Federal forestry activities and programs historically have been associated with agriculture, and with agriculture legislation. Forestry programs have been addressed in past periodic omnibus farm bills and other agriculture legislation. These include programs to support management of nonfederal forests, forestry research, and management of federal forests. Research and forestry-specific assistance programs for private landowners—in contrast to agriculture conservation programs that include forestry activities—are primarily administered by the Forest Service (FS), an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The FS also administers 193 million acres of the National Forest System. This report provides a brief background on the congressional committee jurisdiction over forestry, with examples of bills addressed by the committees. It then presents information on forestry in the 2014 farm bill, the Agricultural Act of 2014. The report concludes with some forestry issues that were debated and that might be discussed in future legislation. Appendix A contains information on forestry provisions in previous farm bills. Appendix B includes a side-by-side description of the enacted provisions compared to then-current law. Both the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry have jurisdiction over "forestry in general" and acquired national forests. Jurisdiction over national forests established from the public domain lies with the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Past farm bills have included provisions addressing forestry. However, stand-alone forestry legislation has also passed through the agriculture committees. The agriculture committees have exerted considerable influence over federal forestry activities over the years. For example, the Forest and Rangelands Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA) and the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA), which guide Forest Service (FS) planning and management, were both initially referred to the agriculture committees. In addition, the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA) was referred to and reported by the agriculture committees. In addition to issues related to the general management of the national forests, the agriculture committees have jurisdiction over forestry research and forestry assistance to states and to private landowners. These three programs—forest management, forestry research, and forestry assistance—have traditionally been the three principal branches of USDA's Forest Service. Forestry assistance is governed largely by the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (CFAA), which revised and updated the Clarke-McNary Act of 1924. Forestry research is governed largely by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978, which revised and updated the McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928. Both laws were originally referred to and reported by the agriculture committees. For nearly three years, Congress considered an omnibus farm bill—which included a forestry title—to establish the direction of agriculture and food policy for the next several years. Many provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 farm bill) expired in FY2012, but were extended for an additional year in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The 112 th Congress began work on a new farm bill but did not complete action before the conclusion of the Congress, requiring new bills to be introduced in the 113 th Congress. The House ( H.R. 2642 ) and Senate ( S. 954 ) bills passed their respective chambers by the end of September 2013. A conference agreement was reached in late January 2014; it was approved by both chambers within eight days and was signed into law ( P.L. 113-79 ) by the President on February 7, 2014. Title VIII of the enacted 2014 farm bill repeals, creates, modifies, and reauthorizes several forestry programs. Both the House-passed ( H.R. 2642 ) and Senate-passed ( S. 954 ) versions of the 2014 farm bill contained a Forestry title. While many of the provisions were similar across the chambers—for example, both bills proposed to repeal three of the same programs—there were some differences that were resolved in the conference agreement. The various provisions can be sorted into four groups: program repeals, program reauthorizations, provisions affecting national forest management, and miscellaneous forestry provisions. A brief overview of forestry-related provisions in other titles is also presented. The enacted 2014 farm bill repeals several forestry-related programs, generally programs which had not been reauthorized or funded in appropriations for several years. For example, Subtitle A (Section 8001) of the 2014 farm bill repeals the Forest Land Enhancement Program, which was not reauthorized in the 2008 farm bill. The 2014 farm bill also repeals programs to provide forestry scholarships to Hispanic-serving institutions (Section 8004) and a watershed assistance program for tribes (Section 8005). Neither program had ever received appropriations. Both the House and Senate bills proposed to repeal those three programs. The enacted 2014 farm bill also included two H.R. 2642 provisions repealing the Watershed Forestry Assistance Program (Section 8002) and the Cooperative National Forest Products Marketing Program (Section 8003), which were not included in S. 954 . The former never received funding and the latter had received funding through the FS Economic Action program since 1993. The enacted 2014 farm bill reauthorizes several forestry programs through FY2018: Section 8101 reauthorizes $10 million annually, subject to appropriations, to continue the state-wide assessment and strategies for forest resources established in the 2008 farm bill and requires the state to coordinate with military installations when feasible. Section 8201 reauthorizes $5 million annually, subject to appropriations, to continue the Rural Revitalization Technologies Program, under Section 2371(d)(2) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (the 1990 farm bill). Section 8202 reauthorizes the Office of International Forestry, under Section 2405(d) of the Global Climate Change Prevention Act of 1990 (Title XXIV of the 1990 farm bill). Section 8203 eliminates mandatory funding for the Healthy Forest Reserve Program, but authorizes $12 million annually subject to appropriations. The program was authorized to receive $9.75 million of mandatory funding through FY2012 (in the 2008 farm bill). The 2014 farm bill has several provisions that affect the management of the National Forest System, primarily by amending HFRA. These provisions generally authorize expedited planning and project implementation under certain conditions, and reauthorize programs to allow the FS to streamline certain projects, such as timber sale and restoration projects, or projects across neighboring jurisdictions. Several of these provisions were included in both the House and Senate bills. However, the enacted 2014 farm bill adopted the administrative appeals included in H.R. 2642 but not S. 954 . In contrast, the enacted 2014 farm bill adopted S. 954 provisions regarding insect and disease infestation concerns and did not include H.R. 2642 provisions to establish national critical areas within the National Forest System. Some provisions in the farm bill may also apply to federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Department of the Interior (DOI), such as the stewardship contracting and good neighbor authorities. Section 8006 of the 2014 farm bill modifies two administrative appeals requirements for land and resource management planning in the National Forest System. Specifically, the farm bill repeals Section 322 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1993 (also known as the Appeals Reform Act, or ARA). The administrative appeals procedures authorized by ARA has been replaced by a pre-decisional objection process set forth in HFRA and Section 428 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012. However, the 2014 farm bill also prohibits Section 428 from applying to certain projects or activities that are categorically excluded from an environmental assessment or environmental impact assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This means that no administrative review is available for projects conducted under certain NEPA categorical exclusions. The enacted 2014 farm bill permanently reauthorizes the stewardship end-results contracting authority by creating a new Section 604 of HFRA (Section 8205). This authority, which was established in Section 347 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1999, allows the Forest Service—and BLM—to enter into dual service and timber sale contracts or agreements for up to 10 years to achieve certain land management goals. The farm bill also requires the stewardship contracts and agreements to contain the same fire liability provisions used under the current timber sales program. The enacted farm bill also alters FS timber sale contract requirements, particularly when used in stewardship contracts described above. Specifically, Section 8303 authorizes the FS to designate harvest material through description or prescription, rather than physically marking each tree for harvest. In other words, the Forest Service could describe the specific characteristics of trees to be harvested, such as a certain species or size of tree, or could prescribe the desired post-harvest conditions, such as the achievement of a specific basal area factor. Section 8206 permanently reauthorizes the Forest Service's and BLM's Good Neighbor Authority and extends the authority nationwide. Previously, the authority allowed certain state agencies to conduct watershed restoration and protection services projects on neighboring national forest land, although the authority was limited to Colorado and Utah. The enacted 2014 farm bill requires the Forest Service to designate treatment areas in at least one national forest in each state, if requested by the governor of the state, where there are declining forest conditions from insect or disease infestation (Section 8204). Additional areas may be designated as needed. The Secretary of Agriculture may implement priority projects to reduce the risk of or increase the resilience to insect or disease infestations in the designated areas. Section 8204 also establishes a NEPA categorical exclusion for projects involving less than 3,000 acres.