Pennsylvania, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. DUN-
CAN of Tennessee, Mr. GIBSON, Mr. EMMER of Minnesota, Mr. YOUNG 
of Iowa, Ms. MOORE, Mr. TOM PRICE of Georgia, Ms. KUSTER, and Mr. 
PAYNE 
SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 
Reported from the Committee on Agriculture with an amendment 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 
The Committee on Natural Resources discharged; committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be 
printed 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 10, 2015] 
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A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to publish in the 
Federal Register a strategy to significantly increase the 
role of volunteers and partners in National Forest Sys-
tem trail maintenance, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives 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 ‘‘Na-
tional Forest System Trails Stewardship Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
Sec. 4. National forest system trails volunteer and partnership strategy. 
Sec. 5. Priority trail maintenance program. 
Sec. 6. Cooperative agreements. 
Sec. 7. Stewardship credits for outfitters and guides. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The National Forest System features a 
world-class trail system with over 157,000 miles of 
trails that provide world-class opportunities for hik-
ing, horseback riding, hunting, mountain bicycling, 
motorized vehicles, and other outdoor activities. 
(2) According to the Government Accountability 
Office, the Forest Service is only able to maintain 
about one-quarter of National Forest System trails to 
the agency standard, and the agency faces a trail 
maintenance backlog of $314,000,000, and an addi-
tional backlog of $210,000,000 in annual mainte-
nance, capital improvements, and operations. 
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(3) The lack of maintenance on National Forest 
System trails threatens access to public lands, and 
may cause increased environmental damage, threaten 
public safety, and increase future maintenance costs. 
(4) Federal budget limitations require solutions 
to National Forest System trail maintenance issues 
that make more efficient use of existing resources. 
(5) Volunteers, partners, and outfitters and 
guides play an important role in maintaining Na-
tional Forest System trails, and a comprehensive 
strategy is needed to ensure that volunteers and part-
ners are used as effectively as possible. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT.—The term ‘‘Admin-
istrative Unit’’ means a national forest or national 
grassland. 
(2) OUTFITTER OR GUIDE.—The term ‘‘outfitter 
or guide’’ means an individual, organization, or busi-
ness who provides outfitting or guiding services, as 
defined in section 251.51 of title 36, Code of Federal 
Regulations. 
(3) PARTNER.—The term ‘‘partner’’ means a 
non-Federal entity that engages in a partnership. 
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(4) PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘partnership’’ 
means arrangements between the Department of Agri-
culture or the Forest Service and a non-Federal entity 
that are voluntary, mutually beneficial, and entered 
into for the purpose of mutually agreed upon objec-
tives. 
(5) PRIORITY AREA.—The term ‘‘priority area’’ 
means a well-defined region on National Forest Sys-
tem land selected by the Secretary under section 5(a). 
(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Agriculture. 
(7) STRATEGY.—The term ‘‘strategy’’ means the 
National Forest System Trails Volunteer and Part-
nership Strategy authorized by section 4(a). 
(8) TRAIL
MAINTENANCE.—The term ‘‘trail 
maintenance’’ means any activity to maintain the 
usability and sustainability of trails within the Na-
tional Forest System, including— 
(A) ensuring trails are passable by the users 
for which they are managed; 
(B) preventing environmental damage re-
sulting from trail deterioration; 
(C) protecting public safety; and 
(D) averting future deferred maintenance 
costs. 
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(9) VOLUNTEER.—The term ‘‘volunteer’’ means 
an individual whose services are accepted by the Sec-
retary without compensation under the Volunteers in 
the National Forests Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 558a et 
seq.). 
SEC. 4. NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM TRAILS VOLUNTEER 
AND PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish 
in the Federal Register a strategy to significantly increase 
the role of volunteers and partners in trail maintenance. 
(b) REQUIRED ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by 
subsection (a) shall— 
(1) augment and support the capabilities of Fed-
eral employees to carry out or contribute to trail 
maintenance; 
(2) provide meaningful opportunities for volun-
teers and partners to carry out trail maintenance in 
each region of the Forest Service; 
(3) address the barriers to increased volunteerism 
and partnerships in trail maintenance identified by 
volunteers, partners, and others; 
(4) prioritize increased volunteerism and part-
nerships in trail maintenance in those regions with 
the most severe trail maintenance needs, and where 
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trail maintenance backlogs are jeopardizing access to 
National Forest lands; and 
(5) aim to increase trail maintenance by volun-
teers and partners by 100 percent by the date that is 
5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—As a component of 
the strategy, the Secretary shall study opportunities to im-
prove trail maintenance by addressing opportunities to use 
fire crews in trail maintenance activities in a manner that 
does not jeopardize firefighting capabilities, public safety, 
or resource protection. Upon a determination that trail 
maintenance would be advanced by use of fire crews in trail 
maintenance, the Secretary shall incorporate these pro-
posals into the strategy, subject to such terms and condi-
tions as the Secretary determines to be necessary. 
(d) VOLUNTEER LIABILITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Volunteers in 
the National Forests Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 558c) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(e) For the purposes of subsections (b), (c), and (d), 
the term ‘volunteer’ includes a person providing volunteer 
services to the Secretary who— 
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‘‘(1) is recruited, trained, and supported by a co-
operator under a mutual benefit agreement with the 
Secretary; and 
‘‘(2) performs such volunteer services under the 
supervision of the cooperator as directed by the Sec-
retary in the mutual benefit agreement, including di-
rection that specifies— 
‘‘(A) the volunteer services to be performed 
by the volunteers and the supervision to be pro-
vided by the cooperator; 
‘‘(B) the applicable project safety standards 
and protocols to be adhered to by the volunteers 
and enforced by the cooperator; and 
‘‘(C) the on-site visits to be made by the 
Secretary, when feasible, to verify that volunteers 
are performing the volunteer services and the co-
operator is providing the supervision agreed 
upon.’’. 
(2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 
2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall adopt regulations implementing this 
section. These regulations shall ensure that the finan-
cial risk from claims or liability associated with vol-
unteers undertaking trail maintenance is shared by 
all administrative units. 
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(e) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall develop the 
strategy in consultation with volunteer and partner trail 
maintenance organizations, a broad array of outdoor recre-
ation stakeholders, and other relevant stakeholders. 
(f) VOLUNTEER AND PARTNERSHIP COORDINATION.— 
The Secretary shall require each administrative unit to de-
velop a volunteer and partner coordination implementation 
plan for the strategy which clearly defines roles and respon-
sibilities for the administrative unit and district staff, and 
includes strategies to ensure sufficient coordination, assist-
ance, and support for volunteers and partners to improve 
trail maintenance. 
(g) REPORT.— 
(1) CONTENTS.—The Secretary shall prepare a 
report on— 
(A) the effectiveness of the strategy in ad-
dressing the trail maintenance backlog; 
(B) the increase in volunteerism and part-
nership efforts on trail maintenance as a result 
of the strategy; 
(C) the miles of National Forest System 
trails maintained by volunteers and partners, 
and the approximate value of the volunteer and 
partnership efforts; 
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(D) the status of the stewardship credits for 
outfitters and guides pilot program described in 
section 7 that includes the number of partici-
pating sites, total amount of the credits offered, 
estimated value of trail maintenance performed, 
and suggestions for revising the program; and 
(E) recommendations for further increasing 
volunteerism and partnerships in trail mainte-
nance. 
(2) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 3 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
submit the report required by paragraph (1) to— 
(A) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-
tion, and Forestry and the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources of the Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Agriculture and the 
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
Representatives. 
SEC. 5. PRIORITY TRAIL MAINTENANCE PROGRAM. 
(a) SELECTION.—In accordance with subsections (b) 
and (c), not later than 6 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall select 
no fewer than 9 and no more than 15 priority areas for 
increased trail maintenance accomplishments. 
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