II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1910

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out an inventory and 

management program for forests derived from public domain land. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2003

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

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out an inventory and management program for forests derived from 

public domain land.

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

3 SECTION 1. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT. 

4 Section 17 of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance 

5 Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2101 note; Public Law 95–313) 

6 is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 17. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

9 program using geospatial and information management 

10 technologies (including remote sensing imaging and deci-
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1 sion support systems) to inventory, monitor, characterize, 

2 assess, and identify forest stands and potential forest 

3 stands on—

4 ‘‘(1) units of the National Forest System de5 rived from public domain land; and 

6 ‘‘(2) private forest land, with the consent of the 

7 owner of the land. 

8 ‘‘(b) MEANS.—The Secretary shall carry out the pro9 gram through the use of—

10 ‘‘(1) remote sensing technology of the National 

11 Aeronautics and Space Administration and the 

12 United States Geological Survey; 

13 ‘‘(2) emerging geospatial capabilities in re14 search activities; 

15 ‘‘(3) validating techniques, including coordina16 tion and reconciliation with existing data through 

17 field verification, using application demonstrations; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(4) integration of results into pilot operational 

20 systems. 

21 ‘‘(c) ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED.—In carrying out 

22 the program, the Secretary shall address issues includ23 ing—

24 ‘‘(1) early detection, identification, and assess25 ment of environmental threats (including insect, dis-
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1 ease, invasive species, fire, acid deposition, and 

2 weather-related risks and other episodic events); 

3 ‘‘(2) loss or degradation of forests; 

4 ‘‘(3) degradation of the quality forest stands 

5 caused by inadequate forest regeneration practices; 

6 ‘‘(4) quantification of carbon uptake rates; 

7 ‘‘(5) management practices that focus on pre8 venting further forest degradation; and 

9 ‘‘(6) characterization of vegetation types, den10 sity, fire regimes, post-fire effects, and condition 

11 class. 

12 ‘‘(d) EARLY WARNING SYSTEM.—In carrying out the 

13 program, the Secretary shall develop a comprehensive 

14 early warning system for potential catastrophic environ15 mental threats to forests to increase the likelihood that 

16 forest managers will be able to—

17 ‘‘(1) isolate and treat a threat before the threat 

18 gets out of control; and 

19 ‘‘(2) prevent epidemics, such as the American 

20 chestnut blight in the first half of the twentieth cen21 tury, that could be environmentally and economically 

22 devastating to forests. 

23 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATION.—To carry out this section, 

24 the Secretary shall designate and maintain a facility in 

25 the Ochoco National Forest headquarters in Prineville, 
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1 Oregon, that will address the issues described in sub2 section (c), with a particular emphasis on coniferous forest 

3 stands in the Western United States. 

4 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec6 essary to carry out this section.’’.

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