I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 179
To direct the Secretary concerned to coordinate with impacted parties when
conducting a forest management activity, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. M
CCLINTOCK(for himself, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. VALADAO,
Mr. S
TAUBER, and Mr. ISSA) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee
on Natural Resources, 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 committee concerned
A BILL
To direct the Secretary concerned to coordinate with im-
pacted parties when conducting a forest management
activity, 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Proven Forest Man-4
agement Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:43 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H179.IH H179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 179 IH
SEC. 2. FOREST MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES FOR NATIONAL 1
FOREST SYSTEM LAND. 2
(a) C
OORDINATION.—In conducting a forest manage-3
ment activity on National Forest System land, the Sec-4
retary concerned shall, as appropriate, coordinate with im-5
pacted parties to increase efficiency and maximize the 6
compatibility of management practices across National 7
Forest System land. 8
(b) F
ORESTMANAGEMENTACTIVITIES.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-10
graph (2), in conducting a forest management activ-11
ity on National Forest System land, the Secretary 12
concerned shall conduct such activity in a manner 13
that attains multiple ecosystem benefits, including— 14
(A) reducing forest fuels; 15
(B) maintaining biological diversity; 16
(C) improving wetland and water quality, 17
including in Stream Environment Zones; and 18
(D) increasing resilience to changing water 19
temperature and precipitation. 20
(2) E
XCEPTION FOR COST .—Paragraph (1) 21
shall not apply if the Secretary concerned deter-22
mines that the costs associated with attaining mul-23
tiple ecosystem benefits are excessive. 24
(c) G
ROUNDDISTURBANCE.—Consistent with appli-25
cable Federal law and the forest plan developed for the 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:43 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H179.IH H179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 179 IH
relevant National Forest System land, the Secretary con-1
cerned shall— 2
(1) establish any post-program ground condi-3
tion criteria for a ground disturbance caused by a 4
forest management activity required by such plan; 5
and 6
(2) provide for monitoring to ascertain the at-7
tainment of relevant post-program conditions. 8
(d) A
VAILABILITY OFCATEGORICALEXCLUSION FOR 9
C
ERTAINFORESTMANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES.—A forest 10
management activity conducted on National Forest Sys-11
tem land for the purpose of reducing forest fuels is cat-12
egorically excluded from the requirements of the National 13
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 14
seq.) if the forest management activity— 15
(1) notwithstanding section 423 of the Depart-16
ment of the Interior, Environment, and Related 17
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2009 (division E of 18
Public Law 111–8; 123 Stat. 748), does not exceed 19
10,000 acres, including not more than 3,000 acres 20
of mechanical thinning; 21
(2) is developed— 22
(A) in coordination with impacted parties, 23
specifically including representatives of local 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:43 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H179.IH H179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 179 IH
governments, such as county supervisors or 1
county commissioners; and 2
(B) in consultation with other interested 3
entities; and 4
(3) is consistent with the forest plan developed 5
for the relevant National Forest System land. 6
(e) C
OOPERATIVE AUTHORITIES.—The Secretary 7
concerned, in conjunction with land adjustment programs, 8
may enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with 9
a qualified entity to provide for fuel reduction, erosion 10
control, reforestation, Stream Environment Zone restora-11
tion, and similar management activities on Federal land 12
and non-Federal land within the programs. 13
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
(1) I
NTERESTED ENTITIES .—The term ‘‘inter-15
ested entities’’ includes— 16
(A) the Administrator of the National Oce-17
anic and Atmospheric Administration; 18
(B) State, local, and Tribal governments; 19
(C) local fire departments; and 20
(D) other relevant volunteer groups. 21
(2) F
OREST MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY .—The 22
term ‘‘forest management activity’’ means a project 23
or activity carried out by the Secretary concerned on 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:43 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H179.IH H179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 179 IH
National Forest System land and consistent with the 1
forest plan covering such land. 2
(3) N
ATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM .—The term 3
‘‘National Forest System’’ has the meaning given 4
that term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range-5
land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 6
U.S.C. 1609(a)). 7
(4) P
UBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 8
has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 9
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 10
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702), except that the term in-11
cludes Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant lands and Or-12
egon and California Railroad Grant lands. 13
(5) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-14
retary concerned’’ means— 15
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-16
spect to National Forest System land; and 17
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-18
spect to public lands. 19
(6) S
TREAM ENVIRONMENT ZONE .—The term 20
‘‘Stream Environment Zone’’ means an area that 21
generally owes the biological and physical character-22
istics of the area to the presence of surface water or 23
groundwater. 24
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:43 Mar 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H179.IH H179
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS