II 
#(Star Print) 
Calendar No. 246
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1904
[Report No. 108–121] 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 21, 2003
Received; read twice and referred to the Committees on Agriculture, Nutrition, 
and Forestry 
JULY 31 (legislative day, JULY 21), 2003
Reported by Mr. COCHRAN, with an amendment and an amendment to the 
title 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
AN ACT 
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,
HR 1904 RS1S 
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. 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.
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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
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improve biological diversity and enhance carbon se-
questration. 
TITLE I—HAZARDOUS FUELS RE-
DUCTION
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 
the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Sta-
tion in the general technical report entitled ‘‘Devel-
opment of Coarse-Scale Spatial Data for Wildland 
Fire and Fuel Management’’ (RMRS–87), dated 
April 2000, under which—
(A) fire regimes on the lands have been 
moderately altered from their historical range;
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(B) there exists a moderate risk of losing 
key ecosystem components from fire; 
(C) fire frequencies have departed (either 
increased or decreased) from historical fre-
quencies by one or more return interval, which 
results in moderate changes to fire size, fre-
quency, intensity, severity, or landscape pat-
terns; and 
(D) vegetation attributes have been mod-
erately altered from their historical range. 
(3) CONDITION CLASS 3.—The term ‘‘condition 
class 3’’, with respect to an area of Federal lands, 
refers to the condition class description developed by 
the Rocky Mountain Research Station in the general 
technical report referred to in paragraph (2), under 
which—
(A) fire regimes on the lands have been 
significantly altered from their historical range; 
(B) there exists a high risk of losing key 
ecosystem components from fire; 
(C) fire frequencies have departed from 
historical frequencies by multiple return inter-
vals, which results in dramatic changes to fire 
size, frequency, intensity, severity, or landscape 
patterns; and
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(D) vegetation attributes have been signifi-
cantly altered from their historical range. 
(4) DAY.—The term ‘‘day’’ means a calendar 
day, except that, if a deadline imposed by this title 
would expire on a nonbusiness day, the deadline will 
be extended to the end of the next business day. 
(5) DECISION DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘decision 
document’’ means a decision notice or a record of 
decision, as those terms are used in applicable regu-
lations of the Council on Environmental Quality and 
the Forest Service Handbook. 
(6)
FEDERAL
LANDS.—The
term
‘‘Federal 
lands’’ means—
(A) National Forest System lands; and 
(B) public lands administered by the Sec-
retary of the Interior, acting through the Bu-
reau of Land Management. 
(7)
HAZARDOUS
FUELS
REDUCTION 
PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction 
project’’ refers to the measures and methods de-
scribed in the definition of ‘‘appropriate tools’’ con-
tained in the glossary of the Implementation Plan. 
(8) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—The term ‘‘Im-
plementation Plan’’ means the Implementation Plan 
for the 10-year Comprehensive Strategy for a Col-
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laborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire 
Risks to Communities and the Environment, dated 
May 2002, which was developed pursuant to the con-
ference report for the Department of the Interior 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 
(House Report 106–646). 
(9)
INTERFACE
COMMUNITY
AND
INTERMIX 
COMMUNITY.—The
terms
‘‘interface
community’’ 
and ‘‘intermix community’’ have the meanings given 
those terms on page 753 of volume 66 of the Fed-
eral Register, as published on January 4, 2001. 
(10) MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.—The 
term ‘‘municipal water supply system’’ means the 
reservoirs, canals, ditches, flumes, laterals, pipes, 
pipelines, or other surface facilities and systems con-
structed or installed for the impoundment, storage, 
transportation, or distribution of drinking water for 
a community. 
(11)
SECRETARY
CONCERNED.—The
term 
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means the Secretary of Agri-
culture with respect to National Forest System lands 
and the Secretary of the Interior with respect to 
public lands administered by the Bureau of Land 
Management. Any reference in this title to the ‘‘Sec-
retary concerned’’, the ‘‘Secretary of Agriculture’’,
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or the ‘‘Secretary of the Interior’’ includes the des-
ignee of the Secretary concerned. 
(12) THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES 
HABITAT.—The term ‘‘threatened and endangered 
species habitat’’ means Federal lands identified in 
the listing decision or critical habitat designation as 
habitat for a threatened species or an endangered 
species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 
SEC. 102. AUTHORIZED HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION 
PROJECTS. 
(a) AUTHORIZED PROJECTS.—Subject to the remain-
der of this section, the Secretary concerned may utilize 
the process authorized by section 104 to plan and conduct 
hazardous fuels reduction projects on any of the following 
Federal lands: 
(1) Federal lands located in an interface com-
munity or intermix community. 
(2) Federal lands located in such proximity to 
an interface community or intermix community that 
there is a significant risk that the spread of a fire 
disturbance event from those lands would threaten 
human life and property in the interface community 
or intermix community.
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(3) Condition class 3 or condition class 2 Fed-
eral lands located in such proximity to a municipal 
water supply system, or to a perennial stream feed-
ing a municipal water supply system, that a signifi-
cant risk exists that a fire disturbance event would 
have substantial adverse effects on the water quality 
of the municipal water supply, including the risk to 
water quality posed by erosion following such a fire 
disturbance event. 
(4) Condition class 3 or condition class 2 Fed-
eral lands identified by the Secretary concerned as 
an area where windthrow or blowdown, or the exist-
ence or threat of disease or insect infestation, pose 
a significant threat to forest or rangeland health or 
adjacent private lands. 
(5) Federal lands not covered by paragraph (1), 
(2), (3), or (4) that contain threatened and endan-
gered species habitat, but only if—
(A) natural fire regimes on such lands are 
identified as being important for, or wildfire is 
identified as a threat to, an endangered species, 
a threatened species, or its habitat in a species 
recovery plan prepared under section 4 of the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1533) or in a decision document under such
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section determining a species to be an endan-
gered species or a threatened species or desig-
nating critical habitat; 
(B) the project will provide enhanced pro-
tection from catastrophic wildfire for the spe-
cies or its habitat; and 
(C) the Secretary complies with any appli-
cable guidelines specified in the species recovery 
plan prepared under the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 
(b) RELATION TO AGENCY PLANS.—An authorized 
hazardous fuels reduction project shall be planned and 
conducted in a manner consistent with the land and re-
source management plan or land use plan applicable to 
the Federal lands covered by the project. 
(c) ACREAGE LIMITATION.—Not more than a total 
of 20,000,000 acres of Federal lands may be included in 
authorized hazardous fuels reduction projects. 
(d) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LANDS.—The 
Secretary concerned may not plan or conduct an author-
ized hazardous fuels reduction project that would occur 
on any of the following Federal lands: 
(1) A component of the National Wilderness 
Preservation System.
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(2) Federal lands where, by Act of Congress or 
Presidential proclamation, the removal of vegetation 
is prohibited or restricted. 
(3) Wilderness Study Areas. 
SEC. 103. PRIORITIZATION FOR COMMUNITIES AND WATER-
SHEDS. 
As provided for in the Implementation Plan, the Sec-
retary concerned shall give priority to authorized haz-
ardous fuel reduction projects that provide for the protec-
tion of communities and watersheds. 
SEC. 104. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided in 
this title, the Secretary concerned shall plan and conduct 
authorized hazardous fuels reduction projects in accord-
ance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(42 U.S.C. 4331 et seq.) and any other applicable laws. 
The Secretary concerned shall prepare an environmental 
assessment or an environmental impact statement for each 
authorized hazardous fuels reduction project. 
(b) DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY TO ELIMINATE AL-
TERNATIVES.—In the case of an authorized hazardous 
fuels reduction project, the Secretary concerned is not re-
quired to study, develop, or describe any alternative to the 
proposed agency action in the environmental assessment 
or environmental impact statement prepared for the pro-
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(e) ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC COM-
MENT.—In accordance with section 102(2) of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)) 
and the applicable regulations and administrative guide-
lines in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary concerned shall provide an opportunity for 
public input during the preparation of any environmental 
assessment or environmental impact statement for pro-
posed agency action for an authorized hazardous fuels re-
duction project. 
(f) DECISION DOCUMENT.—The Secretary concerned 
shall sign a decision document for each authorized haz-
ardous fuels reduction project and provide notice of the 
decision document. 
(g) PROJECT MONITORING.—As provided for in the 
Implementation Plan, the Secretary concerned shall mon-
itor the implementation of authorized hazardous fuels re-
duction projects. 
SEC. 105. SPECIAL FOREST SERVICE ADMINISTRATIVE RE-
VIEW PROCESS. 
(a) DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS.—
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue final 
regulations to establish an administrative process that will 
serve as the sole means by which a person described in
HR 1904 RS1S 
subsection (b) can seek administrative redress regarding 
an authorized hazardous fuels reduction project. 
(b) ELIGIBLE PERSONS.—To be eligible to partici-
pate in the administrative process developed pursuant to 
subsection (a) regarding an authorized hazardous fuels re-
duction project, a person must have submitted specific and 
substantive written comments during the preparation 
stage of that authorized hazardous fuels reduction project. 
The Secretary of Agriculture shall ensure that, during the 
preparation stage of each authorized hazardous fuels re-
duction project, notice and comment is provided in a man-
ner sufficient to permit interested persons a reasonable 
opportunity to satisfy the requirements of this subsection. 
(c) RELATION TO APPEALS REFORM ACT.—Section 
322 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agen-
cies Appropriations Act, 1993 (Public Law 102–381; 16 
U.S.C. 1612 note), does not apply to an authorized haz-
ardous fuels reduction project. 
SEC. 106. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING JUDICIAL 
REVIEW OF AUTHORIZED HAZARDOUS FUELS 
REDUCTION PROJECTS. 
(a) FILING DEADLINE.—
(1) TIME LIMIT ESTABLISHED FOR FILING.—
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to be 
timely, an action in a court of the United States
HR 1904 RS1S 
challenging an authorized hazardous fuels reduction 
project shall be filed in the court before the end of 
the 15-day period beginning on the date on which 
the Secretary concerned publishes, in the local paper 
of record, notice of the final agency action regarding 
the authorized hazardous fuels reduction project. 
This time limitation supersedes any notice of intent 
to file suit requirement or filing deadline otherwise 
applicable to a challenge under any provision of law. 
(2) WAIVER PROHIBITED.—The Secretary con-
cerned may not agree to, and a district court may 
not grant, a waiver of the requirements of this sub-
section. 
(b) DURATION OF PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION.—
(1) DURATION; EXTENSION.—Any preliminary 
injunction granted regarding an authorized haz-
ardous fuels reduction project shall be limited to 45 
days. A court may renew the preliminary injunction, 
taking into consideration the goal expressed in sub-
section (c) for the expeditious resolution of cases re-
garding
authorized
hazardous
fuels
reduction 
projects. 
(2) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION.—As part of 
a request to renew a preliminary injunction granted 
regarding an authorized hazardous fuels reduction
HR 1904 RS1S 
project, the parties shall present the court with an 
update on any changes that may have occurred dur-
ing the period of the injunction to the forest or 
rangeland conditions that the authorized hazardous 
fuels reduction project is intended to address. 
(3)
CONGRESSIONAL
NOTIFICATION.—In
the 
event of the renewal of a preliminary injunction re-
garding an authorized hazardous fuels reduction 
project, the Secretary concerned shall submit notice 
of the renewal to the Committee on Resources and 
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture, 
Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate. 
(c) EXPEDITIOUS COMPLETION
OF JUDICIAL RE-
VIEW.—Congress intends and encourages any court in 
which is filed a lawsuit or appeal of a lawsuit concerning 
an authorized hazardous fuels reduction project to expe-
dite, to the maximum extent practicable, the proceedings 
in such lawsuit or appeal with the goal of rendering a final 
determination on jurisdiction, and if jurisdiction exists, a 
final determination on the merits, within 100 days from 
the date the complaint or appeal is filed.
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SEC. 107. INJUNCTIVE RELIEF FOR AGENCY ACTION TO RE-
STORE
FIRE-ADAPTED
FOREST
OR
RANGE-
LAND ECOSYSTEMS.
(a) COVERED PROJECTS.—This section applies with 
respect to a motion for an injunction in an action brought 
against the Secretary concerned under section 703 of title 
5, United States Code, that involves an agency action on 
Federal lands, including an authorized hazardous fuels re-
duction project, that is necessary to restore a fire-adapted 
forest or rangeland system. 
(b) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—When considering a mo-
tion described in subsection (a), in determining whether 
there would be harm to the defendant from the injunction 
and whether the injunction would be in the public interest, 
the court reviewing the agency action shall—
(1) balance the impact to the ecosystem of the 
short-term and long-term effects of undertaking the 
agency action against the short-term and long-term 
effects of not undertaking the agency action; and 
(2) give weight to a finding by the Secretary 
concerned in the administrative record of the agency 
action concerning the short-term and long-term ef-
fects of undertaking the agency action and of not 
undertaking the agency action, unless the court 
finds that the finding was arbitrary and capricious.
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SEC. 108. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 
(a) RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITY.—Nothing in 
this title shall be construed to affect, or otherwise bias, 
the use by the Secretary concerned of other statutory or 
administrative authorities to plan or conduct a hazardous 
fuels reduction project on Federal lands, including Federal 
lands identified in section 102(e), that is not planned or 
conducted using the process authorized by section 104. 
(b) RELATION TO LEGAL ACTION.—Nothing in this 
title shall be construed to prejudice or otherwise affect the 
consideration or disposition of any legal action concerning 
the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, part 294 of title 36, 
Code of Federal Regulations, as amended in the final rule 
and record of decision published in the Federal Register 
on January 12, 2001 (66 Fed. Reg. 3244). 
TITLE II—BIOMASS 
SEC. 201. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Thousands of communities in the United 
States, many located near Federal lands, are at risk 
to wildfire. Approximately 190,000,000 acres of land 
managed by the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
Secretary of the Interior are at risk of catastrophic 
fire in the near future. The accumulation of heavy 
forest and rangeland fuel loads continues to increase