Headwaters Protection and Restoration Act

Bill: 109-s-2604
Sponsor: Sen. Allard, Wayne [R-CO]
Introduced: 2006-04-07 in the Senate
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Biomass energy
Colleges
Colorado
Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Disaster relief
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Emergency Management
Energy
Environmental Protection
Environmental assessment
Federal aid to education
Federal-local relations
Fire prevention
Flood control
Flood damage prevention
Forest conservation
Forest fires
Forest health
Forest management
Forest products
Forestry research
Government Operations and Politics
Government lending
Government trust funds
Grants-in-aid
Higher education
Housing and Community Development
Infrastructure
Insect control
Law
Licenses
Lumber trade
Marketing
Pests
Private forests
Research and development
Research centers
Rural education
School buildings
Science, Technology, Communications
Small business
Timber sales
Tree diseases
Water Resources Development
Water supply
Wood

Summary:
action_date: 2006-04-07
text: 
Headwaters Protection and Restoration Act - Requires the Secretary of the Interior (for Bureau of Land Management [BLM] land) or the Secretary of Agriculture (for National Forest System land) to consider emergency event procedures in response to watershed and forest emergencies. Authorizes the Secretary concerned to: (1) carry out projects in Colorado to reduce hazardous fuel or prevent the spread of bark beetles to adjacent trees; (2) prepare emergency event proposals or consider proposals from the governor, the state forester, a water conservation district, or an at-risk community; and (3) conduct emergency event evaluations in response to a request or to an emergency event that affects a municipal water supply system, a wildland-urban interface, or other public or private property and that has caused or will cause significant damage o to federal land or adjacent nonfederal land. 
 

 

 
Requires the Secretary concerned to carry out a program in Colorado to: (1) ensure the long-term health of forests; and (2) reduce the risk of catastrophic fire, flooding, and watershed destruction.
 
Extends the authority of the Secretaries to enter into federal and state cooperative watershed restoration and protection agreements and contracts.
 
Requires the Secretary concerned to provide: (1) financial assistance for long-term stewardship projects in certain areas; and (2) grants and low-cost loans to small business concerns in the Colorado forest product industry. 
 
Establishes the Colorado Forest Health Fund from which amounts shall be transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out measures to improve forest health and reduce hazardous fuels. 
 
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) provide grants for research and development and marketing of forest products and for research in higher elevation forests; and (2) collaborate on research on and the development and transfer of broader landscape treatment strategies and ways to integrate best science with community needs.
 

 
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to provide: (1) financial assistance under the Community and Private Land Fire Assistance Program to the Colorado State Forest Service to establish a grant program to help improve private forest land; and (2) grants to Colorado for the Colorado Fuels for Schools program under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-04-07
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
action_date: 2006-04-07
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3383)
action_date: 2006-04-07
text: Introduced in Senate