108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4838

AN ACT

To establish a Healthy Forest Youth Conservation

poses.and provide disaster relief, and for other purbilitate public land affected or altered by fires,projects to prevent fire and suppress fires, rehacan carry out rehabilitation and enhancementCorps to provide a means by which young adults

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4838

AN ACT

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.
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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 ‘‘Healthy Forest Youth

5 Conservation Corps Act of 2004’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) the natural fire regimes of forested public

9 land have been altered by intensive fire suppression;

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

11 unnaturally severe wildfires that in recent years have

12 destroyed thousands of homes, devastated agricul13 tural crops and livestock, reduced biodiversity, and

14 scorched thousands of areas of soil and natural re15 sources;

16 (3) catastrophic wildfires pose a particular

17 threat to communities and wildlife living close to for18 ested wildland, known as the ‘‘wildland-urban inter19 face’’;

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

21 fight severe wildfires and protect communities where

22 municipal water supplies, human lives, and property

23 are threatened;

24 (5) contracts and cooperative agreements be25 tween Federal agencies and State and local govern-
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1 ments and other entities empower communities and

2 are cost-effective tools that provide positive social

3 and environmental benefits, and the use of such con4 tracts and agreements should be encouraged as a

5 means to prevent unnaturally severe fires, rehabili6 tate public land affected or altered by fires, and en7 hance and maintain environmentally important land

8 and water; and

9 (6) joint collaborations between the Federal

10 agencies and service and conservation corps com11 posed of young adults are particularly beneficial, as

12 the collaborations provide—

13 (A) young adults the opportunity to pre14 pare for productive lives while engaged in

15 meaningful and educational public service op16 portunities; and

17 (B) the public with cost-saving human re18 sources to assist in conserving, maintaining,

19 and protecting public land.

20 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

21 The purposes of this Act are—

22 (1) to allow service and conservation corps to

23 enter into agreements with public land management

24 agencies to perform rehabilitation and enhancement

25 projects to prevent fire, rehabilitate public land af-
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1 fected or altered by fires, and suppress fires, and

2 provide disaster relief;

3 (2) to offer young adults who are members of

4 a service and conservation corps, particularly young

5 adults who are at-risk or economically disadvan6 taged, a chance to obtain skills and experience in

7 forest restoration, so that they are better equipped

8 to gain productive employment in the expanding

9 workforce being deployed on National Forest System

10 lands in fuels reduction, post-fire rehabilitation, and

11 other forest health projects, and so that the pool of

12 trained workers in forest restoration is expanded to

13 satisfy the existing and increasing need for such

14 workers;

15 (3) to provide those young adults the oppor16 tunity to serve their communities and their country;

17 and

18 (4) to expand educational opportunities by re19 warding individuals who participate in the Healthy

20 Forest Youth Conservation Corps with an increased

21 ability to pursue higher education or employment.

22 SEC. 4. HEALTHY FOREST YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS.

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a

24 Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps.
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1 (b) PARTICIPANTS.—The Corps shall consist of

2 young adults who are enrolled as members of a service

3 and conservation corps covered by a contract or coopera4 tive agreement entered into under subsection (c).

5 (c) CONTRACTS OR AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary

6 concerned may enter into contracts or cooperative agree7 ments directly with—

8 (1) any service and conservation corps to carry

9 out a rehabilitation and enhancement project de10 scribed in subsection (d); or

11 (2) a department of natural resources, agri12 culture, or forestry (or an equivalent department) of

13 any State that has entered into a contract or cooper14 ative agreement with a service and conservation

15 corps to carry out a rehabilitation and enhancement

16 project described in subsection (d).

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

18 cooperative agreement entered into under subsection (c),

19 a service and conservation corps may carry out a rehabili20 tation and enhancement project to prevent fire and sup21 press fires, rehabilitate public land affected or altered by

22 fires, and provide disaster relief, including—

23 (1) a project relating to the National Fire Plan;
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1 (2) a project relating to the Healthy Forests

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

3 and

4 (3) other activities allowed under—

5 (A) a national forest and grassland land

6 management plan; or

7 (B) a Bureau of Land Management land

8 use plan.

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

10 or cooperative agreement under subsection (c), the Sec11 retary concerned shall give priority to rehabilitation and

12 enhancement projects that will—

13 (1) reduce hazardous fuels on public land;

14 (2) restore public land affected or imminently

15 threatened by disease or insect infestation;

16 (3) rehabilitate public land affected or altered

17 by fires;

18 (4) assess windthrown public land or public

19 land at high risk of reburn;

20 (5) work to address public land located within

21 relative proximity to a municipal watershed and mu22 nicipal water supply;

23 (6) provide related emergency assistance, such

24 as natural disaster relief and the rescue of lost or

25 injured persons;
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1 (7) instill in members of the service and con2 servation corps a work ethic and a sense of personal

3 responsibility;

4 (8) be labor-intensive; and

5 (9) be planned and initiated promptly.

6 (f) ACTIVITIES PERFORMED BY CORPS MEMBERS

7 WHO ARE UNDER 18.—A young adult under the age of

8 18 who is enrolled as a member of a service and conserva9 tion corps covered by a contract or cooperative agreement

10 entered into under subsection (c) may perform the fol11 lowing types of activities as part of a rehabilitation and

12 enhancement project carried out under the contract or co13 operative agreement:

14 (1) Performance of logistical support at fire

15 caches or with the supply unit in support of a fire

16 suppression project.

17 (2) Conducting pre-treatment inventory and

18 other preparatory work, such as building control

19 lines with hand tools, in advance of a prescribed fire

20 project, and conducting post-treatment evaluation

21 and monitoring of the project.

22 (3) Participation in fire-prevention patrols and

23 the dissemination of fire prevention information.

24 (4) Performance of certain aspects of a Burned

25 Area Emergency Rehabilitation project, approved by
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1 the Secretary, if not on site, then in a support role

2 receiving and distributing materials and supplies.

3 (g) SUPPORTIVE SERVICES.—The Secretary con4 cerned may provide such services as the Secretary con5 siders to be necessary to carry out this Act, including tech6 nical assistance, oversight, monitoring, and evaluation to

7 or for—

8 (1) State departments of natural resources and

9 agriculture (or equivalent agencies);

10 (2) service and conservation corps;

11 (3) in the case of Indian lands, the applicable

12 Indian tribe;

13 (4) in the case of Hawaiian home lands, the ap14 plicable State agency in the State of Hawaii; and

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

16 an Alaska Native Corporation, the applicable Alaska

17 Native Corporation.

18 (h) OTHER USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available

19 under this Act may be used to support implementation,

20 monitoring, training, technical assistance, and administra21 tive work of service and conservation corps covered by a

22 contract or cooperative agreement entered into under sub23 section (c).
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1 SEC. 5. NONCOMPETITIVE HIRING STATUS.

2 The Secretary may grant a person who is a former

3 member of the Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps

4 with credit for time served as a member of the Corps to5 ward future Federal hiring and may provide the person

6 with a noncompetitive hiring status for not more than 120

7 days beginning on the date on which the person completed

8 service as a member of the Corps.

9 SEC. 6. NONDISPLACEMENT.

10 The nondisplacement requirements of section 177(b)

11 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42

12 U.S.C. 12637(b)) shall apply to activities carried out

13 under this Act.

14 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

15 In this Act:

16 (1) ALASKA NATIVE CORPORATION.—The term

17 ‘‘Alaska Native Corporation’’ means a Regional Cor18 poration or Village Corporation, as those terms are

19 defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims

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

21 (2) HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS.—The term ‘‘Ha22 waiian home lands’’ has the meaning given the term

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

24 known as the Youth Conservation Corps Act of

25 1970; 16 U.S.C. 1722).
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1 (3) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘‘Indian lands’’

2 has the meaning given the term in section 203 of

3 Public Law 91–378 (commonly known as the Youth

4 Conservation Corps Act of 1970; 16 U.S.C. 1722).

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

6 means—

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

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

9 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act

10 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)));

11 (B) public lands (as defined in section 103

12 of the Federal Land Policy and Management

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

14 administered by the Secretary of the Interior

15 through the United States Fish and Wildlife

16 Service;

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

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

19 applicable Indian tribe;

20 (E) Hawaiian home lands, with the ap21 proval of the applicable State agency in the

22 State of Hawaii; and

23 (F) land under the jurisdiction of an Alas24 ka Native Corporation, with the approval of the

25 applicable Alaska Native Corporation.
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1 (5) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec2 retary concerned’’ means—

3 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re4 spect to land of the National Forest System de5 scribed in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4);

6 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re7 spect to public land described in subparagraph

8 (B) of such paragraph; and

9 (C) the Secretary of Agriculture and the

10 Secretary of the Interior jointly, with respect to

11 land described in subparagraphs (C) through

12 (F) of such paragraph.

13 (6) SERVICE AND CONSERVATION CORPS.—The

14 term ‘‘service and conservation corps’’ means any or15 ganization established by a State or local govern16 ment, nonprofit organization, or Indian tribe that—

17 (A) has a research-validated demonstrable

18 capability to provide productive work to individ19 uals;

20 (B) gives participants a combination of

21 work experience, basic and life skills, education,

22 training, and support services; and

23 (C) provides participants with the oppor24 tunity to develop citizenship values through
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1 service to their communities and the United

2 States.

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

4 (A) a State;

5 (B) the District of Columbia;

6 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;

7 (D) Guam;

8 (E) American Samoa;

9 (F) the Commonwealth of the Northern

10 Mariana Islands;

11 (G) the Federated States of Micronesia;

12 (H) the Republic of the Marshall Islands;

13 (I) the Republic of Palau; and

14 (J) the United States Virgin Islands.

15 (8) YOUNG ADULT.—The term ‘‘young adult’’

16 means an individual between 16 and 25 years of age.

17 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

19 this Act $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through

20 2009.

Passed the House of Representatives September 28,

2004.

Attest:

Clerk.