Collaborative Forest Health Act

Bill: 108-s-1314
Sponsor: Sen. Bingaman, Jeff [D-NM]
Introduced: 2003-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Appropriations
Commerce
Community development
Competitive bidding
Depressed areas
Economics and Public Finance
Emergency Management
Environmental Protection
Environmental assessment
Families
Federal aid to Indians
Federal-Indian relations
Federal-local relations
Federal-state relations
Fire fighters
Fire prevention
Forest conservation
Forest ecology
Forest fires
Forest management
Forest products
Forest roads
Forestry research
Government Operations and Politics
Government publicity
Grants-in-aid
Health
Infrastructure
Integrated pest management
Judicial review
Labor and Employment
Law
Logging
Lumber trade
Minorities
National forests
Occupational health and safety
Old growth forests
Performance measurement
Pests
Public meetings
Road construction
Science, Technology, Communications
Small business
Timber sales
Water Resources Development
Watersheds
Youth employment

Summary:
action_date: 2003-06-23
text: 
Collaborative Forest Health Act - Permits the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior (the Secretaries) to find that a proposed hazardous fuels reduction project that meets certain criteria shall not require an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement.
 
Directs the Secretaries to identify projects implemented under this section through a collaborative framework to reduce hazardous fuels. Sets a limit of 20 million acres for projects implemented under this section (not including the existing hazardous fuels reduction program). 
 
Prohibits, except in extraordinary circumstances, timber sales and log skidding machines in at-risk communities and the nearby vicinities and in certain municipal watersheds.
 
Excludes the provisions of this Act relating to expedited planning and implementation from applying to certain Federal lands.
 
Directs the Secretaries to take certain actions to ensure that the agencies are implementing projects pursuant to this Act that reduce the risk of unnaturally intense wildfires and improve forest health.
 
Directs the Secretaries to expend at least 70 percent of the hazardous fuels operations funds provided annually only on projects in at-risk communities and nearby vicinities or within municipal watersheds. 
 
Directs the Secretaries to jointly: (1) establish a commission to complete an assessment of the positive or negative impacts and effectiveness of projects implemented under this section; (2) earmark funds for the conduct of a systematic information gathering program on certain insect types that have caused large-scale damage to forest ecosystems; and (3) disburse funds to reduce the risk of wildfire to structures and restore burned areas on tribal lands.
 
Allows the Secretaries to make cost-share grants to various entities for the removal, transport, and disposal of hazardous fuels around homes and properties.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-07-22
text: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 108-140.
action_date: 2003-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8363-8365)
action_date: 2003-06-23
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8362-8363)
action_date: 2003-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate