I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2709
To improve the health and resiliency of giant sequoias, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL8, 2025
Mr. F
ONG(for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. COSTA, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. WEB-
STERof Florida, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr.
V
ALADAO, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CORREA, Mrs. KIM, Mr.
R
UTHERFORD, Mr. HARDERof California, Mr. OBERNOLTE, Mr. GOLD-
ENof Maine, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. KILEYof California,
Mr. B
ERA, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. ISSA, Mr. BENTZ, Mr.
F
ULCHER, Mr. MOOREof Utah, and Ms. LEEof Nevada) 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 sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Save Our Sequoias Act’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.— 6
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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.
1
In this Act: 2
(1) A
SSESSMENT.—The term ‘‘Assessment’’ 3
means the Giant Sequoia Health and Resiliency As-4
sessment required by section 5. 5
(2) C
OALITION.—The term ‘‘Coalition’’ means 6
the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition codified under 7
section 4(a). 8
(3) C
OLLABORATIVE PROCESS .—The term ‘‘col-9
laborative process’’ means a process relating to the 10
management of covered National Forest system 11
lands or covered public lands by which a project or 12
forest management activity is developed and imple-13
mented by the Secretary concerned through collabo-14
ration with multiple interested persons representing 15
diverse interests. 16
(4) C
OVERED NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM 17
LANDS.—The term ‘‘covered National Forest System 18
lands’’ means the proclaimed National Forest Sys-19
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tem lands reserved or withdrawn from the public do-1
main of the United States covering the Sequoia Na-2
tional Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monu-3
ment, Sierra National Forest, and Tahoe National 4
Forest. 5
(5) C
OVERED PUBLIC LANDS .—The term ‘‘cov-6
ered public lands’’ means— 7
(A) the Case Mountain Extensive Recre-8
ation Management Area in California managed 9
by the Bureau of Land Management; and 10
(B) Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia 11
National Park, and Yosemite National Park in 12
California managed by the National Park Serv-13
ice. 14
(6) G
IANT SEQUOIA.—The term ‘‘giant se-15
quoia’’ means a tree of the species Sequoiadendron 16
giganteum. 17
(7) G
ROVE-SPECIFIC HAZARDOUS FUELS RE -18
DUCTION PLAN.—The term ‘‘grove-specific haz-19
ardous fuels reduction plan’’ means a plan developed 20
by the applicable land management agency prior to 21
conducting an analysis under the National Environ-22
mental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to ad-23
dress hazardous fuels in 1 or more giant sequoia 24
groves. 25
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(8) PROTECTION PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Protec-1
tion Project’’ means a Giant Sequoia Protection 2
Project carried out under section 6. 3
(9) R
EFORESTATION.—The term ‘‘reforest-4
ation’’ means the act of renewing tree cover, taking 5
into consideration species composition and resilience, 6
by establishing young trees through natural regen-7
eration, artificial or natural regeneration with site 8
preparation, planting or direct seeding, or vegetation 9
competition control following artificial or natural re-10
generation. 11
(10) R
EHABILITATION.—The term ‘‘rehabilita-12
tion’’ means any action taken during the 5-year pe-13
riod beginning on the last day of a wildland fire to 14
repair or improve fire-impacted lands which are un-15
likely to recover to management-approved conditions. 16
(11) R
ELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -17
TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant Congressional Commit-18
tees’’ means— 19
(A) the Committees on Natural Resources, 20
Agriculture, and Appropriations of the House of 21
Representatives; and 22
(B) the Committees on Energy and Nat-23
ural Resources, Agriculture, Nutrition, and 24
Forestry, and Appropriations of the Senate. 25
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(12) RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘re-1
sponsible official’’ means an employee of the Depart-2
ment of the Interior or Forest Service who has the 3
authority to make and implement a decision on a 4
proposed action. 5
(13) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 6
means the Secretary of the Interior. 7
(14) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 8
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 9
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-10
spect to covered National Forest System lands, 11
or their designee; and 12
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-13
spect to covered public lands, or their designee. 14
(15) S
TRATEGY.—The term ‘‘Strategy’’ means 15
the Giant Sequoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation 16
Strategy established under section 7. 17
(16) S
TRIKE TEAM.—The term ‘‘Strike Team’’ 18
means a Giant Sequoia Strike Team established 19
under section 8. 20
(17) T
RIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the 21
Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reserva-22
tion, California. 23
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SEC. 3. SHARED STEWARDSHIP AGREEMENT FOR GIANT SE-1
QUOIAS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after re-3
ceiving a request from the Governor of the State of Cali-4
fornia or the Tribe, the Secretary shall enter into or ex-5
pand an existing shared stewardship agreement or enter 6
into a similar agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture, 7
the Governor of the State of California, and the Tribe to 8
jointly carry out the short-term and long-term manage-9
ment and conservation of giant sequoias. 10
(b) P
ARTICIPATION.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If the Secretary has not re-12
ceived a request from the Governor of the State of 13
California or the Tribe under subsection (a) before 14
the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment 15
of this Act, the Secretary shall enter into the agree-16
ment under subsection (a) and jointly implement 17
such agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture. 18
(2) F
UTURE PARTICIPATION.—If the Secretary 19
receives a request from the Governor of the State of 20
California or the Tribe any time after entering into 21
the agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture 22
under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall accept the 23
Governor of the State of California or the Tribe as 24
a party to such agreement. 25
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SEC. 4. GIANT SEQUOIA LANDS COALITION. 1
(a) C
ODIFICATION.—The Coalition is the entity es-2
tablished under the charter titled ‘‘Giant Sequoia Lands 3
Coalition Charter’’ (or successor charter) signed during 4
the period beginning June 2, 2022 and ending August 2, 5
2022 by each of the following: 6
(1) The National Park Service, representing Se-7
quoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. 8
(2) The National Park Service, representing 9
Yosemite National Park. 10
(3) The Forest Service, representing Sequoia 11
National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monu-12
ment. 13
(4) The Forest Service, representing Sierra Na-14
tional Forest. 15
(5) The Forest Service, representing Tahoe Na-16
tional Forest. 17
(6) The Bureau of Land Management, rep-18
resenting Case Mountain Extensive Recreation Man-19
agement Area. 20
(7) The Tribe, representing the Tule River In-21
dian Reservation. 22
(8) The State of California, representing 23
Calaveras Big Trees State Park. 24
(9) The State of California, representing Moun-25
tain Home Demonstration State Forest. 26
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(10) The University of California, Berkeley, 1
representing Whitaker’s Research Forest. 2
(11) The County of Tulare, California, rep-3
resenting Balch Park. 4
(b) D
UTIES.—In addition to the duties specified in 5
the charter referenced in subsection (a), the Coalition 6
shall— 7
(1) produce the Assessment under section 5; 8
(2) observe implementation, and provide policy 9
recommendations to the Secretary concerned, with 10
respect to— 11
(A) Protection Projects carried out under 12
section 6; and 13
(B) the Strategy established under section 14
7; 15
(3) facilitate collaboration and coordination on 16
Protection Projects, particularly projects that cross 17
jurisdictional boundaries; 18
(4) facilitate information sharing, including best 19
available science as described in section 5(c) and 20
mapping resources; and 21
(5) support the development and dissemination 22
of educational materials and programs that inform 23
the public about the threats to the health and resil-24
iency of giant sequoia groves and actions being 25
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taken to reduce the risk to such groves from high- 1
severity wildfire, insects, and drought. 2
(c) A
DMINISTRATIVESUPPORT, TECHNICALSERV-3
ICES, ANDSTAFFSUPPORT.—The Secretary shall make 4
personnel of the Department of the Interior available to 5
the Coalition for administrative support, technical serv-6
ices, development and dissemination of educational mate-7
rials, and staff support that the Secretary determines nec-8
essary to carry out this section. 9
SEC. 5. GIANT SEQUOIA HEALTH AND RESILIENCY ASSESS-10
MENT. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 12
date of the enactment of this Act, the Coalition shall sub-13
mit to the relevant Congressional Committees a Giant Se-14
quoia Health and Resiliency Assessment that, based on 15
the best available science— 16
(1) identifies— 17
(A) each giant sequoia grove that has ex-18
perienced a— 19
(i) stand-replacing disturbance; or 20
(ii) disturbance but continues to have 21
living giant sequoias within the grove, in-22
cluding identifying the tree mortality and 23
regeneration of giant sequoias within such 24
grove; 25
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(B) each giant sequoia grove that is at 1
high risk of experiencing a stand-replacing dis-2
turbance; 3
(C) lands located near giant sequoia groves 4
that are at risk of experiencing high-severity 5
wildfires that could adversely impact such giant 6
sequoia groves; and 7
(D) each giant sequoia grove that has ex-8
perienced a disturbance and is unlikely to natu-9
rally regenerate and is in need of reforestation; 10
(2) analyzes the resiliency of each giant sequoia 11
grove to threats, such as— 12
(A) high-severity wildfire; 13
(B) insects, including beetle kill; and 14
(C) drought; 15
(3) with respect to Protection Projects, pro-16
poses a list of highest priority Protection Projects to 17
be carried out under section 6, giving priority to 18
projects located on lands identified under subpara-19
graphs (B) and (C) of subsection (a)(1); 20
(4) examines how historical, Tribal, or current 21
approaches to wildland fire suppression and forest 22
management activities across various jurisdictions 23
have impacted the health and resiliency of giant se-24
quoia groves with respect to— 25
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(A) high-severity wildfires; 1
(B) insects, including beetle kill; and 2
(C) drought; and 3
(5) includes program and policy recommenda-4
tions that address— 5
(A) Federal and State policies that impede 6
activities to improve the health and resiliency of 7
giant sequoias and proposed policy changes to 8
address such impediments; 9
(B) new Federal and State policies nec-10
essary to increase the pace and scale of treat-11
ments that improve the health and resiliency of 12
giant sequoias; 13
(C) options to enhance communication, co-14
ordination, and collaboration, particularly for 15
cross-boundary projects, to improve the health 16
and resiliency of giant sequoias; and 17
(D) research gaps that should be ad-18
dressed to improve the best available science on 19
the giant sequoias. 20
(b) A
NNUALUPDATES.—Not later than 1 year after 21
the submission of the Assessment under subsection (a), 22
and annually thereafter, the Coalition shall submit an up-23
dated Assessment to the relevant Congressional Commit-24
tees that— 25
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(1) includes any new data, information, or best 1
available science that has changed or become avail-2
able since the previous Assessment was submitted; 3
(2) with respect to Protection Projects— 4
(A) includes information on the number of 5
Protection Projects initiated the previous year 6
and the estimated timeline for completing those 7
projects; 8
(B) includes information on the number of 9
Protection Projects planned in the upcoming 10
year and the estimated timeline for completing 11
those projects; 12
(C) provides status updates and long-term 13
monitoring reports on giant sequoia groves 14
after the completion of Protection Projects; and 15
(D) if the Secretary concerned failed to re-16
duce hazardous fuels in at least 3 giant sequoia 17
groves in the previous year, a written expla-18
nation that includes— 19
(i) a detailed explanation of what im-20
pediments resulted in failing to reduce haz-21
ardous fuels in at least 3 giant sequoia 22
groves; 23
(ii) a detailed explanation of what ac-24
tions the Secretary concerned is taking to 25
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ensure that hazardous fuels are reduced in 1
at least 3 giant sequoia groves the fol-2
lowing year; and 3
(iii) recommendations to Congress on 4
any policies that need to be changed to as-5
sist the Secretary concerned in reducing 6
hazardous fuels in giant sequoia groves; 7
and 8
(3) with respect to reforestation and rehabilita-9
tion of giant sequoias— 10
(A) contains updates on the implementa-11
tion of the Strategy under section 7, including 12
grove-level data on reforestation and rehabilita-13
tion activities; and 14
(B) provides status updates and moni-15
toring reports on giant sequoia groves that have 16
experienced natural or artificial regeneration as 17
part of the Strategy under section 7. 18
(c) D
ASHBOARD.— 19
(1) R
EQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN .—The Coali-20
tion shall create and maintain a website that— 21
(A) publishes the Assessment, annual up-22
dates to the Assessment, and other educational 23
materials developed by the Coalition; 24
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(B) contains searchable information about 1
individual giant sequoia groves, including the— 2
(i) resiliency of such groves to threats 3
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 4
subsection (a); 5
(ii) Protection Projects that have been 6
proposed, initiated, or completed in such 7
groves; and 8
(iii) reforestation and rehabilitation 9
activities that have been proposed, initi-10
ated, or completed in such groves; and 11
(C) maintains a searchable database to 12
track— 13
(i) the status of Federal environ-14
mental reviews and authorizations for spe-15
cific Protection Projects and reforestation 16
and rehabilitation activities; and 17
(ii) the projected cost of Protection 18
Projects and reforestation and rehabilita-19
tion activities. 20
(2) S
EARCHABLE DATABASE .—The Coalition 21
shall include information on the status of Protection 22
Projects in the searchable database created under 23
paragraph (1)(C), including— 24
(A) a comprehensive permitting timetable; 25
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(B) the status of the compliance of each 1
lead agency, cooperating agency, and partici-2
pating agency with the permitting timetable; 3
(C) any modifications of the permitting 4
timetable required under subparagraph (A), in-5
cluding an explanation as to why the permitting 6
timetable was modified; and 7
(D) information about project-related pub-8
lic meetings, public hearings, and public com-9
ment periods, which shall be presented in 10
English and the predominant language of the 11
community or communities most affected by the 12
project, as that information becomes available. 13
(d) B
ESTAVAILABLESCIENCE.—In utilizing the best 14
available science for the Assessment, the Coalition shall 15
include— 16
(1) data and peer-reviewed research from aca-17
demic institutions with a demonstrated history of 18
studying giant sequoias and with experience ana-19
lyzing distinct management strategies to improve 20
giant sequoia resiliency; 21
(2) traditional ecological knowledge from the 22
Tribe related to improving the health and resiliency 23
of giant sequoia groves; and 24
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(3) data from Federal, State, Tribal, and local 1
governments or agencies. 2
(e) T
ECHNOLOGYIMPROVEMENTS.—In carrying out 3
this section, the Secretary may enter into memorandums 4
of understanding or agreements with other Federal agen-5
cies or departments, State or local governments, Tribal 6
governments, private entities, or academic institutions to 7
improve, with respect to the Assessment, the use and inte-8
gration of— 9
(1) advanced remote sensing and geospatial 10
technologies; 11
(2) statistical modeling and analysis; or 12
(3) any other technology the Secretary deter-13
mines will benefit the quality of information used in 14
the Assessment. 15
(f) P
LANNING.—The Coalition shall make informa-16
tion from this Assessment available to the Secretary con-17
cerned and State of California to integrate into the— 18
(1) State of California’s Wildfire and Forest 19
Resilience Action Plan; 20
(2) Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis 21
Strategy (or successor plan); and 22
(3) Department of the Interior’s Wildfire Risk 23
Five-Year Monitoring, Maintenance, and Treatment 24
Plan (or successor plan). 25
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(g) RELATION TO THE NATIONALENVIRONMENTAL 1
P
OLICYACT OF1969.—The development and submission 2
of the Assessment under subsection (a) shall not be sub-3
ject to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 4
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 5
SEC. 6. GIANT SEQUOIA EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 6
(a) E
MERGENCYRESPONSETOPROTECTGIANTSE-7
QUOIAS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 9
(A) E
MERGENCY DETERMINATION .—Con-10
gress determines that— 11
(i) an emergency exists on covered 12
public lands and covered National Forest 13
System lands that makes it necessary to 14
carry out Protection Projects that take 15
needed actions to respond to the threat of 16
wildfires, insects, and drought to giant se-17
quoias; and 18
(ii) Protection Projects are necessary 19
to control the immediate impacts of the 20
emergency described in clause (i) and are 21
needed to mitigate harm to life, property, 22
or important natural or cultural resources 23
on covered public lands and covered Na-24
tional Forest System lands. 25
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(B) APPLICATION.—The emergency deter-1
mination established under subparagraph (A) 2
shall apply to all covered public lands and cov-3
ered National Forest System lands. 4
(C) E
XPIRATION.—The emergency deter-5
mination established under subparagraph (A) 6
shall expire on the date that is 7 years after the 7
date of the enactment of this Act. 8
(2) I
MPLEMENTATION.—While the emergency 9
determination established under subsection (a) is in 10
effect, the following shall apply: 11
(A) The following shall have the force and 12
effect of law: 13
(i) Section 220.4(b) of title 36, Code 14
of Federal Regulations (as in effect July 15
21, 2022), with respect to covered Na-16
tional Forest System lands. 17
(ii) Section 46.150 of title 43, Code of 18
Federal Regulations (as in effect October 19
12, 2022), with respect to covered public 20
lands. 21
(iii) Section 402.05 of title 50, Code 22
of Federal Regulations (as in effect July 23
21, 2022), with respect to covered Na-24
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tional Forest System lands and covered 1
public lands. 2
(iv) Section 800.12 of title 36, Code 3
of Federal Regulations (as in effect July 4
21, 2022), with respect to covered Na-5
tional Forest System lands and covered 6
public lands. 7
(B) A responsible official may carry out a 8
Protection Project described by paragraph (4) 9
before initiating— 10
(i) an analysis under section 102 of 11
the National Environmental Policy Act of 12
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332); 13
(ii) consultation under section 7 of the 14
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 15
U.S.C. 1536); and 16
(iii) consultation under section 106 of 17
the National Historic Preservation Act (16 18
U.S.C. 470(f)). 19
(C) The rules established under sub-20
sections (d) and (e), section 40807 of the Infra-21
structure Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 22
6592c(d) and (e)) shall apply with respect to 23
Protection Projects by substituting ‘‘Protection 24
Projects’’ for ‘‘authorized emergency action 25
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under this section’’ each place it appears in 1
such subsections. 2
(D) Protection Projects shall be subject to 3
the requirements of section 106 of title I of the 4
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 5
U.S.C. 6511 et seq.). 6
(3) P
ROTECTION PROJECTS .—The responsible 7
official shall carry out the following forest manage-8
ment activities, consistent with applicable grove-spe-9
cific hazardous fuels reduction plans or activities 10
recommend by the Assessment under section 5, as 11
Protection Projects under the emergency determina-12
tion under this section: 13
(A) Conducting hazardous fuels manage-14
ment, including mechanical thinning, mastica-15
tion, and prescribed burning. 16
(B) Removing hazard trees, dead trees, 17
dying trees, or trees at risk of dying, as deter-18
mined by the responsible official. 19
(C) Removing trees to address over-20
stocking or crowding in a forest stand, con-21
sistent with the appropriate basal area of the 22
forest stand as determined by the responsible 23
official. 24
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(D) Activities included in the applicable 1
grove-specific hazardous fuels reduction plan. 2
(E) Using chemical treatments to address 3
insects and disease and control vegetation com-4
petition. 5
(F) Any combination of activities described 6
in this paragraph. 7
(4) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Protection Projects 9
carried out under paragraph (3) and reforest-10
ation and rehabilitation activities carried out 11
under this Act that are described by subpara-12
graph (D) are a category of actions hereby des-13
ignated as being categorically excluded from the 14
preparation of an environmental assessment or 15
an environmental impact statement under sec-16
tion 102 of the National Environmental Policy 17
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 18
(B) A
VAILABILITY.—The Secretary con-19
cerned shall use the categorical exclusion estab-20
lished under subparagraph (A) in accordance 21
with this section. 22
(C) I
NTERAGENCY COOPERATION .—Con-23
gress finds that Protection Projects carried out 24
under this section are consistent with improving 25
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the health and resiliency of critical habitat for 1
threatened and endangered species, including 2
the Pacific fisher and California spotted owl. 3
(D) R
EQUIREMENTS.—A Protection 4
Project or reforestation or rehabilitation activity 5
is described by this subparagraph if such Pro-6
tection Project or reforestation or rehabilitation 7
activity— 8
(i) covers an area of no more than— 9
(I) 2,000 acres within giant se-10
quoia groves where a grove-specific 11
hazardous fuels reduction plan has 12
been developed by the relevant land 13
management agency or on lands iden-14
tified under section 5(a)(1)(B); and 15
(II) 3,000 acres on lands identi-16
fied under section 5(a)(1)(C); 17
(ii) was— 18
(I) proposed by the Assessment 19
under section 5(a)(3); 20
(II) developed through a collabo-21
rative process; or 22
(III) proposed by a resource advi-23
sory committee (as defined in section 24
201 of the Secure Rural Schools and 25
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Community Self-Determination Act of 1
2000 (16 U.S.C. 7121)); and 2
(iii) occurs on Federal land or non- 3
Federal land with the consent of the non- 4
Federal landowner. 5
(E) U
SE OF OTHER AUTHORITIES .—To the 6
maximum extent practicable, the Secretary con-7
cerned shall use the authorities provided under 8
this section in combination with other authori-9
ties to carry out Protection Projects, includ-10
ing— 11
(i) good neighbor agreements entered 12
into under section 8206 of the Agricultural 13
Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); and 14
(ii) stewardship contracting projects 15
entered into under section 604 of the 16
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 17
(16 U.S.C. 6591c). 18
(F) S
AVINGS CLAUSE.—With respect to 19
joint Protection Projects and reforestation and 20
rehabilitation activities involving the Tribe, 21
nothing in this section shall be construed to add 22
any additional regulatory requirements onto the 23
Tribe. 24
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(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—To the maximum extent 1
practicable, the Secretary concerned shall reduce haz-2
ardous fuels in no fewer than 3 giant sequoia groves each 3
year. 4
SEC. 7. GIANT SEQUOIA REFORESTATION AND REHABILITA-5
TION STRATEGY. 6
(a) R
EFORESTATION AND REHABILITATIONSTRAT-7
EGY.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 9
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-10
retary, in consultation with the Coalition, shall de-11
velop and implement a strategy, to be known as the 12
Giant Sequoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation 13
Strategy, to enhance the reforestation and rehabili-14
tation of giant sequoia groves that— 15
(A) identifies giant sequoia groves in need 16
of natural or artificial regeneration, giving 17
highest priority to groves identified under sec-18
tion 5(a)(1)(A)(i); 19
(B) creates a priority list of reforestation 20
and rehabilitation activities; 21
(C) identifies and addresses— 22
(i) barriers to reforestation or reha-23
bilitation including— 24
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(I) regulatory and funding bar-1
riers; 2
(II) seedling shortages or related 3
nursery infrastructure capacity con-4
straints; 5
(III) labor and workforce short-6
ages; 7
(IV) technology and science gaps; 8
and 9
(V) site preparation challenges; 10
(ii) potential public-private partner-11
ship opportunities to complete high-priority 12
reforestation or rehabilitation projects; 13
(iii) a timeline for addressing the 14
backlog of reforestation for giant sequoias 15
in the 10-year period after the agreement 16
is entered into under section 3; and 17
(iv) strategies to ensure genetic diver-18
sity across giant sequoia groves; and 19
(D) includes program and policy rec-20
ommendations needed to improve the efficiency 21
or effectiveness of the Strategy. 22
(2) A
SSESSMENT.—The Secretary may incor-23
porate the Strategy into the Assessment under sec-24
tion 5. 25
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(b) PRIORITYREFORESTATION PROJECTSAMEND-1
MENT.—Section 3(e)(4)(C)(ii)(I) of the Forest and 2
Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 3
(16 U.S.C. 1601(e)(4)(C)(ii)(I)) is amended— 4
(1) in item (bb), by striking ‘‘and’’; 5
(2) in item (cc), by striking the period and in-6
serting ‘‘; and’’; and 7
(3) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(dd) shall include reforest-9
ation and rehabilitation activities 10
conducted under section 7 of the 11
Save Our Sequoias Act.’’. 12
(c) I
MPLEMENTATION.—Section 4(d)(1) of the Wil-13
derness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)) is amended by inserting 14
‘‘Nothing in this Act precludes reforestation (as defined 15
in section 2 of the Save our Sequoias Act) activities to 16
reestablish giant sequoias following a wildfire.’’ after the 17
period at the end. 18
SEC. 8. GIANT SEQUOIA STRIKE TEAMS. 19
(a) G
IANTSEQUOIASTRIKETEAMS.— 20
(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary con-21
cerned shall each establish a Giant Sequoia Strike 22
Team to assist the Secretary concerned with the im-23
plementation of— 24
(A) primarily, section 6; and 25
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(B) secondarily, section 7. 1
(2) D
UTIES.—Each Strike Team shall— 2
(A) assist the Secretary concerned with 3
any reviews, including analysis under the Na-4
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 5
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), consultations under the 6
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 7
U.S.C. 470 et seq.), and consultations under 8
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 9
1531 et seq.); 10
(B) implement any necessary site prepara-11
tion work in advance of or as part of a Protec-12
tion Project or reforestation or rehabilitation 13
activity; 14
(C) implement Protection Projects under 15
section 6; and 16
(D) implement reforestation or rehabilita-17
tion activities under section 7. 18
(3) M
EMBERS.—The Secretary concerned may 19
appoint no more than 10 individuals each to serve 20
on a Strike Team comprised of— 21
(A) employees of the Department of the 22
Interior; 23
(B) employees of the Forest Service; 24
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(C) private contractors from any nonprofit 1
organization, State government, Tribal Govern-2
ment, local government, academic institution, or 3
private organization; and 4
(D) volunteers from any nonprofit organi-5
zation, State government, Tribal Government, 6
local government, academic institution, or pri-7
vate organization. 8
SEC. 9. GIANT SEQUOIA COLLABORATIVE RESTORATION 9
GRANTS. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 11
with the parties to the agreement under section 3, shall 12
establish a program to award grants to eligible entities 13
to advance, facilitate, or improve giant sequoia health and 14
resiliency. 15
(b) E
LIGIBLEENTITY.—The Secretary may award 16
grants under this section to any nonprofit organization, 17
Tribal Government, local government, academic institu-18
tion, or private organization to help advance, facilitate, or 19
improve giant sequoia health and resiliency. 20
(c) P
RIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-21
tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 22
that— 23
(1) primarily, are likely to have the greatest im-24
pact on giant sequoia health and resiliency; and 25
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(2) secondarily— 1
(A) are small businesses or tribal entities, 2
particularly in rural areas; and 3
(B) create or support jobs, particularly in 4
rural areas. 5
(d) U
SE OFGRANTFUNDS.—Funds from grants 6
awarded under this section shall be used to— 7
(1) create, expand, or develop markets for haz-8
ardous fuels removed under section 6, including 9
markets for biomass and biochar; 10
(2) facilitate hazardous fuel removal under sec-11
tion 6, including by reducing the cost of trans-12
porting hazardous fuels removed as part of a Protec-13
tion Project; 14
(3) expand, enhance, develop, or create facilities 15
or land that can store or process hazardous fuels re-16
moved under section 6; 17
(4) establish, develop, expand, enhance, or im-18
prove nursery capacity or infrastructure necessary to 19
facilitate the Strategy established under section 7; or 20
(5) support tribal management and conserva-21
tion of giant sequoias, including funding for tribal 22
historic preservation officers. 23
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SEC. 10. GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY FOR GIANT SE-1
QUOIAS. 2
Section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 3
U.S.C. 2113a) is amended— 4
(1) in subsection (a)— 5
(A) in paragraph (3)(A)— 6
(i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 7
the end; 8
(ii) by redesignating clause (ii) as 9
clause (iii); and 10
(iii) by inserting after clause (i) the 11
following: 12
‘‘(ii) Kings Canyon National Park, 13
Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite Na-14
tional Park; or’’; 15
(B) in paragraph (4)(A)— 16
(i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 17
the end; 18
(ii) by redesignating clause (iii) as 19
clause (iv); 20
(iii) by inserting after clause (ii) the 21
following: 22
‘‘(iii) activities conducted under sec-23
tion 6 of the Save Our Sequoias Act;’’; 24
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(iv) in clause (iv), as so redesignated, 1
by striking the period at the end and in-2
serting ‘‘; or’’; and 3
(v) by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(v) any combination of activities 5
specified in clauses (i) through (iv).’’. 6
(C) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘or In-7
dian tribe’’; and 8
(D) in paragraph (10)(B) by striking 9
‘‘land.’’ and inserting ‘‘land, Kings Canyon Na-10
tional Park, Sequoia National Park, and Yo-11
semite National Park.’’; and 12
(2) in subsection (b)— 13
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 14
Indian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; 15
(B) by amending paragraph (2)(C) to read 16
as follows: 17
‘‘(C) T
REATMENT OF REVENUE .— 18
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Funds received 19
from the sale of timber by a Governor, an 20
Indian tribe, or a county under a good 21
neighbor agreement shall be retained and 22
used by the Governor, Indian tribe, or 23
county, as applicable— 24
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‘‘(I) to carry out authorized res-1
toration services under such good 2
neighbor agreement; and 3
‘‘(II) if there are funds remain-4
ing after carrying out the services 5
under clause (i), to carry out author-6
ized restoration services within the 7
State under other good neighbor 8
agreements. 9
‘‘(ii) S
PECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN NA -10
TIONAL PARKS.—Funds received from the 11
sale of timber by a Governor, an Indian 12
tribe, or a county under a good neighbor 13
agreement carried out within the bound-14
aries of Kings Canyon National Park, Se-15
quoia National Park, or Yosemite National 16
Park shall be retained and used by the 17
Governor, Indian tribe, or county, as appli-18
cable— 19
‘‘(I) to carry out authorized res-20
toration services under such good 21
neighbor agreement; 22
‘‘(II) if there are funds remain-23
ing after carrying out the services 24
under clause (i), to carry out author-25
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ized restoration services under other 1
good neighbor agreements within the 2
boundaries of the park unit in which 3
the initial good neighbor agreement 4
occurred; and 5
‘‘(III) if there are no further 6
good neighbor agreements to carry 7
out under clause (ii), to transfer to 8
the park unit in which the initial good 9
neighbor agreement occurred to be 10
used for giant sequoia conservation 11
and management. 12
‘‘(iii) T
ERMINATION OF EFFECTIVE -13
NESS.—The authority provided by this 14
subparagraph terminates effective October 15
1, 2030.’’; 16
(C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, In-17
dian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 18
(D) by amending paragraph (4) to read as 19
follows: 20
‘‘(4) A
UTHORIZED RESTORATION SERVICES IN 21
CERTAIN NATIONAL PARKS .—Authorized restoration 22
services occurring in Kings Canyon National Park, 23
Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite National Park 24
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shall be carried out in accordance with section 1
100753 of title 54, United States Code.’’. 2
(3) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 3
8206(a) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 4
2113a(a)) is amended— 5
(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, 6
Indian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 7
(B) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, In-8
dian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’. 9
SEC. 11. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTING FOR GIANT SE-10
QUOIAS. 11
(a) N
ATIONALPARKSERVICE.—Section 604(a)(2) of 12
the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 13
6591c(c)) is amended to read— 14
‘‘(2) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 15
the Director of the Bureau of Land Management 16
with respect to Bureau of Land Management lands 17
and the Director of the National Park Service with 18
respect to lands within Kings Canyon National 19
Park, Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite Na-20
tional Park.’’. 21
(b) G
IANTSEQUOIASTEWARDSHIPCONTRACTS.— 22
Section 604(c) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 23
2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c(c)) is amended by adding at the 24
end the following: 25
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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 Fund shall consist of any gifts, 5
devises, or bequests that are provided to the Na-6
tional Park Foundation or National Forest Founda-7
tion for such purpose. 8
‘‘(2) U
SE OF FUNDS.—Funds shall be available 9
to the National Park Foundation and National For-10
est Foundation without further appropriation, sub-11
ject to the provisions in paragraph (3), for projects 12
and activities approved by the Chief of the Forest 13
Service or the Director of the National Park Service 14
as appropriate, or their designees, to— 15
‘‘(A) primarily, support the management 16
and conservation of giant sequoias on National 17
Park Service and covered National Forest Sys-18
tem lands to promote resiliency to wildfires, in-19
sects, and drought; and 20
‘‘(B) secondarily, support the reforestation 21
of giant sequoias on National Park Service and 22
covered National Forest System lands impacted 23
by wildfire. 24
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‘‘(3) TRIBAL SUPPORT.—Of the funds provided 1
to the National Park Foundation and National For-2
est Foundation under paragraph (2), not less than 3
15 percent of such funds shall be used to support 4
tribal management and conservation of giant se-5
quoias including funding for tribal historic preserva-6
tion officers. 7
‘‘(c) S
UMMARY.—Beginning 1 year after the date of 8
the enactment of this Act, the National Park Foundation 9
and National Forest Foundation shall include with their 10
annual reports a summary of the status of the program 11
and Fund created under this section that includes— 12
‘‘(1) a statement of the amounts deposited in 13
the Fund during the fiscal year; 14
‘‘(2) the amount of the balance remaining in 15
the Fund at the end of the fiscal year; and 16
‘‘(3) a description of the program and projects 17
funded during the fiscal year. 18
‘‘(d) C
OVEREDNATIONALFORESTSYSTEMLANDS 19
D
EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘covered National 20
Forest System lands’ has the meaning given such term 21
in section 2 of the Save Our Sequoias Act. 22
‘‘(e) T
ERMINATION OF EFFECTIVENESS.—The au-23
thority provided by this section shall terminate 7 years 24
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after the date of enactment of the Save Our Sequoias 1
Act.’’. 2
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The table of sec-3
tions for chapter 1011 of title 54, United States Code, 4
is amended by inserting at the end the following: 5
‘‘101123. Giant Sequoia Emergency Protection Program and Fund.’’.
SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-7
propriations made in advance for such purposes, the Sec-8
retary concerned shall allocate up to— 9
(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 10
(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 11
(3) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2028 12
through 2030; and 13
(4) $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2031 14
through 2032. 15
(b) L
IMITATION.—Of the amounts authorized under 16
subsection (a), not less than 90 percent of funds shall be 17
used to carry out section 6 and section 9 of this Act. 18
(c) S
AVINGSCLAUSE.—Nothing in this Act affects— 19
(1) the allocation of previously appropriated 20
funds from prior fiscal years, consistent with appli-21
cable laws and regulations; and 22
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(2) the prerogative of the Secretary concerned 1
to establish Departmental funding priorities, con-2
sistent with applicable laws and regulations. 3
Æ
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