(1) The Constitution of the State of New York 
(Article XIV, Section I) contains a prohibition on ex-
traction on State-owned public lands, which has 
served the State and its citizens well and is a good 
model for the management of the approximately 
650,000,000 acres of Federal public lands. 
(2) The Federal agencies responsible for the 
management of these Federal public lands, primarily 
the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, 
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Bu-
reau of Land Management of the Department of the 
Interior, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, cur-
rently permit massive corporate extraction on the 
vast majority of these public lands without account-
ing for the other assets of these lands. 
(3) With little or no accounting, let alone hon-
est and fully-costed accounting, vast areas of these 
Federal public lands, and the rivers and streams and 
other resources on these lands, are being taken, liq-
uidated, or despoiled by private industry at great, 
but unaccounted for, public expense. 
(4) The economic benefits of this coporate ex-
traction are out-weighed by the costs and risks to
the public, including risks to human health, welfare, 
and survivability. 
(5) National Forest System lands, a component 
of the Federal public lands, serve as the source of 
80 percent of America’s fresh drinking water. 
(6) These forests and other Federal public 
lands produce much of America’s topsoil, replenish 
oxygen and water, moderate weather, climate, and 
flooding. 
(7) Surveys indicate that at least 80 percent of 
the American public believes that National Forest 
System lands are protected in the same manner and 
to the same extent as national parks and wants the 
Federal public lands, and the rivers and streams and 
other resources on these lands, protected from harm. 
(8) The Federal public lands should be fully 
and completely protected from all further develop-
ment and harm and should not be leased, sold or ex-
changed, or be taken by any corporation, public or 
private, and the timber, grazing browse, minerals, oil 
and gas, and other resource on these lands should 
not be sold, removed or destroyed.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS ON COMMERCIAL EXTRACTION ON 
FEDERAL PUBLIC LANDS. 
(a) PROTECTION OF PUBLIC LANDS.—Federal public 
lands shall be fully and completely protected from all fur-
ther development and harm, including zero tree cutting, 
zero road building, zero logging, zero mining, zero grazing, 
zero drilling, zero water degradation, zero motorized trail 
development, zero motorized recreation area development, 
zero building of commercial recreational buildings, zero al-
lowance of new commercial recreation areas and develop-
ments, zero water diversions and zero dams, and no excep-
tions may be made to these prohibitions. Federal public 
lands shall not be leased, sold, or exchanged, or be taken 
by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber, 
grazing browse, minerals, oil and gas, water, or any other 
resource thereon be sold, removed, or destroyed. 
(b) PUBLIC LANDS DEFINED.—In this Act, the term 
‘‘Federal public lands’’ means all federally-owned lands 
and waters, now owned or hereafter acquired, within all 
National Parks, National Forests, National Grasslands, 
National Monuments, National Wildlife Refuges, Bureau 
of Land Management lands, Army Corps of Engineers 
lands, Tennessee Valley Authority Lands, and National 
Wilderness Areas. 
(c) OTHER MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—
(1) ROADS.—All roads on all Federal public 
lands shall be inventoried, a determination shall be 
made of those which are essential and those unnec-
essary. Based upon the inventory determination, es-
sential roads shall be identified and maintained and 
all others shall be obliterated and revegetated within 
10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(2) INVENTORIES.—The Federal agencies hav-
ing jurisdiction over Federal public lands shall pre-
pare an inventory of all Federal public lands by 
acre, roads, rivers, and streams by mile. The inven-
tory shall include a description of the status and 
condition of the lands and a recommendation of 
what can or should be done to restore natural condi-
tions on the lands. The inventory and recommenda-
tions shall be completed within two years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(d) FIRES, INSECTS, DISEASE, AND OTHER NAT-
URAL FORCES.—Fires, insects, disease and other natural 
destructive forces shall all be considered acts of nature 
and part of a healthy, functioning, and wild ecosystem. 
No further attempts to correct for such acts of nature 
shall occur on Federal public lands. 
(e) ENFORCEMENT.—
(1) PURPOSE AND FINDING.—The purpose of 
this subsection is to foster the widest possible en-
forcement of this section. Congress finds that all 
people of the United States are injured by violations 
of these prohibitions on Federal public lands.
(2) FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT.—The provisions 
of this section shall be enforced by the Federal agen-
cies having jurisdiction over Federal public lands 
and by the Attorney General of the United States 
against any person who violates this Act. 
(3) CITIZEN SUITS.—Any citizen harmed by a 
violation of this section may enforce this section by 
bringing an action for declaratory judgment, tem-
porary restraining order, injunction, statutory dam-
ages, and other remedies against any alleged viola-
tor, including the United States, in any district 
court of the United States. 
(4) STANDARD
OF
PROOF.—The standard of 
proof in all actions brought under this subsection 
shall be the preponderance of the evidence and the 
trial shall be de novo. 
(5) DAMAGE AWARD.—The court, after deter-
mining a violation of this section, shall impose a 
damage award of not less than $5,000 nor more 
than 1,000 times the value of the damaged or lost
public assets, shall issue one or more injunctions and 
other equitable relief, and shall award to the plain-
tiffs reasonable costs of the litigation, including at-
torney’s fees, witness fees, and other necessary ex-
penses. The court shall have the authority to order 
seizure and forfeiture of all assets, including cor-
porate assets, belonging to the violator involved in 
any way in the commission of the violation. The 
damage award shall be paid by the violator or viola-
tors designated by the court to the United States 
Treasury. The damage award shall be paid from the 
United States Treasury, as provided by Congress 
under section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, 
within 40 days after judgment to the person or per-
sons designated to receive it, to be applied in pro-
tecting or restoring native biodiversity in or adjoin-
ing Federal public lands. Any award of costs of liti-
gation and any award of attorney fees shall be paid 
within 40 days after judgment. 
(6) WAIVER.—The United States, including its 
agents and employees, waives its sovereign immunity 
in all respects in all actions under this subsection. 
No notice is required to enforce this section.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act shall take effect on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act.
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