Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2013-08-01 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2013 - Reauthorizes the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act.

(Sec. 2) Revises the purposes of the Act.

(Sec. 4) Requires the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to: (1) manage vehicular parking and traffic in the Unit with priority given to improving public access to the Basin, coordinating with the Nevada Department of Transportation, Caltrans, state parks and other entities along Nevada highway 28 and California Highway 89, and providing support to local public transit systems in the management and operations of activities under such Act; and (2) support the attainment of the environmental threshold carrying capacities.

Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA), acting through the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, to enter into a contract or agreement with the Department of Transportation (DOT) to secure operating and capital funds from the National Forest Transit Program.

Requires the Secretary, acting through the Chief, to: (1) conduct forest management activities in the Basin in a manner that helps achieve and maintain the environmental threshold carrying capacities established by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and attains multiple ecosystem benefits, unless the attainment of such benefits would excessively increase project costs in relation to the additional benefits gained; (2) establish post-project ground condition criteria for ground disturbance caused by forest management activities; and (3) provide for monitoring to ascertain the attainment of such conditions.

Withdraws federal land located in the Unit from: (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing. Exempts from such withdrawal a conveyance of land that is carried out under the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act or the Santini-Burton Act.

Authorizes the Secretary, in conjunction with land adjustment projects or programs and during the four fiscal years following this Act's enactment, to enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with entities to provide for fuel reduction, erosion control, reforestation, Stream Environmental Zone restoration, and similar management activities on land within such projects or programs.

(Sec. 5) Revises consultation requirements by requiring the Secretary, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to consult with the heads of the Washoe Tribe, governmental agencies, and the Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee (currently TRPA, the Tahoe Federal Interagency Partnership, the Lake Tahoe Basin Federal Advisory Committee, representatives of the Unit, and the Lake Tahoe Transportation and Water Quality Coalition).

(Sec. 6) Authorizes the Secretary, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, the Directors, and the Administrator to implement or provide financial assistance for stormwater and watershed restoration projects, wildfire prevention and fire restoration projects, the Aquatic Invasive Species Program, the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Recovery Program, the Lake Tahoe Basin Program, and projects included in the prioritized list that have been subjected to environmental review and approval under federal and state law and the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact. Authorizes funding for the projects as well as for outreach, reporting requirements, the annual budget plan, and for the California Tahoe Conservancy to facilitate the conveyance of land described in the Santini-Burton Act.

(Sec. 7) Requires the Chair of the Lake Tahoe Federal Interagency Partnership to submit to Congress by February 15 of the year after this Act's enactment a prioritized list of all the Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) projects for the Basin. Requires the priority of projects included on the list to be based on the best available science and on specified criteria, with preference given to projects that benefit existing neighborhoods in the Basin that are at or below regional median income levels. Requires the list to be revised every two years or on a finding of compelling need justifying a priority shift.

Requires the USFWS to deploy strategies consistent with the Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan to prevent the introduction of aquatic invasive species into the Basin. Applies those strategies to all watercraft to be launched on water within the Basin.

Authorizes the TRPA to certify state and local agencies to perform decontamination activities at locations outside the Basin if standards at the sites meet or exceed standards for similar sites in the Basin. Authorizes the strategies to be modified if the Secretary of the Interior issues a determination that alternative measures will be no less effective at preventing the introduction of aquatic invasive species into Lake Tahoe.

Authorizes the USFWS to collect and spend fees for decontamination only at a level sufficient to cover the costs of operation of inspection and decontamination stations. Sets forth civil penalties for launching watercraft not in compliance with such strategies.

Authorizes the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to enter into interagency agreements with nonfederal interests in the Basin to use Lake Tahoe Partnership-Miscellaneous General Investigations funds to provide programmatic technical assistance for EIP.

Requires the Secretary, the Administrator, the TRPA, California, Nevada, and the Tahoe Science Consortium to implement a Lake Tahoe Basin Science Program that includes:

 developing and updating an integrated multiagency programmatic assessment and monitoring plan to evaluate the effectiveness of EIP and the status and trends of indicators related to environmental threshold carrying capacities and to assess the impacts and risks of changing water temperature and precipitation and invasive species; producing and synthesizing scientific information necessary for the identification and refinement of environmental indicators for the Basin and the evaluation of standards and benchmarks; conducting applied research, programmatic technical assessments, scientific data management, analysis, and reporting related to key management questions; developing new tools and information to support objective assessments for land use and resource conditions; providing support to governments in reducing pollutants that contribute to the loss of lake clarity and implementing an integrated stormwater monitoring assessment program; and providing support for the development of management strategies to accommodate changing water temperature and precipitation in the Basin. Requires the Secretary, Administrator, and Directors to conduct related public education and outreach programs. Requires USGS to provide scientific and technical guidance to the public outreach and education programs.

Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the status of projects authorized by this Act, expenditures to implement EIP and projects authorized under this Act, accomplishments in implementing this Act, and public education and outreach efforts undertaken to implement programs and projects.

Requires the President, as part of the annual budget, to submit information regarding each federal agency involved in EIP.

(Sec. 9) Authorizes appropriations for such Act for a period of 10 fiscal years beginning the first fiscal year after enactment of this Act.

(Sec. 10) Authorizes the Secretary: (1) to accept a donation of approximately 1,981 acres of land administered by the California Tahoe Conservancy and approximately 187 acres of land administered by California State Parks; and (2) after receiving the title to those acres, to convey to California approximately 1,995 acres of Forest Service land.