 products sales programs for the Federal lands or units

4 thereof.

5 (h) MONITORING AND REPORT.—The Secretaries

6 shall monitor the performance of contracts for sales issued

7 under the authority of subsection (a) and submit a joint

8 report to the committees of Congress no later than the

9 date four years from the date of enactment of this Act

10 which assesses the effectiveness of such contracts, dis11 cusses whether continued use of such contracts is advis12 able, and offers any changes in the law or regulations gov13 erning, or in the administration of, such contracts which

14 the Secretaries deem appropriate.

15 (i) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—(1) The author16 ity to offer sales of forest products pursuant to this section

17 shall terminate five years after the date of enactment of

18 this Act.

19 (2) Any contract for sale under the authority of sub20 section (a) that is issued prior to, and is in effect at, the

21 end of such five year period shall remain in effect under

22 its terms thereafter.

23 ( j) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

24 term ‘‘forest health management activity’’ means any

25 thinning, salvage, forest stand improvement, reforestation,
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1 prescribed burning (including natural ignition) or other

2 fuels management, insect or disease control, riparian or

3 other habitat improvement, or other activity, the purpose

4 of which is to—

5 (1) arrest the decline in forest health and re6 store forest health in the area in which the activity

7 is to be undertaken to a condition capable of sup8 porting and sustaining the uses of the area within

9 the historic range of variability of such area or as

10 determined in the land management plan or plans

11 applicable to such area;

12 (2) safeguard human life, property, and com13 munities on and near the Federal lands, particularly

14 in wildland/urban interface areas;

15 (3) protect the various forest resources of the

16 Federal lands placed at risk by adverse forest health

17 conditions, including air and water quality, wildlife,

18 and recreation and visual values;

19 (4) restore, maintain, or enhance the integrity

20 of ecosystems, watersheds, and habitats damaged or

21 placed at risk by adverse forest health conditions; or

22 (5) protect existing Federal investments in the

23 forest resources of the Federal lands, and future

24 Federal, State, and local revenues that otherwise

25 would be foregone.
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1 SEC. 509. SPECIAL FUNDS.

2 (a) BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT.—The Sec3 retary of the Interior shall maintain a special fund estab4 lished pursuant to Public Law 102–381, which shall be

5 derived from the Federal shall of all monies received from

6 the salvage sales of forest products from all lands adminis7 tered by the Bureau of Land Management, Department

8 of the Interior, and which shall be available, without fur9 ther appropriation, for the purposes of planning and pre10 paring salvage sales of forest products, the administration

11 of salvage sales, and subsequent site preparation and re12 forestation, and forest health enhancement projects, in13 cluding, but not limited to, prescribed burning (including

14 natural ignition) or other fuels management, site prepara15 tion, tree planting, protection of seedlings from animals

16 and other environmental elements, release from competing

17 vegetation, and stand thinning. The Federal share of any

18 revenues received from forest health enhancement projects

19 shall be returned to the special fund and be made available

20 for the purposes provided in this subsection.

21 (b) FOREST SERVICE.—The Federal share of all

22 monies received from the salvage sales of forest products

23 from, and any other activities funded pursuant to this sub24 section on, lands within the National Forest System may

25 be credited to the Forest Service Permanent Appropria26 tions to the expended for: salvage sales of forest products
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1 from any national forest; preparation of sales of forest

2 products to replace sales lost to fire or other causes; prep3 aration of sales of forest products to replace sales inven4 tory on the shelf for any national forest to a level sufficient

5 to maintain new sales availability equal to a rolling 5-year

6 average of the total sales offering; design, engineering, and

7 supervision of construction of roads lost to fire or other

8 causes associated with the sales programs described in this

9 subsection; watershed assessment activities; and forest

10 health enhancement projects, including, but not limited to

11 prescribed burning (including natural ignition or other

12 fuels management, site preparation, tree planting, protec13 tion of seedlings from animals and other environmental

14 elements, release from competing vegetation, and stand

15 thinning.

16 (c) PAYMENTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—Moneys

17 received from the salvage sales of forest products, and

18 other activities funded, pursuant to this section shall be

19 considered as money received for purposes of computing

20 and distributing payments to State and local governments

21 under other law concerning the distribution of revenues

22 derived from forest resources from the affected lands.

23 SEC. 510. PRIVATE CONTRACTORS.

24 To preserve budgetary and personnel resources, each

25 Secretary shall use to the maximum extent feasible private
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1 contractors to prepare sales for forest products: Provided,

2 That—

3 (1) any work conducted by a contractor on a

4 sale shall be reviewed and approved by the Secretary

5 before any decision on the design of, conditions for,

6 or approval or disapproval of the sale may be made

7 by the Secretary;

8 (2) a contractor who worked on a sale may not

9 submit comments on, or otherwise participate in,

10 any decision by the Secretary on the design, condi11 tions for, or approval or disapproval of the sale; and

12 (3) a contractor who conducted work on a sale,

13 any entity owned or controlled by the contractor, or

14 any member of the family of the contractor, may not

15 bid on the sale or provide any information to poten16 tial bidders and bidders on the sale prior to award

17 of the sale.

18 SEC. 511. NON-HARVESTED FOREST PRODUCTS SALES.

19 (a) QUALIFYING SALES.—Notwithstanding any other

20 provision of law, a purchaser of a sale of forest products

21 from the Federal lands, other than a sale pursuant to sec22 tion 508(a) or section 509 or a sale which has its primary

23 purpose vegetative management or land management

24 other than the disposal of forest products, may elect not

25 to harvest the stand or stands of trees subject to the sale
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1 (hereinafter referred to in this section as ‘‘an election

2 sale’’).

3 (b) CONTRACT TERM.—Any election sale shall have

4 a term the length of which corresponds to the expected

5 silvicultural rotation in a sale designed to regenerate even6 aged stands or the period prior to the next scheduled entry

7 for a sale designed to develop and maintain uneven-aged

8 stands.

9 (c) CONTRACT TERMINATION.—If, during the con10 tract term of an election sale, the stand or stands of trees

11 subject to the sale are substantially damaged by fire,

12 windthrow, disease, insect infestation, or other natural

13 event, and the Secretary determines, after an opportunity

14 for public hearing, that harvesting of the stand or stands

15 is necessary to avoid damage to adjacent forested areas,

16 the Secretary may terminate the contract and return a

17 pro-rata share of the purchase price, together with interest

18 thereon, to the purchaser. The decision to terminate a con19 tract pursuant to this subsection shall not be subject to

20 section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act

21 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)) or section 7 of the Endan22 gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. § 1536): Provided,

23 That any new sale of the stand or stands of trees subject

24 to the contract shall comply with such provisions of law.
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1 (d) SALE ANNOUNCEMENT.—The notice of sale for

2 each sale of forest products from the Federal lands shall

3 disclose if the sale is offered pursuant to section 508(a)

4 or section 509 or for the primary purpose of land manage5 ment or treatment. If the sale is qualified to be an election

6 sale, the notice shall also state the term of the contract

7 for any purchaser who intends not to harvest the stand

8 or stands of trees subject to the sale.

9 (e) NOTICE OF INTENT.—A prospective purchaser of

10 a sale of forest products from the Federal lands qualified

11 to be an election sale which intends not to harvest the

12 stand or stands subject to the sale shall provide written

13 notice of such intention to the Agency with the submission

14 of its bid for the sale.

15 (f) WINNING BID DETERMINATION.—In determining

16 the winning bidder for an election sale that has specifica17 tions for road construction or reconstruction, the Sec18 retary shall deduct from the bid of any prospective pur19 chaser which has provided notice of intent not to harvest

20 pursuant to subsection (e) the estimated cost of such con21 struction or reconstruction.

22 (g) DEFINITION.—Within 90 days of enactment of

23 this Act, each Secretary shall publish in the Federal Reg24 ister a definition of the term ‘‘vegetative management or

25 land management other than disposal of forest products’’
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1 in subsection (a) and guidance concerning the determina2 tion of whether a sale of forest products from the Federal

3 lands meets such definition.

4 SEC. 512. EXEMPTION FROM STRICT LIABILITY FOR THE

5 RECOVERY OF FIRE SUPPRESSION COSTS.

6 Section 504(h) of the Federal Land Policy and Man7 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. § 1764(h)) is amended

8 by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph:

9 ‘‘(3) No regulation shall impose liability without

10 fault for fire suppression costs with respect to a

11 right-of-way granted, issued, or renewed under this

12 Act to or for a non-profit entity, including a non13 profit entity that uses such right-of-way for the de14 livery of electricity to parties having an equity inter15 est in such entity.’’.

16 TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS

17 SEC. 601. REGULATIONS.

18 Not later than eighteen months from the date of en19 actment of this Act, each Secretary shall promulgate any

20 regulations necessary to carry out the purposes and provi21 sions of this Act.

22 SEC. 602. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23 There are authorized to be appropriated in the fiscal

24 year in which this Act is enacted and each fiscal year for

25 ten fiscal years thereafter such sums as may be necessary
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1 to carry out the provisions of this Act. Notwithstanding

2 any other provision of law, all other authorizations for ap3 propriations for the management of Federal lands shall

4 expire on the same date as the expiration of the appropria5 tions authority of this section.

6 SEC. 603. EFFECTIVE DATE.

7 The provisions of this Act shall take effect on the

8 date of enactment of this Act. No decision or action re9 quired or authorized by this Act shall be delayed pending

10 promulgation of any regulation to carry out the provisions

11 of this Act.

12 SEC. 604. SAVINGS CLAUSES.

13 (a) O & C LANDS ACT.—Notwithstanding any provi14 sion of this Act, except title VI, in the event of conflict

15 with or inconsistency between this Act and the Acts of

16 August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874; 43 U.S.C. §§ 1181a–

17 1181j) and May 24, 1939 (53 Stat. 753), the latter Acts

18 shall prevail.

19 (b) LAND USE RIGHTS AND AUTHORIZATIONS.—

20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as terminating any

21 valid lease, permit, patent, right-of-way, or other right of,

22 or authorization for, use of the Federal lands, including

23 any Native American treaty right, existing on the date of

24 enactment of this Act.
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1 (c) VALID EXISTING RIGHTS.—All actions taken by

2 the Secretaries under this Act shall be subject to valid ex3 isting rights.

4 SEC. 605. SEVERABILITY.

5 If any provision of this Act or the application thereof

6 is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, or any other ap7 plication thereof, shall not be affected thereby.

Æ