IIA
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 858
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY 10, 1997
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources
AN ACT
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a pilot
project on designated lands within Plumas, Lassen, and
Tahoe National Forests in the State of California to
demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource manage-
ment activities proposed by the Quincy Library Group
and to amend current land and resource management
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plans for these national forests to consider the incorpora-
tion of these resource management activities.
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 ‘‘Quincy Library Group
Forest Recovery and Economic Stability Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. PILOT PROJECT FOR PLUMAS, LASSEN, AND TAHOE
NATIONAL FORESTS TO IMPLEMENT QUINCY
LIBRARY GROUP PROPOSAL.
(a) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘‘Quincy Library Group-Community Stability Pro-
posal’’ means the agreement by a coalition of representa-
tives of fisheries, timber, environmental, county govern-
ment, citizen groups, and local communities that formed
in northern California to develop a resource management
program that promotes ecologic and economic health for
certain Federal lands and communities in the Sierra Ne-
vada area. Such proposal includes the map entitled
‘‘QUINCY LIBRARY GROUP Community Stability Pro-
posal’’, dated June 1993, and prepared by VESTRA Re-
sources of Redding, California.
(b) PILOT PROJECT REQUIRED.—
(1) PILOT PROJECT AND PURPOSE.—The Sec-
retary of Agriculture (in this section referred to as
the ‘‘Secretary’’), acting through the Forest Service
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and after completion of an environmental impact
statement (a record of decision for which shall be
adopted within 200 days), shall conduct a pilot
project on the Federal lands described in paragraph
(2) to implement and demonstrate the effectiveness
of the resource management activities described in
subsection (d) and the other requirements of this
section, as recommended in the Quincy Library
Group-Community Stability Proposal.
(2) PILOT PROJECT AREA.—The Secretary shall
conduct the pilot project on the Federal lands within
Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest,
and the Sierraville Ranger District of Tahoe Na-
tional Forest in the State of California designated as
‘‘Available for Group Selection’’ on the map entitled
‘‘QUINCY LIBRARY GROUP Community Stability
Proposal’’, dated June 1993 (in this section referred
to as the ‘‘pilot project area’’). Such map shall be
on file and available for inspection in the appro-
priate offices of the Forest Service.
(c) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN LANDS, RIPARIAN PRO-
TECTION AND COMPLIANCE.—
(1) EXCLUSION.—All spotted owl habitat areas
and protected activity centers located within the
pilot project area designated under subsection (b)(2)
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will be deferred from resource management activities
required under subsection (d) and timber harvesting
during the term of the pilot project.
(2) RIPARIAN PROTECTION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Scientific Analysis
Team guidelines for riparian system protection
described in subparagraph (B) shall apply to all
resource 
management 
activities 
conducted
under subsection (d) and all timber harvesting
activities that occur in the pilot project area
during the term of the pilot project.
(B) GUIDELINES DESCRIBED.—The guide-
lines referred to in subparagraph (A) are those
in the document entitled ‘‘Viability Assessments
and Management Considerations for Species
Associated with Late-Successional and Old-
Growth Forests of the Pacific Northwest’’, a
Forest Service research document dated March
1993 and co-authored by the Scientific Analysis
Team, including Dr. Jack Ward Thomas.
(3) COMPLIANCE.—All resource management
activities required by subsection (d) shall be imple-
mented to the extent consistent with applicable Fed-
eral law and the standards and guidelines for the
conservation of the California spotted owl as set
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forth in the California Spotted Owl Sierran Provence
Interim Guidelines, or the subsequently issued final
guidelines whichever is in effect.
(d) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES.—During
the term of the pilot project, the Secretary shall implement
and carry out the following resource management activi-
ties on an acreage basis on the Federal lands included
within the pilot project area designated under subsection
(b)(2):
(1) FUELBREAK CONSTRUCTION.—Construction
of a strategic system of defensible fuel profile zones,
including shaded fuelbreaks, utilizing thinning, indi-
vidual tree selection, and other methods of vegeta-
tion management consistent with the Quincy Library
Group-Community Stability Proposal, on not less
than 40,000, but not more than 60,000, acres per
year.
(2) GROUP SELECTION AND INDIVIDUAL TREE
SELECTION.—Utilization of group selection and indi-
vidual tree selection uneven-aged forest management
prescriptions described in the Quincy Library
Group-Community Stability Proposal to achieve a
desired future condition of all-age, multistory, fire
resilient forests as follows:
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(A) GROUP SELECTION.—Group selection
on an average acreage of .57 percent of the
pilot project area land each year of the pilot
project.
(B) INDIVIDUAL TREE SELECTION.—Indi-
vidual tree selection may also be utilized within
the pilot project area.
(3) TOTAL
ACREAGE.—The total acreage on
which resource management activities are imple-
mented under this subsection shall not exceed
70,000 acres each year.
(4) RIPARIAN MANAGEMENT.—A program of ri-
parian management, including wide protection zones
and riparian restoration projects, consistent with ri-
parian protection guidelines in subsection (c)(2)(B).
(e) COST-EFFECTIVENESS.—In conducting the pilot
project, Secretary shall use the most cost-effective means
available, as determined by the Secretary, to implement
resource management activities described in subsection
(d).
(f) FUNDING.—
(1) SOURCE
OF
FUNDS.—In conducting the
pilot project, the Secretary shall use, subject to the
relevant reprogramming guidelines of the House and
Senate Committees on Appropriations—
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(A) those funds specifically provided to the
Forest Service by the Secretary to implement
resource management activities according to the
Quincy Library Group-Community Stability
Proposal; and
(B) excess funds that are allocated for the
administration and management of Plumas Na-
tional Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the
Sierraville Ranger District of Tahoe National
Forest.
(2) 
PROHIBITION
ON
USE
OF
CERTAIN
FUNDS.—The Secretary may not conduct the pilot
project using funds appropriated for any other unit
of the National Forest System.
(3) 
FLEXIBILITY.—Subject 
to 
normal 
re-
programming guidelines, during the term of the pilot
project, the forest supervisors of Plumas National
Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National
Forest may allocate and use all accounts that con-
tain excess funds and all available excess funds for
the administration and management of Plumas Na-
tional Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the
Sierraville Ranger District of Tahoe National Forest
to perform the resource management activities de-
scribed in subsection (d).
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(4) RESTRICTION.—The Secretary or the forest
supervisors, as the case may be, shall not utilize au-
thority provided under paragraphs (1)(B) and (3) if,
in their judgment, doing so will limit other nontim-
ber related multiple use activities for which such
funds were available.
(5) OVERHEAD.—Of amounts available to carry
out this section—
(A) not more than 12 percent may be used
or allocated for general administration or other
overhead; and
(B) at least 88 percent shall be used to im-
plement and carry out activities required by
this section.
(6) AUTHORIZED
SUPPLEMENTAL
FUNDS.—
There are authorized to be appropriated to imple-
ment and carry out the pilot project such sums as
are necessary.
(7) BASELINE FUNDS.—Amounts available for
resource management activities authorized under
subsection (d) shall at a minimum include existing
baseline funding levels.
(g) TERM OF PILOT PROJECT.—The Secretary shall
conduct the pilot project during the period beginning on
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the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the
later of the following:
(1) The date on which the Secretary completes
amendment or revision of the land and resource
management plans for Plumas National Forest,
Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National Forest
pursuant to subsection (i).
(2) The date that is five years after the date of
the commencement of the pilot project.
(h) CONSULTATION.—(1) Each statement required
by subsection (b)(1) shall be prepared in consultation with
the Quincy Library Group.
(2) CONTRACTING.—The Forest Service, subject to
the availability of appropriations, may carry out any (or
all) of the requirements of this section using private con-
tracts.
(i) CORRESPONDING FOREST PLAN AMENDMENTS.—
Within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Regional Forester for Region 5 shall initiate the
process to amend or revise the land and resource manage-
ment plans for Plumas National Forest, Lassen National
Forest, and Tahoe National Forest. The process shall in-
clude preparation of at least one alternative that—
(1) incorporates the pilot project and area des-
ignations made by subsection (b), the resource man-
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agement activities described in subsection (d), and
other aspects of the Quincy Library Group Commu-
nity Stability Proposal; and
(2) makes other changes warranted by the anal-
yses conducted in compliance with section 102(2) of
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4332(2)), section 6 of the Forest and Range-
land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16
U.S.C. 1604), and other applicable laws.
(j) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than February 28
of each year during the term of the pilot project, the
Secretary after consultation with the Quincy Library
Group, shall submit to Congress a report on the sta-
tus of the pilot project. The report shall include at
least the following:
(A) A complete accounting of the use of
funds made available under subsection (f)(1)(A)
until such funds are fully expended.
(B) A complete accounting of the use of
funds and accounts made available under sub-
section (f)(1) for the previous fiscal year, in-
cluding a schedule of the amounts drawn from
each account used to perform resource manage-
ment activities described in subsection (d).
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(C) A description of total acres treated for
each of the resource management activities re-
quired under subsection (d), forest health im-
provements, fire risk reductions, water yield in-
creases, and other natural resources-related
benefits achieved by the implementation of the
resource management activities described in
subsection (d).
(D) A description of the economic benefits
to local communities achieved by the implemen-
tation of the pilot project.
(E) A comparison of the revenues gen-
erated by, and costs incurred in, the implemen-
tation of the resource management activities de-
scribed in subsection (d) on the Federal lands
included in the pilot project area with the reve-
nues and costs during each of the fiscal years
1992 through 1997 for timber management of
such lands before their inclusion in the pilot
project.
(F) A schedule for the resource manage-
ment activities to be undertaken in the pilot
project area during the calendar year.
(2) 
LIMITATION
ON
EXPENDITURES.—The
amount of Federal funds expended on each annual
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report under this subsection shall not exceed
$50,000.
(k) FINAL REPORT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning after completion
of 6 months of the second year of the pilot project,
the Secretary shall compile a science-based assess-
ment of, and report on, the effectiveness of the pilot
project in meeting the stated goals of this pilot
project. Such assessment and report—
(A) shall include watershed monitoring of
lands treated under this section, that should ad-
dress the following issues on a priority basis:
timing of water releases, water quality changes,
and water yield changes over the short and long
term in the pilot project area;
(B) shall be compiled in consultation with
the Quincy Library Group; and
(C) shall be submitted to the Congress by
July 1, 2002.
(2) LIMITATIONS
ON
EXPENDITURES.—The
amount of Federal funds expended for the assess-
ment and report under this subsection, other than
for watershed monitoring under paragraph (1)(A),
shall not exceed $150,000. The amount of Federal
funds expended for watershed monitoring under