I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1682
To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to use stewardship contracting
in a demonstration program to restore and maintain the ecological integ-
rity and productivity of forest ecosystems to insure that the land and
resources are passed to future generations in better condition than they
were found.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 18, 1995
Mr. WILLIAMS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee 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 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to use stewardship
contracting in a demonstration program to restore and
maintain the ecological integrity and productivity of for-
est ecosystems to insure that the land and resources
are passed to future generations in better condition than
they were found.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Forest Ecosystem
Stewardship Demonstration Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS, PURPOSES, AND DEFINITIONS.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ing:
(1) In many of the units of the National Forest
System, current conditions—such as unnatural fuel
loads, high tree density, threat of catastrophic fires,
disease, and insect infestations, habitat loss, and
loss of historic species, stand diversity and integ-
rity—adversely affect the biodiversity, health, and
sustainability of the forest ecosystems of such units.
(2) A new and innovative contracting process
for the National Forest System is required to meet
Federal goals of improving forest resource conditions
through implementation of ecosystem management.
(3) Ecosystem management is not just a bio-
logical concept. It is the convergence of a set of ac-
tivities that is simultaneously ecologically sound, eco-
nomically viable, and socially responsible.
(4) The improvement of the health and natural
functioning of the forest resource is vital to the long-
term viability of species found on National Forest
System lands.
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(5) Ecosystem restoration and conservation
work performed with revenues from forest activities
would improve employment opportunities in commu-
nities near units of the National Forest System to
the benefit of long-term economic sustainability and
community viability.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as
follows:
(1) To improve and restore the health of forest
resources through implementation of ecosystem man-
agement.
(2) To provide for employment opportunities
and economic health and viability for rural commu-
nities near units of the National Forest System.
(3) To provide for flexibility in procurement
and funding practices to enter into stewardship con-
tracts to achieve management objectives and require-
ments prescribed in the following provisions of law:
(A) The Act of June 4, 1897 (commonly
known as the Organic Administration Act; 16
U.S.C. 473–475, 477–482, 551).
(B) The Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act
of 1960 (16 U.S.C. 528–531).
(C) The Forest and Rangeland Renewable
Resources Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600–1614).
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(D) Section 14 of the National Forest
Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a).
(E) The Act of May 23, 1908, and section
13 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C.
500).
(F) The Federal Grants and Agreements
Act of 1977 (31 U.S.C. 6303–6308).
(G) National Forest Fund Act of March 4,
1907 (16 U.S.C. 499).
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act:
(1) ACCOUNT.—The term ‘‘Account’’ means the
Stewardship Account established under section 4.
(2) DESIGN
SPECIFICATION
CONTRACT.—The
term ‘‘design specification contract’’ is used to de-
scribe contracts in which the contracting entity spe-
cifically identifies all the tasks to be performed, and
the contractor performs per the designed specifica-
tions.
(3) FOREST
STEWARDSHIP
COUNCIL.—The
term ‘‘Forest Stewardship Council’’ means any one
of the local councils established under section 3(f) of
this Act to, in cooperation with resource managers:
prioritize and select stewardship projects, set oper-
ational goals in the context of current national forest
management policies and local forest plans, evaluate
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contractor performance and accomplishments, rec-
ommend progress payments for work successfully
completed by contractors, and make recommenda-
tions for the improvement of the stewardship con-
tract process.
(4) 
PERFORMANCE
SPECIFICATION
CON-
TRACT.—The term ‘‘performance specification con-
tract’’ is used to describe contracts in which the con-
tracting entity identifies the parameters of the
project, and the contractor identifies the method to
accomplish the work.
(5) RESOURCE
ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘re-
source activities’’ includes area access, site prepara-
tion, replanting, fish and wildlife habitat restoration
or enhancement, silvicultural treatments, watershed
improvement, fuel treatments (including prescribed
burning), and road closure or obliteration.
(6) RESOURCE MANAGER.—The term ‘‘resource
manager’’ refers to the line officer responsible for
management decisions associated with project imple-
mentation on a national forest.
(7) ROADSIDE
SALE.—The term ‘‘roadside
sale’’ refers to the sale by the Forest Service to the
highest bidder(s) of all contract-designated products
of the forest removed as part of the management ac-
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tivities conducted under a stewardship contract.
(Non-designated products may be assigned to the
contractor for salvage.) A roadside sale is a com-
pletely separate transaction from the awarding of
the stewardship contract itself.
(8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Agriculture.
(9) STATEMENT
OF
WORK
CONTRACT.—The
term ‘‘statement of work contract’’ is used to de-
scribe contracts in which the contracting entity gives
a general overview of the project, and the bidding
contractor provides the specifics on how he/she envi-
sions the project and the end result he/she would ob-
tain using his/her particular approach to land stew-
ardship.
(10) STEWARDSHIP
CONTRACT.—The term
‘‘stewardship contract’’ means a contract for carry-
ing out resource activities for the improvement and
restoration of forest ecosystems of units of the Na-
tional Forest System and to encourage or enhance
the economic sustainability and the viability of rural
and regional communities. A stewardship contract
could use a design specification format (definition 2,
above), a performance specification format (defini-
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tion 4, above), a statement of work format (defini-
tion 9, above), or some combination thereof.
SEC. 3. USE OF STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTS.
(a) USE AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish and implement in the Forest Service a demonstration
program through which forest- and/or district-level re-
source managers use stewardship contracts to carry out
resource activities in a comprehensive manner to restore
and preserve the ecological integrity and productivity of
forest ecosystems within the National Forest System and
to encourage or enhance the economic sustainability and
the viability of nearby rural communities. The resource ac-
tivities undertaken should be consistent with the precepts
of ecosystem management and with the forest’s manage-
ment plan for achieving the desired future conditions of
the area being treated.
(b) USE LIMITED.—Within the limits of available fi-
nancial resources, each forest within the National Forest
System may use stewardship contracts to carry out eco-
system management projects, if those contracts:
(1) Provide for payment to the contractor based
on the number of acres satisfactorily treated in ac-
cordance with an approved plan to create a desired
future condition on the land.
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(2) Are used for projects where the harvest of
timber is secondary to creating specific resource con-
ditions (e.g., wildlife habitat enhancement, water-
shed improvement, insect and disease control).
(3) Are not used for projects involving the con-
struction of new permanent roads or entries into
roadless areas.
(4) Will result in the removal of no more than
300,000 board feet of merchantable timber per
project.
(5) Provide for the roadside sale of all contract-
designated merchantable timber which is extracted.
(6) Are awarded competitively to qualified con-
tractors with no more than 25 employees.
(7) Include stewardship skill and experience
qualification requirements which have been estab-
lished by the local Forest Stewardship Council and
approved by the Forest Service.
(8) Are monitored not only by the Forest Serv-
ice, but also by the local Forest Stewardship Coun-
cil.
(9) Provide for periodic progress payments to
contractors based on successful completion of con-
tract activities on a per acre basis. The acceptability
of the contractor’s work shall be determined by the
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Forest Service, taking into account the recommenda-
tion of the local Forest Stewardship Council.
(c) DEMONSTRATION RESEARCH OBJECTIVES.—The
Secretary shall insure that in the carrying out of the provi-
sions of this Act enough flexibility is provided to resource
managers to enable them to test various approaches to
solving questions left unresolved in previous demonstra-
tions of stewardship and end results contracts authorized
in fiscal year 1991 and 1992 through the Department of
the Interior and Related Appropriation Acts. These ques-
tions include, but are not limited to:
(1) The need for the bonding of stewardship
contractors and/or possible alternatives which could
reduce the financial burden on small businesses.
(2) Preferred methods of marketing timber or
other products of the forest removed as a result of
stewardship contract activities.
(3) The standards to be used in evaluating the
quality and acceptability of the work performed by
a stewardship contractor.
(4) The desirability of multi-year contracts for
stewardship projects.
(5) The relative merits of using design speci-
fications, performance specifications, or statements
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of work in offering, awarding, and evaluating stew-
ardship contracts.
(6) The costs, benefits, problems, and opportu-
nities resulting from increased community involve-
ment in the design and monitoring of stewardship
contracts.
(7) The benefits and problems resulting from
restricting stewardship contracts to very small (no
more than 25 employees) contractors.
(8) The extent to which local economic sustain-
ability and rural community viability are affected by
the use of stewardship contracts.
(9) The difference between estimated and ac-
tual revenues derived from roadside sales of timber.
(10) The level of utilization of timber and other
products of the forest derived from stewardship con-
tract projects as compared with conventional timber
sales.
(11) The extent to which stewardship contract-
ing contributes to the achievement of forest eco-
system management plans.
(12) The extent to which the revenues from
stewardship contracts cover the cost of such con-
tracts or are offset by the costs which could reason-
ably be expected to result if the contracts are not
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carried out (e.g., fire suppression costs in areas with
heavy fuel loads).
(13) The administrative costs or savings in-
volved in the use of stewardship contracts.
(14) The benefits and/or disadvantages of using
local Forest Stewardship Councils as part of the
stewardship contracting process.
(15) The benefits and/or disadvantages of var-
ious methods of selecting members, organizing, ad-
ministering, and conducting the business of local
Forest Stewardship Councils.
(d) DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF CONTRACTS.—Each
resource manager of a unit of the National Forest System
may enter into stewardship contracts with qualified non-
Federal entities (as established in regulations relating to
procurement by the Federal Government or as determined
by the Secretary.) The local Forest Stewardship Council,
in cooperation with the Forest Service resource manager,
shall select the type of stewardship contract that is most
suitable to local conditions. Contracts should clearly de-
scribe the desired future condition for each resource man-
aged under the contract and the evaluation criteria to be
used to determine acceptable performance. The length of
a stewardship contract shall be consistent with the re-
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quirements of section 14 of the National Forest Manage-
ment Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a).
(e) SELECTION OF AREAS FOR CONTRACTS.—In se-
lecting areas within units of the National Forest System
to be subject to stewardship contracts, the Secretary, re-
source managers, and local Forest Stewardship Councils
shall base the selection on the need to improve forest
health, maintain and improve soil and water quality, and
improve fisheries and wildlife habitat. Priorities for activi-
ties within individual units will be established by local re-
source managers, in consultation with the appropriate
local Forest Stewardship Council.
(f) ESTABLISHMENT OF LOCAL FOREST STEWARD-
SHIP COUNCILS.—Local Forest Stewardship Councils
shall be established for each unit of the National Forest
System which offers stewardship contracts. The role of a
Forest Stewardship Council will be to, in cooperation with
the resource managers, prioritize and select stewardship
projects, set operational goals in the context of current
national forest management policies and local forest plans,
evaluate contractor performance and accomplishments,
recommend progress payments for work successfully com-
pleted by contractors, and make recommendations for the
improvement of the stewardship contract process. Each
participating National Forest System unit shall establish,
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after soliciting the comments of local citizens, the size of
the local council, the method of selection or election of
council members, the terms of service of members, and
the council administrative budget, if any. At least 51 per-
cent of members of any Forest Stewardship Council shall
be drawn from the private sector, in a manner which in-
sures representation of a broad range of public interests.
The functioning of the Forest Stewardship Councils must
assure a continuing and open process and must in no way
interfere with the broad public involvement in Federal re-
source management decision making required under the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1976.
(g) APPLICATION OF CONTRACTS.—Subject to sub-
section (h), the revenue received from the sale of timber
or any other products of the forest resulting to the Federal
Government as a result of work carried out under a stew-
ardship contract shall be deposited into a Stewardship Ac-
count as established in section 4(a).
(h) EFFECT
ON
OTHER
REVENUE
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Twenty-five percent of the revenues received
from roadside sale of products extracted through steward-
ship contract activities shall remain available for payments
to States, as required under the Act of May 23, 1908,
and section 13 of the Act of March 1, 1991 (16 U.S.C.
500). The Secretary shall first collect revenues to make
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such payments before exercising the authority provided in
subsection g.
SEC. 4. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACT RECEIPTS AND EXPENDI-
TURES.
(a) RECEIPTS.—Monetary receipts received as pay-
ment for contract-designated timber and other products
of the forest extracted through stewardship contract ac-
tivities shall be deposited in a designated fund to be known
as the ‘‘Stewardship Account’’. Amounts in the Account
shall be used to make payments to States under the Act
of May 23, 1908, and section 13 of the Act of March 1,
1911 (16 U.S.C. 500), and to fund resource activities.
Amounts in the Account are hereby appropriated and shall
be available to the Secretary until expended, except that
those amounts found by the Secretary to be in excess of
the needs of the Secretary shall be transferred to mis-
cellaneous receipts in the Treasury of the United States.
Any additional revenues made available through direct ap-
propriations to the Forest Service for stewardship con-
tracting and ecosystem management purposes also shall
be deposited in the Account.
(b) EXPENDITURES.—Not less than 80 percent of
amounts in the Account available for resource activities
shall be used for the direct costs of such resource activi-
ties. The revenues received from sales of contract-des-
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ignated products resulting from stewardship contracts
shall be returned to the national forest from which they
were generated, to be used to fund additional stewardship
contracts. To the extent that additional revenues are re-
ceived in the Account from direct appropriations by the
Congress of funds for stewardship contract activities, such
funds shall be made available to those forest units using
stewardship contracts through a process to be developed
by the Secretary.
(c) REPORTING.—As part of the annual report of the
Secretary to Congress, the Secretary shall include an ac-
counting of revenues, expenditures, and accomplishments
related to the stewardship contracts.
SEC. 5. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.
All stewardship contracts shall comply with existing
applicable laws, and nothing in this Act may be construed
as modifying the provisions of any other law except as ex-
plicitly provided in this Act.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall be effective upon passage.
SEC. 7. TERMINATION DATE.
Unless extended by a subsequent act of the Congress,
this Act shall terminate five years from its effective date.
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