I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 674
To codify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
of the Interior to conduct certain landscape-scale forest restoration
projects, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2023
Mr. N
EWHOUSE(for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To codify the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and
the Secretary of the Interior to conduct certain land-
scape-scale forest restoration projects, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Root and Stem Project 4
Authorization Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. ROOT AND STEM PROJECTS. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
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(1) COLLABORATIVE PROCESS .—The term ‘‘col-1
laborative process’’ means a process that— 2
(A) includes multiple interested persons 3
representing diverse interests; and 4
(B)(i) is transparent and nonexclusive; or 5
(ii) meets the requirements for a resource 6
advisory committee under subsections (c) 7
through (f) of section 205 of the Secure Rural 8
Schools and Community Self-Determination Act 9
of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 7125). 10
(2) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 11
means— 12
(A) land of the National Forest System (as 13
defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and 14
Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 15
of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))); and 16
(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 17
of the Federal Land Policy and Management 18
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)). 19
(3) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-20
retary concerned’’ means, as applicable— 21
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 22
through the Chief of the Forest Service; or 23
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(B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 1
through the Director of the Bureau of Land 2
Management. 3
(b) L
IST OFCONTRACTORS.—The Secretary con-4
cerned shall— 5
(1) maintain a list of non-Federal, third-party 6
contractors that the Secretary concerned can hire in 7
each State to complete the analysis described in sub-8
section (c)(1); and 9
(2) not later than 180 days after the date of 10
enactment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter, 11
submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural 12
Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Nat-13
ural Resources of the House of Representatives a 14
copy of the list described in paragraph (1). 15
(c) A
GREEMENTS.—If a person submits to the Sec-16
retary concerned a proposal for a project on Federal land 17
that was developed through a collaborative process and 18
that meets local and rural community needs, the Secretary 19
concerned may enter into an agreement with the person, 20
under which— 21
(1) the person initially provides to the Secretary 22
concerned all, or a portion of, the funding necessary 23
to complete any analysis that the Secretary con-24
cerned determines to be necessary under Federal 25
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law, including the National Environmental Policy 1
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the En-2
dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 3
seq.), for the consideration of the proposed project; 4
(2) the Secretary concerned uses the funding 5
provided under paragraph (1) to pay a contractor in-6
cluded on the list maintained under subsection 7
(b)(1) to conduct the analysis described in para-8
graph (1); 9
(3) on completion of the analysis described in 10
paragraph (1), if the Secretary concerned makes a 11
decision to proceed with the project, the Secretary 12
concerned— 13
(A) solicits bids to carry out the project; 14
and 15
(B) enters into a contract or agreement 16
under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Res-17
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) to 18
carry out the project; and 19
(4) using any receipts described in subsection 20
(d)(1), the Secretary concerned, to the maximum ex-21
tent practicable, repays to the person the funding 22
initially provided under paragraph (1). 23
(d) A
DDITIONALRELATEDAUTHORITIES.— 24
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(1) USE OF RECEIPTS.—Any receipts that are 1
generated by a project described in subsection (c) 2
that are normally deposited in the general fund of 3
the Treasury shall be available for expenditure by 4
the Secretary concerned, without further appropria-5
tion or fiscal year limitation, for the use described 6
in subsection (c)(4). 7
(2) C
ONTRACTORS.—The Secretary concerned 8
may noncompetitively hire a contractor included on 9
the list maintained under subsection (b)(1) to con-10
duct the analysis described in subsection (c)(1). 11
(e) S
AVINGSCLAUSES.— 12
(1) A
UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY CON -13
CERNED.—The Secretary concerned shall— 14
(A) determine the sufficiency of any docu-15
ments prepared by a contractor under sub-16
section (c)(2); and 17
(B) retain responsibility for any author-18
izing decision relating to a proposed project de-19
scribed in subsection (c). 20
(2) R
EVIEW AND APPROVAL OF INDEPENDENT 21
THIRD PARTIES.—The Secretary concerned shall 22
verify that there is no conflict of interest between— 23
(A) a person that submits a proposal 24
under subsection (c); and 25
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(B) a contractor that the Secretary con-1
cerned hires under paragraph (2) of that sub-2
section to carry out an analysis with respect to 3
that proposal. 4
(3) A
DMINISTRATIVE COSTS .—The Secretary 5
concerned— 6
(A) shall only use the funding provided to 7
the Secretary concerned under subsection (c)(1) 8
to pay a contractor pursuant to subsection 9
(c)(2); and 10
(B) shall not use any portion of the fund-11
ing provided to the Secretary concerned under 12
subsection (c)(1) to cover any other expense or 13
cost incurred by the Secretary concerned, in-14
cluding administrative costs. 15
(4) L
IMITATIONS ON REIMBURSEMENTS .—If in-16
sufficient receipts are generated by a project de-17
scribed in subsection (c) to reimburse the person 18
that provided funding under paragraph (1) of that 19
subsection, the Secretary concerned shall not provide 20
additional funding to the person. 21
(f) P
ROMOTION.—Not later than 60 days after the 22
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned 23
shall provide guidance to each local field office of the Sec-24
retary concerned for— 25
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(1) making stakeholders aware of the authority 1
under this Act; and 2
(2) encouraging use of that authority to meet 3
land management goals. 4
(g) T
REATMENT OF COLLABORATIVEMEMBERS.— 5
For purposes of a civil action relating to a project de-6
scribed in subsection (c), any person that participated in 7
the collaborative process to develop the proposal for the 8
project shall be— 9
(1) entitled to intervene, as of right, in any sub-10
sequent civil action; and 11
(2) considered to be a full participant in any 12
settlement negotiation relating to the project. 13
(h) S
UNSET.—The requirements described in sub-14
section (b) and the authority to enter into an agreement 15
under subsection (c) shall expire on January 1, 2033. 16
Æ
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