I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1164
To amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act
of 1974, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the
National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, the Na-
tional Indian Forest Resources Management Act, and title 10, United
States Code, to strengthen the protection of native biodiversity and
to place restraints upon clearcutting and certain other cutting practices
on the forests of the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 2, 1993
Mr. BRYANT (for himself, Mr. PORTER, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PETE GEREN of
Texas, Mr. TORRES, Mr. RAVENEL, Mr. BLACKWELL, Mr. PAYNE of New
Jersey, Mr. NADLER, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. HAMBURG, Mr.
CARDIN, Mr. MACHTLEY, Mr. STARK, Mr. POSHARD, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.
FILNER, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. MORAN, Mr. WALSH, Ms. NORTON, Mr.
BEILENSON, Mr. WAXMAN, Mrs. KENNELLY, Mr. HENRY, Mr. ANDREWS
of Texas, Mr. FROST, and Mrs. MALONEY) introduced the following bill;
which was referred jointly to the Committees on Natural Resources, Agri-
culture, Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and Armed Services
MAY 26, 1993
Additional sponsors: Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mr. WASHINGTON, Mr.
EVANS, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. BYRNE, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Ms.
ESHOO, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BAC-
CHUS of Florida, Mr. MCCLOSKEY, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MI-
NETA, Mr. MARKEY, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. BORSKI, and Mr. BROWN of Cali-
fornia
SEPTEMBER 17, 1993
Additonal sponsors: Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. YATES, Mrs.
MORELLA, Mr. EDWARDS of California, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON
of Texas, Mr. ANDREWS of New Jersey, Miss COLLINS of Michigan, Mr.
HORN, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. FARR of California, Mr.
TORRICELLI, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. BECERRA, Mr.
BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. COSTELLO, and Mr. CLAY
•HR 1164 SC2
A BILL
To amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
Planning Act of 1974, the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976, the National Wildlife Refuge
System Administration Act of 1966, the National Indian
Forest Resources Management Act, and title 10, United
States Code, to strengthen the protection of native
biodiversity and to place restraints upon clearcutting and
certain other cutting practices on the forests of the Unit-
ed States.
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 ‘‘Forest Biodiversity
and Clearcutting Prohibition Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES AND FINDINGS.
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are, in all
timberland owned or operated by the United States where
logging is permitted, to conserve native biodiversity and
to protect all native ecosystems against losses that result
from clearcutting and other forms of even-age logging.
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Federal agencies of the United States that
engage in even-age logging practices include the
Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of
Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Affairs of
•HR 1164 SC2
the Department of the Interior, and the Army,
Navy, and Air Force of the Department of Defense.
(2) Even-age logging causes a substantial re-
duction in native biodiversity by emphasizing the
production of a limited number of commercial spe-
cies of trees on each site, generally only one; by ma-
nipulating the vegetation toward greater relative
density of such commercial species, by suppressing
competing species, and by planting, on numerous
sites, a commercial strain that was developed to re-
duce the relative diversity of genetic strains that
previously occurred within the species on the same
sites.
(3) Even-age logging kills immobile species and
the very young of mobile species of wildlife and de-
pletes the habitat of deep-forest species of animals,
including endangered species.
(4) Even-age logging exposes the soil to direct
sunlight, impact of rains, disruption of surface, and
compaction of organic layers, and disrupts the run-
off restraining capabilities of roots and low-lying
vegetation, resulting in soil erosion, leaching out of
nutrients, reduction in biological content of the soil,
and impoverishment of the soil, with long-range dele-
•HR 1164 SC2
terious effect on all land resources, even timber
production.
(5) Even-age logging decreases the capability of
the soil to retain carbon and, during the critical pe-
riods of felling and site preparation, reduces the ca-
pacity of the biomass to process and to store carbon,
with a result of loss of such carbon to the atmos-
phere, thereby aggravating global warming.
(6) Even-age logging renders the soil increas-
ingly sensitive to acid deposition by causing decline
of soil wood and coarse woody debris, reducing site
capacity for retention of water and nutrients, in-
creasing soil heat, and impairing the maintenance of
protective carbon compounds on the soil surface.
(7) Even-age logging results in increased
stream sedimentation, siltation of stream bottoms,
decline in water quality, impairment of life cycles
and spawning processes of aquatic life from benthic
organisms to large fish, thereby depleting the sports
and commercial fisheries of the United States.
(8) Even-age logging results in lessening resist-
ance in the plant community, including the commer-
cial tree crop, to insects and diseases, under the eco-
logical principle that as the relative density of a spe-
cies in a given area approaches totality the popu-
•HR 1164 SC2
lation of that species in that area becomes increas-
ingly susceptible to insects and diseases.
(9) Even-age logging increases harmful edge ef-
fects, including blowdowns, invasions by weed spe-
cies, and heavier losses to predators and competi-
tors, from raccoons and hawks to ratsnakes and
cowbirds.
(10) Even-age logging decreases recreational di-
versity, reducing deep, canopied, variegated, perma-
nent forests, where the public can fulfill an expand-
ing need for recreation. Even-age logging replaces
such forests with a surplus of clearings that grow
into relatively impenetrable thickets of saplings, and
then into monotonous plantations.
(11) Human beings depend on native biological
resources, including plants, animals, and micro-orga-
nisms, for food, medicine, shelter, and other impor-
tant products, and as a source of intellectual and
scientific knowledge, recreation, and aesthetic pleas-
ure.
(12) Reduction in native biodiversity has seri-
ous consequences for human welfare as America
irretrievably loses resources for research and agricul-
tural, medicinal, and industrial development.
•HR 1164 SC2
(13) Reduction of biological diversity in Federal
forests adversely affects the functions of ecosystems
and critical ecosystem processes that moderate cli-
mate, govern nutrient cycles and soil conservation
and production, control pests and diseases, and
degrade wastes and pollutants.
(14) The harm of even-age logging to the natu-
ral resources of this Nation and the quality of life
of its people are substantial, severe, and avoidable.
(15) By substituting selection management and
native biodiversity protection, as prescribed in this
Act, for the even-age system, the Federal agencies
now engaged in even-age logging would substantially
reduce or eliminate devastation to the environment,
would maintain vital native ecosystems in Federal
forests, and would improve the quality of life of the
American people.
(16) Selection logging is more job intensive,
therefore providing more employment than even-age
cutting for managing the same amount of timber
production, and produces higher quality sawlogs.
(17) The court remedies now available for citi-
zens to utilize in the enforcement of Federal forest
laws are inadequate, and should be strengthened by
providing for actions by citizens for injunctions, de-
•HR 1164 SC2
claratory judgments, civil penalties, and reasonable
costs of suit.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT OF RANGELAND AND RENEWABLE RE-
SOURCES PLANNING ACT OF 1974 RELATING
TO NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.
(a) CONSERVATION OF NATIVE BIODIVERSITY.—Sec-
tion 6(g)(3)(B) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable
Resources 
Planning 
Act 
of 
1974 
(16 
U.S.C.
1604(g)(3)(B)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(B) in each stand that is managed or op-
erated for timber purposes, throughout each
forested area, provide for the conservation or
restoration of native biodiversity except during
the extraction stage of authorized mineral de-
velopment or during authorized construction
projects, in which events the Secretary shall
conserve native biodiversity to the extent pos-
sible;’’.
(b) COMMITTEE OF SCIENTISTS.—Section 6(h)(1) of
the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning
Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604(h)(1)) is amended to read
as follows:
‘‘(h) COMMITTEE OF SCIENTISTS.—(1) In carrying
out the purposes of subsection (g) of this section, the Sec-
retary shall appoint a committee of scientists who are not
•HR 1164 SC2
officers or employees of the Forest Service nor of any
other public entity, nor of any entity engaged in whole
or in part in the production of wood or wood products,
and have not contracted with or represented any of such
entities within a period of 5 years prior to serving on such
committee. The committee shall provide scientific and
technical advice and counsel on proposed guidelines and
procedures to assure that an effective interdisciplinary ap-
proach is proposed and adopted. The committee shall ter-
minate after the expiration of 10 years from the date of
enactment of this paragraph.’’.
(c) RESTRICTION
ON USE
OF CERTAIN LOGGING
PRACTICES.—Section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland Re-
newable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C.
1604) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(n) RESTRICTION ON USE OF CERTAIN LOGGING
PRACTICES.—(1) In each stand that is managed or oper-
ated for timber purposes throughout each forested area,
the guidelines under subsection (g)(3)(F) shall prohibit
any even-age logging and any even-age management after
one year after the date of enactment of this subsection.
‘‘(2) On each site already under even-age manage-
ment, the Secretary shall (A) prescribe a shift to selection
management within one year, or (B) cease managing for
timber 
purposes 
and 
actively 
restore 
the 
native
•HR 1164 SC2
biodiversity, or permit each site to regain its native
biodiversity.
‘‘(3) For the purposes of this subsection:
‘‘(A) The term ‘native biodiversity’ means the
full range of variety and variability within and
among living organisms and the ecological complexes
in which they would have occurred in the absence of
significant human impact, and encompasses diver-
sity, within a species (genetic), within a community
of species (within-community), between communities
of species (between-communities), within a total area
such as a watershed (total area), along a plane from
ground to sky (vertical), and along the plane of the
earth-surface (horizontal). Vertical and horizontal
diversity apply to all the other aspects of diversity.
‘‘(B) The terms ‘conserve’ and ‘conservation’
refer to protective measures for maintaining existing
native biological diversity and active measures for
restoring diversity through management efforts, in
order to protect, restore, and enhance as much of
the variety of species and communities as possible in
abundances and distributions that provide for their
continued existence and normal functioning, includ-
ing the viability of populations throughout their
natural geographic distributions.
•HR 1164 SC2
‘‘(C) The term ‘within-community diversity’
means the distinctive assemblages of species and ec-
ological processes that occur in different physical
settings of the biosphere and distinct parts of the
world.
‘‘(D) The term ‘genetic diversity’ means the dif-
ferences in genetic composition within and among
populations of a given species.
‘‘(E) The term ‘species diversity’ means the
richness and variety of native species in a particular
location of the world.
‘‘(F) The term ‘group selection’ means a form
of selection management that emphasizes the peri-
odic removal of trees, including mature, undesirable,
and cull trees in small groups, where they occur that
way, with a result of (i) creating openings not to ex-
ceed in width in any direction the height of the tall-
est tree standing within 10 feet of the edge of the
group cut, and (ii) maintaining different age groups
in a given stand. In no event will more than 30 per-
cent of a stand be felled within 30 years.
‘‘(G) The term ‘stand’ means a forest commu-
nity with enough identity by location, topography, or
dominant species to be managed as a unit, not to ex-
ceed 100 acres.
•HR 1164 SC2
‘‘(H) The term ‘clearcutting’ means the logging
of the commercial trees in a patch or stand in a
short period of time.
‘‘(I) The term ‘even-age management’ means
the growing of commercial timber so that all trees
in a patch or stand are generally within 10 years of
the same age. Except for designated leave trees, or
clumps of trees, the patch or stand is logged, com-
pletely in any acre within a period of 30 years, by
clearcutting, salvage logging, seed-tree cutting or
shelterwood cutting, or any system other than selec-
tion management.
‘‘(J) The term ‘salvage logging’ means the fell-
ing or further damaging, within any 30-year period,
of a greater basal area than 30 square feet per acre
of dead, damaged, or other trees, or any combination
of such trees.
‘‘(K) The term ‘seed-tree cut’ means a logging
operation that leaves one or more seed trees, gen-
erally 6 to 10 per acre.
‘‘(L) The term ‘selection management’ means
the application of logging and other actions needed
to maintain continuous high forest cover where such
cover naturally occurs, recurring natural regenera-
tion of all native species on the site, and the orderly
•HR 1164 SC2
growth and development of trees through a range of
diameter or age classes to provide a sustained yield
of forest products. Cutting methods that develop and
maintain selection stands are individual-tree and
group selection. A goal of selection is improvement
of quality by continuously harvesting trees less likely
to contribute to the long-range health of the stand.
‘‘(M) The term ‘shelterwood cut’ means an
even-aged silvicultural regeneration method under
which a minority of the mature stand is retained as
a seed source or protection during the regeneration
period. The standing mature trees, usually 10 to 20
per acre, are later removed in one or more cuttings.
‘‘(N) The term ‘timber purposes’ shall include
the use, sale, lease, or distribution of trees, or the
felling of trees or portions of trees except to create
land space for a structure or other use.
‘‘(4)(A)(i) The purpose of this paragraph is to foster
the widest possible enforcement of subsection (g)(3)(B)
and this subsection.
‘‘(ii) Congress finds that all people of the United
States are injured by actions on lands to which subsection
(g)(3)(B) and this subsection apply.
‘‘(B) The provisions of subsection (g)(3)(B) and this
subsection shall be enforced by the Secretary of Agri-
•HR 1164 SC2
culture and the Attorney General of the United States
against any person who violates either of them.
‘‘(C)(i) Any citizen may enforce any provision of sub-
section (g)(3)(B) and this subsection by bringing an action
for declaratory judgment, temporary restraining order, in-
junction, civil penalty, and other remedies against any al-
leged violator including the United States, in any district
court of the United States.
‘‘(ii) The court, after determining a violation of either
of such subsections, shall impose a penalty of not less than
$5,000 and not more than $50,000 per violation, shall
issue one or more injunctions and other equitable relief
and shall award to the plaintiffs reasonable costs of litiga-
tion including attorney’s fees, witness fees and other nec-
essary expenses.
‘‘(D) The penalty authorized by subparagraph (C)(ii)
shall be paid by the violator or violators designated by the
court. If that violator is the United States of America or
a Federal agency or officer, the penalty shall be paid to
the Judgment Fund, as provided by Congress under sec-
tion 1304 of title 31, United States Code.
‘‘(E) The penalty shall be paid from the Judgment
Fund within 40 days after judgment to the person or per-
sons designated to receive it, to be applied in protecting
or restoring native biodiversity in or adjoining Federal
•HR 1164 SC2
land. Any award of costs of litigation and any award of
attorney fees shall be paid within 40 days after judgment.
‘‘(F) The United States, including its agents and em-
ployees waives its sovereign immunity in all respects in
all actions under subsection (g)(3)(B) and this subsection.
No notice is required to enforce this subsection.
‘‘(5) No roads shall be constructed or reconstructed
in any roadless area, as defined in the second United
States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Roadless
Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II, 1978) or in a land
and resource management plan prepared pursuant to this
section.
(d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 6(g)(2)(F)
of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resource Plan-
ning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604(g)(2)(F)) is amended
by inserting ‘‘in accordance with subsection (g) and’’ after
‘‘National Forest System lands.’’.
SEC. 4. AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL LAND POLICY AND MAN-
AGEMENT ACT OF 1976 RELATING TO THE
PUBLIC LANDS.
(a) CONSERVATION OF NATIVE BIODIVERSITY.—Sec-
tion 202(c) of the Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712(c)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (8) and (9) as
paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; and
•HR 1164 SC2
(2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the follow-
ing new paragraph (8):
‘‘(8) in each stand that is managed or operated
for timber purposes throughout each forested area
provide for the conservation or restoration of native
biodiversity except during the extraction stage of au-
thorized mineral development or during authorized
construction projects, in which events the Secretary
shall conserve native biodiversity to the extent pos-
sible;’’.
(b) RESTRICTION ON USE OF CERTAIN LOGGING
PRACTICES.—Section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(g) RESTRICTION ON USE OF CERTAIN LOGGING
PRACTICES.—(1) In each stand that is managed or oper-
ated for timber purposes throughout each forested area,
the Secretary under subsection (c)(8) shall prohibit any
even-age logging and any even-age management after one
year after the date of enactment of this subsection.
‘‘(2) On each site already under even-age manage-
ment, the Secretary shall (A) prescribe a shift to selection
management within one year, or (B) cease managing for
timber 
purposes 
and 
actively 
restore 
the 
native
•HR 1164 SC2
biodiversity, or permit each site to regain its native
biodiversity.
‘‘(3) For the purposes of this subsection:
‘‘(A) The term ‘native biodiversity’ means the
full range of variety and variability within and
among living organisms and the ecological complexes
in which they would have occurred in the absence of
significant human impact, and encompasses diver-
sity, within a species (genetic), within a community
of species (within-community), between communities
of species (between-communities), within a total area
such as a watershed (total area), along a plane from
ground to sky (vertical), and along the plane of the
earth-surface (horizontal). Vertical and horizontal
diversity apply to all the other aspects of diversity.
‘‘(B) The terms ‘conserve’ and ‘conservation’
refer to protective measures for maintaining existing
native biological diversity and active measures for
restoring diversity through management efforts, in
order to protect, restore, and enhance as much of
the variety of species and communities as possible in
abundances and distributions that provide for their
continued existence and normal functioning, includ-
ing the viability of populations throughout their
natural geographic distributions.
•HR 1164 SC2
‘‘(C) The term ‘within-community diversity’
means the distinctive assemblages of species and ec-
ological processes that occur in different physical
settings of the biosphere and distinct parts of the
world.
‘‘(D) The term ‘genetic diversity’ means the dif-
ferences in genetic composition within and among
populations of a given species.
‘‘(E) The term ‘species diversity’ means the
richness and variety of native species in a particular
location of the world.
‘‘(F) The term ‘group selection’ means a form
of selection management that emphasizes the peri-
odic removal of trees, including mature, undesirable,
and cull trees in small groups, where they occur that
way, with a result of (i) creating openings not to ex-
ceed in width in any direction the height of the tall-
est tree standing within 10 feet of the edge of the
group cut, and (ii) maintaining different age groups
in a given stand. In no event will more than 30 per-
cent of a stand be felled within 30 years.
‘‘(G) The term ‘stand’ means a forest commu-
nity with enough identity by location, topography, or
dominant species to be managed as a unit, not to ex-
ceed 100 acres.
•HR 1164 SC2
‘‘(H) The term ‘clearcutting’ means the logging
of the commercial trees in a patch or stand in a
short period of time.
‘‘(I) The term ‘even-age management’ means
the growing of commercial timber so that all trees
in a patch or stand are generally within 10 years of
the same age. Except for designated leave trees, or
clumps of trees, the patch or stand is logged, com-
pletely in any acre within a period of 30 years, by
clearcutting, salvage logging, seed-tree cutting or
shelterwood cutting, or any system other than selec-
tion management.
‘‘(J) The term, ‘salvage logging’ means the fell-
ing or further damaging, within any 30-year period,
of a greater basal area than 30 square feet per acre
of dead, damaged, or other trees, or any combination
of such trees.
‘‘(K) The term ‘seed-tree cut’ means a logging
operation that leaves one or more seed trees, gen-
erally 6 to 10 per acre.
‘‘(L) The term ‘selection management’ means
the application of logging and other actions needed
to maintain continuous high forest cover where such
cover naturally occurs, recurring natural regenera-
tion of all native species on the site, and the orderly