H. R. 1904
One Hundred Eighth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the seventh day of January, two thousand and three
An Act
To improve the capacity of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System
lands and Bureau of Land Management lands aimed at protecting communities,
watersheds, and certain other at-risk lands from catastrophic wildfire, to enhance
efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to forest and rangeland health,
including catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy For-
ests Restoration Act of 2003’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
TITLE I—HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION ON FEDERAL LAND
Sec. 101. Definitions.
Sec. 102. Authorized hazardous fuel reduction projects.
Sec. 103. Prioritization.
Sec. 104. Environmental analysis.
Sec. 105. Special administrative review process.
Sec. 106. Judicial review in United States district courts.
Sec. 107. Effect of title.
Sec. 108. Authorization of appropriations.
TITLE II—BIOMASS
Sec. 201. Improved biomass use research program.
Sec. 202. Rural revitalization through forestry.
Sec. 203. Biomass commercial utilization grant program.
TITLE III—WATERSHED FORESTRY ASSISTANCE
Sec. 301. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 302. Watershed forestry assistance program.
Sec. 303. Tribal watershed forestry assistance.
TITLE IV—INSECT INFESTATIONS AND RELATED DISEASES
Sec. 401. Findings and purpose.
Sec. 402. Definitions.
Sec. 403. Accelerated information gathering regarding forest-damaging insects.
Sec. 404. Applied silvicultural assessments.
Sec. 405. Relation to other laws.
Sec. 406. Authorization of appropriations.
TITLE V—HEALTHY FORESTS RESERVE PROGRAM
Sec. 501. Establishment of healthy forests reserve program.
Sec. 502. Eligibility and enrollment of lands in program.
Sec. 503. Restoration plans.
H. R. 1904—2
Sec. 504. Financial assistance.
Sec. 505. Technical assistance.
Sec. 506. Protections and measures
Sec. 507. Involvement by other agencies and organizations.
Sec. 508. Authorization of appropriations.
TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS
Sec. 601. Forest stands inventory and monitoring program to improve detection of
and response to environmental threats.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to reduce wildfire risk to communities, municipal water
supplies, and other at-risk Federal land through a collaborative
process of planning, prioritizing, and implementing hazardous
fuel reduction projects;
(2) to authorize grant programs to improve the commercial
value of forest biomass (that otherwise contributes to the risk
of catastrophic fire or insect or disease infestation) for producing
electric energy, useful heat, transportation fuel, and petroleum-
based product substitutes, and for other commercial purposes;
(3) to enhance efforts to protect watersheds and address
threats to forest and rangeland health, including catastrophic
wildfire, across the landscape;
(4) to promote systematic gathering of information to
address the impact of insect and disease infestations and other
damaging agents on forest and rangeland health;
(5) to improve the capacity to detect insect and disease
infestations at an early stage, particularly with respect to hard-
wood forests; and
(6) to protect, restore, and enhance forest ecosystem
components—
(A) to promote the recovery of threatened and endan-
gered species;
(B) to improve biological diversity; and
(C) to enhance productivity and carbon sequestration.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ means—
(A) land of the National Forest System (as defined
in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)))
administered by the Secretary of Agriculture, acting
through the Chief of the Forest Service; and
(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 of the Fed-
eral Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.
1702)), the surface of which is administered by the Sec-
retary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the
Bureau of Land Management.
(2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ has the meaning
given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).