I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4082

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a pilot project on designated

lands within the Plumas, Lassen, and Tahoe National Forests in the

State of California to demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource management activities proposed by the Quincy Library Group and to amend

current land and resource management plans for these national forests

to consider the incorporation of these resource management activities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 17, 1996

Mr. HERGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a pilot

project on designated lands within the Plumas, Lassen,

and Tahoe National Forests in the State of California

to demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource management activities proposed by the Quincy Library Group

and to amend current land and resource management

plans for these national forests to consider the incorporation of these resource management activities.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Quincy Library Group

3 Forest Recovery and Economic Stability Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. PILOT PROJECT FOR PLUMAS, LASSEN, AND TAHOE

5 NATIONAL FORESTS TO IMPLEMENT QUINCY

6 LIBRARY GROUP PROPOSAL.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

8 (1) As a consequence of fire suppression and an

9 over-accumulation of natural fuels, forest stands in

10 the Sierra Nevada, particularly within the Plumas

11 National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the

12 Sierraville Ranger District of the Tahoe National

13 Forest in the State of California, have been highly

14 altered both in structure and function by the devel15 opment of dense, shade tolerant understories that

16 place such forest stands at an unnatural risk of epi17 demic mortality from disease and insect infestations

18 and high-intensity stand-replacing fire.

19 (2) Enhanced resource management activities,

20 including thinning, salvage logging, pruning, brush

21 clearing, prescribed fire, and uneven-aged timber

22 stand management (using individual tree and group

23 selection) are necessary throughout these three na24 tional forests to mitigate unnatural tree mortality,

25 reduce fuel loads, break up fuel continuity in areas
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1 of fire prone forest, and achieve long-term forest

2 health.

3 (3) Communities in the Sierra Nevada through4 out northern California rely upon the revenues de5 rived from the sale of forest products from Federal

6 lands for education, roads, basic infrastructure, and

7 overall economic stability.

8 (4) The Quincy Library Group of northern

9 California is a coalition of representatives of the tim10 ber industry, environmental organizations, citizens,

11 and local communities that formed to develop a re12 source management program for Federal lands in

13 the Sierra Nevada that could be carried out in a

14 manner that simultaneously maximizes forest health,

15 cost-effectiveness, and social and economic benefits

16 to forest-dependent communities.

17 (5) The agreement reached by this group in

18 1993, known as the Quincy Library Group Proposal

19 of 1993, recommended a localized, adaptive manage20 ment strategy for designated lands in the Plumas

21 National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the

22 Sierraville Ranger District of the Tahoe National

23 Forest for implementing, in a cost-effective manner,

24 the resource management activities necessary to re25 duce fire risk and enhance forest health while pro-
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1 viding greater economic stability to forest-dependent

2 communities.

3 (6) Implementation of the resource manage4 ment activities recommended in the Quincy Library

5 Group Proposal of 1993 as a pilot project on these

6 national forests can demonstrate the feasibility of

7 utilizing locally-developed adaptive management

8 strategies that may be applicable throughout Califor9 nia and the intermountain northwest.

10 (b) PILOT PROJECT REQUIRED.—

11 (1) IMPLEMENTATION AND PURPOSE.—The

12 Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Forest

13 Service, shall conduct a pilot project on the Federal

14 lands described in paragraph (2) to implement and

15 demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource man16 agement activities described in subsection (d), as

17 recommended in the Quincy Library Group Proposal

18 of 1993.

19 (2) PILOT PROJECT AREA.—The Secretary shall

20 conduct the pilot project on the Federal lands within

21 the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National For22 est, and the Sierraville Ranger District of the Tahoe

23 National Forest in the State of California depicted

24 on the map entitled ‘‘Quincy Library Group Commu25 nity Stability Proposal’’, dated June 1993. The map
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1 shall be on file and available for inspection in the

2 appropriate offices of the Forest Service.

3 (c) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN LANDS; EXCEPTION.—

4 (1) EXCLUSION.—Except as provided in para5 graph (2), all spotted owl habitat areas and pro6 tected activity centers located within the pilot project

7 area designated under subsection (b)(2) will be de8 ferred from timber harvesting during the term of the

9 pilot project.

10 (2) EXCEPTION FOR DESIGNATED CATA11 STROPHIC EVENT AREAS.—The Secretary may des12 ignate an area within the pilot project area that is

13 otherwise precluded from timber harvesting pursu14 ant to paragraph (1) and subsection (b)(2) as a cat15 astrophic event area in which the resource manage16 ment activities described in subsection (d) may be

17 applied if the Secretary, upon completion of an envi18 ronmental impact statement, finds that—

19 (A) the area proposed for designation has

20 experienced disturbances from wildfires, insect

21 infestations, disease, drought, or other natural

22 causes and will suffer further environmental

23 degradation, such as soil erosion, stream dam24 age, or habitat loss, in the absence of the re25 source management activities; and
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1 (B) implementation of one or more re2 source management activities described in sub3 section (d) in the area proposed for designation

4 is likely to reduce or prevent continued environ5 mental degradation.

6 (3) NOTICE OF PROPOSED DESIGNATION.—Im7 mediately upon publication of the draft environ8 mental impact statement required under paragraph

9 (2), the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Reg10 ister notice of any prospective decision to designate

11 a catastrophic event area under such paragraph on

12 the basis of the environmental impact statement.

13 The notice shall—

14 (A) set forth the location of the affected

15 area;

16 (B) describe the forest health conditions in

17 such area;

18 (C) provide the reasons for proposing to

19 designate the area as a catastrophic event area;

20 and

21 (D) contain a brief description of the re22 source management activity or activities that

23 the Secretary proposes to select for the area.

24 (4) PUBLIC COMMENT.—The Secretary shall

25 provide a 45-day period for the submission of public
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1 comments regarding a draft environmental impact

2 statement prepared under paragraph (2) and any

3 prospective decision to designate, on the basis of the

4 environmental impact statement, a catastrophic

5 event area. The comment period shall begin on the

6 date of the publication of the draft environmental

7 impact statement or the date notice is published

8 under paragraph (3) of the prospective decision to

9 designate the catastrophic event area, whichever is

10 later. During the comment period, the Secretary

11 shall hold a hearing on the decision in a community

12 near the area proposed for designation.

13 (d) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES.—During

14 the term of the pilot project, the Secretary shall implement

15 and carry out the following resource management activi16 ties on the Federal lands included within the pilot project

17 area designated under subsection (b)(2):

18 (1) Construction of a strategic system of defen19 sible, shaded fuelbreaks on not less than 50,000

20 acres per year.

21 (2) Implementation, on an acreage rather than

22 volume basis, of uneven-aged forest management

23 prescriptions utilizing individual tree selection and

24 group selection to achieve a desired future condition

25 of an all-age, multi-story, fire resistant forest.
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1 (e) COST-EFFECTIVENESS.—In conducting the pilot

2 project, Secretary shall use the most cost-effective means

3 available, as determined by the Secretary, to implement

4 resource management activities described in subsection

5 (d).

6 (f) EFFECT ON MULTIPLE USE ACTIVITIES.—The

7 Secretary shall not rely on the resource management ac8 tivities described in subsection (d) as a basis for adminis9 trative action limiting other multiple use activities on Fed10 eral lands included within the pilot project area designated

11 under subsection (b)(2).

12 (g) FUNDING.—

13 (1) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—In conducting the

14 pilot project, the Secretary shall use—

15 (A) those funds that were specifically pro16 vided to the Forest Service by the Secretary

17 during fiscal year 1996 to begin implementing

18 resource management activites according to the

19 Quincy Library Group Proposal of 1993; and

20 (B) other funds as are appropriated for

21 the administration of Plumas National Forest,

22 Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville

23 Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest.

24 (2) PROHIBITION ON USE OF CERTAIN

25 FUNDS.—The Secretary may not conduct the pilot
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1 project using funds appropriated for any other unit

2 of the National Forest System.

3 (h) TERM OF PILOT PROJECT.—The Secretary shall

4 conduct the pilot project during the period beginning on

5 the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the

6 later of the following:

7 (1) The date on which the Secretary completes

8 amendment of the land and resource management

9 plans for Plumas National Forest, Lassen National

10 Forest, and Tahoe National Forest pursuant to sub11 section (i).

12 (2) The date that is five years after the date of

13 the enactment of this Act.

14 (i) CORRESPONDING FOREST PLAN AMENDMENTS.—

15 Commencing on the date of the enactment of this Act, the

16 Secretary shall initiate a process to amend the land and

17 resource management plans for the Plumas National For18 est, Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National Forest

19 to, where appropriate—

20 (1) incorporate the pilot project and area des21 ignations made by subsection (b) and the resource

22 management activities described in subsection (d);

23 and

24 (2) make other changes warranted by the analy25 ses conducted in compliance with section 102(2) of
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1 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42

2 U.S.C. 4332(2)), section 6 of the Forest and Range3 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16

4 U.S.C. 1604), and other applicable laws.

5 (j) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than

6 January 1 of each year during the term of the pilot

7 project, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report

8 on the status of the pilot project. The report shall include

9 at least the following:

10 (1) An accounting of the use of funds specified

11 in subsection (g)(1)(A) until such funds are fully ex12 pended.

13 (2) A description of total acres treated, forest

14 health improvements, fire risk reductions, water

15 yield increases, and other natural resources-related

16 benefits achieved by the implementation of the re17 source management activities described in subsection

18 (d).

19 (3) A description of the economic benefits to

20 local communities achieved by the implementation of

21 the pilot project.

22 (4) A comparison of the revenues generated by,

23 and costs incurred in, the implementation of the re24 source management activities with the revenues gen25 erated by, and costs incurred in, timber management
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1 of the Federal lands included in the pilot project

2 area during each of the fiscal years 1992 through

3 1996.

4 (5) A schedule for the resource management ac5 tivities to be undertaken in the pilot project area

6 during the next fiscal year.

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