II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4838

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2004

Received 

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.
2

HR 4838 RDS 

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-
3

HR 4838 RDS 

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-
4

HR 4838 RDS 

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. 
5

HR 4838 RDS 

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; 
6

HR 4838 RDS 

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; 
7

HR 4838 RDS 

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 
8

HR 4838 RDS 

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). 
9

HR 4838 RDS 

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). 
10

HR 4838 RDS 

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. 
11

HR 4838 RDS 

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 
12

HR 4838 RDS 

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: JEFF TRANDAHL, 

Clerk.