I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3701 
To assure that the American people have large areas of land in healthy 
natural condition throughout the country to provide wildland recreational 
opportunities for people, provide habitat protection for native wildlife 
and natural plant communities, and to contribute to a preservation 
of water for use by downstream metropolitan communities and other 
users, through the establishment of a National Forest Ecosystem Protec-
tion Program composed of lands within existing wilderness areas and 
adjacent primitive areas, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 8, 2005 
Mr. ANDREWS (for himself, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. HOLT, Mr. PALLONE, 
Mr. PAYNE, and Mr. PASCRELL) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Resources, 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 assure that the American people have large areas of 
land in healthy natural condition throughout the country 
to provide wildland recreational opportunities for people, 
provide habitat protection for native wildlife and natural 
plant communities, and to contribute to a preservation 
of water for use by downstream metropolitan commu-
nities and other users, through the establishment of a 
National Forest Ecosystem Protection Program com-
posed of lands within existing wilderness areas and adja-
cent primitive areas, 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 
‘‘Ecosystem Protection Act of 2005’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. National Forest Ecosystem Protection Program. 
Sec. 3. Special management considerations. 
Sec. 4. Land acquisition authority. 
Sec. 5. Voluntary grazing permit buyout program. 
Sec. 6. Forest plan revision assessments. 
Sec. 7. Original Ecosystem Protection Areas. 
Sec. 8. Delineation of primitive areas on eastern National Forest System lands. 
Sec. 9. Delineation of primitive areas on western National Forest System lands. 
Sec. 10. Compatible management of adjacent Department of the Interior lands. 
Sec. 11. Development of State Ecosystem Protection Areas. 
Sec. 12. Availability of Forest Service funds and cooperation with land trusts. 
Sec. 13. Reporting requirements. 
Sec. 14. Authorization of appropriations. 
SEC. 2. NATIONAL FOREST ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) DECLARATION OF POLICY.—In order to assure 
that the American people have large areas of land in 
healthy natural condition throughout the country, which 
lands provide wildland recreational opportunities for peo-
ple, provide habitat protection for native wildlife and nat-
ural plant communities, and contribute to a preservation 
of water for use by downstream metropolitan communities 
and other users, it is hereby declared to be the policy of
Congress to secure for present and future generations of 
Americans the enduring resource of protected large wild 
lands. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—To help achieve the policy de-
clared in subsection (a), there is hereby established a Na-
tional Forest Ecosystem Protection Program to be com-
posed of lands within existing units of the National Forest 
System that contain one or more large existing wilderness 
areas as a core area and a primitive area extending out-
ward therefrom, both of which will be designated as Eco-
system Protection Areas by this Act or a subsequent Act 
of Congress. 
SEC. 3. SPECIAL MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS. 
(a) WILDERNESS AREA MANAGEMENT.—Within the 
Ecosystem Protection Areas, the Secretary of Agriculture, 
acting through the Forest Service (in this Act referred to 
as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall manage the wilderness areas as 
provided by the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) 
and other applicable laws, except that, with regard to com-
mercial grazing in such wilderness areas, the Secretary 
shall pursue the voluntary buyout of grazing permits as 
provided in section 5. 
(b) PRIMITIVE AREA MANAGEMENT.—Within the 
Ecosystem Protection Areas, the Secretary shall manage 
the primitive areas so that primitive recreation, the preser-
vation of native wildlife and plants, the protection of habi-
tat for endangered and threatened species, and reforest-
ation and restoration of wilderness characteristics will be 
the paramount considerations and that all other multiple 
use activities will only be used to reinforce the paramount 
considerations. With regard to commercial grazing in such 
primitive areas, the Secretary shall pursue the voluntary 
buyout of grazing permits as provided in section 5. 
(c) PROTECTION
AND
RESTORATION.—The Sec-
retary, in consultation with State wildlife officials and 
through the use of a public participation process, shall 
promote the reestablishment or protection of as many ani-
mal and plant species native to the designated Ecosystem 
Protection Areas as practical. 
(d) RETIREMENT
OF GRAZING ALLOTMENTS
FOR 
WHICH NO VALID GRAZING PERMIT EXISTS.—The Sec-
retary shall not issue grazing permits for lands within a 
Ecosystem Protection Area for which no valid permit ex-
ists as of the date of the enactment of this Act. The Sec-
retary shall permanently retire those lands from domestic 
livestock grazing use notwithstanding any other provision 
of law. 
SEC. 4. LAND ACQUISITION AUTHORITY. 
(a) ACQUISITION AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall 
strive to acquire all private lands, all mineral rights not
owned by the United States, and all other interests in 
lands not owned by the United States, on a willing-seller/ 
willing-buyer basis, located within any wilderness area 
specified in this Act and within the primitive areas delin-
eated pursuant to this Act. 
(b) VOLUNTARY BASE PROPERTY ACQUISITION.—If 
a person who waives a grazing permit under section 5 also 
owns a base property for the waived allotment which is 
located within the boundaries of a unit of the National 
Forest System, the person may offer that property for sale 
to the Secretary, and the Secretary shall purchase that 
property under this section. 
SEC. 5. VOLUNTARY GRAZING PERMIT BUYOUT PROGRAM. 
(a) WAIVER OF EXISTING GRAZING PERMITS.—A 
livestock operator who holds a valid term grazing permit 
(in this section referred to as a ‘‘permittee’’) may waive 
to the Secretary, at any time, a valid existing grazing per-
mit authorizing livestock grazing on National Forest Sys-
tem lands included in an Ecosystem Protection Area. 
(b) CANCELLATION OF WAIVED GRAZING PERMIT.— 
The Secretary shall cancel grazing permits waived under 
this section and permanently retire the associated allot-
ments from domestic livestock grazing use notwith-
standing any other provision of law.
(c) COMPENSATION REQUIRED; AMOUNT.—Except as 
provided in subsection (d), a permittee who waives a graz-
ing permit under subsection (a) shall be compensated at 
$175 per animal unit month, based on the average grazing 
use over the preceding 10 years the allotment was grazed, 
as stipulated by the grazing permit and paid for by the 
permittee or the predecessors of the permittee. Years of 
grazing non-use are excluded from this average. If a per-
mittee is in arrears of Federal grazing fees, the amount 
of fees in arrears shall be deducted from the amount of 
compensation otherwise due the permittee under this sec-
tion. 
(d) ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION FOR PROMPT WAIV-
ER.—A permittee who waives a grazing permit under this 
section during the six-month period beginning on the date 
of the enactment of this Act shall be compensated at $300 
per animal unit month, and a permittee who waives a 
grazing permit under this section after the end of such 
six-month period, but before the end of the four-year pe-
riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this bill 
Act, be compensated at the rate of $250 per animal unit 
month. The other provisions of this section shall apply to 
any permittee who takes advantage of the higher com-
pensation offered by this subsection.