I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 858

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

lands within 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

FEBRUARY 27, 1997

Mr. HERGER (for himself, Mr. FAZIO of California, Mr. SMITH of Oregon,

and Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA) 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 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 1997’’.

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

5 NATIONAL FORESTS TO IMPLEMENT QUINCY

6 LIBRARY GROUP PROPOSAL.

7 (a) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

8 term ‘‘Quincy Library Group Proposal of 1993’’ means

9 the agreement reached in 1993 by a coalition of represent10 atives of the timber industry, environmental organizations,

11 citizens, and local communities that formed in northern

12 California to develop a resource management program for

13 Federal lands in the Sierra Nevada.

14 (b) PILOT PROJECT REQUIRED.—

15 (1) IMPLEMENTATION AND PURPOSE.—The

16 Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Forest

17 Service, shall conduct a pilot project on the Federal

18 lands described in paragraph (2) to implement and

19 demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource man20 agement activities described in subsection (d), as

21 recommended in the Quincy Library Group Proposal

22 of 1993.

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

24 conduct the pilot project on the Federal lands within

25 Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest,
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1 and the Sierraville Ranger District of Tahoe Na2 tional Forest in the State of California designated as

3 ‘‘Available for Group Selection’’ on the map entitled

4 ‘‘Quincy Library Group Community Stability Pro5 posal’’, dated June 1993. The map shall be on file

6 and available for inspection in the appropriate of7 fices of the Forest Service.

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

9 (1) EXCLUSION.—Except as provided in para10 graph (2), all spotted owl habitat areas and pro11 tected activity centers located within the pilot project

12 area designated under subsection (b)(2) will be de13 ferred from timber harvesting during the term of the

14 pilot project.

15 (2) EXCEPTION FOR DESIGNATED CATA16 STROPHIC EVENT AREAS.—The Secretary may des17 ignate an area within the pilot project area that is

18 otherwise precluded from timber harvesting pursu19 ant to paragraph (1) and subsection (b)(2) as a cat20 astrophic event area in which the resource manage21 ment activities described in subsection (d) may be

22 applied if the Secretary, upon completion of an envi23 ronmental impact statement, finds that—

24 (A) the area proposed for designation has

25 experienced catastrophic disturbances from
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1 wildfires, insect infestations, disease, drought,

2 or other natural causes and will suffer further

3 environmental degradation, such as soil erosion,

4 stream damage, or habitat loss, in the absence

5 of the resource management activities; and

6 (B) implementation of one or more re7 source management activities described in sub8 section (d) in the area proposed for designation

9 is likely to reduce or prevent continued environ10 mental degradation.

11 (3) NOTICE OF PROPOSED DESIGNATION.—Im12 mediately upon publication of the draft environ13 mental impact statement required under paragraph

14 (2), the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Reg15 ister notice of any prospective decision to designate

16 a catastrophic event area under such paragraph on

17 the basis of the environmental impact statement.

18 The notice shall—

19 (A) set forth the location of the affected

20 area;

21 (B) describe the forest health conditions in

22 such area;

23 (C) provide the reasons for proposing to

24 designate the area as a catastrophic event area;

25 and
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1 (D) contain a brief description of the re2 source management activity or activities that

3 the Secretary proposes to select for the area.

4 (4) PUBLIC COMMENT.—The Secretary shall

5 provide a 45-day period for the submission of public

6 comments regarding a draft environmental impact

7 statement prepared under paragraph (2) and any

8 prospective decision to designate, on the basis of the

9 environmental impact statement, a catastrophic

10 event area. The comment period shall begin on the

11 date of the publication of the draft environmental

12 impact statement or the date notice is published

13 under paragraph (3) of the prospective decision to

14 designate the catastrophic event area, whichever is

15 later. During the comment period, the Secretary

16 shall hold a hearing on the decision in a community

17 near the area proposed for designation.

18 (d) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES.—During

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

20 and carry out the following resource management activi21 ties on the Federal lands included within the pilot project

22 area designated under subsection (b)(2):
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1 (1) Construction of a strategic system of defen2 sible, shaded fuelbreaks, consistent with Quincy Li3 brary Group Proposal of 1993, on not less than

4 40,000, but not more than 60,000, acres per year.

5 (2) Implementation, on an acreage rather than

6 volume basis, of uneven-aged forest management

7 prescriptions utilizing individual tree selection and

8 group selection, as described in the Quincy Library

9 Group Proposal of 1993, to achieve a desired future

10 condition of an all-age, multi-story, fire resistant for11 est.

12 (e) COST-EFFECTIVENESS.—In conducting the pilot

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

14 available, as determined by the Secretary, to implement

15 resource management activities described in subsection

16 (d).

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

18 Secretary shall not rely on the resource management ac19 tivities described in subsection (d) as a basis for adminis20 trative action limiting other multiple use activities on Fed21 eral lands included within the pilot project area designated

22 under subsection (b)(2).

23 (g) FUNDING.—

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

25 pilot project, the Secretary shall use—
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1 (A) those funds specifically provided to the

2 Forest Service by the Secretary to begin imple3 menting resource management activities accord4 ing to the Quincy Library Group Proposal of

5 1993; and

6 (B) other funds as are appropriated for

7 the administration of Plumas National Forest,

8 Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville

9 Ranger District of Tahoe National Forest.

10 (2) PROHIBITION ON USE OF CERTAIN

11 FUNDS.—The Secretary may not conduct the pilot

12 project using funds appropriated for any other unit

13 of the National Forest System.

14 (3) FLEXIBILITY.—During the term of the pilot

15 project, the forest supervisors of Plumas National

16 Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National

17 Forest may allocate and use all accounts available

18 for the administration of Plumas National Forest,

19 Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger

20 District of Tahoe National Forest to perform the re21 source management activities described in subsection

22 (d).

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

24 conduct the pilot project during the period beginning on
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1 the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the

2 later of the following:

3 (1) The date on which the Secretary completes

4 amendment of the land and resource management

5 plans for Plumas National Forest, Lassen National

6 Forest, and Tahoe National Forest pursuant to sub7 section (i).

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

9 the enactment of this Act.

10 (i) CORRESPONDING FOREST PLAN AMENDMENTS.—

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

12 Secretary shall initiate a process to amend the land and

13 resource management plans for Plumas National Forest,

14 Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National Forest to,

15 where appropriate—

16 (1) incorporate the pilot project and area des17 ignations made by subsection (b) and the resource

18 management activities described in subsection (d);

19 and

20 (2) make other changes warranted by the analy21 ses conducted in compliance with section 102(2) of

22 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42

23 U.S.C. 4332(2)), section 6 of the Forest and Range24 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16

25 U.S.C. 1604), and other applicable laws.
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1 (j) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than

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

3 project, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report

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

5 at least the following:

6 (1) A complete accounting of the use of funds

7 made available under subsection (g)(1)(A) until such

8 funds are fully expended.

9 (2) A complete accounting of the use of funds

10 and accounts made available under subsection (g)(1)

11 for the previous fiscal year, including a schedule of

12 the amounts drawn from each account used to per13 form resource management activities described in

14 subsection (d).

15 (3) A description of total acres treated, forest

16 health improvements, fire risk reductions, water

17 yield increases, and other natural resources-related

18 benefits achieved by the implementation of the re19 source management activities described in subsection

20 (d).

21 (4) A description of the economic benefits to

22 local communities achieved by the implementation of

23 the pilot project.
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1 (5) A comparison of the revenues generated by,

2 and costs incurred in, the implementation of the re3 source management activities described in subsection

4 (d) on the Federal lands included in the pilot project

5 area with the revenues and costs during each of the

6 fiscal years 1992 through 1997 of timber manage7 ment of such lands before their inclusion in the pilot

8 project.

9 (6) A schedule for the resource management ac10 tivities to be undertaken in the pilot project area

11 during the next fiscal year.

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