Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2709 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2709
55 To improve the health and resiliency of giant sequoias, and for other purposes.
66 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
77 APRIL8, 2025
88 Mr. F
99 ONG(for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. COSTA, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. WEB-
1010 STERof Florida, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr.
1111 V
1212 ALADAO, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CORREA, Mrs. KIM, Mr.
1313 R
1414 UTHERFORD, Mr. HARDERof California, Mr. OBERNOLTE, Mr. GOLD-
1515 ENof Maine, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. KILEYof California,
1616 Mr. B
1717 ERA, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. ISSA, Mr. BENTZ, Mr.
1818 F
1919 ULCHER, Mr. MOOREof Utah, and Ms. LEEof Nevada) introduced the
2020 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources,
2121 and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be sub-
2222 sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of
2323 such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
2424 A BILL
2525 To improve the health and resiliency of giant sequoias, and
2626 for other purposes.
2727 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2828 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2929 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
3030 (a) S
3131 HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
3232 ‘‘Save Our Sequoias Act’’. 5
3333 (b) T
3434 ABLE OFCONTENTS.— 6
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3737 •HR 2709 IH
3838 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
3939 Sec. 2. Definitions.
4040 Sec. 3. Shared stewardship agreement for giant sequoias.
4141 Sec. 4. Giant sequoia lands coalition.
4242 Sec. 5. Giant sequoia health and resiliency assessment.
4343 Sec. 6. Giant sequoia emergency response.
4444 Sec. 7. Giant sequoia reforestation and rehabilitation strategy.
4545 Sec. 8. Giant sequoia strike teams.
4646 Sec. 9. Giant sequoia collaborative restoration grants.
4747 Sec. 10. Good neighbor authority for giant sequoias.
4848 Sec. 11. Stewardship contracting for giant sequoias.
4949 Sec. 12. Giant Sequoia Emergency Protection Program and Fund.
5050 Sec. 13. Authorization of appropriations.
5151 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
5252 1
5353 In this Act: 2
5454 (1) A
5555 SSESSMENT.—The term ‘‘Assessment’’ 3
5656 means the Giant Sequoia Health and Resiliency As-4
5757 sessment required by section 5. 5
5858 (2) C
5959 OALITION.—The term ‘‘Coalition’’ means 6
6060 the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition codified under 7
6161 section 4(a). 8
6262 (3) C
6363 OLLABORATIVE PROCESS .—The term ‘‘col-9
6464 laborative process’’ means a process relating to the 10
6565 management of covered National Forest system 11
6666 lands or covered public lands by which a project or 12
6767 forest management activity is developed and imple-13
6868 mented by the Secretary concerned through collabo-14
6969 ration with multiple interested persons representing 15
7070 diverse interests. 16
7171 (4) C
7272 OVERED NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM 17
7373 LANDS.—The term ‘‘covered National Forest System 18
7474 lands’’ means the proclaimed National Forest Sys-19
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7777 •HR 2709 IH
7878 tem lands reserved or withdrawn from the public do-1
7979 main of the United States covering the Sequoia Na-2
8080 tional Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monu-3
8181 ment, Sierra National Forest, and Tahoe National 4
8282 Forest. 5
8383 (5) C
8484 OVERED PUBLIC LANDS .—The term ‘‘cov-6
8585 ered public lands’’ means— 7
8686 (A) the Case Mountain Extensive Recre-8
8787 ation Management Area in California managed 9
8888 by the Bureau of Land Management; and 10
8989 (B) Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia 11
9090 National Park, and Yosemite National Park in 12
9191 California managed by the National Park Serv-13
9292 ice. 14
9393 (6) G
9494 IANT SEQUOIA.—The term ‘‘giant se-15
9595 quoia’’ means a tree of the species Sequoiadendron 16
9696 giganteum. 17
9797 (7) G
9898 ROVE-SPECIFIC HAZARDOUS FUELS RE -18
9999 DUCTION PLAN.—The term ‘‘grove-specific haz-19
100100 ardous fuels reduction plan’’ means a plan developed 20
101101 by the applicable land management agency prior to 21
102102 conducting an analysis under the National Environ-22
103103 mental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to ad-23
104104 dress hazardous fuels in 1 or more giant sequoia 24
105105 groves. 25
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108108 •HR 2709 IH
109109 (8) PROTECTION PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Protec-1
110110 tion Project’’ means a Giant Sequoia Protection 2
111111 Project carried out under section 6. 3
112112 (9) R
113113 EFORESTATION.—The term ‘‘reforest-4
114114 ation’’ means the act of renewing tree cover, taking 5
115115 into consideration species composition and resilience, 6
116116 by establishing young trees through natural regen-7
117117 eration, artificial or natural regeneration with site 8
118118 preparation, planting or direct seeding, or vegetation 9
119119 competition control following artificial or natural re-10
120120 generation. 11
121121 (10) R
122122 EHABILITATION.—The term ‘‘rehabilita-12
123123 tion’’ means any action taken during the 5-year pe-13
124124 riod beginning on the last day of a wildland fire to 14
125125 repair or improve fire-impacted lands which are un-15
126126 likely to recover to management-approved conditions. 16
127127 (11) R
128128 ELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -17
129129 TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant Congressional Commit-18
130130 tees’’ means— 19
131131 (A) the Committees on Natural Resources, 20
132132 Agriculture, and Appropriations of the House of 21
133133 Representatives; and 22
134134 (B) the Committees on Energy and Nat-23
135135 ural Resources, Agriculture, Nutrition, and 24
136136 Forestry, and Appropriations of the Senate. 25
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139139 •HR 2709 IH
140140 (12) RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘re-1
141141 sponsible official’’ means an employee of the Depart-2
142142 ment of the Interior or Forest Service who has the 3
143143 authority to make and implement a decision on a 4
144144 proposed action. 5
145145 (13) S
146146 ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 6
147147 means the Secretary of the Interior. 7
148148 (14) S
149149 ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 8
150150 ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 9
151151 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-10
152152 spect to covered National Forest System lands, 11
153153 or their designee; and 12
154154 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-13
155155 spect to covered public lands, or their designee. 14
156156 (15) S
157157 TRATEGY.—The term ‘‘Strategy’’ means 15
158158 the Giant Sequoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation 16
159159 Strategy established under section 7. 17
160160 (16) S
161161 TRIKE TEAM.—The term ‘‘Strike Team’’ 18
162162 means a Giant Sequoia Strike Team established 19
163163 under section 8. 20
164164 (17) T
165165 RIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the 21
166166 Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reserva-22
167167 tion, California. 23
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170170 •HR 2709 IH
171171 SEC. 3. SHARED STEWARDSHIP AGREEMENT FOR GIANT SE-1
172172 QUOIAS. 2
173173 (a) I
174174 NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after re-3
175175 ceiving a request from the Governor of the State of Cali-4
176176 fornia or the Tribe, the Secretary shall enter into or ex-5
177177 pand an existing shared stewardship agreement or enter 6
178178 into a similar agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture, 7
179179 the Governor of the State of California, and the Tribe to 8
180180 jointly carry out the short-term and long-term manage-9
181181 ment and conservation of giant sequoias. 10
182182 (b) P
183183 ARTICIPATION.— 11
184184 (1) I
185185 N GENERAL.—If the Secretary has not re-12
186186 ceived a request from the Governor of the State of 13
187187 California or the Tribe under subsection (a) before 14
188188 the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment 15
189189 of this Act, the Secretary shall enter into the agree-16
190190 ment under subsection (a) and jointly implement 17
191191 such agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture. 18
192192 (2) F
193193 UTURE PARTICIPATION.—If the Secretary 19
194194 receives a request from the Governor of the State of 20
195195 California or the Tribe any time after entering into 21
196196 the agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture 22
197197 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall accept the 23
198198 Governor of the State of California or the Tribe as 24
199199 a party to such agreement. 25
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202202 •HR 2709 IH
203203 SEC. 4. GIANT SEQUOIA LANDS COALITION. 1
204204 (a) C
205205 ODIFICATION.—The Coalition is the entity es-2
206206 tablished under the charter titled ‘‘Giant Sequoia Lands 3
207207 Coalition Charter’’ (or successor charter) signed during 4
208208 the period beginning June 2, 2022 and ending August 2, 5
209209 2022 by each of the following: 6
210210 (1) The National Park Service, representing Se-7
211211 quoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. 8
212212 (2) The National Park Service, representing 9
213213 Yosemite National Park. 10
214214 (3) The Forest Service, representing Sequoia 11
215215 National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monu-12
216216 ment. 13
217217 (4) The Forest Service, representing Sierra Na-14
218218 tional Forest. 15
219219 (5) The Forest Service, representing Tahoe Na-16
220220 tional Forest. 17
221221 (6) The Bureau of Land Management, rep-18
222222 resenting Case Mountain Extensive Recreation Man-19
223223 agement Area. 20
224224 (7) The Tribe, representing the Tule River In-21
225225 dian Reservation. 22
226226 (8) The State of California, representing 23
227227 Calaveras Big Trees State Park. 24
228228 (9) The State of California, representing Moun-25
229229 tain Home Demonstration State Forest. 26
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232232 •HR 2709 IH
233233 (10) The University of California, Berkeley, 1
234234 representing Whitaker’s Research Forest. 2
235235 (11) The County of Tulare, California, rep-3
236236 resenting Balch Park. 4
237237 (b) D
238238 UTIES.—In addition to the duties specified in 5
239239 the charter referenced in subsection (a), the Coalition 6
240240 shall— 7
241241 (1) produce the Assessment under section 5; 8
242242 (2) observe implementation, and provide policy 9
243243 recommendations to the Secretary concerned, with 10
244244 respect to— 11
245245 (A) Protection Projects carried out under 12
246246 section 6; and 13
247247 (B) the Strategy established under section 14
248248 7; 15
249249 (3) facilitate collaboration and coordination on 16
250250 Protection Projects, particularly projects that cross 17
251251 jurisdictional boundaries; 18
252252 (4) facilitate information sharing, including best 19
253253 available science as described in section 5(c) and 20
254254 mapping resources; and 21
255255 (5) support the development and dissemination 22
256256 of educational materials and programs that inform 23
257257 the public about the threats to the health and resil-24
258258 iency of giant sequoia groves and actions being 25
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261261 •HR 2709 IH
262262 taken to reduce the risk to such groves from high- 1
263263 severity wildfire, insects, and drought. 2
264264 (c) A
265265 DMINISTRATIVESUPPORT, TECHNICALSERV-3
266266 ICES, ANDSTAFFSUPPORT.—The Secretary shall make 4
267267 personnel of the Department of the Interior available to 5
268268 the Coalition for administrative support, technical serv-6
269269 ices, development and dissemination of educational mate-7
270270 rials, and staff support that the Secretary determines nec-8
271271 essary to carry out this section. 9
272272 SEC. 5. GIANT SEQUOIA HEALTH AND RESILIENCY ASSESS-10
273273 MENT. 11
274274 (a) I
275275 NGENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 12
276276 date of the enactment of this Act, the Coalition shall sub-13
277277 mit to the relevant Congressional Committees a Giant Se-14
278278 quoia Health and Resiliency Assessment that, based on 15
279279 the best available science— 16
280280 (1) identifies— 17
281281 (A) each giant sequoia grove that has ex-18
282282 perienced a— 19
283283 (i) stand-replacing disturbance; or 20
284284 (ii) disturbance but continues to have 21
285285 living giant sequoias within the grove, in-22
286286 cluding identifying the tree mortality and 23
287287 regeneration of giant sequoias within such 24
288288 grove; 25
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291291 •HR 2709 IH
292292 (B) each giant sequoia grove that is at 1
293293 high risk of experiencing a stand-replacing dis-2
294294 turbance; 3
295295 (C) lands located near giant sequoia groves 4
296296 that are at risk of experiencing high-severity 5
297297 wildfires that could adversely impact such giant 6
298298 sequoia groves; and 7
299299 (D) each giant sequoia grove that has ex-8
300300 perienced a disturbance and is unlikely to natu-9
301301 rally regenerate and is in need of reforestation; 10
302302 (2) analyzes the resiliency of each giant sequoia 11
303303 grove to threats, such as— 12
304304 (A) high-severity wildfire; 13
305305 (B) insects, including beetle kill; and 14
306306 (C) drought; 15
307307 (3) with respect to Protection Projects, pro-16
308308 poses a list of highest priority Protection Projects to 17
309309 be carried out under section 6, giving priority to 18
310310 projects located on lands identified under subpara-19
311311 graphs (B) and (C) of subsection (a)(1); 20
312312 (4) examines how historical, Tribal, or current 21
313313 approaches to wildland fire suppression and forest 22
314314 management activities across various jurisdictions 23
315315 have impacted the health and resiliency of giant se-24
316316 quoia groves with respect to— 25
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319319 •HR 2709 IH
320320 (A) high-severity wildfires; 1
321321 (B) insects, including beetle kill; and 2
322322 (C) drought; and 3
323323 (5) includes program and policy recommenda-4
324324 tions that address— 5
325325 (A) Federal and State policies that impede 6
326326 activities to improve the health and resiliency of 7
327327 giant sequoias and proposed policy changes to 8
328328 address such impediments; 9
329329 (B) new Federal and State policies nec-10
330330 essary to increase the pace and scale of treat-11
331331 ments that improve the health and resiliency of 12
332332 giant sequoias; 13
333333 (C) options to enhance communication, co-14
334334 ordination, and collaboration, particularly for 15
335335 cross-boundary projects, to improve the health 16
336336 and resiliency of giant sequoias; and 17
337337 (D) research gaps that should be ad-18
338338 dressed to improve the best available science on 19
339339 the giant sequoias. 20
340340 (b) A
341341 NNUALUPDATES.—Not later than 1 year after 21
342342 the submission of the Assessment under subsection (a), 22
343343 and annually thereafter, the Coalition shall submit an up-23
344344 dated Assessment to the relevant Congressional Commit-24
345345 tees that— 25
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348348 •HR 2709 IH
349349 (1) includes any new data, information, or best 1
350350 available science that has changed or become avail-2
351351 able since the previous Assessment was submitted; 3
352352 (2) with respect to Protection Projects— 4
353353 (A) includes information on the number of 5
354354 Protection Projects initiated the previous year 6
355355 and the estimated timeline for completing those 7
356356 projects; 8
357357 (B) includes information on the number of 9
358358 Protection Projects planned in the upcoming 10
359359 year and the estimated timeline for completing 11
360360 those projects; 12
361361 (C) provides status updates and long-term 13
362362 monitoring reports on giant sequoia groves 14
363363 after the completion of Protection Projects; and 15
364364 (D) if the Secretary concerned failed to re-16
365365 duce hazardous fuels in at least 3 giant sequoia 17
366366 groves in the previous year, a written expla-18
367367 nation that includes— 19
368368 (i) a detailed explanation of what im-20
369369 pediments resulted in failing to reduce haz-21
370370 ardous fuels in at least 3 giant sequoia 22
371371 groves; 23
372372 (ii) a detailed explanation of what ac-24
373373 tions the Secretary concerned is taking to 25
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376376 •HR 2709 IH
377377 ensure that hazardous fuels are reduced in 1
378378 at least 3 giant sequoia groves the fol-2
379379 lowing year; and 3
380380 (iii) recommendations to Congress on 4
381381 any policies that need to be changed to as-5
382382 sist the Secretary concerned in reducing 6
383383 hazardous fuels in giant sequoia groves; 7
384384 and 8
385385 (3) with respect to reforestation and rehabilita-9
386386 tion of giant sequoias— 10
387387 (A) contains updates on the implementa-11
388388 tion of the Strategy under section 7, including 12
389389 grove-level data on reforestation and rehabilita-13
390390 tion activities; and 14
391391 (B) provides status updates and moni-15
392392 toring reports on giant sequoia groves that have 16
393393 experienced natural or artificial regeneration as 17
394394 part of the Strategy under section 7. 18
395395 (c) D
396396 ASHBOARD.— 19
397397 (1) R
398398 EQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN .—The Coali-20
399399 tion shall create and maintain a website that— 21
400400 (A) publishes the Assessment, annual up-22
401401 dates to the Assessment, and other educational 23
402402 materials developed by the Coalition; 24
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405405 •HR 2709 IH
406406 (B) contains searchable information about 1
407407 individual giant sequoia groves, including the— 2
408408 (i) resiliency of such groves to threats 3
409409 described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 4
410410 subsection (a); 5
411411 (ii) Protection Projects that have been 6
412412 proposed, initiated, or completed in such 7
413413 groves; and 8
414414 (iii) reforestation and rehabilitation 9
415415 activities that have been proposed, initi-10
416416 ated, or completed in such groves; and 11
417417 (C) maintains a searchable database to 12
418418 track— 13
419419 (i) the status of Federal environ-14
420420 mental reviews and authorizations for spe-15
421421 cific Protection Projects and reforestation 16
422422 and rehabilitation activities; and 17
423423 (ii) the projected cost of Protection 18
424424 Projects and reforestation and rehabilita-19
425425 tion activities. 20
426426 (2) S
427427 EARCHABLE DATABASE .—The Coalition 21
428428 shall include information on the status of Protection 22
429429 Projects in the searchable database created under 23
430430 paragraph (1)(C), including— 24
431431 (A) a comprehensive permitting timetable; 25
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434434 •HR 2709 IH
435435 (B) the status of the compliance of each 1
436436 lead agency, cooperating agency, and partici-2
437437 pating agency with the permitting timetable; 3
438438 (C) any modifications of the permitting 4
439439 timetable required under subparagraph (A), in-5
440440 cluding an explanation as to why the permitting 6
441441 timetable was modified; and 7
442442 (D) information about project-related pub-8
443443 lic meetings, public hearings, and public com-9
444444 ment periods, which shall be presented in 10
445445 English and the predominant language of the 11
446446 community or communities most affected by the 12
447447 project, as that information becomes available. 13
448448 (d) B
449449 ESTAVAILABLESCIENCE.—In utilizing the best 14
450450 available science for the Assessment, the Coalition shall 15
451451 include— 16
452452 (1) data and peer-reviewed research from aca-17
453453 demic institutions with a demonstrated history of 18
454454 studying giant sequoias and with experience ana-19
455455 lyzing distinct management strategies to improve 20
456456 giant sequoia resiliency; 21
457457 (2) traditional ecological knowledge from the 22
458458 Tribe related to improving the health and resiliency 23
459459 of giant sequoia groves; and 24
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462462 •HR 2709 IH
463463 (3) data from Federal, State, Tribal, and local 1
464464 governments or agencies. 2
465465 (e) T
466466 ECHNOLOGYIMPROVEMENTS.—In carrying out 3
467467 this section, the Secretary may enter into memorandums 4
468468 of understanding or agreements with other Federal agen-5
469469 cies or departments, State or local governments, Tribal 6
470470 governments, private entities, or academic institutions to 7
471471 improve, with respect to the Assessment, the use and inte-8
472472 gration of— 9
473473 (1) advanced remote sensing and geospatial 10
474474 technologies; 11
475475 (2) statistical modeling and analysis; or 12
476476 (3) any other technology the Secretary deter-13
477477 mines will benefit the quality of information used in 14
478478 the Assessment. 15
479479 (f) P
480480 LANNING.—The Coalition shall make informa-16
481481 tion from this Assessment available to the Secretary con-17
482482 cerned and State of California to integrate into the— 18
483483 (1) State of California’s Wildfire and Forest 19
484484 Resilience Action Plan; 20
485485 (2) Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis 21
486486 Strategy (or successor plan); and 22
487487 (3) Department of the Interior’s Wildfire Risk 23
488488 Five-Year Monitoring, Maintenance, and Treatment 24
489489 Plan (or successor plan). 25
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492492 •HR 2709 IH
493493 (g) RELATION TO THE NATIONALENVIRONMENTAL 1
494494 P
495495 OLICYACT OF1969.—The development and submission 2
496496 of the Assessment under subsection (a) shall not be sub-3
497497 ject to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 4
498498 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 5
499499 SEC. 6. GIANT SEQUOIA EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 6
500500 (a) E
501501 MERGENCYRESPONSETOPROTECTGIANTSE-7
502502 QUOIAS.— 8
503503 (1) I
504504 N GENERAL.— 9
505505 (A) E
506506 MERGENCY DETERMINATION .—Con-10
507507 gress determines that— 11
508508 (i) an emergency exists on covered 12
509509 public lands and covered National Forest 13
510510 System lands that makes it necessary to 14
511511 carry out Protection Projects that take 15
512512 needed actions to respond to the threat of 16
513513 wildfires, insects, and drought to giant se-17
514514 quoias; and 18
515515 (ii) Protection Projects are necessary 19
516516 to control the immediate impacts of the 20
517517 emergency described in clause (i) and are 21
518518 needed to mitigate harm to life, property, 22
519519 or important natural or cultural resources 23
520520 on covered public lands and covered Na-24
521521 tional Forest System lands. 25
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524524 •HR 2709 IH
525525 (B) APPLICATION.—The emergency deter-1
526526 mination established under subparagraph (A) 2
527527 shall apply to all covered public lands and cov-3
528528 ered National Forest System lands. 4
529529 (C) E
530530 XPIRATION.—The emergency deter-5
531531 mination established under subparagraph (A) 6
532532 shall expire on the date that is 7 years after the 7
533533 date of the enactment of this Act. 8
534534 (2) I
535535 MPLEMENTATION.—While the emergency 9
536536 determination established under subsection (a) is in 10
537537 effect, the following shall apply: 11
538538 (A) The following shall have the force and 12
539539 effect of law: 13
540540 (i) Section 220.4(b) of title 36, Code 14
541541 of Federal Regulations (as in effect July 15
542542 21, 2022), with respect to covered Na-16
543543 tional Forest System lands. 17
544544 (ii) Section 46.150 of title 43, Code of 18
545545 Federal Regulations (as in effect October 19
546546 12, 2022), with respect to covered public 20
547547 lands. 21
548548 (iii) Section 402.05 of title 50, Code 22
549549 of Federal Regulations (as in effect July 23
550550 21, 2022), with respect to covered Na-24
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552552 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 19
553553 •HR 2709 IH
554554 tional Forest System lands and covered 1
555555 public lands. 2
556556 (iv) Section 800.12 of title 36, Code 3
557557 of Federal Regulations (as in effect July 4
558558 21, 2022), with respect to covered Na-5
559559 tional Forest System lands and covered 6
560560 public lands. 7
561561 (B) A responsible official may carry out a 8
562562 Protection Project described by paragraph (4) 9
563563 before initiating— 10
564564 (i) an analysis under section 102 of 11
565565 the National Environmental Policy Act of 12
566566 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332); 13
567567 (ii) consultation under section 7 of the 14
568568 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 15
569569 U.S.C. 1536); and 16
570570 (iii) consultation under section 106 of 17
571571 the National Historic Preservation Act (16 18
572572 U.S.C. 470(f)). 19
573573 (C) The rules established under sub-20
574574 sections (d) and (e), section 40807 of the Infra-21
575575 structure Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 22
576576 6592c(d) and (e)) shall apply with respect to 23
577577 Protection Projects by substituting ‘‘Protection 24
578578 Projects’’ for ‘‘authorized emergency action 25
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581581 •HR 2709 IH
582582 under this section’’ each place it appears in 1
583583 such subsections. 2
584584 (D) Protection Projects shall be subject to 3
585585 the requirements of section 106 of title I of the 4
586586 Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 5
587587 U.S.C. 6511 et seq.). 6
588588 (3) P
589589 ROTECTION PROJECTS .—The responsible 7
590590 official shall carry out the following forest manage-8
591591 ment activities, consistent with applicable grove-spe-9
592592 cific hazardous fuels reduction plans or activities 10
593593 recommend by the Assessment under section 5, as 11
594594 Protection Projects under the emergency determina-12
595595 tion under this section: 13
596596 (A) Conducting hazardous fuels manage-14
597597 ment, including mechanical thinning, mastica-15
598598 tion, and prescribed burning. 16
599599 (B) Removing hazard trees, dead trees, 17
600600 dying trees, or trees at risk of dying, as deter-18
601601 mined by the responsible official. 19
602602 (C) Removing trees to address over-20
603603 stocking or crowding in a forest stand, con-21
604604 sistent with the appropriate basal area of the 22
605605 forest stand as determined by the responsible 23
606606 official. 24
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609609 •HR 2709 IH
610610 (D) Activities included in the applicable 1
611611 grove-specific hazardous fuels reduction plan. 2
612612 (E) Using chemical treatments to address 3
613613 insects and disease and control vegetation com-4
614614 petition. 5
615615 (F) Any combination of activities described 6
616616 in this paragraph. 7
617617 (4) R
618618 EQUIREMENTS.— 8
619619 (A) I
620620 N GENERAL.—Protection Projects 9
621621 carried out under paragraph (3) and reforest-10
622622 ation and rehabilitation activities carried out 11
623623 under this Act that are described by subpara-12
624624 graph (D) are a category of actions hereby des-13
625625 ignated as being categorically excluded from the 14
626626 preparation of an environmental assessment or 15
627627 an environmental impact statement under sec-16
628628 tion 102 of the National Environmental Policy 17
629629 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 18
630630 (B) A
631631 VAILABILITY.—The Secretary con-19
632632 cerned shall use the categorical exclusion estab-20
633633 lished under subparagraph (A) in accordance 21
634634 with this section. 22
635635 (C) I
636636 NTERAGENCY COOPERATION .—Con-23
637637 gress finds that Protection Projects carried out 24
638638 under this section are consistent with improving 25
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641641 •HR 2709 IH
642642 the health and resiliency of critical habitat for 1
643643 threatened and endangered species, including 2
644644 the Pacific fisher and California spotted owl. 3
645645 (D) R
646646 EQUIREMENTS.—A Protection 4
647647 Project or reforestation or rehabilitation activity 5
648648 is described by this subparagraph if such Pro-6
649649 tection Project or reforestation or rehabilitation 7
650650 activity— 8
651651 (i) covers an area of no more than— 9
652652 (I) 2,000 acres within giant se-10
653653 quoia groves where a grove-specific 11
654654 hazardous fuels reduction plan has 12
655655 been developed by the relevant land 13
656656 management agency or on lands iden-14
657657 tified under section 5(a)(1)(B); and 15
658658 (II) 3,000 acres on lands identi-16
659659 fied under section 5(a)(1)(C); 17
660660 (ii) was— 18
661661 (I) proposed by the Assessment 19
662662 under section 5(a)(3); 20
663663 (II) developed through a collabo-21
664664 rative process; or 22
665665 (III) proposed by a resource advi-23
666666 sory committee (as defined in section 24
667667 201 of the Secure Rural Schools and 25
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670670 •HR 2709 IH
671671 Community Self-Determination Act of 1
672672 2000 (16 U.S.C. 7121)); and 2
673673 (iii) occurs on Federal land or non- 3
674674 Federal land with the consent of the non- 4
675675 Federal landowner. 5
676676 (E) U
677677 SE OF OTHER AUTHORITIES .—To the 6
678678 maximum extent practicable, the Secretary con-7
679679 cerned shall use the authorities provided under 8
680680 this section in combination with other authori-9
681681 ties to carry out Protection Projects, includ-10
682682 ing— 11
683683 (i) good neighbor agreements entered 12
684684 into under section 8206 of the Agricultural 13
685685 Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); and 14
686686 (ii) stewardship contracting projects 15
687687 entered into under section 604 of the 16
688688 Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 17
689689 (16 U.S.C. 6591c). 18
690690 (F) S
691691 AVINGS CLAUSE.—With respect to 19
692692 joint Protection Projects and reforestation and 20
693693 rehabilitation activities involving the Tribe, 21
694694 nothing in this section shall be construed to add 22
695695 any additional regulatory requirements onto the 23
696696 Tribe. 24
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699699 •HR 2709 IH
700700 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—To the maximum extent 1
701701 practicable, the Secretary concerned shall reduce haz-2
702702 ardous fuels in no fewer than 3 giant sequoia groves each 3
703703 year. 4
704704 SEC. 7. GIANT SEQUOIA REFORESTATION AND REHABILITA-5
705705 TION STRATEGY. 6
706706 (a) R
707707 EFORESTATION AND REHABILITATIONSTRAT-7
708708 EGY.— 8
709709 (1) I
710710 N GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 9
711711 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-10
712712 retary, in consultation with the Coalition, shall de-11
713713 velop and implement a strategy, to be known as the 12
714714 Giant Sequoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation 13
715715 Strategy, to enhance the reforestation and rehabili-14
716716 tation of giant sequoia groves that— 15
717717 (A) identifies giant sequoia groves in need 16
718718 of natural or artificial regeneration, giving 17
719719 highest priority to groves identified under sec-18
720720 tion 5(a)(1)(A)(i); 19
721721 (B) creates a priority list of reforestation 20
722722 and rehabilitation activities; 21
723723 (C) identifies and addresses— 22
724724 (i) barriers to reforestation or reha-23
725725 bilitation including— 24
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728728 •HR 2709 IH
729729 (I) regulatory and funding bar-1
730730 riers; 2
731731 (II) seedling shortages or related 3
732732 nursery infrastructure capacity con-4
733733 straints; 5
734734 (III) labor and workforce short-6
735735 ages; 7
736736 (IV) technology and science gaps; 8
737737 and 9
738738 (V) site preparation challenges; 10
739739 (ii) potential public-private partner-11
740740 ship opportunities to complete high-priority 12
741741 reforestation or rehabilitation projects; 13
742742 (iii) a timeline for addressing the 14
743743 backlog of reforestation for giant sequoias 15
744744 in the 10-year period after the agreement 16
745745 is entered into under section 3; and 17
746746 (iv) strategies to ensure genetic diver-18
747747 sity across giant sequoia groves; and 19
748748 (D) includes program and policy rec-20
749749 ommendations needed to improve the efficiency 21
750750 or effectiveness of the Strategy. 22
751751 (2) A
752752 SSESSMENT.—The Secretary may incor-23
753753 porate the Strategy into the Assessment under sec-24
754754 tion 5. 25
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757757 •HR 2709 IH
758758 (b) PRIORITYREFORESTATION PROJECTSAMEND-1
759759 MENT.—Section 3(e)(4)(C)(ii)(I) of the Forest and 2
760760 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 3
761761 (16 U.S.C. 1601(e)(4)(C)(ii)(I)) is amended— 4
762762 (1) in item (bb), by striking ‘‘and’’; 5
763763 (2) in item (cc), by striking the period and in-6
764764 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 7
765765 (3) by adding at the end the following: 8
766766 ‘‘(dd) shall include reforest-9
767767 ation and rehabilitation activities 10
768768 conducted under section 7 of the 11
769769 Save Our Sequoias Act.’’. 12
770770 (c) I
771771 MPLEMENTATION.—Section 4(d)(1) of the Wil-13
772772 derness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)) is amended by inserting 14
773773 ‘‘Nothing in this Act precludes reforestation (as defined 15
774774 in section 2 of the Save our Sequoias Act) activities to 16
775775 reestablish giant sequoias following a wildfire.’’ after the 17
776776 period at the end. 18
777777 SEC. 8. GIANT SEQUOIA STRIKE TEAMS. 19
778778 (a) G
779779 IANTSEQUOIASTRIKETEAMS.— 20
780780 (1) E
781781 STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary con-21
782782 cerned shall each establish a Giant Sequoia Strike 22
783783 Team to assist the Secretary concerned with the im-23
784784 plementation of— 24
785785 (A) primarily, section 6; and 25
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788788 •HR 2709 IH
789789 (B) secondarily, section 7. 1
790790 (2) D
791791 UTIES.—Each Strike Team shall— 2
792792 (A) assist the Secretary concerned with 3
793793 any reviews, including analysis under the Na-4
794794 tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 5
795795 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), consultations under the 6
796796 National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 7
797797 U.S.C. 470 et seq.), and consultations under 8
798798 the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 9
799799 1531 et seq.); 10
800800 (B) implement any necessary site prepara-11
801801 tion work in advance of or as part of a Protec-12
802802 tion Project or reforestation or rehabilitation 13
803803 activity; 14
804804 (C) implement Protection Projects under 15
805805 section 6; and 16
806806 (D) implement reforestation or rehabilita-17
807807 tion activities under section 7. 18
808808 (3) M
809809 EMBERS.—The Secretary concerned may 19
810810 appoint no more than 10 individuals each to serve 20
811811 on a Strike Team comprised of— 21
812812 (A) employees of the Department of the 22
813813 Interior; 23
814814 (B) employees of the Forest Service; 24
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817817 •HR 2709 IH
818818 (C) private contractors from any nonprofit 1
819819 organization, State government, Tribal Govern-2
820820 ment, local government, academic institution, or 3
821821 private organization; and 4
822822 (D) volunteers from any nonprofit organi-5
823823 zation, State government, Tribal Government, 6
824824 local government, academic institution, or pri-7
825825 vate organization. 8
826826 SEC. 9. GIANT SEQUOIA COLLABORATIVE RESTORATION 9
827827 GRANTS. 10
828828 (a) I
829829 NGENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 11
830830 with the parties to the agreement under section 3, shall 12
831831 establish a program to award grants to eligible entities 13
832832 to advance, facilitate, or improve giant sequoia health and 14
833833 resiliency. 15
834834 (b) E
835835 LIGIBLEENTITY.—The Secretary may award 16
836836 grants under this section to any nonprofit organization, 17
837837 Tribal Government, local government, academic institu-18
838838 tion, or private organization to help advance, facilitate, or 19
839839 improve giant sequoia health and resiliency. 20
840840 (c) P
841841 RIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-21
842842 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 22
843843 that— 23
844844 (1) primarily, are likely to have the greatest im-24
845845 pact on giant sequoia health and resiliency; and 25
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848848 •HR 2709 IH
849849 (2) secondarily— 1
850850 (A) are small businesses or tribal entities, 2
851851 particularly in rural areas; and 3
852852 (B) create or support jobs, particularly in 4
853853 rural areas. 5
854854 (d) U
855855 SE OFGRANTFUNDS.—Funds from grants 6
856856 awarded under this section shall be used to— 7
857857 (1) create, expand, or develop markets for haz-8
858858 ardous fuels removed under section 6, including 9
859859 markets for biomass and biochar; 10
860860 (2) facilitate hazardous fuel removal under sec-11
861861 tion 6, including by reducing the cost of trans-12
862862 porting hazardous fuels removed as part of a Protec-13
863863 tion Project; 14
864864 (3) expand, enhance, develop, or create facilities 15
865865 or land that can store or process hazardous fuels re-16
866866 moved under section 6; 17
867867 (4) establish, develop, expand, enhance, or im-18
868868 prove nursery capacity or infrastructure necessary to 19
869869 facilitate the Strategy established under section 7; or 20
870870 (5) support tribal management and conserva-21
871871 tion of giant sequoias, including funding for tribal 22
872872 historic preservation officers. 23
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875875 •HR 2709 IH
876876 SEC. 10. GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY FOR GIANT SE-1
877877 QUOIAS. 2
878878 Section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 3
879879 U.S.C. 2113a) is amended— 4
880880 (1) in subsection (a)— 5
881881 (A) in paragraph (3)(A)— 6
882882 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 7
883883 the end; 8
884884 (ii) by redesignating clause (ii) as 9
885885 clause (iii); and 10
886886 (iii) by inserting after clause (i) the 11
887887 following: 12
888888 ‘‘(ii) Kings Canyon National Park, 13
889889 Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite Na-14
890890 tional Park; or’’; 15
891891 (B) in paragraph (4)(A)— 16
892892 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 17
893893 the end; 18
894894 (ii) by redesignating clause (iii) as 19
895895 clause (iv); 20
896896 (iii) by inserting after clause (ii) the 21
897897 following: 22
898898 ‘‘(iii) activities conducted under sec-23
899899 tion 6 of the Save Our Sequoias Act;’’; 24
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902902 •HR 2709 IH
903903 (iv) in clause (iv), as so redesignated, 1
904904 by striking the period at the end and in-2
905905 serting ‘‘; or’’; and 3
906906 (v) by adding at the end the following: 4
907907 ‘‘(v) any combination of activities 5
908908 specified in clauses (i) through (iv).’’. 6
909909 (C) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘or In-7
910910 dian tribe’’; and 8
911911 (D) in paragraph (10)(B) by striking 9
912912 ‘‘land.’’ and inserting ‘‘land, Kings Canyon Na-10
913913 tional Park, Sequoia National Park, and Yo-11
914914 semite National Park.’’; and 12
915915 (2) in subsection (b)— 13
916916 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 14
917917 Indian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; 15
918918 (B) by amending paragraph (2)(C) to read 16
919919 as follows: 17
920920 ‘‘(C) T
921921 REATMENT OF REVENUE .— 18
922922 ‘‘(i) I
923923 N GENERAL.—Funds received 19
924924 from the sale of timber by a Governor, an 20
925925 Indian tribe, or a county under a good 21
926926 neighbor agreement shall be retained and 22
927927 used by the Governor, Indian tribe, or 23
928928 county, as applicable— 24
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931931 •HR 2709 IH
932932 ‘‘(I) to carry out authorized res-1
933933 toration services under such good 2
934934 neighbor agreement; and 3
935935 ‘‘(II) if there are funds remain-4
936936 ing after carrying out the services 5
937937 under clause (i), to carry out author-6
938938 ized restoration services within the 7
939939 State under other good neighbor 8
940940 agreements. 9
941941 ‘‘(ii) S
942942 PECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN NA -10
943943 TIONAL PARKS.—Funds received from the 11
944944 sale of timber by a Governor, an Indian 12
945945 tribe, or a county under a good neighbor 13
946946 agreement carried out within the bound-14
947947 aries of Kings Canyon National Park, Se-15
948948 quoia National Park, or Yosemite National 16
949949 Park shall be retained and used by the 17
950950 Governor, Indian tribe, or county, as appli-18
951951 cable— 19
952952 ‘‘(I) to carry out authorized res-20
953953 toration services under such good 21
954954 neighbor agreement; 22
955955 ‘‘(II) if there are funds remain-23
956956 ing after carrying out the services 24
957957 under clause (i), to carry out author-25
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960960 •HR 2709 IH
961961 ized restoration services under other 1
962962 good neighbor agreements within the 2
963963 boundaries of the park unit in which 3
964964 the initial good neighbor agreement 4
965965 occurred; and 5
966966 ‘‘(III) if there are no further 6
967967 good neighbor agreements to carry 7
968968 out under clause (ii), to transfer to 8
969969 the park unit in which the initial good 9
970970 neighbor agreement occurred to be 10
971971 used for giant sequoia conservation 11
972972 and management. 12
973973 ‘‘(iii) T
974974 ERMINATION OF EFFECTIVE -13
975975 NESS.—The authority provided by this 14
976976 subparagraph terminates effective October 15
977977 1, 2030.’’; 16
978978 (C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, In-17
979979 dian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 18
980980 (D) by amending paragraph (4) to read as 19
981981 follows: 20
982982 ‘‘(4) A
983983 UTHORIZED RESTORATION SERVICES IN 21
984984 CERTAIN NATIONAL PARKS .—Authorized restoration 22
985985 services occurring in Kings Canyon National Park, 23
986986 Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite National Park 24
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989989 •HR 2709 IH
990990 shall be carried out in accordance with section 1
991991 100753 of title 54, United States Code.’’. 2
992992 (3) C
993993 ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 3
994994 8206(a) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 4
995995 2113a(a)) is amended— 5
996996 (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, 6
997997 Indian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 7
998998 (B) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, In-8
999999 dian tribe,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’. 9
10001000 SEC. 11. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTING FOR GIANT SE-10
10011001 QUOIAS. 11
10021002 (a) N
10031003 ATIONALPARKSERVICE.—Section 604(a)(2) of 12
10041004 the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 13
10051005 6591c(c)) is amended to read— 14
10061006 ‘‘(2) D
10071007 IRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 15
10081008 the Director of the Bureau of Land Management 16
10091009 with respect to Bureau of Land Management lands 17
10101010 and the Director of the National Park Service with 18
10111011 respect to lands within Kings Canyon National 19
10121012 Park, Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite Na-20
10131013 tional Park.’’. 21
10141014 (b) G
10151015 IANTSEQUOIASTEWARDSHIPCONTRACTS.— 22
10161016 Section 604(c) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 23
10171017 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c(c)) is amended by adding at the 24
10181018 end the following: 25
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10211021 •HR 2709 IH
10221022 ‘‘(8) Promoting the health and resiliency of 1
10231023 giant sequoias.’’. 2
10241024 SEC. 12. GIANT SEQUOIA EMERGENCY PROTECTION PRO-3
10251025 GRAM AND FUND. 4
10261026 (a) I
10271027 NGENERAL.—Chapter 1011 of title 54, United 5
10281028 States Code, is amended by inserting at the end the fol-6
10291029 lowing: 7
10301030 ‘‘§ 101123. Giant Sequoia Emergency Protection Pro-8
10311031 gram and Fund 9
10321032 ‘‘(a) G
10331033 IANTSEQUOIAEMERGENCY PROTECTION 10
10341034 P
10351035 ROGRAM.—The National Park Foundation, in coordina-11
10361036 tion with the National Forest Foundation, shall design 12
10371037 and implement a comprehensive program to assist and 13
10381038 promote philanthropic programs of support that benefit— 14
10391039 ‘‘(1) primarily, the management and conserva-15
10401040 tion of giant sequoias on National Park Service and 16
10411041 covered National Forest System lands to promote re-17
10421042 siliency to wildfires, insects, and drought; and 18
10431043 ‘‘(2) secondarily, the reforestation of giant se-19
10441044 quoias on National Park Service and covered Na-20
10451045 tional Forest System lands impacted by wildfire. 21
10461046 ‘‘(b) G
10471047 IANTSEQUOIAEMERGENCY PROTECTION 22
10481048 F
10491049 UND.—The National Park Foundation, in coordination 23
10501050 with the National Forest Foundation, shall establish a 24
10511051 joint special account to be known as the Giant Sequoia 25
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10541054 •HR 2709 IH
10551055 Emergency Protection Fund (referred to as ‘the Fund’ in 1
10561056 this section), to be administered in support of the program 2
10571057 established under subsection (a). 3
10581058 ‘‘(1) F
10591059 UNDS FOR GIANT SEQUOIA EMERGENCY 4
10601060 PROTECTION.—The Fund shall consist of any gifts, 5
10611061 devises, or bequests that are provided to the Na-6
10621062 tional Park Foundation or National Forest Founda-7
10631063 tion for such purpose. 8
10641064 ‘‘(2) U
10651065 SE OF FUNDS.—Funds shall be available 9
10661066 to the National Park Foundation and National For-10
10671067 est Foundation without further appropriation, sub-11
10681068 ject to the provisions in paragraph (3), for projects 12
10691069 and activities approved by the Chief of the Forest 13
10701070 Service or the Director of the National Park Service 14
10711071 as appropriate, or their designees, to— 15
10721072 ‘‘(A) primarily, support the management 16
10731073 and conservation of giant sequoias on National 17
10741074 Park Service and covered National Forest Sys-18
10751075 tem lands to promote resiliency to wildfires, in-19
10761076 sects, and drought; and 20
10771077 ‘‘(B) secondarily, support the reforestation 21
10781078 of giant sequoias on National Park Service and 22
10791079 covered National Forest System lands impacted 23
10801080 by wildfire. 24
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10831083 •HR 2709 IH
10841084 ‘‘(3) TRIBAL SUPPORT.—Of the funds provided 1
10851085 to the National Park Foundation and National For-2
10861086 est Foundation under paragraph (2), not less than 3
10871087 15 percent of such funds shall be used to support 4
10881088 tribal management and conservation of giant se-5
10891089 quoias including funding for tribal historic preserva-6
10901090 tion officers. 7
10911091 ‘‘(c) S
10921092 UMMARY.—Beginning 1 year after the date of 8
10931093 the enactment of this Act, the National Park Foundation 9
10941094 and National Forest Foundation shall include with their 10
10951095 annual reports a summary of the status of the program 11
10961096 and Fund created under this section that includes— 12
10971097 ‘‘(1) a statement of the amounts deposited in 13
10981098 the Fund during the fiscal year; 14
10991099 ‘‘(2) the amount of the balance remaining in 15
11001100 the Fund at the end of the fiscal year; and 16
11011101 ‘‘(3) a description of the program and projects 17
11021102 funded during the fiscal year. 18
11031103 ‘‘(d) C
11041104 OVEREDNATIONALFORESTSYSTEMLANDS 19
11051105 D
11061106 EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘covered National 20
11071107 Forest System lands’ has the meaning given such term 21
11081108 in section 2 of the Save Our Sequoias Act. 22
11091109 ‘‘(e) T
11101110 ERMINATION OF EFFECTIVENESS.—The au-23
11111111 thority provided by this section shall terminate 7 years 24
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11141114 •HR 2709 IH
11151115 after the date of enactment of the Save Our Sequoias 1
11161116 Act.’’. 2
11171117 (b) C
11181118 ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The table of sec-3
11191119 tions for chapter 1011 of title 54, United States Code, 4
11201120 is amended by inserting at the end the following: 5
11211121 ‘‘101123. Giant Sequoia Emergency Protection Program and Fund.’’.
11221122 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
11231123 6
11241124 (a) I
11251125 NGENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-7
11261126 propriations made in advance for such purposes, the Sec-8
11271127 retary concerned shall allocate up to— 9
11281128 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 10
11291129 (2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 11
11301130 (3) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2028 12
11311131 through 2030; and 13
11321132 (4) $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2031 14
11331133 through 2032. 15
11341134 (b) L
11351135 IMITATION.—Of the amounts authorized under 16
11361136 subsection (a), not less than 90 percent of funds shall be 17
11371137 used to carry out section 6 and section 9 of this Act. 18
11381138 (c) S
11391139 AVINGSCLAUSE.—Nothing in this Act affects— 19
11401140 (1) the allocation of previously appropriated 20
11411141 funds from prior fiscal years, consistent with appli-21
11421142 cable laws and regulations; and 22
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11451145 •HR 2709 IH
11461146 (2) the prerogative of the Secretary concerned 1
11471147 to establish Departmental funding priorities, con-2
11481148 sistent with applicable laws and regulations. 3
11491149 Æ
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