Compilation of Selected Acts Concerning National Forests and Related Matters

(11) forest landowners are being faced with increased pressure to convert their forest land to development and other pur

poses;

(12) increased population pressures and user demands are being placed on private, as well as public, landholders to provide a wide variety of products and services, including fish and wildlife habitat, aesthetic quality, and recreational opportunities;

(13) stewardship of privately held forest resources requires a long-term commitment that can be fostered through local, State, and Federal governmental actions;

(14) the Department of Agriculture, through the coordinated efforts of its agencies with forestry responsibilities, cooperating with other Federal agencies, State foresters, and State political subdivisions, has the expertise and experience to assist private landowners in achieving individual goals and public benefits regarding forestry;

(15) the products and services resulting from nonindustrial private forest land stewardship provide income and employment that contribute to the economic health and diversity of rural communities; and

(16) sustainable agroforestry systems and tree planting in semiarid lands can improve environmental quality and maintain farm yields and income.

[(18)1 the same forest resource supply, protection, and management issues that exist in the United States are also present on an international scale, and the forest and rangeland renewable resources of the world are threatened by deforestation due to conversion to agriculture of lands better suited to other purposes, over-grazing, over-harvesting, and other causes which pose a direct adverse threat to people, the global enironment, and the world economy.]

(b) PURPOSE.-It is the purpose of this Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture (hereafter in this Act referred to as the "Secretary"), with respect to non-Federal forest lands 2 of the United States, to assist in

(1) the establishment of a coordinated and cooperative Federal, State, and local forest stewardship program for management of the non-Federal forest lands;

(2) the encouragement of the production of timber;

(3) the prevention and control of insects and diseases affecting trees and forests;

1 Section 607(b)(1)(C) of Public Law 101-513 (104 Stat. 2072) amended section 2(a) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 by adding at the end paragraph (18). Public Law 101513, also known as the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1991, was approved on November 5, 1990. On November 28, 1990, section 1212 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (104 Stat. 3521) amended section 2 in its entirety without taking into account the recent amendments made by Public Law 101513. Consequently, paragraph (18) no longer appears in the text of section 2(a).

2 Note regarding subsection (b): Section 607(b)(2) of Public Law 101-513 (104 Stat. 2072, approved November 5, 1990) attempted to amend section 2(b) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 by inserting "in the United States, and forest lands in foreign countries," after "non-Federal forest lands," the first place it appears and in paragraph (10). Two problems prevent execution of the amendment. First, a comma does not appear in the phrase "non-Federal forest lands". Second, even if the comma appeared, section 1212 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (104 Stat. 3521) amended section 2 in its entirety on November 28, 1990, without taking into account the recent amendments made by Public Law 101-513.

(4) the prevention and control of rural fires;

(5) the efficient utilization of wood and wood residues, including the recycling of wood fiber;

(6) the improvement and maintenance of fish and wildlife habitat;

(7) the planning and conduct of urban forestry programs; (8) broadening existing forest management, fire protection, and insect and disease protection programs on non-Federal forest lands to meet the multiple use objectives of landowners in an environmentally sensitive manner;

(9) providing opportunities to private landowners to protect ecologically valuable and threatened non-Federal forest lands; and

(10) strengthening educational, technical, and financial assistance programs that provide assistance to owners of nonFederal forest lands.

(c) POLICY. It is the policy of Congress that it is in the national interest for the Secretary to work through and in cooperation with State foresters, or equivalent State officials, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector in implementing Federal programs affecting non-Federal forest lands.

(d) CONSTRUCTION.--This Act shall be construed to complement the policies and direction under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.). SEC. 3. [16 U.S.C. 2102] RURAL FORESTRY ASSISTANCE.

(a) ASSISTANCE TO FOREST LANDOWNERS AND OTHERS.-The Secretary may provide financial, technical, educational, and related assistance to State foresters or equivalent State officials, and State extension directors, to enable such officials to provide technical information, advice, and related assistance to private forest land owners and managers, vendors, forest resource operators, forest resource professionals, public agencies, and individuals to enable such persons to carry out activities that are consistent with the purposes of this Act, including

(1) protecting, maintaining, enhancing, restoring, and preserving forest lands and the multiple values and uses that depend on such lands;

(2) identifying, protecting, maintaining, enhancing, and preserving wildlife and fish species, including threatened and endangered species, and their habitats;

(3) implementing forest management technologies;

(4) selecting, producing, and marketing alternative forest crops, products and services from forest lands;

(5) protecting forest land from damage caused by fire, insects, disease, and damaging weather;

(6) managing the rural-land and urban-land interface to balance the use of forest resources in and adjacent to urban and community areas;

(7) identifying and managing recreational forest land re

sources;

(8) identifying and protecting the aesthetic character of

(9) protecting forest land from conversion to alternative uses; and

(10) the management of resources of forest lands, including

(A) the harvesting, processing, and marketing of timber and other forest resources and the marketing and utilization of wood and wood products;

(B) the conversion of wood to energy for domestic, industrial, municipal, and other uses;

(C) the planning, management, and treatment of forest land, including site preparation, reforestation, thinning, prescribed burning, and other silvicultural activities designed to increase the quantity and improve the quality of timber and other forest resources;

(D) ensuring that forest regeneration or reforestation occurs if needed to sustain long-term resource productivity; (E) protecting and improving forest soil fertility and the quality, quantity, and timing of water yields; and

(F) encouraging the investment of a portion of the proceeds from the sale of timber or other forest resources in stewardship activities that preserve, protect, maintain, and enhance their forest land.

(b) STATE FORESTRY ASSISTANCE.-The Secretary is authorized to provide financial, technical, and related assistance to State foresters, or equivalent State officials, to

(1) develop genetically improved tree seeds;

(2) develop and contract for the development of field arboretums, greenhouses, and tree nurseries, in cooperation with a State, to facilitate production and distribution of tree seeds and seedlings in States where the Secretary determines that there is an inadequate capacity to carry out present and future reforestation needs;

(3) procure, produce, and distribute tree seeds and trees for the purpose of establishing forests, windbreaks, shelterbelts, woodlots, and other plantings;

(4) plant tree seeds and seedlings on non-Federal forest lands that are suitable for the production of timber, recreation, and for other benefits associated with the growing of trees;

(5) plan, organize, and implement measures on non-Federal forest lands, including thinning, prescribed burning, and other silvicultural activities designed to increase the quantity and improve the quality of trees and other vegetation, fish and wildlife habitat, and water yielded therefrom; and

(6) protect or improve soil fertility on non-Federal forest lands and the quality, quantity, and timing of water yields therefrom.

(c) IMPLEMENTATION.-In implementing this section, the Secretary shall cooperate with other Federal, State, and local natural resource management agencies, universities and the private sector.

(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.-There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.

FORESTRY INCENTIVES

SEC. 4. [16 U.S.C. 2103] (a) The Secretary is authorized to develop and implement a forestry incentives program to encourage the development, management, and protection of nonindustrial private forest lands. The purposes of such program shall be to encourage landowners to apply practices that will provide for afforestation of suitable open lands, reforestation of cutover or other nonstocked or understocked forest lands, timber stand improvement practices, including thinning, prescribed burning, and other silvicultural treatments, and forest resources management and protection, so as to provide for the production of timber and other forest resources associated therewith.

(b) For the purposes of this section, the term "private forest land" means land capable of producing crops of industrial wood and owned by any private individual, group, Indian tribe or other native group, association, corporation, or other legal entity.

(c) Landowners shall be eligible for cost sharing under this program if they own one thousand acres or less of private forest land, except that the Secretary may approve cost sharing with landowners owning more than one thousand acres of such land if significant public benefits will accure. In no case, however, may the Secretary approve cost sharing with landowners owning more than five thousand acres of private forest land.

(d) The Secretary shall administer this section in accordance with regulations the Secretary shall develop in consultation with the committee described in section 13(c) of this Act. Regulations issued under title X of the Agricultural Act of 1970, as in effect before the amendment made by section 336(d)(1) of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, to the extent not inconsistent with the provisions of this section, shall remain in effect until revoked or amended by regulations issued under this subsection. The regulations issued under this subsection shall include guidelines for the administration of this section at the Federal and State levels, and shall identify the measures and activities eligible for cost sharing under this section.

(e) Individual forest management plans developed by the landowner in cooperation with and approved by the State forester or equivalent State official shall be the basis for agreements between the landowners and the Secretary under this section. The Secretary shall encourage participating States to use private agencies, consultants, organizations, and firms to the extent feasible for the preparation of individual forest management plans.

(f) In return for the agreement by the landowner, the Secretary shall agree to share the cost of implementing those forestry practices and measures set forth in the agreement for which the Secretary determines that cost sharing is appropriate. The portion of such cost (including labor) to be shared shall be that portion that the Secretary determines is necessary and appropriate to implement the forestry practices and measures under the agreement, but not more than 75 percent of the actual costs incurred by the landowner. The maximum amount any individual may receive annually