II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1691 

To provide mandatory funding to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out 

hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System land, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide mandatory funding to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out hazardous fuels reduction projects 

on National Forest System land, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Resilient 

5 Communities Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION 

7 PROJECTS ON NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM 

8 LAND. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) AT-RISK COMMUNITY; FIRE REGIME I; FIRE

2 REGIME II; FIRE REGIME III.—The terms ‘‘at-risk 

3 community’’, ‘‘fire regime I’’, ‘‘fire regime II’’, and 

4 ‘‘fire regime III’’ have the meanings given those 

5 terms in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res6 toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 

7 (2) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION

8 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction 

9 project’’ means the removal or modification of flam10 mable vegetation or woody debris through prescribed 

11 fire, thinning, brush removal, mastication, pruning, 

12 slash treatment, or a combination of those methods, 

13 on the condition that the method is ecologically ap14 propriate, cost-effective, and selected on a site-spe15 cific basis. 

16 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 

18 Chief of the Forest Service. 

19 (b) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION PROJECTS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

21 out hazardous fuels reduction projects on National 

22 Forest System land. 

23 (2) PROJECT PRIORITIES.—In carrying out 

24 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall prioritize haz25 ardous fuels reduction projects that are— 


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1 (A) conducted in areas that— 

2 (i) are within or adjacent to— 

3 (I) at-risk communities; or 

4 (II) high-value watersheds; 

5 (ii) have very high wildfire hazard po6 tential; or 

7 (iii) are in fire regime I, fire regime 

8 II, or fire regime III; or 

9 (B) designed to integrate and simulta10 neously advance two or more of the goals estab11 lished in the report of the Secretary of Agri12 culture and the Secretary of the Interior enti13 tled ‘‘The National Strategy: the Final Phase of 

14 the Development of the National Cohesive 

15 Wildland Fire Management Strategy’’ and 

16 dated April 2014— 

17 (i) to create fire-adapted communities; 

18 (ii) to restore and maintain resilient 

19 landscapes; and 

20 (iii) to achieve safe, effective fire re21 sponse. 

22 (c) FUNDING.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—On the first October 1 fol24 lowing the date of enactment of this Act, out of any 

25 funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 


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1 the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the 

2 Secretary to carry out this section $1,000,000,000, 

3 to remain available until expended. 

4 (2) RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE.—The Sec5 retary shall be entitled to receive, shall accept, and 

6 shall use to carry out this section the funds trans7 ferred under paragraph (1), without further appro8 priation. 

9 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE AND PLANNING COSTS.— 

10 Not more than 10 percent of funding made available 

11 under paragraph (1) may be used for administrative 

12 and planning costs. 

13 SEC. 3. COMMUNITY PLANNING ASSISTANCE FOR AT-RISK 

14 COMMUNITIES. 

15 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) AT-RISK COMMUNITY; COMMUNITY WILD17 FIRE PROTECTION PLAN.—The terms ‘‘at-risk com18 munity’’ and ‘‘community wildfire protection plan’’ 

19 have the meanings given those terms in section 101 

20 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 

21 U.S.C. 6511). 

22 (2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

23 means the following: 

24 (A) National Forest System land reserved 

25 from the public domain. 


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1 (B) The following land administered by the 

2 Secretary of the Interior: 

3 (i) Public lands (as defined in section 

4 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man5 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)). 

6 (ii) A unit of the National Park Sys7 tem. 

8 (iii) A unit of the National Wildlife 

9 Refuge System. 

10 (iv) Land held in trust for an Indian 

11 Tribe. 

12 (3) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION

13 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction 

14 project’’ means the removal or modification of flam15 mable vegetation or woody debris through prescribed 

16 fire, thinning, brush removal, mastication, pruning, 

17 slash treatment, or a combination of those methods, 

18 on the condition that the method is ecologically ap19 propriate, cost-effective, and selected on a site-spe20 cific basis. 

21 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 

22 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 

23 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu24 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 


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1 (5) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

2 means the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec3 retary of Agriculture. 

4 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF MAP.—Not later than 180 

5 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and periodi6 cally thereafter, the Secretaries shall develop and publish 

7 a map depicting at-risk communities, including Tribal at8 risk communities. 

9 (c) PLANNING AND PREPARING AT-RISK COMMU10 NITIES FOR WILDFIRE.—Subject to the availability of ap11 propriations, the Secretaries shall provide financial and 

12 technical assistance to at-risk communities adjacent to 

13 Federal land, including through States, to assist the at14 risk communities in planning and preparing for wildfire, 

15 including— 

16 (1) cosponsoring and supporting the expansion 

17 of— 

18 (A) the Firewise USA Program; 

19 (B) the Ready, Set, Go program; 

20 (C) the Living with Wildfire program; or 

21 (D) programs similar to the programs re22 ferred to in subparagraphs (A) through (C) 

23 that are designed to advance fire-adapted com24 munities; 


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1 (2) supporting the development, updating, and 

2 implementation of community wildfire protection 

3 plans; 

4 (3) carrying out risk assessments and creating 

5 maps that depict wildfire risk, investment scenarios, 

6 and tradeoffs to assist in planning for response and 

7 suppression resource needs and implementing haz8 ardous fuels reduction projects; 

9 (4) sharing costs to create defensible space for 

10 a distance of not less than 100 feet around a resi11 dence that was built before the date of enactment of 

12 this Act; and 

13 (5) planning and implementing cross-boundary 

14 hazardous fuels reduction projects as identified in a 

15 community wildfire protection plan. 

16 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 to carry out 

18 this section for each fiscal year. 

19 SEC. 4. COLLABORATIVE FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORA20 TION PROGRAM. 

21 (a) PROPOSAL SELECTION PROCESS.—Section 

22 4003(d) of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 

23 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303(d)) is amended by striking para24 graph (3) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may select 

2 not more than the number of proposals under para3 graph (1) that the Secretary determines are likely to 

4 receive adequate funding.’’. 

5 (b) PERMANENT REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 

6 4003(f)(6) of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 

7 of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303(f)(6)) is amended by striking 

8 ‘‘$80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘$100,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and 

10 each fiscal year thereafter’’. 

11 SEC. 5. COUNTY STEWARDSHIP FUND. 

12 Section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 

13 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) is amended— 

14 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub15 section (k); and 

16 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(j) COUNTY STEWARDSHIP FUND.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

20 Treasury of the United States a fund to be known 

21 as the ‘County Stewardship Fund’ (referred to in 

22 this section as the ‘Fund’), to be administered by 

23 the Secretary. 

24 ‘‘(2) DEPOSITS.—Each fiscal year, an amount 

25 equal to 25 percent of the amounts collected as reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:00 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691

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1 ceipts under subsection (e) during the preceding fis2 cal year shall be deposited in the Fund. 

3 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts in the Fund 

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) be used only for purposes described 

6 in paragraph (4); and 

7 ‘‘(B) remain available until expended. 

8 ‘‘(4) PURPOSES.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each fiscal year, the 

10 Chief or the Director, as applicable, shall dis11 tribute from amounts in the Fund to each 

12 county in which a contract under subsection (b) 

13 was carried out on Federal land in the county 

14 during the preceding fiscal year a payment of 

15 an amount equal to 25 percent of the receipts 

16 generated from that contract. 

17 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.—A county receiving 

18 a payment under subparagraph (A) may use 

19 the payment for any governmental purposes.’’. 

Æ 


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