IB 
Union Calendar No. 52
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1904
[Report No. 108–96, Parts I and II] 
To improve the capacity of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary 
of the Interior to plan and conduct hazardous fuels reduction projects 
on National Forest System lands and Bureau of Land Management 
lands aimed at protecting communities, watersheds, and certain other 
at-risk lands from catastrophic wildfire, to enhance efforts to protect 
watersheds and address threats to forest and rangeland health, including 
catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2003
Mr. MCINNIS (for himself, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, Mr. POMBO, Mr. GOOD-
LATTE, Mr. AKIN, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BARTON of 
Texas, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mr. BERRY, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. BLUNT, 
Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. 
CALVERT, Mr. CANNON, Mr. COLE, Mr. CRAMER, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. 
DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. 
DUNCAN, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. GALLEGLY, 
Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. GREEN 
of Wisconsin, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. 
HAYES, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. 
ISSA, Mr. JANKLOW, Mr. JOHN, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. 
KOLBE, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. LEWIS of California, Mr. LINDER, Mr. 
MCKEON, Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, 
Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. NUNES, Mr. 
OBERSTAR, Mr. OTTER, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. OSE, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. PE-
TERSON of Minnesota, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. PICKERING, 
Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. RENZI, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, 
Mr. ROSS, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. 
SHADEGG, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. SHERWOOD, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. SMITH of 
Michigan, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. TANCREDO, 
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. TERRY, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Mississippi, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. TURNER of 
Texas, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. VITTER, Mr. WICKER, Mrs. WILSON of New
Mexico, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture, and in addition to the Committee on Resources, for a period to 
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
MAY 9, 2003
Reported from the Committee on Agriculture 
MAY 9, 2003
Referral to the Committee on Resources extended for a period ending not later 
than May 9, 2003
MAY 9, 2003
Committee on Resources discharged 
MAY 9, 2003
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary for a period ending not later than 
May 16, 2003 for consideration of such provisions of the bill as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee pursuant to clause 1(k), rule X 
MAY 16, 2003
Additional sponsors: Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. BONNER, Mr. GOODE, Mr. 
BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. CANTOR, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. BROWN of 
South Carolina, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. BURNS, Mr. SCOTT 
of Virginia, Mr. SWEENEY, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. SAM 
JOHNSON
of Texas, Mr. PITTS, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. KLINE, Mr. 
CHOCOLA, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. WAMP, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. 
FOLEY, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. 
ROHRABACHER, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mrs. BLACKBURN, 
Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. CARTER, Mr. COX, Mr. HOEK-
STRA, Mr. CAMP, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. COBLE, Mr. 
COLLINS, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. FORBES, Mr. ROG-
ERS of Kentucky, Mr. PAUL, and Mr. WHITFIELD
MAY 16, 2003
Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary, committed to the Committee 
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
A BILL 
To improve the capacity of the Secretary of Agriculture 
and the Secretary of the Interior to plan and conduct 
hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest
System lands and Bureau of Land Management lands 
aimed at protecting communities, watersheds, and certain 
other at-risk lands from catastrophic wildfire, to enhance 
efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to for-
est and rangeland health, including catastrophic wildfire, 
across the landscape, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Purpose. 
TITLE I—HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION ON FEDERAL LANDS 
Sec. 101. Definitions. 
Sec. 102. Authorized hazardous fuels reduction projects. 
Sec. 103. Prioritization for communities and watersheds. 
Sec. 104. Environmental analysis. 
Sec. 105. Special Forest Service administrative review process. 
Sec. 106. Special requirements regarding judicial review of authorized haz-
ardous fuels reduction projects. 
Sec. 107. Standard for injunctive relief for agency action to restore fire-adapted 
forest or rangeland ecosystems. 
Sec. 108. Rules of construction. 
TITLE II—BIOMASS 
Sec. 201. Findings. 
Sec. 202. Definitions. 
Sec. 203. Grants to improve the commercial value of forest biomass for electric 
energy, useful heat, transportation fuels, and petroleum-based 
product substitutes. 
Sec. 204. Reporting requirement. 
TITLE III—WATERSHED FORESTRY ASSISTANCE 
Sec. 301. Findings and purpose. 
Sec. 302. Establishment of watershed forestry assistance program. 
TITLE IV—INSECT INFESTATIONS
Sec. 401. Definitions, findings, and purpose. 
Sec. 402. Accelerated information gathering regarding bark beetles, including 
Southern pine beetles, hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash 
borers, red oak borers, and white oak borers. 
Sec. 403. Applied silvicultural assessments. 
Sec. 404. Relation to other laws. 
Sec. 405. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE V—HEALTHY FORESTS RESERVE PROGRAM 
Sec. 501. Establishment of healthy forests reserve program. 
Sec. 502. Eligibility and enrollment of lands in program. 
Sec. 503. Conservation plans. 
Sec. 504. Financial assistance. 
Sec. 505. Technical assistance. 
Sec. 506. Safe harbor. 
Sec. 507. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 
Sec. 601. Forest stands inventory and monitoring program to improve detection 
of and response to environmental threats.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is—
(1) to reduce the risks of damage to commu-
nities, municipal water supplies, and some at-risk 
Federal lands from catastrophic wildfires; 
(2) to authorize grant programs to improve the 
commercial value of forest biomass for electric en-
ergy, useful heat, transportation fuels, petroleum-
based product substitutes and other commercial pur-
poses; 
(3) to enhance efforts to protect watersheds and 
address threats to forest and rangeland health, in-
cluding catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape;
(4) to promote systematic information gath-
ering to address the impact of insect infestations on 
forest and rangeland health; 
(5) to improve the capacity to detect insect and 
disease infestations at an early stage, particularly 
with respect to hardwood forests; and 
(6) to protect, restore, and enhance degraded 
forest ecosystem types in order to promote the recov-
ery of threatened and endangered species as well as 
improve biological diversity and enhance carbon se-
questration. 
TITLE I—HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION 
ON FEDERAL LANDS 
SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title:
(1) AUTHORIZED
HAZARDOUS
FUELS
REDUC-
TION
PROJECT.—The term ‘‘authorized hazardous 
fuels reduction project’’ means a hazardous fuels re-
duction project described in subsection (a) of section 
102, subject to the remainder of such section, that 
is planned and conducted using the process author-
ized by section 104. 
(2) CONDITION CLASS 2.—The term ‘‘condition 
class 2’’, with respect to an area of Federal lands, 
refers to the condition class description developed by