I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3566
To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to establish 
a program using geospatial and information management technologies 
to inventory, monitor, characterize, assess, and identify forest stands 
and potential forest stands, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 20, 2003
Mr. WALDEN of Oregon introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Re-
sources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 
to establish a program using geospatial and information 
management technologies to inventory, monitor, charac-
terize, assess, and identify forest stands and potential 
forest stands, 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. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT. 
The Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 
U.S.C. 2101 note; Public Law 95313) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 21. FOREST INVENTORY AND MANAGEMENT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 
program using geospatial and information management 
technologies (including remote sensing imaging and deci-
sion support systems) to inventory, monitor, characterize, 
assess, and identify forest stands and potential forest 
stands on—
‘‘(1) units of the National Forest System; and 
‘‘(2) private forest land, with the consent of the 
owner of the land. 
‘‘(b) MEANS.—The Secretary shall carry out the pro-
gram through the use of—
‘‘(1) remote sensing technology of the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration and the 
United States Geological Survey; 
‘‘(2) emerging geospatial capabilities in re-
search activities; 
‘‘(3) validating techniques, including coordina-
tion and reconciliation with existing data through 
field verification, using application demonstrations; 
and 
‘‘(4) integration of results into pilot operational 
systems. 
‘‘(c) ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED.—In carrying out 
the program, the Secretary shall address issues, includ-
ing—
‘‘(1) early detection, identification, and assess-
ment of environmental threats (including insect, dis-
ease, invasive species, fire, acid deposition, and 
weather-related risks and other episodic events); 
‘‘(2) loss or degradation of forests; 
‘‘(3) degradation of the quality forest stands 
caused by inadequate forest regeneration practices; 
‘‘(4) quantification of carbon uptake rates; 
‘‘(5) management practices that focus on pre-
venting further forest degradation; and 
‘‘(6) characterization of vegetation types, den-
sity, fire regimes, post-fire effects, and condition 
class. 
‘‘(d) EARLY WARNING SYSTEM.—In carrying out the 
program, the Secretary shall develop a comprehensive 
early warning system for potential catastrophic environ-
mental threats to forests to increase the likelihood that 
forest managers will be able to—
‘‘(1) isolate and treat a threat before the threat 
gets out of control; and 
‘‘(2) prevent epidemics, such as the American 
chestnut blight in the first half of the twentieth cen-
tury, that could be environmentally and economically 
devastating to forests.
‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATION.—To carry out this section, 
the Secretary shall designate a facility in the Ochoco Na-
tional Forest headquarters within Forest Service Region 
6 that will address the issues described in subsection (c), 
with a particular emphasis on coniferous forest stands in 
the Western United States.
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec-
essary to carry out this section.’’.
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