I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2866
To provide for the sound management and protection of Redwood forest
areas in Humboldt County, California, by adding certain lands and
waters to the Six Rivers National Forest and by including a portion
of such lands in the national wilderness preservation system
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 4, 1993
Mr. HAMBURG (for himself, Mr. STARK, Mr. STUDDS, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr.
MILLER of California, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs.
SCHROEDER, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. MINETA, Mr. BRYANT, Mr. VENTO, Mr.
RAVENEL, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. SMITH of Iowa,
Ms. FURSE, Mr. EDWARDS of California, Mr. SABO, Mr. BROWN of Ohio,
Mr. POSHARD, Miss COLLINS of Michigan, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. DEL-
LUMS, Mr. ANDREWS of Maine, Mr. OLVER, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. MAR-
KEY, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. BEILENSON, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.
BISHOP, Mrs. MINK, Mr. BLACKWELL, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. BONIOR, Mr.
WASHINGTON, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. COLEMAN,
Mr. MFUME, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WATT, Mr. TORRES, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr.
RAHALL, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. DIXON, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Mr.
KOPETSKI, Mr. LANCASTER, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. SHEPHERD, Mr.
UNDERWOOD, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. POMEROY, Ms. ROYBAL-AL-
LARD, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. EVANS, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr.
FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. MORAN, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. FARR of
California, Mr. FILNER, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. FRANK of
Massachusetts, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. MCHALE, Mrs. MEEK,
Ms. PELOSI, Mrs. UNSOELD, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´,
Mr. SANDERS, and Mr. SHARP) introduced the following bill; which was
referred jointly to the Committees on Natural Resources and Agriculture
A BILL
To provide for the sound management and protection of
Redwood forest areas in Humboldt County, California,
by adding certain lands and waters to the Six Rivers
National Forest and by including a portion of such lands
in the national wilderness preservation system
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 ‘‘Headwaters Forest
Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that:
(1) Redwoods are a significant national symbol
and a defining symbol of the State of California.
(2) Old growth redwood trees are a unique and
irreplaceable natural resource.
(3) Most of the Nation’s old growth forests
have been cut. Less than 5 percent of the original
2,000,000 acre Coast redwoods remain standing.
The groves that are left are crucial to maintain habi-
tat needed for survival of old-growth dependent spe-
cies. The Headwaters Forest, for example, is home
to one of California’s three largest population of
marbled murrelets, rare sea birds that nest only in
coastal old growth trees; the Northern Spotted Owl;
and native salmon stocks that spawn in the Forest’s
creeks.
(4) The remaining unprotected stands of old
growth forests and old growth redwoods are under
immediate threat of being harvested without regard
to their ecological importance and without following
Federal timber harvest guidelines.
(5) Significant amounts of old growth redwoods
in the proposed National Forest additions are being
cut at a pace that is based on paying high interest
rates on poor quality bonds and not at a pace that
is based on sound forest management practices.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide
for the sound management and protection of old growth
Redwood forest areas in Humboldt County, California,
and to preserve and enhance habitat for the marbled
murrelet, Northern Spotted owl, native salmon stocks, and
other old growth forest dependent species, by adding cer-
tain lands and waters to the Six Rivers National Forest
and by including a portion of such lands in the national
wilderness preservation system.
SEC. 3. ADDITION TO SIX RIVERS NATIONAL FOREST.
(a) EXTENSION
OF
BOUNDARIES.—The exterior
boundaries of the Six Rivers National Forest in the State
of California are hereby extended to include the area com-
prising approximately 44,000 acres, as generally depicted
on the map entitled ‘‘Six Rivers National Forest Addition
proposed’’, dated June 1993. Such area shall hereinafter
in this Act be referred to as the Six Rivers National Forest
Addition. The map shall be on file and available for public
inspection in the offices of the Forest Supervisor, Six Riv-
ers National Forest, and in the offices of the Chief of the
Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.
(b) ACQUISITION OF LAND.—(1) The Secretary shall
acquire lands or interests in land within the exterior
boundaries of the Six Rivers National Forest Addition by
donation, by purchase with donated or appropriated funds,
or by exchange for other lands owned by any department,
agency, or instrumentality of the United States. When any
tract of land is only partly within such boundaries, the
Secretary may acquire all or any portion of the land out-
side of such boundaries in order to minimize the payment
of severance costs. Land so acquired outside of the bound-
aries may be exchanged by the Secretary for non-Federal
lands within the boundaries, and any land so acquired and
not utilized for exchange shall be reported to the General
Services Administration for disposal under the Federal
Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (63
Stat. 377). Lands, and interests in lands, within the
boundaries of the Headwaters Forest which are owned by
the State of California or any political subdivision thereof,
may be acquired only by donation or exchange.
(2) The Secretary is authorized to accept from the
State of California funds to cover the cost of acquiring
lands within the Headwaters Forest, and notwithstanding
any other provision of law, the Secretary may retain and
expend such funds for purposes of such acquisition. Such
funds shall be available for such purposes without further
appropriation and without fiscal year limitation.
(c) LAND ACQUISITION PLAN.—The Secretary shall
develop and implement, within 6 months after the enact-
ment of this Act, a land acquisition plan which contains
specific provisions addressing how and when lands will be
acquired under subsection (b). The plan shall give priority
first to the acquisition of lands within the boundaries of
the Headwaters Forest Wilderness identified on the map
referred to in section 3(a). The Secretary shall submit cop-
ies of such plan to the Committee on Natural Resources,
the Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee on Ap-
propriations of the United States House of Representa-
tives and to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and
the Committee on Appropriations of the United States
Senate.
(d) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as
may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
SEC. 4. WILDERNESS AREAS.
(a) DESIGNATION.—In furtherance of the purposes of
the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131–1136), lands in the
State of California acquired under section 3 of this Act
which are within the areas generally depicted on the map
referred to in section 3 as the ‘‘Headwaters Forest Wilder-
ness (Proposed)’’ shall be designated as wilderness and
therefore as a component of the National Wilderness Pres-
ervation System, effective upon acquisition under section
3. Such lands shall be known as the Headwaters Forest
Wilderness.
(b) MAP AND DESCRIPTION.—As soon as practicable
after the inclusion of any lands in the Headwaters Forest
Wilderness, the Secretary shall file a map and a boundary
description of the area so included with the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and
with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of
the United States Senate. The Secretary may correct cleri-
cal and typographical errors in such boundary description
and such map. Each such map and boundary description
shall be on file and available for public inspection in the
Office of the Chief of the Forest Service, United States
Department of Agriculture.
(c) BUFFER ZONES NOT INTENDED.—The Congress
does not intend that designation of any area as wilderness
under this section lead to the creation of protective perim-
eters or buffer zones around the wilderness area. The fact
that nonwilderness activities or uses can be seen or heard
from areas within a wilderness shall not, of itself, preclude
such activities or uses up to the boundary of the wilder-
ness area.
(d) STATE AUTHORITY OVER FISH AND WILDLIFE.—
As provided in section 4(d)(8) of the Wilderness Act, noth-
ing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the jurisdic-
tion or responsibilities of the State of California with re-
spect to wildlife and fish in any areas designated by this
Act as wilderness.
SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION.
(a) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The Secretary shall de-
velop, within 1 year after the enactment of this Act, a
comprehensive management plan detailing measures for
the preservation of the existing old growth redwood
ecosystems in the Six Rivers National Forest Addition, in-
cluding but not limited to each of the following:
(1) Prohibition of sale of timber from lands
within the old growth redwood groves as depicted
generally on the map referred to in section 3(a).
Timber sales in other areas shall be allowed consist-
ent with the purposes of this Act and other applica-
ble Federal laws and regulations.
(2) Measures to restore lands affected by pre-
vious timber harvests to mitigate watershed degrada-
tion and impairment of habitat for the marbled
murrelet, spotted owl, native salmon stocks, and
other old-growth forest dependent species (‘‘Restora-
tion Measures’’).
The Management Plan shall be reviewed and revised every
time the Six Rivers National Forest Land and Resource
Management plan is revised or more frequently as nec-
essary to meet the purposes of this Act.
(b) APPLICABLE LAWS AND POLICIES.—(1) The Sec-
retary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service,
shall administer the lands acquired under section 3(b) in
accordance with the Management Plan, this Act, and with
the other laws, rules, and regulations applicable to such
national forest. In addition, subject to valid existing
rights, any lands acquired and designated as wilderness
under section 4(a) shall also be administered in accord-
ance with the provisions of the Wilderness Act governing
areas designated by that Act as wilderness, except that
any reference in such provisions to the effective date of
the Wilderness Act (or any similar reference) shall be
deemed to be a reference to the date of acquisition of such
lands under section 3 of this Act.
(2) To the maximum extent practicable, all work to
implement the management plan’s Restoration Measures
shall be performed by unemployed forest and timber work-
ers, unemployed commercial fishermen, or other unem-
ployed persons whose livelihood depends on fishery and
timber resources.
(3) In order to facilitate management, the Secretary,
acting through the Chief of the Forest Service may enter
into agreements with the State of California for the man-
agement of lands owned by the State or purchased with
State assistance.
SEC. 6. PAYMENTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
(a) PILT.—Solely for purposes of payments made
pursuant to chapter 69 of title 31 of the United States
Code, all lands added to the Six Rivers National Forest
by this Act shall be deemed to have been acquired for the
purposes specified in section 6904(a) of such title 31.
(b) 10-YEAR PAYMENT.—(1) Subject to annual ap-
propriations and the provisions of subsection (c), for a pe-
riod of 10 years after acquisition by the United States of
lands added to the Six Rivers National Forest by this Act,
the Secretary, with respect to such acquired lands, shall
make annual payments to Humboldt County in the State
of California in an amount equal to the State of California
Timber Yield Tax revenues payable under the California
Revenue and Taxation Code (sec. 38101 et seq.) in effect
as of the date of enactment of this Act that would have
been paid with respect to such lands if the lands had not
been acquired by the United States, as determined by the
Secretary pursuant to this subsection.
(2) The Secretary shall determine the amounts to be
paid pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection based
on an assessment of a variety of factors including, but not
limited to—
(A) timber actually sold in the subject year
from comparable commercial forest lands of similar
soil type, slope and such determination of appro-
priate timber harvest levels,
(B) comparable timber size class, age, and qual-
ity,
(C) market conditions,
(D) all applicable Federal, State, and local laws
and regulations, and
(E) the goal of sustainable, even-flow harvest or
renewable timber resources.
(c) CALIFORNIA TIMBER YIELD TAX.—The amount
of State of California Timber Yield Tax payments paid
to Humboldt County in any year pursuant to the laws of
California for timber sold from lands acquired under this
Act shall be deducted from the sums to be paid to Hum-
boldt County in that year under subsection (b).
(d) 25-PERCENT FUND.—Amounts paid under sub-
section (b) with respect to any land in any year shall be
reduced by any amounts paid under the Act of May 23,
1908 (16 U.S.C. 500) which are attributable to sales from
the same lands in that year.
SEC. 7. FOREST STUDY.
The Secretary shall study the lands within the area
comprising approximately 13,620 acres and generally de-
picted as ‘‘Study Area’’ on the map referred to in section
3(a). The study shall analyze the area’s potential to be
added to the Headwaters Forest and shall identify the nat-
ural resources of the area including the location of old
growth forests, old growth redwood stands, threatened and
endangered species habitat and populations including the
northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet, commercial
timber volume, recreational opportunities, wildlife and
fish, watershed management, and the cost of acquiring the
land. Within one year of the date of enactment of this
Act, the Secretary shall submit a report with the findings
of the study to the Committees on Natural Resources, and
Agriculture of the United States House of Representatives
and the Committees on Energy and Natural Resources,
and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the United
States Senate.
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