Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2013

Bill: 113-hr-1345
Sponsor: Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-4]
Introduced: 2013-03-21 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Ecology
Endangered and threatened species
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Fires
Forests, forestry, trees
Insects
Intergovernmental relations
Pest management
Public contracts and procurement
State and local finance
State and local government operations
Water quality
Watersheds
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2013-03-21
text: 
Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2013 - Extends through FY2023 the authority for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to enter into stewardship end result contracting projects with private persons or other public or private entities to perform services to achieve land management goals for national forests and public lands that meet local and rural community needs. 
 
Prohibits a multiyear stewardship contract from exceeding a 20-year period (under current law, a 10-year period). 
 
Bars the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) and the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretaries) from being required to obligate funds for covering the costs of the cancellation or termination of multiyear stewardship contracts or agreements until they are cancelled or terminated. Specifies the funding sources from where the costs of the cancellation or termination of a multiyear stewardship contract may be paid from. 
 
Requires 25% of timber sale receipts from a multiyear stewardship contract or agreement to be paid to the county within whose boundaries the receipts are derived. 
 
Authorizes the Secretaries to enter into cooperative agreements and contracts with state foresters to provide forest, rangeland, and watershed restoration and protection services. Permits state foresters to enter into subcontracts to provide such restoration and protection services. Prohibits the extension of such an agreement or contract beyond a 20-year period. 
 
Amends the Federal Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement (FLAME) Act of 2009 to make FLAME Funds available to cover the costs of burn area responses, including flood prevention. 
 
 Authorizes the Secretaries to implement eligible wildfire prevention projects in at-risk forests and threatened and endangered species in a manner that focuses on surface, ladder, and canopy fuels reduction activities. 
 
Requires projects carried out on threatened and endangered species habitat to provide enhanced protection from wildfire, including unnatural wildfire, for the endangered species, threatened species, or their habitat. 
 
Requires projects carried out in at-risk forests to move the federal land from condition class II or III toward condition class I. 
 
Permits use in a project of: (1) domestic livestock grazing to reduce surface fuel loads and to recover burned areas, and (2) timber harvesting and thinning to reduce ladder and canopy fuel loads for the prevention of unnatural fire. 
 
Requires the Secretaries, for each proposed eligible project, to: (1) study and develop the proposed action and the no action alternative, and (2) prepare an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). 
 
Deems the duration of the environmental assessment of an authorized practice used in an eligible project sufficient for a minimum of: (1) 10 years for a livestock grazing project, and (2) 20 years for a timber harvest project. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-04-23
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry.
action_date: 2013-04-11
text: Subcommittee Hearings Held.
action_date: 2013-04-05
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation.
action_date: 2013-03-21
text: Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 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.
action_date: 2013-03-21
text: Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 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.
action_date: 2013-03-21
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2013-03-21
text: Introduced in House