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104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2421
To implement the recommendations of the Northern Forest Lands Council.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 28, 1995
Mr. BASS (for himself, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. HINCHEY, and
Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To implement the recommendations of the Northern Forest
Lands Council.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northern Forest Stew-
ardship Act’’.
SEC. 2. DECLARATIONS.
With respect to the Northern Forest, in the States
of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, Con-
gress declares that—
(1) people have a right to participate in deci-
sions that affect them;
(2) the rights of private property owners must
be respected;
(3) natural systems must be sustained over the
long-term air, soil, water, and the diversity of plant
and animal species;
(4) the history and culture of the Northern
Forest and the connections between people and the
land must be respected;
(5) the Federal Government must work in part-
nership with State and local governments;
(6) differences among the 4 Northern Forest
States must be recognized;
(7) people must appreciate that the Northern
Forest has values that are important beyond the
boundaries of the forest;
(8) public funds are scarce; the greatest public
benefit must be secured for any additional invest-
ment;
(9) proposals must be judged by their long-term
benefits;
(10) programs and regulations should be con-
tinually evaluated, built upon, and improved before
new ones are created; and
(11) this Act is enacted to implement the will
of the States, local governments, businesses, land-
owners, and concerned citizens, as described by the
consensus report of the Northern Forest Lands
Council submitted to Congress in September 1994.
SEC. 3. MARKETING COOPERATIVES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall
provide technical assistance to the States of Maine, New
Hampshire, New York, and Vermont to organize market-
ing cooperatives of willing landowners to collectively grow,
process, prepare for market, and market raw forest prod-
ucts in interstate and foreign commerce and to serve other
stewardship goals collectively among willing landowners.
(b) STUDY.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall pre-
pare a study of the Northern Forest region to assess—
(1) landowner interest in creating marketing co-
operatives;
(2) forest-related economic and environmental
benefits that could be enhanced through marketing
cooperatives including the development of domestic
processing plants, access to professional foresters
and forest scientists, biodiversity protection, and
long-term sustainability; and
(3) barriers to creating marketing cooperative
for forest landowners.
SEC. 4. PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture, act-
ing through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall, at the
request of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, New
York, and Vermont, provide technical assistance in work-
ing with the forest products industry, forest-dependent
communities, interested citizens, and scientists, as appro-
priate, to define benchmarks of sustainability and estab-
lish practical techniques for implementing and monitoring
principles of sustainability.
(b) PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY.—For the pur-
poses of subsection (a), principles of sustainability may
include—
(1) maintenance of soil productivity;
(2) conservation of water quality, wetlands, and
riparian zones;
(3) maintenance or creation of a healthy bal-
ance of forest age classes;
(4) continuous flow of timber, pulpwood, and
other forest products;
(5) improvement of the overall quality of the
timber resource as a foundation for more value-
added opportunities;
(6) addressing scenic quality by limiting adverse
aesthetic impacts of forest harvesting, particularly in
high-elevation areas and vistas;
(7) conservation and enhancment of habitats
that support a full range of native flora and fauna;
(8) protection of unique or fragile natural
areas; and
(9) continuation of opportunities for traditional
recreation.
SEC. 5. NORTHERN FOREST RESEARCH COOPERATIVE.
The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the
Northeast Forest Experiment Station and other programs
administered by the Chief of the Forest Service, shall co-
operate with the States of Maine, New Hampshire, New
York, and Vermont, the land grant universities of those
States, natural resource and forestry schools, and other
interested parties in collecting, coordinating, and promot-
ing—
(1) research at those universities on ecosystem
health, forest management, product development, ec-
onomics, and related fields;
(2) forest management practices for use by land
managers to maximize multiresource benefits and
ecosystem health;
(3) technology transfer to the wood products in-
dustry on efficient processing, pollution prevention,
and energy conservation; and
(4) the dissemination of existing and new infor-
mation to landowners, public and private resource
managers, State forest citizen advisory committees,
and the general public through information clearing-
house activities.
SEC. 6. INTERSTATE COORDINATION STRATEGY.
(a) MEETINGS OF FOREST SERVICE REPRESENTA-
TIVE AND REPRESENTATIVES OF STATES.—The Chief of
the Forest Service shall make a representative of the State
and Private Forest Program available to meet jointly at
least once a year with representatives of the States of
Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont to co-
ordinate the implementation of Federal, State, and local
interests in the Northern Forest.
(b) APPOINTMENT.—Representatives of a State may
include—
(1) the State forester, commissioner of forestry,
or equivalent officer with responsibility for setting
forestry policy for the State;
(2) 1 representative appointed by the presiding
officer of each house of the State legislature;
(3) a citizen advisory committee appointed by
the Governor; and
(4) the congressional delegation of the State.
SEC. 7. LABOR SAFETY AND TRAINING.
The Secretary of Labor, in cooperation with the Sec-
retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the For-
est Service, shall provide technical assistance to forest-
based industry groups to—
(1) improve workplace safety;
(2) establish and expand appropriate training
programs; and
(3) encourage the development of equipment
and methods of timber harvesting that are safer
than those currently in use, profitable, and environ-
mentally compatible.
SEC. 8. LAND CONSERVATION.
(a) FEDERAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of Agri-
culture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service,
and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-
rector of the Park Service and Director of the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service, at the request of the
State of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, or New York,
shall provide technical and financial assistance for the
planning and acquisition of land and easements.
(b) CRITERIA.—The planning process to prioritize
land conservation shall include the following criteria:
(1) Conservation of and access to outstanding
recreational values such as hunting, fishing, trap-
ping, camping, boating, and hiking opportunities.
(2) Outstanding biological diversity, ecological
value, geological features, and ecosystem function.
(3) Willing seller with community approval.
(4) Outstanding scenic value.
(5) The potential of losing any of the values de-
scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4) as the result
of conversion of land to a nonforest use.
(c) METHOD OF ACQUISITION.—The Secretary may
acquire lands or easements for purposes of this Act by
donation, purchase or exchange, or otherwise with the con-
sent of the owner of the lands.
(d) LAND ACQUISITION.—Federal and State coopera-
tive acquisition projects may be carried out with funding
provided exclusively by the Federal Government or with
funding provided by both the Federal Government and the
State government according to Federal conservation objec-
tives and State conservation objectives.
(e) COMPLEMENTARY PROGRAM.—The Secretary of
the Interior shall conduct activities under this section as
a complement to the State Comprehensive Outdoor Recre-
ation Plan for each Northern Forest State and with a
landscape perspective.
(f) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated, out of the land and
water conservation fund established by section 2 of the
Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16
U.S.C. 460l–4), such sums as are necessary to carry out
this section.
SEC. 9. LANDOWNER LIABILITY EXEMPTION.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) many landowners allow free access by the
general public to private lands for recreational pur-
poses; and
(2) when landowners make their resources
available for public enjoyment without a fee, land-
owners should not be liable for acts based on the
mere fact of ownership of undeveloped land and
awareness that a citizen or citizens were using their
land.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that States should enact laws that protect forest
land owners from liability of responsible use of private
lands by citizens who use private lands free of charge.
SEC. 10. NONGAME CONSERVATION.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) private landowners often manage their lands
in ways that produce a variety of public benefits in-
cluding wildlife habitat; and
(2) there should be more incentives for private
landowners to exceed current forest management
standards and responsibilities under Federal laws.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the
Congress that Congress should make it a priority to con-
sider legislation that creates a funding mechanism to sup-
port the conservation of nongame fish and wildlife and as-
sociated recreation activities on public and private lands
and does not replace, substitute, or duplicate existing laws
that support game fish and wildlife.
SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 such sums as are nec-
essary to carry out sections 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of this Act
and section 2371 of the Rural Economic Development Act
of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6601) in the States of Maine, New
Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.
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