(B) a land use plan developed for an area 
of the public lands under section 202 of the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712). 
(13) LAND-GRANT
COLLEGES
AND
UNIVER-
SITIES.—The term ‘‘land-grant colleges and univer-
sities’’ has the meaning given that term in section 
1404(11) of the National Agricultural Research, Ex-
tension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 
3103(11)). 
(14) 
LANDSCAPE
ASSESSMENT.—The 
term 
‘‘landscape assessment’’ means an assessment de-
scribing catastrophic event conditions and recovery 
needs and opportunities on non-Federal land af-
fected by a catastrophic event and including a list of 
proposed special recovery projects to address those 
needs and opportunities. 
(15) NATIONAL
FOREST
SYSTEM.—The term 
‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 
that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range-
land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 
U.S.C. 1609(a)). 
(16) 
PRE-APPROVED
MANAGEMENT
PRAC-
TICE.—The term ‘‘pre-approved management prac-
tice’’ means a management practice identified by the
Secretary concerned under section 104(a) that may 
be immediately implemented as part of a cata-
strophic event recovery project or catastrophic event 
research project to facilitate the catastrophic event 
recovery of an area of Federal land damaged by a 
catastrophic event. 
(17) 
SECRETARY
CONCERNED.—The 
term 
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-
spect to National Forest System land; and 
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-
spect to lands managed by the Bureau of Land 
Management, including lands held for the ben-
efit of an Indian tribe. 
(18) SPECIAL RECOVERY PROJECT.—The term 
‘‘special recovery project’’ means an individual activ-
ity or a series of activities proposed to be under-
taken to rehabilitate, repair, and restore non-Federal 
land damaged by a catastrophic event, community 
infrastructure and facilities on the land, and eco-
nomic, social, and cultural conditions affected by the 
catastrophic event.
TITLE I—RESPONSE TO CATA-
STROPHIC EVENTS ON FED-
ERAL LANDS 
SEC. 101. DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH PROTOCOLS AND 
USE IN CATASTROPHIC EVENT RESEARCH 
PROJECTS. 
(a) DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOCOLS; PURPOSE.—For 
the purpose of collecting and analyzing scientific informa-
tion about the effectiveness and ecological impacts of cata-
strophic event recovery projects and emergency stabiliza-
tion treatments undertaken as part of a burned area emer-
gency response to increase the long-term benefits of man-
agement activities and to decrease short-term impacts, the 
Secretary concerned shall develop research protocols con-
sisting of a research approach that is specifically designed 
to improve knowledge, understanding, and predictive capa-
bilities, including an appropriate and scientifically sound 
experimental design or set of sampling procedures, and ac-
companying methods of data analysis and interpretation. 
(b) PEER REVIEW REQUIRED.—The research proto-
cols developed under subsection (a), and any subsequent 
modification thereof, shall be subject to independent peer 
review by scientific and land management experts. 
(c) TIME FOR COMPLETION; MODIFICATION.—The 
research protocols required by this section shall be sub-
mitted to Congress not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. The Secretary concerned 
may modify the research protocols, as the Secretary deter-
mines necessary, after their submission to Congress. The 
Secretary concerned shall notify Congress regarding any 
such modification. 
(d) CATASTROPHIC EVENT RESEARCH PROJECTS.— 
In accordance with the research protocols developed under 
this section, the Secretary concerned may conduct one or 
more catastrophic event research projects in an area of 
land damaged by a catastrophic event. The Secretary may 
develop a proposed catastrophic event research project as 
part of a catastrophic event recovery proposal or develop 
a catastrophic event research project independently of the 
catastrophic event recovery proposal during the cata-
strophic event recovery in response to changing conditions 
in the area damaged by the catastrophic event. 
(e) PUBLIC ACCESS.— 
(1) PROTOCOLS.—The Secretary concerned 
shall make the research protocols developed under 
subsection (a), including any modification thereof, 
publicly available, in a form determined to be appro-
priate by the Secretary. 
(2) RESEARCH RESULTS.—After completion of 
the independent peer review required by subsection
(b), the Secretary concerned shall make the results 
of catastrophic event research projects publicly avail-
able, in a form determined to be appropriate by the 
Secretary. 
(f) FOREST HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS.—In developing 
and using the research protocols required by this section, 
the Secretary concerned shall enter into cooperative agree-
ments with land-grant colleges and universities to form 
forest health partnerships, including regional institutes, to 
utilize the education, research, and outreach capacity of 
land-grant colleges and universities to address the recov-
ery of forested land after a catastrophic event. A forest 
health partnership may be aligned with the current net-
work of Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units. 
SEC. 102. CATASTROPHIC EVENT RECOVERY EVALUATIONS. 
(a) COMMENCEMENT.— 
(1) EVALUATION REQUIRED.—In response to a 
catastrophic event affecting 1,000 or more acres of 
Federal land, the Secretary concerned shall conduct 
a catastrophic event recovery evaluation of the dam-
aged Federal land. 
(2) EVALUATION
AUTHORIZED.—If a cata-
strophic event affects more than 250 acres of Fed-
eral land, but less than 1,000 acres, the Secretary 
concerned is authorized, but not required, to conduct
a catastrophic event recovery evaluation of the dam-
aged Federal land. 
(b) COMPLETION.—When a catastrophic event recov-
ery evaluation is required to be conducted under sub-
section (a), the Secretary concerned shall commence and 
complete the catastrophic event recovery evaluation not 
later than 30 days after the conclusion of the catastrophic 
event in order to facilitate prompt— 
(1) decision-making with regard to the cata-
strophic event recovery of the Federal land damaged 
by the catastrophic event; and 
(2) implementation of catastrophic event recov-
ery projects on the damaged Federal land. 
(c) ELEMENTS OF CATASTROPHIC EVENT EVALUA-
TION.—In conducting the catastrophic event recovery eval-
uation for an area of Federal land damaged by a cata-
strophic event, the Secretary concerned shall prepare the 
following: 
(1) A description of catastrophic event condi-
tions on the damaged Federal land, recovery needs 
and opportunities, and the areas where management 
intervention would be helpful— 
(A) to repair, maintain, or improve re-
source values; 
(B) to maintain infrastructure;