I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5098
To provide incentives for collaborative forest restoration and wildland fire
hazard mitigation projects on National Forest System land and other
public and private lands in Colorado, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 27, 2000
Mr. UDALL of Colorado (for himself and Mr. HEFLEY) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in
addition to the Committee on Resources, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide incentives for collaborative forest restoration and
wildland fire hazard mitigation projects on National For-
est System land and other public and private lands in
Colorado, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Colorado Forest Res-
toration and Fire Reduction Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) More than a century of intensive fire sup-
pression, logging, livestock grazing, and urban devel-
opment has altered the ecological dynamic of Colo-
rado’s forests.
(2) Much of Colorado’s 26,000,000 acres of for-
est land consists of dense young ponderosa pine and
Douglas fir stands characterized by small diameter
trees and excessive fuel buildups on the forest floor.
(3) These unnaturally crowded forests generally
contain a large number of stressed unhealthy trees
susceptible to catastrophic wildland fires and other
risks. Such conditions reduce biodiversity, provide
fewer benefits to human communities, wildlife, and
watersheds, and pose a tremendous risk to both
human and natural resources.
(4) Risk to human life and property is greatly
increased along Colorado’s Front Range where rap-
idly expanding urban populations are increasingly
intermingled with forested wildlands.
(5) Nearly 1,000,000 people currently live with-
in Colorado’s Red Zone, an area characterized by
6,300,000 acres of forest land at high risk for cata-
strophic wildfire. Over 400 rural and volunteer fire
departments provide initial attack and frontline pro-
tection in the complex and hazardous landscapes.
(6) A severe wildfire on Colorado’s highly erod-
ible soils can result in disastrous flood events and
sediment deposition if the fire is followed by heavy
rains. This combination of events poses a particular
threat to the water supply for metropolitan Denver
and the State’s other Front Range cities.
(7) Healthy and productive forested watersheds
minimize the threat of large, high-intensity wildfires,
provide abundant and diverse wildlife habitat, and
produce a variety of timber and nontimber products,
including better quality water and increased water
flows.
(8) Restoration efforts are more successful
when there is involvement from Federal and State
land managers as well as neighboring communities
and interested stakeholders, when projects are
prioritized in high-risk areas where watershed health
and human lives and property are threatened, and
when both decisions and implementation activities
are carried out across ownership boundaries.
(9) 
Designing 
demonstration 
restoration
projects through a collaborative approach may—
(A) lead to the development of cost-effec-
tive restoration activities;
(B) empower diverse organizations to im-
plement activities which value local and tradi-
tional knowledge;
(C) build ownership and civic pride; and
(D) ensure healthy, diverse, and productive
forests and watersheds.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To promote healthy watersheds and reduce
the threat of large, high-intensity wildfires in the
forests of Colorado.
(2) To reduce the risk to human life and prop-
erty, including that of fire protection personnel, in
Colorado’s red zone.
(3) To improve the functioning of forest eco-
systems and enhance plant and wildlife biodiversity
by reducing the unnaturally high number and den-
sity of small diameter trees on Federal, tribal, State,
county, private, and municipal forest lands.
(4) To improve communication and joint prob-
lem solving among Federal, State, and local land
managers, as well as other individuals and groups
who are interested in restoring the diversity of for-
ested watersheds in Colorado.
(5) To improve the use of, or add value to,
small diameter trees.
(6) To encourage sustainable communities and
sustainable forests through collaborative partner-
ships focused on forest restoration and hazard re-
duction.
(7) To develop, demonstrate, and evaluate eco-
logically sound forest restoration techniques.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act the following definitions
apply:
(1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the
Chief of the Forest Service.
(2) RED ZONE.—The term ‘‘red zone’’ means
the lands so identified on the map entitled ‘‘Inter-
face Areas of High Forest Fire Risk in Colorado’’,
dated July 2000.
(3) STAKEHOLDER.—The term ‘‘stakeholder’’
includes forest landowners, local communities and
political leaders, tribal governments, conservation or-
ganizations, educational institutions, and other in-
terested public and private entities.
SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.
(a) COOPERATIVE FOREST PROTECTION AND RES-
TORATION PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish a co-
operative forest protection and restoration program in Col-
orado in order to provide cost-share grants to stakeholders
for forest restoration projects that are designed through
a collaborative process (hereinafter in this Act referred to
as the ‘‘Collaborative Forest Protection and Restoration
Program’’). The projects may be entirely on, or involve
any combination of, Federal, tribal, State, county, private,
or other municipal forest lands in the red zone, except
lands within the National Wilderness Preservation Sys-
tem. Prioritization, decisionmaking, and implementation
of approved projects should be on a cross-boundary, land-
scape-scale basis with both State and Federal land man-
agers able to act as agents of the other. The cost-share
grants shall be administered by the State Forester, in co-
operation with the Forest Service as established by the
Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978. The Federal
share of an individual project cost shall not exceed 80 per-
cent of the total cost. The 20 percent matching may be
in the form of cash or in-kind contributions.
(b) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to
receive funding under this Act, a project shall accomplish
the following:
(1) Address the following objectives:
(A) Reduce the threat of large, high-inten-
sity wildfires in the wildland-urban interface
and the negative effects of excessive competition
between trees by restoring ecosystem functions,
structures, and species composition, including
the reduction of nonnative species populations.
(B) Reestablish fire regimes approximating
those that shaped forest ecosystems prior to in-
tensive fire suppression.
(C) Improve the ability of State and local
fire departments to safely and effectively pro-
vide initial attack in the wildland-urban inter-
face.
(D) Preserve old trees and trees with a di-
ameter of 12 inches or more.
(E) Preserve roadless areas.
(F) Mitigate areas at high risk for flood,
erosion, or sediment damage following a
wildland fire, rehabilitate areas that have expe-
rienced such fire-related damage, or both.
(G) Improve the use of, or add value to,
small diameter trees.
(2) Comply with all Federal and State environ-
mental laws.
(3) Prioritize restoration and hazard reduction
activities which can be conducted across ownership
boundaries for the benefit of a larger landscape or
watershed.
(4) Include a diverse and balanced group of
stakeholders as well as appropriate Federal, tribal,
State, county, and municipal government representa-
tives in the design, implementation, and monitoring
of the project.
(5) Incorporate current scientific forest restora-
tion information.
(6) Include a multiparty assessment to—
(A) identify both the existing ecological
condition of the proposed project area and the
desired future condition; and
(B) report, upon project completion, on the
positive or negative impact and effectiveness of
the project.
(7) Create local employment or training oppor-
tunities within the context of accomplishing restora-
tion objectives that are consistent with the purposes
of this Act.
(8) Leverage Federal funding through in-kind
or matching contributions.
(9) Include an agreement by each stakeholder
to attend an annual workshop with other stake-
holders for the purpose of discussing the cooperative
forest restoration program and projects implemented
under this Act. The Secretary shall coordinate and
fund the annual workshop. Stakeholders may use
funding for projects authorized under this Act to
pay for their travel and per diem expenses to attend
the workshop.
SEC. 6. SELECTION PROCESS.
(a) DETERMINATION OF PROJECT FUNDING PRIOR-
ITIES.—Prior to the selection of projects, the State For-
ester and Regional Forester shall meet with the technical
advisory panel established in subsection (c) to determine
priorities for project funding.
(b) SELECTION OF PROPOSALS TO BE FUNDED.—
After consulting with the technical advisory panel, the
State Forester and the Regional Forester shall jointly rec-
ommend to the Secretary priority projects for funding.
The Secretary shall then select the proposals that will re-
ceive funding through the Collaborative Forest Protection
and Restoration Program.
(c) TECHNICAL ADVISORY PANEL.—The Secretary
shall convene a technical advisory panel, to be jointly ad-
ministered by the State Forester and the Regional For-
ester, for the purpose of setting protection and restoration
priorities, evaluating all projects proposed for forest res-
toration grants, and providing recommendations regarding
which proposals would best meet the objectives of the Col-
laborative Forest Protection and Restoration Program.
The technical advisory panel shall be composed of 10 to
13 members to be recommended by the State Forester and
Regional Forester and appointed by the Secretary as fol-
lows:
(1) A State Natural Resource official from the
State of Colorado.
(2) At least two representatives from Federal
land management agencies.
(3) At least one tribal representative.
(4) At least one representative of the State’s
local and volunteer fire departments.
(5) At least two independent scientists with ex-
perience in forest ecosystem restoration.
(6) An equal number of representatives from
each of the following:
(A) Conservation interests.
(B) Local communities.
(C) Commodity interests.
SEC. 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.
The Secretary shall establish a multiparty monitoring
and evaluation process in order to assess the cumulative
accomplishments or adverse impacts of the Collaborative
Forest Protection and Restoration Program. The Sec-
retary shall include any interested individual or organiza-
tion in the monitoring and evaluation process. The Sec-
retary also shall conduct a monitoring program to assess
the short- and long-term ecological effects of the restora-
tion treatments, if any, for a minimum of 15 years.
SEC. 8. REPORT.
Not later than five years after the first fiscal year
in which funding is made available for this program, the
Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on En-
ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com-
mittee on Resources of the House of Representatives. The
report shall include an assessment on whether, and to
what extent, the projects funded pursuant to this Act are
meeting the purposes of the Collaborative Forest Protec-
tion and Restoration Program.
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000
annually to carry out this Act.
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