16 U.S.C. § 2104: Forest health protection

enhance the growth and maintenance of trees and forests; promote the stability of forest-related industries and employment associated therewith through the protection of forest resources; aid in forest fire prevention and control; conserve forest cover on watersheds, shelterbelts, and windbreaks; protect outdoor recreation opportunities and other forest resources; and extend timber supplies by protecting wood products, stored wood, and wood in use. conduct surveys to detect and appraise insect infestations and disease conditions and man-made stresses affecting trees and establish a monitoring system throughout the forests of the United States to determine detrimental changes or improvements that occur over time, and report annually concerning such surveys and monitoring; determine the biological, chemical, and mechanical measures necessary to prevent, retard, control, or suppress incipient, potential, threatening, or emergency insect infestations and disease conditions affecting trees; plan, organize, direct, and perform measures the Secretary determines necessary to prevent, retard, control, or suppress incipient, potential, threatening, or emergency insect infestations and disease epidemics affecting trees; provide technical information, advice, and related assistance on the various techniques available to maintain a healthy forest and in managing and coordinating the use of pesticides and other toxic substances applied to trees and other vegetation, and to wood products, stored wood, and wood in use; develop applied technology and conduct pilot tests of research results prior to the full-scale application of such technology in affected forests; promote the implementation of appropriate silvicultural or management techniques that may improve or protect the health of the forests of the United States; and take any other actions the Secretary determines necessary to accomplish the objectives and purposes of this section. Operations under this section to prevent, retard, control, or suppress insects or diseases affecting forests and trees on land not controlled or administered by the Secretary shall not be conducted without the consent, cooperation, and participation of the entity having ownership of or jurisdiction over the affected land. No money appropriated to implement this section shall be expended to prevent, retard, control, or suppress insects or diseases affecting trees on non-Federal land until the entity having ownership of or jurisdiction over the affected land contributes, or agrees to contribute, to the work to be done in the amount and in the manner determined appropriate by the Secretary. The Secretary may, in the Secretary’s discretion, and out of any money appropriated to implement this section, make allocations to Federal agencies having jurisdiction over lands held or owned by the United States in the amounts the Secretary determines necessary to prevent, retard, control, or suppress insect infestations and disease epidemics affecting trees on those lands. pay the cost of felling and removing dead or dying trees unless the Secretary determines that such actions are necessary to prevent the spread of a major insect infestation or disease epidemic severely affecting trees; or compensate for the value of any property injured, damaged, or destroyed by any cause. The Secretary may procure materials and equipment necessary to prevent, retard, control, or suppress insects and diseases affecting trees without regard to section 6101 of title 41 , under whatever procedures the Secretary may prescribe, if the Secretary determines that such action is necessary and in the public interest. The Secretary, by contract or cooperative agreement, may provide financial assistance through the Forest Service to State foresters or equivalent State officials, and private forestry and other organizations, to monitor forest health and protect the forest lands of the United States. The Secretary shall require contribution by the non-Federal entity in the amount and in the manner determined appropriate. Such non-Federal share may be in the form of cash, services, or equipment, as determined appropriate by the Secretary. There are authorized to be appropriated annually such sums as may be necessary to carry out subsections (a) through (g). provide cost-share assistance to such cooperators who have established an acceptable integrated pest management strategy, as determined by the Secretary, that will prevent, retard, control, or suppress gypsy moth, southern pine beetle, spruce budworm infestations, or other major insect infestations in an amount no less than 50 percent nor greater than 75 percent of the cost of implementing such strategy; and upon request, assist the cooperator in the development of such integrated pest management strategy. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated annually $10,000,000 to implement this subsection. For purposes of this section, the term ‘Quincy Library Group-Community Stability Proposal’ means the agreement by a coalition of representatives of fisheries, timber, environmental, county government, citizen groups, and local communities that formed in northern California to develop a resource management program that promotes ecologic and economic health for certain Federal lands and communities in the Sierra Nevada area. Such proposal includes the map entitled ‘QUINCY LIBRARY GROUP Community Stability Proposal’, dated October 12, 1993 , and prepared by VESTRA Resources of Redding, California. The Secretary of Agriculture (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’), acting through the Forest Service and after completion of an environmental impact statement (a record of decision for which shall be adopted within 300 days), shall conduct a pilot project on the Federal lands described in paragraph (2) to implement and demonstrate the effectiveness of the resource management activities described in subsection (d) and the other requirements of this section, as recommended in the Quincy Library Group-Community Stability Proposal. The Secretary shall conduct the pilot project on the Federal lands within Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger District of Tahoe National Forest in the State of California designated as ‘Available for Group Selection’ on the map entitled ‘QUINCY LIBRARY GROUP Community Stability Proposal’, dated October 12, 1993 (in this section referred to as the ‘pilot project area’). Such map shall be on file and available for inspection in the appropriate offices of the Forest Service. All spotted owl habitat areas and protected activity centers located within the pilot project area designated under subsection (b)(2) will be deferred from resource management activities required under subsection (d) and timber harvesting during the term of the pilot project. The Scientific Analysis Team guidelines for riparian system protection described in subparagraph (B) shall apply to all resource management activities conducted under subsection (d) and all timber harvesting activities that occur in the pilot project area during the term of the pilot project. The guidelines referred to in subparagraph (A) are those in the document entitled ‘Viability Assessments and Management Considerations for Species Associated with Late-Successional and Old-Growth Forests of the Pacific Northwest’, a Forest Service research document dated March 1993 and co-authored by the Scientific Analysis Team, including Dr. Jack Ward Thomas. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the application of the Scientific Analysis Team guidelines to any livestock grazing in the pilot project area during the term of the pilot project, unless the livestock grazing is being conducted in the specific location at which the Scientific Analysis Team guidelines are being applied to an activity under subsection (d). All resource management activities required by subsection (d) shall be implemented to the extent consistent with applicable Federal law and the standards and guidelines for the conservation of the California spotted owl as set forth in the California Spotted Owl Sierran Provence Interim Guidelines or the subsequently issued guidelines, whichever are in effect. The Regional Forester for Region 5 shall direct that any resource management activity required by subsection (d)(1) and (2), all road building, all timber harvesting activities, and any riparian management under subsection (d)(4) that utilizes road construction or timber harvesting shall not be conducted on Federal lands within the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest that are designated as either ‘Off Base’ or ‘Deferred’ on the map referred to in subsection (a). Such direction shall be effective during the term of the pilot project. Construction of a strategic system of defensible fuel profile zones, including shaded fuelbreaks, utilizing thinning, individual tree selection, and other methods of vegetation management consistent with the Quincy Library Group-Community Stability Proposal, on not less than 40,000, but not more than 60,000, acres per year. Group selection on an average acreage of .57 percent of the pilot project area land each year of the pilot project. Individual tree selection may also be utilized within the pilot project area. The total acreage on which resource management activities are implemented under this subsection shall not exceed 70,000 acres each year. A program of riparian management, including wide protection zones and riparian restoration projects, consistent with riparian protection guidelines in subsection (c)(2)(B). In conducting the pilot project, Secretary shall use the most cost-effective means available, as determined by the Secretary, to implement resource management activities described in subsection (d). those funds specifically provided to the Forest Service by the Secretary to implement resource management activities according to the Quincy Library Group-Community Stability Proposal; and year-end excess funds that are allocated for the administration and management of Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger District of Tahoe National Forest. The Secretary may not conduct the pilot project using funds appropriated for any other unit of the National Forest System. Subject to normal reprogramming guidelines, during the term of the pilot project, the forest supervisors of Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Tahoe National Forest may allocate and use all accounts that contain year-end excess funds and all available excess funds for the administration and management of Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and the Sierraville Ranger District of Tahoe National Forest to perform the resource management activities described in subsection (d). The Secretary or the forest supervisors, as the case may be, shall not utilize authority provided under paragraphs (1)(B) and (3) if, in their judgment, doing so will limit other nontimber related multiple use activities for which such funds were available. not more than 12 percent is used or allocated for general administration or other overhead; and at least 88 percent is used to implement and carry out activities required by this section. There are authorized to be appropriated to implement and carry out the pilot project such sums as are necessary. Amounts available for resource management activities authorized under subsection (d) shall at a minimum include existing baseline funding levels. The Secretary shall conduct the pilot project until September 30, 2012 . The statement required by subsection (b)(1) shall be prepared in consultation with interested members of the public, including the Quincy Library Group. The Forest Service, subject to the availability of appropriations, may carry out any (or all) of the requirements of this section using private contracts. ] By June 1, 2008 , the Forest Service shall initiate a collaborative process with the Plaintiffs in Sierra Nevada Forest Prot. Campaign v. Rey, Case No. CIV–S–05–0205 MCE/GGH (E.D. Cal.), appeal docketed sub nom. Sierra Forest Legacy v. Rey, No. 07–16892 (9th Cir. Oct. 23, 2007 ) and the Quincy Library Group to determine whether modifications to the Pilot Project are appropriate for the remainder of the Pilot Project. A complete accounting of the use of funds made available under subsection (f)(1)(A) until such funds are fully expended. A complete accounting of the use of funds and accounts made available under subsection (f)(1) for the previous fiscal year, including a schedule of the amounts drawn from each account used to perform resource management activities described in subsection (d). A description of total acres treated for each of the resource management activities required under subsection (d), forest health improvements, fire risk reductions, water yield increases, and other natural resources-related benefits achieved by the implementation of the resource management activities described in subsection (d). A description of the economic benefits to local communities achieved by the implementation of the pilot project. A comparison of the revenues generated by, and costs incurred in, the implementation of the resource management activities described in subsection (d) on the Federal lands included in the pilot project area with the revenues and costs during each of the fiscal years 1992 through 1997 for timber management of such lands before their inclusion in the pilot project. A proposed schedule for the resource management activities to be undertaken in the pilot project area during the 1-year period beginning on the date of submittal of the report. A description of any adverse environmental impacts from the pilot project. The amount of Federal funds expended on each annual report under this subsection shall not exceed $125,000. The Secretary shall establish an independent scientific panel to review and report on whether, and to what extent, implementation of the pilot project under this section achieved the goals stated in the Quincy Library Group-Community Stability Proposal, including improved ecological health and community stability. The membership of the panel shall reflect expertise in diverse disciplines in order to adequately address all of those goals. A description of any adverse environmental impacts resulting from implementation of the pilot project. An assessment of watershed monitoring data on lands treated pursuant to this section. Such assessment shall address the following issues on a priority basis: timing of water releases; water quality changes; and water yield changes over the short- and long-term in the pilot project area. The panel shall submit the final report to the Congress as soon as practicable, but in no case later than 18 months after completion of the pilot project. The amount of Federal funds expended for the report under this subsection, other than for watershed monitoring, shall not exceed $350,000. The amount of Federal funds expended for watershed monitoring under this subsection shall not exceed $175,000 for each fiscal year in which the report is prepared. Nothing in this section exempts the pilot project from any Federal environmental law. Section 106 of Public Law 108–148 [ 16 U.S.C. 6516 ] shall apply to all projects authorized by this Act [probably should be this section]. Sections 104 and 105 of Public Law 108–148 [ 16 U.S.C. 6514 , 6515] may be applied to projects authorized by this Act. Section 401 of this title may be cited as the ‘Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act’.”