I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2551
To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to provide 
owners of non-Federal lands with a reliable method of receiving com-
pensation for damages resulting from the spread of wildfire from nearby 
forested National Forest System lands or Bureau of Land Management 
lands, when those forested Federal lands are not maintained in the 
forest health status known as condition class 1. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 19, 2003
Mr. SIMPSON (for himself and Mr. OTTER) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976 to provide owners of non-Federal lands with 
a reliable method of receiving compensation for damages 
resulting from the spread of wildfire from nearby for-
ested National Forest System lands or Bureau of Land 
Management lands, when those forested Federal lands 
are not maintained in the forest health status known 
as condition class 1.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhanced Safety from 
Wildfire Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. UNITED STATES LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULT-
ING FROM THE SPREAD OF WILDFIRE FROM 
FORESTED PUBLIC LANDS. 
(a) IMPOSITION
OF LIABILITY
FOR SPREAD
OF 
WILDFIRE.—Title III of the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976 is amended by inserting after 
section 318 (43 U.S.C. 1748) the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 319. LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM 
SPREAD OF WILDFIRE FROM PUBLIC LANDS 
OR NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS. 
‘‘(a) LIABILITY AS RULE OF LAW.—Except as pro-
vided in subsections (b), (c), and (d), and subject to the 
delayed effective date specified in subsection (g), any in-
jury to or loss of property that occurs on non-Federal 
lands as a direct result of a fire that spread from forested 
Federal lands onto the non-Federal lands, either directly 
or by first spreading to other non-Federal lands, shall be 
deemed to be an injury or loss of property caused by the 
negligent or wrongful act or omission of an employee of 
the United States while acting within the scope of the em-
ployee’s office or employment for purposes of section 1346 
and chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code (com-
monly known as the ‘Federal Tort Claims Act’) .
‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL
REQUIREMENT
FOR
CERTAIN 
NON-FEDERAL LANDS.—
‘‘(1) NON-FEDERAL LANDS USED FOR COMMER-
CIAL TIMBER PRODUCTION.—The owner or leasee of 
non-Federal lands damaged by the spread of wildfire 
from forested Federal lands may not utilize the rule 
of law specified in subsection (a) when the non-Fed-
eral lands exceed 640 acres and are used for the 
commercial production of timber, unless the owner 
or leasee proves that the damaged non-Federal lands 
were being managed to achieve or maintain the for-
est health status known as condition class 1 imme-
diately before the fire. 
‘‘(2) ROLE OF STATE FORESTER.—In the event 
of a dispute between the owner or leasee and the 
Secretary concerned regarding the status before the 
fire of non-Federal lands subject to paragraph (1), 
the determination of the State Forester of the State 
in which the lands are located shall control. Any ex-
penses incurred by the State Forester to make the 
determination shall be equally divided between the 
Secretary concerned and the owner or leasee. 
‘‘(c) EXCLUSION OF CONDITION CLASS 1 LANDS.—
The rule of law specified in subsection (a) shall not apply 
if the forested Federal lands within the buffer zone adja-
cent to the Federal land boundary from which the fire 
spread to non-Federal lands were managed as condition 
class 1 immediately before the fire. 
‘‘(d) EXCLUSION OF OTHER FEDERAL LANDS.—The 
rule of law specified in subsection (a) shall not apply to 
the following Federal lands, even though wildfire may 
originate on such lands and spread to adjacent non-Fed-
eral lands: 
‘‘(1) A component of the National Wilderness 
Preservation System. 
‘‘(2) Federal lands where, by Act of Congress, 
Presidential proclamation, or land and resource 
management plan, the removal of vegetation is pro-
hibited. 
‘‘(3) Areas of Federal lands that comprise less 
than 6,400 acres and are not contiguous to other 
Federal lands. 
‘‘(e) REPORT
REGARDING
STATUS
OF
BUFFER 
LANDS.—Not later than two years after the date of the 
enactment of this section, the Secretary concerned shall 
submit to Congress a report describing the forest health 
status of all buffer zones with non-Federal lands and the 
extent to which the buffer zones are in, or are being man-
aged to achieve, the forest health status known as condi-
tion class 1.
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘buffer zone’ refers to those for-
ested Federal lands that are within a prescribed dis-
tance of a Federal land boundary with non-Federal 
lands and comprise, or are part of a larger area of 
Federal lands comprising, 6,400 acres or more. The 
Secretary shall prescribe the actual buffer zone for 
a particular area of forested Federal lands based on 
the geography, topography, and forest cover of the 
lands. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘condition class 1’, with respect 
to an area of forested Federal lands or non-Federal 
lands, means that the lands are managed so that—
‘‘(A) fire regimes on the lands are within 
historical ranges; 
‘‘(B) vegetation composition and structure 
are intact; and 
‘‘(C) the risk of losing key ecosystem com-
ponents from the occurrence of fire remains rel-
atively low. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘forested Federal lands’ means 
public lands and National Forest System lands that 
contain trees as a significant component of the 
lands.
‘‘(4) The term ‘Secretary concerned’ means the 
Secretary of the Interior (or the designee of that 
Secretary) with respect to public lands and the Sec-
retary of Agriculture (or the designee of that Sec-
retary) with respect to National Forest System 
lands. 
‘‘(g) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE.—The rule of law 
specified in subsection (a) shall take effect at the end of 
the eight-year period beginning on the date of the enact-
ment of this section and apply with respect to fires that 
spread from Federal lands onto non-Federal lands after 
the end of such period.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
at the beginning of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-
ment Act of 1976 is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 318 the following new item:
‘‘Sec. 319. Liability for damages resulting from spread of wildfire from public 
lands or National Forest System lands.’’.
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