I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4838 

To establish a Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps to provide a means 

by which young adults can carry out rehabilitation and enhancement 

projects to prevent fire and suppress fires, rehabilitate public land affected or altered by fires, and provide disaster relief, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 15, 2004 

Mr. WALDEN of Oregon (for himself and Mr. UDALL of New Mexico) 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 establish a Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps 

to provide a means by which young adults can carry 

out rehabilitation and enhancement projects to prevent 

fire and suppress fires, rehabilitate public land affected 

or altered by fires, and provide disaster relief, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy Forest Youth 

3 Conservation Corps Act of 2004’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the natural fire regimes of forested public 

7 land have been altered by intensive fire suppression; 

8 (2) fire suppression has led to increased risk of 

9 unnaturally severe wildfires that in recent years have 

10 destroyed thousands of homes, devastated agricul11 tural crops and livestock, reduced biodiversity, and 

12 scorched thousands of areas of soil and natural re13 sources; 

14 (3) catastrophic wildfires pose a particular 

15 threat to communities and wildlife living close to for16 ested wildland, known as the ‘‘wildland-urban inter17 face’’; 

18 (4) each year millions of dollars are spent to 

19 fight severe wildfires and protect communities where 

20 municipal water supplies, human lives, and property 

21 are threatened; 

22 (5) contracts and cooperative agreements be23 tween Federal agencies and State and local govern24 ments and other entities empower communities and 

25 are cost-effective tools that provide positive social 

26 and environmental benefits, and the use of such con-
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1 tracts and agreements should be encouraged as a 

2 means to prevent unnaturally severe fires, rehabili3 tate public land affected or altered by fires, and en4 hance and maintain environmentally important land 

5 and water; 

6 (6) joint collaborations between the Federal 

7 agencies and service and conservation corps com8 posed of young adults are particularly beneficial, as 

9 the collaborations provide— 

10 (A) young adults the opportunity to pre11 pare for productive lives while engaged in 

12 meaningful and educational public service op13 portunities; and 

14 (B) the public with cost-saving human re15 sources to assist in conserving, maintaining, 

16 and protecting public land. 

17 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

18 The purposes of this Act are— 

19 (1) to allow service and conservation corps to 

20 enter into agreements with public land management 

21 agencies to perform rehabilitation and enhancement 

22 projects to prevent fire, rehabilitate public land af23 fected or altered by fires, and suppress fires, and 

24 provide disaster relief; 
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1 (2) to offer young adults, particularly those who 

2 are at-risk or economically disadvantaged, who are 

3 members of a service and conservation corps the op4 portunity to gain productive employment; 

5 (3) to provide those young adults the oppor6 tunity to serve their communities and their country; 

7 and 

8 (4) to expand educational opportunities by re9 warding individuals who participate in the Healthy 

10 Forest Youth Conservation Corps with an increased 

11 ability to pursue higher education or employment. 

12 SEC. 4. HEALTHY FOREST YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a 

14 Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps. 

15 (b) PARTICIPANTS.—The Corps shall consist of 

16 young adults who are enrolled as members of a service 

17 and conservation corps covered by a contract or coopera18 tive agreement entered into under subsection (c). 

19 (c) CONTRACTS OR AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary 

20 concerned may enter into contracts or cooperative agree21 ments directly with— 

22 (1) any service and conservation corps to carry 

23 out a rehabilitation and enhancement project de24 scribed in subsection (d); or 
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1 (2) a department of natural resources, agri2 culture, or forestry (or an equivalent department) of 

3 any State that has entered into a contract or cooper4 ative agreement with a service and conservation 

5 corps to carry out a rehabilitation and enhancement 

6 project described in subsection (d). 

7 (d) AUTHORIZED PROJECTS.—Under a contract or 

8 cooperative agreement entered into under subsection (c), 

9 a service and conservation corps may carry out a rehabili10 tation and enhancement project to prevent fire and sup11 press fires, rehabilitate public land affected or altered by 

12 fires, and provide disaster relief, including— 

13 (1) a project relating to the National Fire Plan; 

14 (2) a project relating to the Healthy Forests 

15 Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.); 

16 and 

17 (3) other activities allowed under— 

18 (A) a national forest and grassland land 

19 management plan; or 

20 (B) a Bureau of Land Management land 

21 use plan. 

22 (e) PRIORITY PROJECTS.—In entering into a contract 

23 or cooperative agreement under subsection (b), the Sec24 retary concerned shall give priority to projects that will— 

25 (1) reduce hazardous fuels on public land; 
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1 (2) restore public land affected or imminently 

2 threatened by disease or insect infestation; 

3 (3) rehabilitate public land affected or altered 

4 by fires; 

5 (4) assess windthrown public land or public 

6 land at high risk of reburn; 

7 (5) work to address public land located within 

8 relative proximity to a municipal watershed and mu9 nicipal water supply; 

10 (6) provide related emergency assistance, such 

11 as natural disaster relief and the rescue of lost or 

12 injured persons; 

13 (7) instill in members of the service and con14 servation corps a work ethic and a sense of personal 

15 responsibility; 

16 (8) be labor-intensive; and 

17 (9) be planned and initiated promptly. 

18 (f) SUPPORTIVE SERVICES.—The Secretary con19 cerned may provide such services as the Secretary con20 siders to be necessary to carry out this Act, including tech21 nical assistance, oversight, monitoring, and evaluation to 

22 or for— 

23 (1) State departments of natural resources and 

24 agriculture (or equivalent agencies); 

25 (2) service and conservation corps; 
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1 (3) in the case of Indian lands, the applicable 

2 Indian tribe; 

3 (4) in the case of Hawaiian home lands, the ap4 plicable State agency in the State of Hawaii; and 

5 (5) in the case of land under the jurisdiction of 

6 an Alaska Native Corporation, the applicable Alaska 

7 Native Corporation. 

8 (g) OTHER USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available 

9 under this Act may be used to support implementation, 

10 monitoring, training, technical assistance, and administra11 tive work of service and conservation corps covered by a 

12 contract or cooperative agreement entered into under sub13 section (c). 

14 SEC. 5. NONCOMPETITIVE HIRING STATUS. 

15 The Secretary may grant a person who is a former 

16 member of the Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps 

17 with credit for time served as a member of the Corps to18 ward future Federal hiring and may provide the person 

19 with a noncompetitive hiring status for not more than 120 

20 days beginning on the date on which the person completed 

21 service as a member of the Corps. 

22 SEC. 6. NONDISPLACEMENT. 

23 The nondisplacement requirements of section 177(b) 

24 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 
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1 U.S.C. 12637(b)) shall apply to activities carried out 

2 under this Act. 

3 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) ALASKA NATIVE CORPORATION.—The term 

6 ‘‘Alaska Native Corporation’’ means a Regional Cor7 poration or Village Corporation, as those terms are 

8 defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims 

9 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602). 

10 (2) HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS.—The term ‘‘Ha11 waiian home lands’’ has the meaning given the term 

12 in section 203 of Public Law 91–378 (commonly 

13 known as the ‘‘Youth Conservation Corps Act of 

14 1970’’) (16 U.S.C. 1722). 

15 (3) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘‘Indian lands’’ 

16 has the meaning given the term in section 203 of 

17 Public Law 91–378 (commonly known as the 

18 ‘‘Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970’’) (16 

19 U.S.C. 1722). 

20 (4) PUBLIC LAND.—The term ‘‘public land’’ 

21 means— 

22 (A) land of the National Forest System (as 

23 defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and 

24 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 

25 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))); 
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1 (B) public lands (as defined in section 103 

2 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 

3 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)) and other land 

4 administered by the Secretary of the Interior 

5 through the United States Fish and Wildlife 

6 Service; 

7 (C) land owned by a State or local agency; 

8 (D) Indian lands, with the approval of the 

9 applicable Indian tribe; 

10 (E) Hawaiian home lands, with the ap11 proval of the applicable State agency in the 

12 State of Hawaii; and 

13 (F) land under the jurisdiction of an Alas14 ka Native Corporation, with the approval of the 

15 applicable Alaska Native Corporation. 

16 (5) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec17 retary concerned’’ means— 

18 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re19 spect to land of the National Forest System de20 scribed in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4); 

21 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re22 spect to public land described in subparagraph 

23 (B) of such paragraph; and 

24 (C) the Secretary of Agriculture and the 

25 Secretary of the Interior jointly, with respect to 
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1 land described in subparagraphs (C) through 

2 (F) of such paragraph. 

3 (6) SERVICE AND CONSERVATION CORPS.—The 

4 term ‘‘service and conservation corps’’ means any or5 ganization established by a State or local govern6 ment, nonprofit organization, or Indian tribe that— 

7 (A) has a research-validated demonstrable 

8 capability to provide productive work to individ9 uals; 

10 (B) gives participants a combination of 

11 work experience, basic and life skills, education, 

12 training, and support services; and 

13 (C) provides participants with the oppor14 tunity to develop citizenship values through 

15 service to their communities and the United 

16 States. 

17 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

18 (A) a State; 

19 (B) the District of Columbia; 

20 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 

21 (D) Guam; 

22 (E) American Samoa; 

23 (F) the Commonwealth of the Northern 

24 Mariana Islands; 

25 (G) the Federated States of Micronesia; 
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1 (H) the Republic of the Marshall Islands; 

2 (I) the Republic of Palau; and 

3 (J) the United States Virgin Islands. 

4 (8) YOUNG ADULTS.—The term ‘‘young adults’’ 

5 means individuals between 16 and 25 years of age. 

6 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

8 this Act $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 

9 2009. 

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