I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2989
To improve the health and resiliency of giant sequoias, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL28, 2023
Mr. M
CCARTHY(for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. COSTA, Mr.
V
ALADAO, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr.
K
ILEY, Mr. HARDERof California, Mr. OBERNOLTE, Mr. BERA, Mrs.
K
IMof California, Mr. THOMPSONof California, Mr. ISSA, Mr. VARGAS,
Mrs. S
TEEL, Mr. CORREA, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. LAMALFA,
Mr. M
ULLIN, Mr. MIKEGARCIAof California, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr.
D
UARTE, Mr. BISHOPof Georgia, Mr. THOMPSONof Pennsylvania, Mrs.
L
EEof Nevada, Mrs. RODGERSof Washington, Mr. GOLDENof Maine,
Mr. G
RAVESof Louisiana, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. TIFFANY, Ms. KUSTER, Mr.
C
URTIS, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Ms. ROSS, Mr. STAUBER, Mr.
M
OULTON, Mr. BENTZ, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. FULCHER, Mrs. TORRESof
California, Mr. L
AMBORN, Mrs. PELTOLA, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mr.
G
UTHRIE, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. RUTHERFORD, and Mr. MOOREof Utah)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To improve the health and resiliency of giant sequoias, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2
‘‘Save Our Sequoias Act’’. 3
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.— 4
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Shared stewardship agreement for giant sequoias.
Sec. 4. Giant sequoia lands coalition.
Sec. 5. Giant sequoia health and resiliency assessment.
Sec. 6. Giant sequoia emergency response.
Sec. 7. Giant sequoia reforestation and rehabilitation strategy.
Sec. 8. Giant sequoia strike teams.
Sec. 9. Giant sequoia collaborative restoration grants.
Sec. 10. Good neighbor authority for giant sequoias.
Sec. 11. Stewardship contracting for giant sequoias.
Sec. 12. Giant sequoia emergency protection program and fund.
Sec. 13. Authorization of appropriations.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
5
In this Act: 6
(1) A
SSESSMENT.—The term ‘‘Assessment’’ 7
means the Giant Sequoia Health and Resiliency As-8
sessment required by section 5. 9
(2) C
OALITION.—The term ‘‘Coalition’’ means 10
the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition certified under 11
section 4. 12
(3) C
OLLABORATIVE PROCESS .—The term ‘‘col-13
laborative process’’ means a process relating to the 14
management of National Forest System lands or 15
public lands by which a project or forest manage-16
ment activity is developed and implemented by the 17
Secretary concerned through collaboration with mul-18
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tiple interested persons representing diverse inter-1
ests. 2
(4) C
OVERED NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM 3
LANDS.—The term ‘‘covered National Forest System 4
lands’’ means the proclaimed National Forest Sys-5
tem lands reserved or withdrawn from the public do-6
main of the United States covering the Sequoia Na-7
tional Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monu-8
ment, Sierra National Forest, and Tahoe National 9
Forest. 10
(5) G
IANT SEQUOIA.—The term ‘‘giant se-11
quoia’’ means a tree of the species Sequoiadendron 12
giganteum. 13
(6) G
ROVE-SPECIFIC HAZARDOUS FUELS RE -14
DUCTION PLAN.—The term ‘‘grove-specific haz-15
ardous fuels reduction plan’’ means a plan developed 16
by the applicable land management agency prior to 17
conducting an analysis under the National Environ-18
mental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to ad-19
dress hazardous fuels in 1 or more giant sequoia 20
groves. 21
(7) P
ROTECTION PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Protec-22
tion Project’’ means a Giant Sequoia Protection 23
Project carried out under section 6. 24
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(8) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 1
means— 2
(A) the Case Mountain Extensive Recre-3
ation Management Area in California managed 4
by the Bureau of Land Management; and 5
(B) Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia 6
National Park, and Yosemite National Park in 7
California managed by the National Park Serv-8
ice. 9
(9) R
EFORESTATION.—The term ‘‘reforest-10
ation’’ means the act of renewing tree cover by es-11
tablishing young trees through natural regeneration, 12
artificial or natural regeneration with site prepara-13
tion, planting or direct seeding, or vegetation com-14
petition control following artificial or natural regen-15
eration. 16
(10) R
EHABILITATION.—The term ‘‘rehabilita-17
tion’’ means any action taken during the 5-year pe-18
riod beginning on the last day of a wildland fire to 19
repair or improve fire-impacted lands which are un-20
likely to recover to management-approved conditions. 21
(11) R
ELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -22
TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant Congressional Commit-23
tees’’ means— 24
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(A) the Committees on Natural Resources, 1
Agriculture, and Appropriations of the House of 2
Representatives; and 3
(B) the Committees on Energy and Nat-4
ural Resources, Agriculture, Nutrition, and 5
Forestry, and Appropriations of the Senate. 6
(12) R
ESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘re-7
sponsible official’’ means an employee of the Depart-8
ment of the Interior or Forest Service who has the 9
authority to make and implement a decision on a 10
proposed action. 11
(13) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 12
means the Secretary of the Interior. 13
(14) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 14
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 15
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-16
spect to covered National Forest System lands, 17
or their designee; and 18
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-19
spect to public lands, or their designee. 20
(15) S
TRATEGY.—The term ‘‘Strategy’’ means 21
the Giant Sequoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation 22
Strategy established under section 7. 23
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(16) STRIKE TEAM.—The term ‘‘Strike Team’’ 1
means a Giant Sequoia Strike Team established 2
under section 8. 3
(17) T
RIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the 4
Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reserva-5
tion, California. 6
SEC. 3. SHARED STEWARDSHIP AGREEMENT FOR GIANT SE-7
QUOIAS. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after re-9
ceiving a request from the Governor of the State of Cali-10
fornia or the Tribe, the Secretary shall enter into an 11
agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Governor 12
of the State of California, and the Tribe to jointly carry 13
out the following: 14
(1) Not later than 30 days after entering into 15
the agreement, certify the Giant Sequoia Lands Coa-16
lition in accordance with section 4(a). 17
(2) Not later than 30 days after entering into 18
the agreement, conduct Protection Projects under 19
section 6. 20
(3) Not later than 120 days after entering into 21
the agreement, begin implementing the Giant Se-22
quoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation Strategy 23
under section 7. 24
(b) P
ARTICIPATION.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary has not re-1
ceived a request from the Governor of the State of 2
California or the Tribe under subsection (a) before 3
the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment 4
of this Act, the Secretary shall enter into the agree-5
ment under subsection (a) and jointly implement 6
such agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture. 7
(2) F
UTURE PARTICIPATION.—If the Secretary 8
receives a request from the Governor of the State of 9
California or the Tribe any time after entering into 10
the agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture 11
under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall accept the 12
Governor of the State of California or the Tribe as 13
a party to such agreement. 14
SEC. 4. GIANT SEQUOIA LANDS COALITION. 15
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, in consulta-16
tion with the parties to such agreement, shall certify the 17
Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition in accordance with the 18
charter titled ‘‘Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition Charter’’ 19
(or successor charter) signed during the period beginning 20
June 2, 2022 and ending August 2, 2022 by each of the 21
following: 22
(1) The National Park Service, representing Se-23
quoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. 24
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(2) The National Park Service, representing 1
Yosemite National Park. 2
(3) The Forest Service, representing Sequoia 3
National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monu-4
ment. 5
(4) The Forest Service, representing Sierra Na-6
tional Forest. 7
(5) The Forest Service, representing Tahoe Na-8
tional Forest. 9
(6) The Bureau of Land Management, rep-10
resenting Case Mountain Extensive Recreation Man-11
agement Area. 12
(7) The Tribe, representing the Tule River In-13
dian Reservation. 14
(8) The State of California, representing 15
Calaveras Big Trees State Park. 16
(9) The State of California, representing Moun-17
tain Home Demonstration State Forest. 18
(10) The University of California, Berkeley, 19
representing Whitaker’s Research Forest. 20
(11) The County of Tulare, California, rep-21
resenting Balch Park. 22
(b) D
UTIES.—In addition to the duties specified in 23
the charter referenced in subsection (a), the Coalition 24
shall— 25
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(1) carry out the Assessment under section 5; 1
(2) observe implementation, and provide policy 2
recommendations to the Secretary, with respect to— 3
(A) Protection Projects carried out under 4
section 6; and 5
(B) the Strategy established under section 6
7; 7
(3) facilitate collaboration and coordination on 8
Protection Projects, particularly projects that cross 9
jurisdictional boundaries; 10
(4) facilitate information sharing, including best 11
available science as described in section 5(c) and 12
mapping resources; and 13
(5) support the development and dissemination 14
of educational materials and programs that inform 15
the public about the threats to the health and resil-16
iency of giant sequoia groves and actions being 17
taken to reduce the risk to such groves from high- 18
severity wildfire, insects, and drought. 19
(c) A
DMINISTRATIVESUPPORT, TECHNICALSERV-20
ICES, ANDSTAFFSUPPORT.—The Secretary shall make 21
personnel of the Department of the Interior available to 22
the Coalition for administrative support, technical serv-23
ices, development and dissemination of educational mate-24
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rials, and staff support that the Secretary determines nec-1
essary to carry out this section. 2
SEC. 5. GIANT SEQUOIA HEALTH AND RESILIENCY ASSESS-3
MENT. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 5
first meeting of the Coalition, the Coalition shall submit 6
to the relevant Congressional Committees a Giant Sequoia 7
Health and Resiliency Assessment that, based on the best 8
available science— 9
(1) identifies— 10
(A) each giant sequoia grove that has ex-11
perienced a— 12
(i) stand-replacing disturbance; or 13
(ii) disturbance but continues to have 14
living giant sequoias within the grove, in-15
cluding identifying the tree mortality and 16
regeneration of giant sequoias within such 17
grove; 18
(B) each giant sequoia grove that is at 19
high risk of experiencing a stand-replacing dis-20
turbance; 21
(C) lands located near giant sequoia groves 22
that are at risk of experiencing high-severity 23
wildfires that could adversely impact such giant 24
sequoia groves; and 25
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(D) each giant sequoia grove that has ex-1
perienced a disturbance and is unlikely to natu-2
rally regenerate and is in need of reforestation; 3
(2) analyzes the resiliency of each giant sequoia 4
grove to threats, such as— 5
(A) high-severity wildfire; 6
(B) insects, including beetle kill; and 7
(C) drought; 8
(3) with respect to Protection Projects, pro-9
poses a list of highest priority Protection Projects to 10
be carried out under section 6, giving priority to 11
projects located on lands identified under subpara-12
graphs (B) and (C) of subsection (a)(1); 13
(4) examines how historical, Tribal, or current 14
approaches to wildland fire suppression and forest 15
management activities across various jurisdictions 16
have impacted the health and resiliency of giant se-17
quoia groves with respect to— 18
(A) high-severity wildfires; 19
(B) insects, including beetle kill; and 20
(C) drought; and 21
(5) includes program and policy recommenda-22
tions that address— 23
(A) Federal and State policies that impede 24
activities to improve the health and resiliency of 25
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giant sequoias and proposed policy changes to 1
address such impediments; 2
(B) new Federal and State policies nec-3
essary to increase the pace and scale of treat-4
ments that improve the health and resiliency of 5
giant sequoias; 6
(C) options to enhance communication, co-7
ordination, and collaboration, particularly for 8
cross-boundary projects, to improve the health 9
and resiliency of giant sequoias; and 10
(D) research gaps that should be ad-11
dressed to improve the best available science on 12
the giant sequoias. 13
(b) A
NNUALUPDATES.—Not later than 1 year after 14
the submission of the Assessment under subsection (a), 15
and annually thereafter, the Coalition shall submit an up-16
dated Assessment to the relevant Congressional Commit-17
tees that— 18
(1) includes any new data, information, or best 19
available science that has changed or become avail-20
able since the previous Assessment was submitted; 21
(2) with respect to Protection Projects— 22
(A) includes information on the number of 23
Protection Projects initiated the previous year 24
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and the estimated timeline for completing those 1
projects; 2
(B) includes information on the number of 3
Protection Projects planned in the upcoming 4
year and the estimated timeline for completing 5
those projects; 6
(C) provides status updates and long-term 7
monitoring reports on giant sequoia groves 8
after the completion of Protection Projects; 9
(D) if the Secretary concerned failed to 10
initiate at least 7 Protection Projects in the 11
previous year, a written explanation that in-12
cludes— 13
(i) a detailed explanation of what im-14
pediments resulted in failing to initiate at 15
least 7 Protection Projects; 16
(ii) a detailed explanation of what ac-17
tions the Secretary concerned is taking to 18
ensure that at least 7 Protection Projects 19
are initiated the following year; and 20
(iii) recommendations to Congress on 21
any policies that need to be changed to as-22
sist the Secretary concerned in initiating 23
Protection Projects; and 24
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(3) with respect to reforestation and rehabilita-1
tion of giant sequoias— 2
(A) contains updates on the implementa-3
tion of the Strategy under section 7, including 4
grove-level data on reforestation and rehabilita-5
tion activities; and 6
(B) provides status updates and moni-7
toring reports on giant sequoia groves that have 8
experienced natural or artificial regeneration as 9
part of the Strategy under section 7. 10
(c) D
ASHBOARD.— 11
(1) R
EQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN .—The Coali-12
tion shall create and maintain a website that— 13
(A) publishes the Assessment, annual up-14
dates to the Assessment, and other educational 15
materials developed by the Coalition; 16
(B) contains searchable information about 17
individual giant sequoia groves, including the— 18
(i) resiliency of such groves to threats 19
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 20
subsection (a); 21
(ii) Protection Projects that have been 22
proposed, initiated, or completed in such 23
groves; and 24
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(iii) reforestation and rehabilitation 1
activities that have been proposed, initi-2
ated, or completed in such groves; and 3
(C) maintains a searchable database to 4
track— 5
(i) the status of Federal environ-6
mental reviews and authorizations for spe-7
cific Protection Projects and reforestation 8
and rehabilitation activities; and 9
(ii) the projected cost of Protection 10
Projects and reforestation and rehabilita-11
tion activities. 12
(2) S
EARCHABLE DATABASE .—The Coalition 13
shall include information on the status of Protection 14
Projects in the searchable database created under 15
paragraph (1)(C), including— 16
(A) a comprehensive permitting timetable; 17
(B) the status of the compliance of each 18
lead agency, cooperating agency, and partici-19
pating agency with the permitting timetable; 20
(C) any modifications of the permitting 21
timetable required under subparagraph (A), in-22
cluding an explanation as to why the permitting 23
timetable was modified; and 24
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(D) information about project-related pub-1
lic meetings, public hearings, and public com-2
ment periods, which shall be presented in 3
English and the predominant language of the 4
community or communities most affected by the 5
project, as that information becomes available. 6
(d) B
ESTAVAILABLESCIENCE.—In utilizing the best 7
available science for the Assessment, the Coalition shall 8
include— 9
(1) data and peer-reviewed research from aca-10
demic institutions with a demonstrated history of 11
studying giant sequoias and with experience ana-12
lyzing distinct management strategies to improve 13
giant sequoia resiliency; 14
(2) traditional ecological knowledge from the 15
Tribe related to improving the health and resiliency 16
of giant sequoia groves; and 17
(3) data from Federal, State, Tribal, and local 18
governments or agencies. 19
(e) T
ECHNOLOGYIMPROVEMENTS.—In carrying out 20
this section, the Secretary may enter into memorandums 21
of understanding or agreements with other Federal agen-22
cies or departments, State or local governments, Tribal 23
governments, private entities, or academic institutions to 24
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improve, with respect to the Assessment, the use and inte-1
gration of— 2
(1) advanced remote sensing and geospatial 3
technologies; 4
(2) statistical modeling and analysis; or 5
(3) any other technology the Secretary deter-6
mines will benefit the quality of information used in 7
the Assessment. 8
(f) P
LANNING.—The Coalition shall make informa-9
tion from this Assessment available to the Secretary con-10
cerned and State of California to integrate into the— 11
(1) State of California’s Wildfire and Forest 12
Resilience Action Plan; 13
(2) Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis 14
Strategy (or successor plan); and 15
(3) Department of the Interior’s Wildfire Risk 16
Five-Year Monitoring, Maintenance, and Treatment 17
Plan (or successor plan). 18
(g) R
ELATION TO THE NATIONALENVIRONMENTAL 19
P
OLICYACT OF1969.—The development and submission 20
of the Assessment under subsection (a) shall not be sub-21
ject to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 22
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 23
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SEC. 6. GIANT SEQUOIA EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 1
(a) E
MERGENCYRESPONSETOPROTECTGIANTSE-2
QUOIAS.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 4
(A) E
MERGENCY DETERMINATION .—Con-5
gress determines that— 6
(i) an emergency exists on public 7
lands and covered National Forest System 8
lands that makes it necessary to carry out 9
Protection Projects that take needed ac-10
tions to respond to the threat of wildfires, 11
insects, and drought to giant sequoias; and 12
(ii) Protection Projects are necessary 13
to control the immediate impacts of the 14
emergency described in clause (i) and are 15
needed to mitigate harm to life, property, 16
or important natural or cultural resources 17
on public lands and covered National For-18
est System lands. 19
(B) A
PPLICATION.—The emergency deter-20
mination established under subparagraph (A) 21
shall apply to all public lands and covered Na-22
tional Forest System lands. 23
(C) E
XPIRATION.—The emergency deter-24
mination established under subparagraph (A) 25
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shall expire on the date that is 7 years after the 1
date of the enactment of this Act. 2
(2) I
MPLEMENTATION.—While the emergency 3
determination established under subsection (a) is in 4
effect— 5
(A) a responsible official may carry out a 6
Protection Project described by paragraph (4) 7
before initiating— 8
(i) an analysis under section 102 of 9
the National Environmental Policy Act of 10
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332); 11
(ii) consultation under section 7 of the 12
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 13
U.S.C. 1536); and 14
(iii) consultation under section 106 of 15
the National Historic Preservation Act (16 16
U.S.C. 470(f)); and 17
(B) the rules established under subsections 18
(d) and (e) section 40807 of the Infrastructure 19
Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592c(d) 20
and (e)) shall apply with respect to Protection 21
Projects by substituting ‘‘Protection Projects’’ 22
for ‘‘authorized emergency action under this 23
section’’ each place it appears in such sub-24
sections; and 25
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(C) Protection Projects shall be subject to 1
the requirements of section 106 of title I of the 2
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 3
U.S.C. 6511 et seq.). 4
(3) P
ROTECTION PROJECTS .—The responsible 5
official shall carry out the following forest manage-6
ment activities as Protection Projects under the 7
emergency determination under this section: 8
(A) Activities recommended by the Assess-9
ment under section 5. 10
(B) Conducting hazardous fuels manage-11
ment, including mechanical thinning, mastica-12
tion, and prescribed burning. 13
(C) Removing hazard trees, dead trees, 14
dying trees, or trees at risk of dying, as deter-15
mined by the responsible official. 16
(D) Removing trees to address over-17
stocking or crowding in a forest stand, con-18
sistent with the appropriate basal area of the 19
forest stand as determined by the responsible 20
official. 21
(E) Activities included in the applicable 22
grove-specific hazardous fuels reduction plan. 23
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(F) Using chemical treatments to address 1
insects and disease and control vegetation com-2
petition. 3
(G) Any combination of activities described 4
in this paragraph. 5
(4) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Protection Projects 7
carried out under paragraph (3) and reforest-8
ation and rehabilitation activities carried out 9
under this Act that are described by subpara-10
graph (D) are a category of actions hereby des-11
ignated as being categorically excluded from the 12
preparation of an environmental assessment or 13
an environmental impact statement under sec-14
tion 102 of the National Environmental Policy 15
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 16
(B) A
VAILABILITY.—The Secretary con-17
cerned shall use the categorical exclusion estab-18
lished under subparagraph (A) in accordance 19
with this section. 20
(C) I
NTERAGENCY COOPERATION .— 21
(i) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds that 22
Protection Projects carried out under this 23
section are consistent with improving the 24
health and resiliency of critical habitat for 25
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threatened and endangered species, includ-1
ing the pacific fisher and California spot-2
ted owl. 3
(ii) C
ONSULTATION.—The informal 4
consultation requirements in sections 5
402.05 of title 50 and 800.12 of title 36, 6
Code of Federal Regulations (or a suc-7
cessor regulation), shall apply to Protec-8
tion Projects. 9
(D) R
EQUIREMENTS.—A Protection 10
Project or reforestation or rehabilitation activity 11
is described by this subparagraph if such Pro-12
tection Project or reforestation or rehabilitation 13
activity— 14
(i) covers an area of no more than— 15
(I) 2,000 acres within giant se-16
quoia groves where a grove-specific 17
hazardous fuels reduction plan has 18
been developed by the relevant land 19
management agency or on lands iden-20
tified under section 5(a)(1)(B); and 21
(II) 3,000 acres on lands identi-22
fied under section 5(a)(1)(C); and 23
(ii) was— 24
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(I) proposed by the Assessment 1
under section 5(a)(3); 2
(II) developed through a collabo-3
rative process; or 4
(III) proposed by a resource advi-5
sory committee (as defined in section 6
201 of the Secure Rural Schools and 7
Community Self-Determination Act of 8
2000 (16 U.S.C. 7121)); and 9
(iii) occurs on Federal land or non- 10
Federal land with the consent of the non- 11
Federal landowner. 12
(E) U
SE OF OTHER AUTHORITIES .—To the 13
maximum extent practicable, the Secretary con-14
cerned shall use the authorities provided under 15
this section in combination with other authori-16
ties to carry out Protection Projects, includ-17
ing— 18
(i) good neighbor agreements entered 19
into under section 8206 of the Agricultural 20
Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); and 21
(ii) stewardship contracting projects 22
entered into under section 604 of the 23
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 24
(16 U.S.C. 6591c). 25
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(F) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—With respect to 1
joint Protection Projects and reforestation and 2
rehabilitation activities involving the Tribe, 3
nothing in this section shall be construed to add 4
any additional regulatory requirements onto the 5
Tribe. 6
(b) I
MPLEMENTATION.—To the maximum extent 7
practicable, the Secretary concerned shall initiate no fewer 8
than 7 Protection Projects each year. 9
SEC. 7. GIANT SEQUOIA REFORESTATION AND REHABILITA-10
TION STRATEGY. 11
(a) R
EFORESTATION AND REHABILITATIONSTRAT-12
EGY.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In accordance with the 14
timeline and agreement established in section 15
3(a)(3), the Secretary, in consultation with the par-16
ties to such agreement, shall develop and implement 17
a strategy, to be known as the Giant Sequoia Refor-18
estation and Rehabilitation Strategy, to enhance the 19
reforestation and rehabilitation of giant sequoia 20
groves that— 21
(A) identifies giant sequoia groves in need 22
of natural or artificial regeneration, giving 23
highest priority to groves identified under sec-24
tion 5(a)(1)(A)(i); 25
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(B) creates a priority list of reforestation 1
and rehabilitation activities; 2
(C) identifies and addresses— 3
(i) barriers to reforestation or reha-4
bilitation including— 5
(I) regulatory barriers; 6
(II) seedling shortages or related 7
nursery infrastructure capacity con-8
straints; 9
(III) labor and workforce short-10
ages; 11
(IV) technology and science gaps; 12
and 13
(V) site preparation challenges; 14
(ii) potential public-private partner-15
ship opportunities to complete high-priority 16
reforestation or rehabilitation projects; 17
(iii) a timeline for addressing the 18
backlog of reforestation for giant sequoias 19
in the 10-year period after the agreement 20
is entered into under section 3; and 21
(iv) strategies to ensure genetic diver-22
sity across giant sequoia groves; and 23
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(D) includes program and policy rec-1
ommendations needed to improve the efficiency 2
or effectiveness of the Strategy. 3
(2) A
SSESSMENT.—The Secretary may incor-4
porate the Strategy into the Assessment under sec-5
tion 5. 6
(b) P
RIORITYREFORESTATION PROJECTSAMEND-7
MENT.—Section 3(e)(4)(C)(ii)(I) of the Forest and 8
Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 9
(16 U.S.C. 1601(e)(4)(C)(ii)(I)) is amended— 10
(1) in item (bb), by striking ‘‘and’’; 11
(2) in item (cc), by striking the period and in-12
serting ‘‘; and’’; and 13
(3) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(dd) shall include reforestation and rehabilitation 15
activities conducted under section 7 of the Save Our Se-16
quoias Act.’’. 17
(c) I
MPLEMENTATION.—Section 4(d)(1) of the Wil-18
derness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)) is amended by inserting 19
‘‘Nothing in this Act shall restrict or prohibit the Sec-20
retary of the Interior or Secretary of Agriculture from 21
conducting reforestation (as such term is defined in sec-22
tion 2 of the Save Our Sequoias Act) activities to reestab-23
lish giant sequoias following a wildfire.’’ after the period 24
at the end. 25
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SEC. 8. GIANT SEQUOIA STRIKE TEAMS. 1
(a) G
IANTSEQUOIASTRIKETEAMS.— 2
(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary con-3
cerned shall each establish a Giant Sequoia Strike 4
Team to assist the Secretary concerned with the im-5
plementation of— 6
(A) primarily, section 6; and 7
(B) secondarily, section 7. 8
(2) D
UTIES.—Each Strike Team shall— 9
(A) assist the Secretary concerned with 10
any reviews, including analysis under the Na-11
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 12
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), consultations under the 13
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 14
U.S.C. 470 et seq.), and consultations under 15
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 16
1531 et seq.); 17
(B) implement any necessary site prepara-18
tion work in advance of or as part of a Protec-19
tion Project or reforestation or rehabilitation 20
activity; 21
(C) implement Protection Projects under 22
section 6; and 23
(D) implement reforestation or rehabilita-24
tion activities under section 7. 25
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(3) MEMBERS.—The Secretary concerned may 1
appoint no more than 10 individuals each to serve 2
on a Strike Team comprised of— 3
(A) employees of the Department of the 4
Interior; 5
(B) employees of the Forest Service; 6
(C) private contractors from any nonprofit 7
organization, State government, Tribal Govern-8
ment, local government, academic institution, or 9
private organization; and 10
(D) volunteers from any nonprofit organi-11
zation, State government, Tribal Government, 12
local government, academic institution, or pri-13
vate organization. 14
SEC. 9. GIANT SEQUOIA COLLABORATIVE RESTORATION 15
GRANTS. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 17
with the parties to the agreement under section 3, shall 18
establish a program to award grants to eligible entities 19
to advance, facilitate, or improve giant sequoia health and 20
resiliency. 21
(b) E
LIGIBLEENTITY.—The Secretary may award 22
grants under this section to any nonprofit organization, 23
Tribal Government, local government, academic institu-24
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tion, or private organization to help advance, facilitate, or 1
improve giant sequoia health and resiliency. 2
(c) P
RIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-3
tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 4
that— 5
(1) primarily, are likely to have the greatest im-6
pact on giant sequoia health and resiliency; and 7
(2) secondarily— 8
(A) are small businesses, particularly in 9
rural areas; and 10
(B) create or support jobs, particularly in 11
rural areas. 12
(d) U
SE OFGRANTFUNDS.—Funds from grants 13
awarded under this section shall be used to— 14
(1) create, expand, or develop markets for haz-15
ardous fuels removed under section 6, including 16
markets for biomass and biochar; 17
(2) facilitate hazardous fuel removal under sec-18
tion 6, including by reducing the cost of trans-19
porting hazardous fuels removed as part of a Protec-20
tion Project; 21
(3) expand, enhance, develop, or create perma-22
nent or temporary facilities or land that can store or 23
process hazardous fuels removed under section 6; 24
and 25
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(4) establish, develop, expand, enhance, or im-1
prove nursery capacity or infrastructure necessary to 2
facilitate the Strategy established under section 7. 3
SEC. 10. GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY FOR GIANT SE-4
QUOIAS. 5
Section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 6
U.S.C. 2113a) is amended— 7
(1) in subsection (a)— 8
(A) in paragraph (4)(A)— 9
(i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 10
the end; 11
(ii) by redesignating clause (iii) as 12
clause (iv); 13
(iii) by inserting after clause (ii) the 14
following: 15
‘‘(iii) activities conducted under sec-16
tion 6 of the Save Our Sequoias Act;’’; 17
(iv) in clause (iv), as so redesignated, 18
by striking the period at the end and in-19
serting ‘‘; or’’; and 20
(v) by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘(v) any combination of activities 22
specified in clauses (i) through (iv).’’; 23
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘or In-24
dian tribe’’; and 25
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(C) in paragraph (10)(B) by striking 1
‘‘land.’’ and inserting ‘‘land, Kings Canyon Na-2
tional Park, Sequoia National Park, and Yo-3
semite National Park.’’; and 4
(2) in subsection (b)— 5
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 6
Indian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; 7
(B) by amending paragraph (2)(C) to read 8
as follows: 9
‘‘(C) T
REATMENT OF REVENUE .—Funds 10
received from the sale of timber by a Governor, 11
an Indian tribe, or a county under a good 12
neighbor agreement shall be retained and used 13
by the Governor, Indian tribe, or county, as ap-14
plicable— 15
‘‘(i) to carry out authorized restora-16
tion services under such good neighbor 17
agreement; and 18
‘‘(ii) if there are funds remaining 19
after carrying out the services under clause 20
(i), to carry out authorized restoration 21
services within the State under other good 22
neighbor agreements.’’; 23
(C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, In-24
dian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 25
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(D) by striking paragraph (4). 1
(3) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 2
8206(a) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 3
2113a(a)) is amended— 4
(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, 5
Indian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 6
(B) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, In-7
dian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’. 8
SEC. 11. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTING FOR GIANT SE-9
QUOIAS. 10
(a) N
ATIONALPARKSERVICE.—Section 604(a)(2) of 11
the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 12
6591c(c)) is amended to read— 13
‘‘(2) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 14
the Director of the Bureau of Land Management 15
with respect to Bureau of Land Management lands 16
and the Director of the National Park Service with 17
respect to lands within Kings Canyon National 18
Park, Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite Na-19
tional Park.’’. 20
(b) G
IANTSEQUOIASTEWARDSHIPCONTRACTS.— 21
Section 604(c) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 22
2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c(c)) is amended by adding at the 23
end the following: 24
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‘‘(8) Promoting the health and resiliency of 1
giant sequoias.’’. 2
SEC. 12. GIANT SEQUOIA EMERGENCY PROTECTION PRO-3
GRAM AND FUND. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 1011 of title 54, United 5
States Code, is amended by inserting at the end the fol-6
lowing: 7
‘‘§ 101123. Giant sequoia emergency protection pro-8
gram and fund 9
‘‘(a) G
IANTSEQUOIAEMERGENCY PROTECTION 10
P
ROGRAM.—The National Park Foundation, in coordina-11
tion with the National Forest Foundation, shall design 12
and implement a comprehensive program to assist and 13
promote philanthropic programs of support that benefit— 14
‘‘(1) primarily, the management and conserva-15
tion of giant sequoias on National Park Service and 16
covered National Forest System lands to promote re-17
siliency to wildfires, insects, and drought; and 18
‘‘(2) secondarily, the reforestation of giant se-19
quoias on National Park Service and covered Na-20
tional Forest System lands impacted by wildfire. 21
‘‘(b) G
IANTSEQUOIAEMERGENCY PROTECTION 22
F
UND.—The National Park Foundation, in coordination 23
with the National Forest Foundation, shall establish a 24
joint special account to be known as the Giant Sequoia 25
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Emergency Protection Fund (referred to as ‘the Fund’ in 1
this section), to be administered in support of the program 2
established under subsection (a). 3
‘‘(1) F
UNDS FOR GIANT SEQUOIA EMERGENCY 4
PROTECTION.—The following shall apply to the 5
Fund: 6
‘‘(A) The Fund shall consist of any gifts, 7
devises, or bequests that are provided to the 8
National Park Foundation or National Forest 9
Foundation for such purpose. 10
‘‘(B) The National Park Foundation and 11
National Forest Foundation shall deposit any 12
funds received for the Fund in a federally in-13
sured interest-bearing account or may invest 14
funds in appropriate security obligations, as 15
mutually agreed upon. 16
‘‘(C) Any accrued interest or dividends 17
earned on funds received for the Fund shall be 18
added to the principal and form a part of the 19
Fund. 20
‘‘(2) U
SE OF FUNDS.—Funds shall be available 21
to the National Park Foundation and National For-22
est Foundation without further appropriation, sub-23
ject to the provisions in paragraph (3), for projects 24
and activities approved by the Chief of the Forest 25
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Service or the Director of the National Park Service 1
as appropriate, or their designees, to— 2
‘‘(A) primarily, support the management 3
and conservation of giant sequoias on National 4
Park Service and covered National Forest Sys-5
tem lands to promote resiliency to wildfires, in-6
sects, and drought; and 7
‘‘(B) secondarily, support the reforestation 8
of giant sequoias on National Park Service and 9
covered National Forest System lands impacted 10
by wildfire. 11
‘‘(3) T
RIBAL SUPPORT.—Of the funds provided 12
to the National Park Foundation and National For-13
est Foundation under paragraph (2), not less than 14
15 percent of such funds shall be used to support 15
tribal management and conservation of giant se-16
quoias. 17
‘‘(c) S
UMMARY.—Beginning 1 year after the date of 18
the enactment of this Act, the National Park Foundation 19
and National Forest Foundation shall include with their 20
annual reports a summary of the status of the program 21
and Fund created under this section that includes— 22
‘‘(1) a statement of the amounts deposited in 23
the Fund during the fiscal year; 24
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‘‘(2) the amount of the balance remaining in 1
the Fund at the end of the fiscal year; and 2
‘‘(3) a description of the program and projects 3
funded during the fiscal year. 4
‘‘(d) C
OVEREDNATIONALFORESTSYSTEMLANDS 5
D
EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘covered National 6
Forest System lands’ has the meaning given such term 7
in section 2 of the Save Our Sequoias Act.’’. 8
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The table of sec-9
tions for chapter of title 54, United States Code, is amend-10
ed by inserting at the end the following: 11
‘‘Sec. 101123. Giant Sequoia Emergency Protection Program and Fund.’’.
SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-13
propriations made in advance for such purposes, the Sec-14
retary concerned shall allocate up to— 15
(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 16
(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 17
(3) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 18
through 2028; and 19
(4) $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2029 20
through 2030. 21
(b) L
IMITATION.—Of the amounts authorized under 22
subsection (a), not less than 90 percent of funds shall be 23
used to carry out section 6 and section 9 of this Act. 24
Æ
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