‘‘(B) The terms ‘catastrophic event’, ‘land-
scape assessment’, and ‘special recovery project’ 
have the meanings given those terms in section 
3 of the Emergency Forest Research and Refor-
estation Act. 
‘‘(C) The term ‘community wildfire protec-
tion plan’ has the meaning given that term in 
section 101(3) of the Healthy Forest Restora-
tion Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511(3)).’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The heading of such 
section is amended by inserting before the period at the 
end the following: ‘‘AND RESPONSE TO CATASTROPHIC 
EVENTS’’. 
Subtitle B—Department of the 
Interior Assistance 
SEC. 211. RESTORING LANDSCAPES. 
(a) LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENTS.—The Secretary of 
the Interior may cooperate with an eligible entity, at the 
request of the eligible entity, in the preparation of a land-
scape assessment for non-Federal lands affected by a cata-
strophic event. The Secretary may combine the prepara-
tion of a landscape assessment with the preparation of a 
catastrophic event recovery evaluation under title I of the 
Federal land in the vicinity of the damaged non-Federal 
land.
(b) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of the 
Interior may provide technical and financial cost-share as-
sistance to an eligible entity— 
(1) to assist in the preparation of a landscape 
assessment; and 
(2) to implement special recovery projects iden-
tified in the landscape assessment. 
(c) SPECIAL RECOVERY PROJECTS.—The Secretary 
of the Interior may provide assistance under subsection 
(b) for special recovery projects, including revegetation, 
tree planting, and other practices the Secretary deter-
mines to be appropriate. 
SEC. 212. RESTORING COMMUNITIES. 
(a) COMMUNITY ASSESSMENTS.—The Secretary of 
the Interior may cooperate with an eligible entity affected 
by a catastrophic event, at the request of the eligible enti-
ty, to assist in the preparation of a community wildfire 
protection plan or related plan. 
(b) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of the 
Interior may provide technical and financial cost-share as-
sistance to an eligible entity— 
(1) to assist in the preparation of development 
of a community wildfire protection plan, a commu-
nity assessment, or a community action plan; and
(2) to implement special recovery projects iden-
tified in a community wildfire protection plan, a 
community assessment, or a community action plan. 
(c) SPECIAL RECOVERY PROJECTS.—The Secretary 
of the Interior may provide assistance under subsection 
(b) for special recovery projects, including projects involv-
ing— 
(1) developing products from and markets for 
fire timber harvest and remaining forest resources; 
(2) training for the local workforce; 
(3) repair of public facilities, such as water sys-
tems, roads, bridges and trails, affected by a cata-
strophic event; and 
(4) such other activities as the Secretary deter-
mines to be necessary to undertake the special recov-
ery project. 
TITLE III—EXPERIMENTAL 
FORESTS 
SEC. 301. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The experimental forests established pursu-
ant to section 4 of the Forest and Rangeland Re-
newable Resources Research Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 
1643) or the organic administrative authorities of 
the Secretary of Agriculture (16 U.S.C. 551) serve
as a natural laboratory for the Forest Service to 
evaluate management practices generally and spe-
cific responses to catastrophic events that can be 
eventually used throughout the National Forest Sys-
tem. 
(2) To build upon the knowledge base to be de-
veloped using catastrophic events research projects 
conducted under title I, the Secretary of Agriculture 
should be authorized to use the same authorities 
provided under sections 104 and 105 to design and 
carry out projects in the experimental forests. 
SEC. 302. AVAILABILITY AND USE OF PRE-APPROVED MAN-
AGEMENT PRACTICES ON NATIONAL FOREST 
EXPERIMENTAL FORESTS. 
Management practices included on the list of pre-ap-
proved management practices prepared under subsection 
(a) of section 104 may be implemented, in the manner 
provided by such section, in an experimental forest estab-
lished pursuant to section 4 of the Forest and Rangeland 
Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 
1643) or the organic administrative authorities of the Sec-
retary of Agriculture (16 U.S.C. 551).
SEC. 303. AVAILABILITY AND USE OF ALTERNATIVE AR-
RANGEMENTS FOR PROJECTS ON NATIONAL 
FOREST EXPERIMENTAL FORESTS. 
Section 105 shall apply with respect to any individual 
activity or a series of activities proposed to be undertaken 
in an experimental forest established pursuant to section 
4 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Re-
search Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 1643) or the organic ad-
ministrative authorities of the Secretary of Agriculture 
(16 U.S.C. 551). 
TITLE IV—GENERAL 
PROVISIONS 
SEC. 401. REGULATIONS. 
The Secretary concerned is not required to promul-
gate regulations to implement this Act. 
SEC. 402. FUNDING SOURCES. 
(a) RESERVATION OF UNOBLIGATED BALANCES.— 
Funds appropriated for the Department of Agriculture or 
the Department of the Interior for a fiscal year that re-
main unobligated at the end of that fiscal year shall be 
available to the Secretary concerned, until expended and 
without further appropriation, to implement and carry out 
pre-approved management practices and catastrophic 
event recovery projects and catastrophic event research 
projects under title I.
(b) AVAILABILITY OF WILDLAND FIRES MANAGE-
MENT FUNDS.—Any funds appropriated for the Forest 
Service or the Bureau of Land Management for a fiscal 
year for wildland fires management may be used to imple-
ment and carry out pre-approved management practices 
and catastrophic event recovery projects and catastrophic 
event research projects under title I that are related to 
wildland fire. 
(c) 
AVAILABILITY
OF
KNUTSON-VANDENBERG 
FUNDS.—Section 3 of the Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly 
known as the Knutson-Vandenberg Act; 16 U.S.C. 576b), 
as amended by section 318 of division E of Public Law 
108–447 (118 Stat. 3096), is further amended—— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Such deposits shall be covered’’ 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘(b) Amounts deposited under subsection (a) shall be 
covered’’; 
(2) by inserting after the second proviso the fol-
lowing new sentence: ‘‘The Secretary of Agriculture 
may also use excess amounts to cover the costs of 
activities of the Secretary under title I of the Forest 
Emergency Recovery and Research Act.’’; and 
(3) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’;
(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 
paragraph (3); and 
(c) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(2) the excess amounts will not be needed for 
activities of the Secretary under title I of the Forest 
Emergency Recovery and Research Act during the 
fiscal year in which the transfer would be made; 
and’’. 
(d) AVAILABILITY
OF FOREST SERVICE SALVAGE 
SALE FUNDS.—Section 14(h) of the National Forest 
Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a(h)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) in the fourth sentence, by inserting after 
‘‘the purposes for which deposited’’ the following: 
‘‘and to cover the costs of activities of the Secretary 
under title I of the Forest Emergency Recovery and 
Research Act’’; and 
(2) in last proviso, by striking ‘‘for which de-
posited on any national forest’’ and inserting ‘‘for 
which deposits of money are available under this 
subsection’’. 
(e) AVAILABILITY OF BLM REVOLVING FUND DE-
RIVED FROM DISPOSAL OF SALVAGE TIMBER.—The first 
paragraph under the headings ‘‘FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
HEALTH AND RECOVERY’’ and ‘‘REVOLVING FUND, SPE-
CIAL ACCOUNT’’ in title I of the Department of the Interior 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (Public 
Law 102–381; 106 Stat. 1376; 43 U.S.C. 1736a), is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: 
‘‘The money in this fund shall likewise be immediately 
available to cover the costs of activities of the Bureau of 
Land Management under title I of the Forest Emergency 
Recovery and Research Act.’’. 
(f) EFFECT OF DECLARATION OF MAJOR DISASTER 
OR EMERGENCY.—If an area of non-Federal land dam-
aged by a catastrophic event is also covered by a declara-
tion by the President under section 401 or 501 of the Rob-
ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act (42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191) that a major disaster or emer-
gency exists, the Director of Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency may use funds available for activities under 
that Act to reimburse the Secretary concerned for assist-
ance in that area provided under subtitle B of title II or 
subsection (c) of section 10A of the Cooperative Forestry 
Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2106c), as added by 
section 201. 
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