of fire prone forest, and achieve long-term forest
health.
(3) Communities in the Sierra Nevada through-
out northern California rely upon the revenues de-
rived from the sale of forest products from Federal
lands for education, roads, basic infrastructure, and
overall economic stability.
(4) The Quincy Library Group of northern
California is a coalition of representatives of the tim-
ber industry, environmental organizations, citizens,
and local communities that formed to develop a re-
source management program for Federal lands in
the Sierra Nevada that could be carried out in a
manner that simultaneously maximizes forest health,
cost-effectiveness, and social and economic benefits
to forest-dependent communities.
(5) The agreement reached by this group in
1993, known as the Quincy Library Group Proposal
of 1993, recommended a localized, adaptive manage-
ment strategy for designated lands in the Plumas
National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the
Sierraville Ranger District of the Tahoe National
Forest for implementing, in a cost-effective manner,
the resource management activities necessary to re-
duce fire risk and enhance forest health while pro-
viding greater economic stability to forest-dependent
communities.
(6) Implementation of the resource manage-
ment activities recommended in the Quincy Library
Group Proposal of 1993 as a pilot project on these
national forests can demonstrate the feasibility of
utilizing 
locally-developed 
adaptive 
management
strategies that may be applicable throughout Califor-
nia and the intermountain northwest.
(b) PILOT PROJECT REQUIRED.—
(1) IMPLEMENTATION
AND
PURPOSE.—The
Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Forest
Service, shall conduct a pilot project on the Federal
lands described in paragraph (2) to implement and
demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource man-
agement activities described in subsection (d), as
recommended in the Quincy Library Group Proposal
of 1993.
(2) PILOT PROJECT AREA.—The Secretary shall
conduct the pilot project on the Federal lands within
the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National For-
est, and the Sierraville Ranger District of the Tahoe
National Forest in the State of California depicted
on the map entitled ‘‘Quincy Library Group Commu-
nity Stability Proposal’’, dated June 1993. The map
shall be on file and available for inspection in the
appropriate offices of the Forest Service.
(c) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN LANDS; EXCEPTION.—
(1) EXCLUSION.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), all spotted owl habitat areas and pro-
tected activity centers located within the pilot project
area designated under subsection (b)(2) will be de-
ferred from timber harvesting during the term of the
pilot project.
(2) 
EXCEPTION
FOR
DESIGNATED
CATA-
STROPHIC EVENT AREAS.—The Secretary may des-
ignate an area within the pilot project area that is
otherwise precluded from timber harvesting pursu-
ant to paragraph (1) and subsection (b)(2) as a cat-
astrophic event area in which the resource manage-
ment activities described in subsection (d) may be
applied if the Secretary, upon completion of an envi-
ronmental impact statement, finds that—
(A) the area proposed for designation has
experienced disturbances from wildfires, insect
infestations, disease, drought, or other natural
causes and will suffer further environmental
degradation, such as soil erosion, stream dam-
age, or habitat loss, in the absence of the re-
source management activities; and
(B) implementation of one or more re-
source management activities described in sub-
section (d) in the area proposed for designation
is likely to reduce or prevent continued environ-
mental degradation.
(3) NOTICE OF PROPOSED DESIGNATION.—Im-
mediately upon publication of the draft environ-
mental impact statement required under paragraph
(2), the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Reg-
ister notice of any prospective decision to designate
a catastrophic event area under such paragraph on
the basis of the environmental impact statement.
The notice shall—
(A) set forth the location of the affected
area;
(B) describe the forest health conditions in
such area;
(C) provide the reasons for proposing to
designate the area as a catastrophic event area;
and
(D) contain a brief description of the re-
source management activity or activities that
the Secretary proposes to select for the area.
(4) PUBLIC
COMMENT.—The Secretary shall
provide a 45-day period for the submission of public
comments regarding a draft environmental impact
statement prepared under paragraph (2) and any
prospective decision to designate, on the basis of the
environmental impact statement, a catastrophic
event area. The comment period shall begin on the
date of the publication of the draft environmental
impact statement or the date notice is published
under paragraph (3) of the prospective decision to
designate the catastrophic event area, whichever is
later. During the comment period, the Secretary
shall hold a hearing on the decision in a community
near the area proposed for designation.
(d) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES.—During
the term of the pilot project, the Secretary shall implement
and carry out the following resource management activi-
ties on the Federal lands included within the pilot project
area designated under subsection (b)(2):
(1) Construction of a strategic system of defen-
sible, shaded fuelbreaks on not less than 50,000
acres per year.
(2) Implementation, on an acreage rather than
volume basis, of uneven-aged forest management
prescriptions utilizing individual tree selection and
group selection to achieve a desired future condition
of an all-age, multi-story, fire resistant forest.
(e) COST-EFFECTIVENESS.—In conducting the pilot
project, Secretary shall use the most cost-effective means
available, as determined by the Secretary, to implement
resource management activities described in subsection
(d).
(f) EFFECT ON MULTIPLE USE ACTIVITIES.—The
Secretary shall not rely on the resource management ac-
tivities described in subsection (d) as a basis for adminis-
trative action limiting other multiple use activities on Fed-
eral lands included within the pilot project area designated
under subsection (b)(2).
(g) FUNDING.—
(1) SOURCE
OF
FUNDS.—In conducting the
pilot project, the Secretary shall use—
(A) those funds that were specifically pro-
vided to the Forest Service by the Secretary
during fiscal year 1996 to begin implementing
resource management activites according to the
Quincy Library Group Proposal of 1993; and
(B) other funds as are appropriated for
the administration of Plumas National Forest,
Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville
Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest.
(2) 
PROHIBITION
ON
USE
OF
CERTAIN
FUNDS.—The Secretary may not conduct the pilot
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4332(2)), section 6 of the Forest and Range-
land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16
U.S.C. 1604), and other applicable laws.
(j) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than
January 1 of each year during the term of the pilot
project, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report
on the status of the pilot project. The report shall include
at least the following:
(1) An accounting of the use of funds specified
in subsection (g)(1)(A) until such funds are fully ex-
pended.
(2) A description of total acres treated, forest
health improvements, fire risk reductions, water
yield increases, and other natural resources-related
benefits achieved by the implementation of the re-
source management activities described in subsection
(d).
(3) A description of the economic benefits to
local communities achieved by the implementation of
the pilot project.
(4) A comparison of the revenues generated by,
and costs incurred in, the implementation of the re-
source management activities with the revenues gen-
erated by, and costs incurred in, timber management
of the Federal lands included in the pilot project
area during each of the fiscal years 1992 through
1996.
(5) A schedule for the resource management ac-
tivities to be undertaken in the pilot project area
during the next fiscal year.
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