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Q: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ''National Forest Fire Fuels Reduction
Act''.

SEC. 2. ACTIONS TO ADDRESS FIRE HAZARDS DUE TO INSECT AND DISEASE
INFESTATION AND TREE OVERCROWDING IN NATIONAL FOREST
SYSTEM LANDS.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Forest health conditions within National Forest System
lands are deteriorating and immediate action to cut timber on
these lands is in the public interest.
(2) Pending litigation prevents timely action to reduce the
risk of wildfire in National Forest System lands.
(3) Existing administrative and legal processes cannot
address the fire danger in time to enable the Secretary of
Agriculture to take action to reduce the danger.
(4) Immediate action to address the fire danger in an
environmentally responsive manner is supported by the States
and local governments, local industry users, and some
environmental groups.
(5) The Forest Service and State and local fire officials
are encouraged to take actions as necessary to create a
defensible fuel zone within State owned lands adjacent to
National Forest System lands.
(b) Fire and Insect Risk Reduction in Existing Timber Sale Analysis
Areas.--
(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary is
authorized to cut additional timber within or outside the
existing cutting units for National Forest System timber sales
and within the analysis areas for these sales as is necessary
to reduce insect and disease infestation or fire hazard.
(2) Criteria.--In implementing additional timber harvests
within the timber sale analysis areas referred to in paragraph
(1), the Secretary shall use, in order of priority, the
following criteria:
(A) Areas within /4\ mile of private properties
where private property owners have taken or are taking
actions to cut timber on their lands.
(B) Stands that are a fire hazard or insect and
disease infested, and are near private lands or in
proximity to communities.
(C) Areas that have the highest intensity or
concentration of insect or disease infestation that
will move to other areas.
(D) Stands that are a fire hazard or insect and
disease infested, and are near areas of high resource
value where retaining green trees is important, such as
wildlife habitats, sensitive landscapes, forest growth,
recreation areas, and developments.
(E) Stands that are a high fire hazard or insect
and disease infested, and are within skidding distance
of existing roads.
(F) Concentrations of insect or disease infested
trees or areas that are high fire hazards due to
accumulated forest debris.
(G) Stands with the highest density that are most
susceptible to insect or disease attack and are in
close proximity to infested trees.
(c) Use of Forest Fire Fuels Reduction Sale Funds.--To conduct
timber sales under this section, the Secretary may use forest timber
sale funds otherwise available to the Secretary.
(d) Sales in Preparation.-- Any timber sale in preparation on the
date of the enactment of this Act shall be subject to the provisions of
this section.
(e) Use of Available Authorities.--The Secretary shall make use of
all available authority, including the employment of private
contractors and the use of expedited fire contracting procedures, to
prepare and advertise timber sales under this section.
(f) Exemptions.--The preparation, solicitation, and award of forest
fire fuels reduction timber sales shall be exempt from the requirements
of the Competition in Contracting Act (41 U.S.C. 253 et seq.) and the
implementing regulations in the Federal Acquisition Regulation issued
pursuant to section 25(c) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Act (41 U.S.C. 421(c)) and any departmental acquisition regulations and
the notice and publication requirements in section 18 of such Act (41
U.S.C. 416) and 8(e) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)) and
the implementing regulations in the Federal Acquisition Regulations and
any departmental acquisition regulations.
(g) Cost Considerations.--Forest fire fuels reduction timber sales
undertaken pursuant to this section shall not be precluded because the
costs of such activities are likely to exceed the revenues derived from
such activities.
(h) Effect of Forest Fire Fuels Reduction Timber Sales.--The
Secretary shall not substitute forest fires fuels reduction timber
sales conducted for planned non-forest fire fuels reduction timber
sales.
(i) Reforestation of Forest Fire Fuels Reduction Timber Sale
Parcels.--The Secretary shall plan and implement reforestation of each
parcel of land harvested under a forest fire fuels reduction timber
sale conducted as expeditiously as possible after completion of the
harvest on the parcel, but in no case later than any applicable
restocking period required by law or regulation.
(j) Effect on Judicial Decisions.--The Secretary may conduct forest
fire fuels reduction timber sales notwithstanding any decision,
restraining order, or injunction issued by a United States court before
the date of the enactment of this section.
(k) Direction To Complete Timber Sales on Lands.--Notwithstanding
any other law (including a law under the authority of which any
judicial order may be outstanding on or after the date of enactment of
this Act), the Secretary shall expeditiously prepare, offer, and award
timber sale contracts on Federal lands described in the ''Record of
Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management
Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl'',
signed by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture on April 13, 1994. The Secretary may conduct timber sales
under this subsection notwithstanding any decision, restraining order,
or injunction issued by a United States court before the date of the
enactment of this section. The issuance of any regulation pursuant to
section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(d))
to ease or reduce restrictions on non-Federal lands within the range of
the northern spotted owl shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), given the analysis included in the Final
Supplemental Impact Statement on the Management of the Habitat for Late
Succession and Old Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of
the Northern Spotted Owl, prepared by the Secretary of Agriculture and
the Secretary of the Interior in 1994, which is, or may be,
incorporated by reference in the administrative record of any such
regulation. The issuance of any such regulation pursuant to section
4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(d)) shall
not require the preparation of an environmental impact statement under
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)).
(l) Administrative Review.--Forest fire fuels reduction timber
sales and any decision of the Secretary concerned in connection with
such sales, shall not be subject to administrative review.
(m) Judicial Review.--
(1) Place and time of filing.--A forest fire fuels
reduction timber sale to be conducted, and a timber sale shall
be subject to judicial review only in the United States
district court for the district in which the affected Federal
lands are located. Any challenge to such sale must be filed in
such district court within 15 days after the date of initial
advertisement of the challenged sale. The Secretary may not
agree to, and a court may not grant, a waiver of the
requirements of this paragraph.
(2) Effect of filing on agency action.--For 45 days after
the date of the filing of a challenge to a forest fire fuels
reduction timber sale, the Secretary shall take no action to
award the challenged sale.
(3) Prohibition on restraining orders, preliminary in-
junctions, and relief pending review.--No restraining order,
preliminary injunction, or injunction pending appeal shall be
issued by any court of the United States with respect to any
decision to prepare, advertise, offer, award, or operate a
forest fire fuels reduction timber sale or any decision to
prepare, advertise, offer, award, or operate a timber sale
pursuant to this section. Section 705 of title 5, United States
Code, shall not apply to any challenge to such a sale.
(4) Standard of review.--The courts shall have authority to
enjoin permanently, order modification of, or void an
individual forest fire fuels reduction timber sale if it is
determined by a review of the record that the decision to
prepare, advertise, offer, award, or operate such sale was
arbitrary and capricious or otherwise not in accordance with
applicable law (other than those laws specified in subsection (f) or
(p)).
(5) Time for decision.--Civil actions filed under this
subsection shall be assigned for hearing at the earliest
possible date. The court shall render its final decision
relative to any challenge within 45 days from the date such
challenge is brought, unless the court determines that a longer
period of time is required to satisfy the requirement of the
United States Constitution. In order to reach a decision within
45 days, the district court may assign all or part of any such
case or cases to one or more Special Masters, for prompt review
and recommendations to the court.
(6) Procedures.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the court may set rules governing the procedures of any
proceeding brought under this subsection which set page limits
on briefs and time limits on filing briefs and motions and
other actions which are shorter than the limits specified in
the Federal rules of civil or appellate procedure.
(7) Appeal.--Any appeal from the final decision of a
district court in an action brought pursuant to this subsection
shall be filed not later than 30 days after the date of
decision.
(n) Exclusion of Certain Federal Lands.--
(1) Exclusion.--The Secretary may not select, authorize, or
undertake any forest fire fuels reduction timber sale on any
excluded lands described in paragraph (2).
(2) Description of excluded lands.--The lands referred to
in paragraph (1) are as follows:
(A) Any area on Federal lands included in the
National Wilderness Preservation System.
(B) Any roadless area on Federal lands recommended
by the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management for
wilderness designation in its most recent land
management plan in effect as of the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(C) Any area on Federal lands on which timber
harvesting for any purpose is prohibited by statute.
(o) Rule Making.--The Secretary is not required to issue formal
rules under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, to implement
this section or carry out the authorities provided by this section.
(p) Effect on Other Laws.--The documents and procedures required by
this section for the preparation, advertisement, offering, awarding,
and operation of any forest fire fuels reduction timber sale shall be
deemed to satisfy the requirements of the following applicable Federal
laws (and regulations implementing such laws):
(1) The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning
Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.).
(2) The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976(43
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
(3) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
(4) The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.).
(5) The National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C.
472a et seq.).
(6) The Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (16 U.S.C.
528 et seq.).
(7) Any compact, executive agreement, convention, treaty,
and international agreement, and implementing legislation
related thereto.
(q) Threatened or Endangered Species.--No sale unit shall be
released or completed under this subsection if any threatened or
endangered bird species is known to be nesting within the acreage that
is the subject of the sale unit.
(r) Roadless Character.--The actions authorized by this section
shall not affect the determination of any area's wilderness capability,
wilderness suitability, or roadless character.
(s) Reporting.--The Secretary shall report to Congress on the
implementation of this section on or by November 30, 2002 and every 6
months thereafter.
A:
National Forest Fire Fuels Reduction Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to cut additional timber within or outside existing cutting units for National Forest System timber sales and within related analysis areas to reduce insect infestation or fire hazard. Sets forth treatment priority criteria.Directs the Secretary to complete certain Federal land timber sales within the range of the northern spotted owl.Limits judicial review of forest fire fuels reduction timber sales (sales) to the United States district court for the district in which the affected lands are located.Prohibits sales on Federal lands: (1) included in the National Wilderness Preservation System; (2) with roadless areas recommended for wilderness designation; and (3) on which timber sales are prohibited by statute.Prohibits sale release or completion if any threatened or endangered bird species is nesting within acreage of the sale unit.