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Us Congress House Bill HB471

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB471 Compare Versions

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12 119THCONGRESS
23 1
34 STSESSION H. R. 471
4-AN ACT
5+To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and im-
6+prove forest management activities on National Forest System lands,
7+on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Manage-
8+ment, and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone
9+forested lands, and for other purposes.
10+IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
11+JANUARY16, 2025
12+Mr. W
13+ESTERMAN(for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. PANETTA, Mr.
14+S
15+TAUBER, Mr. WHITESIDES, Mr. COLLINS, Mr. VASQUEZ, Mrs. KIM, Mr.
16+C
17+OSTA, Mr. ZINKE, Mr. HARDERof California, Mr. JOHNSONof South
18+Dakota, Mr. B
19+ERA, Mrs. KIGGANSof Virginia, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms.
20+M
21+ALOY, Mr. THOMPSONof California, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. CORREA, Mr.
22+C
23+RANK, Mr. GOLDENof Maine, Mr. EZELL, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. HURDof
24+Colorado, Ms. L
25+EEof Nevada, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. GRAY, Mr. BARR, Mr.
26+H
27+OYER, Mr. CARTERof Georgia, Ms. PETTERSEN, Mr. JOYCEof Penn-
28+sylvania, Mr. O
29+BERNOLTE, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. GOSAR,
30+Ms. B
31+OEBERT, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. ISSA, Mr. FONG, Ms. HAGEMAN,
32+Mr. F
33+RY, and Mr. AMODEIof Nevada) introduced the following bill;
34+which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi-
35+tion to the Committees on Agriculture, and Science, Space, and Tech-
36+nology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
37+each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
38+tion of the committee concerned
39+A BILL
540 To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act
641 of 1969 and improve forest management activities on
742 National Forest System lands, on public lands under
843 the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management,
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947 and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown,
1048 fire-prone forested lands, and for other purposes.
1149 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
12-tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,2 2
13-•HR 471 EH
14-SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
50+tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
51+SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
1552 (a) S
16-HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2
17-‘‘Fix Our Forests Act’’. 3
53+HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
54+‘‘Fix Our Forests Act’’. 5
1855 (b) T
19-ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 4
20-this Act is as follows:5
56+ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
57+this Act is as follows: 7
2158 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
2259 Sec. 2. Definitions.
2360 TITLE I—LANDSCAPE-SCALE RESTORATION
2461 Subtitle A—Addressing Emergency Wildfire Risks in High Priority Firesheds
2562 Sec. 101. Designation of fireshed management areas.
2663 Sec. 102. Fireshed center.
2764 Sec. 103. Fireshed registry.
2865 Sec. 104. Shared stewardship.
2966 Sec. 105. Fireshed assessments.
3067 Sec. 106. Emergency fireshed management.
3168 Sec. 107. Sunset.
3269 Subtitle B—Expanding Collaborative Tools to Reduce Wildfire Risk and
3370 Improve Forest Health
3471 Sec. 111. Modification of the treatment of certain revenue and payments under
3572 good neighbor agreements.
3673 Sec. 112. Fixing stewardship end result contracting.
3774 Sec. 113. Intra-agency strike teams.
3875 Sec. 114. Locally-led restoration.
3976 Sec. 115. Joint Chiefs landscape restoration partnership program.
4077 Sec. 116. Collaborative forest landscape restoration program.
4178 Sec. 117. Utilizing grazing for wildfire risk reduction.
4279 Sec. 118. Water source protection program.
4380 Sec. 119. Watershed condition framework technical corrections.
4481 Subtitle C—Litigation Reform
4582 Sec. 121. Commonsense litigation reform.
4683 Sec. 122. Consultation on forest plans.
4784 TITLE II—PROTECTING COMMUNITIES IN THE WILDLAND-URBAN
4885 INTERFACE
4986 Sec. 201. Community wildfire risk reduction program.
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5090 Sec. 202. Community wildfire defense research program.
5191 Sec. 203. Vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and main-
5292 tenance relating to electric transmission and distribution facil-
5393 ity rights-of-way.
5494 Sec. 204. Categorical exclusion for electric utility lines rights-of-way.
5595 Sec. 205. Seeds of success.
5696 Sec. 206. Program to support priority reforestation and restoration projects of
5797 Department of the Interior.
58-Sec. 207. Fire department repayment. 3
59-•HR 471 EH
98+Sec. 207. Fire department repayment.
6099 TITLE III—TRANSPARENCY, TECHNOLOGY, AND PARTNERSHIPS
61100 Subtitle A—Transparency and Technology
62101 Sec. 301. Biochar innovations and opportunities for conservation, health, and
63102 advancements in research.
64103 Sec. 302. Accurate hazardous fuels reduction reports.
65104 Sec. 303. Public-private wildfire technology deployment and demonstration
66105 partnership.
67106 Sec. 304. GAO study on Forest Service policies.
68107 Sec. 305. Forest Service Western headquarters study.
69108 Sec. 306. Keeping forest plans current and monitored.
70109 Sec. 307. Container Aerial Firefighting System (CAFFS).
71110 Sec. 308. Study on pine beetle infestation.
72-Sec. 309. Fire safe electrical corridors.
73111 Subtitle B—White Oak Resilience
74112 Sec. 311. White Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition.
75113 Sec. 312. Forest Service pilot program.
76114 Sec. 313. Department of the Interior white oak review and restoration.
77115 Sec. 314. White oak regeneration and upland oak habitat.
78116 Sec. 315. Tree nursery shortages.
79117 Sec. 316. White oak research.
80118 Sec. 317. USDA formal initiative.
81119 Sec. 318. Authorities.
82120 TITLE IV—ENSURING CASUALTY ASSISTANCE FOR OUR
83121 FIREFIGHTERS
84122 Sec. 401. Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program.
85123 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
86124 1
87125 In this Act: 2
88126 (1) D
89127 IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 3
90128 the Director of the Fireshed Center appointed under 4
91129 section 102. 5
92130 (2) F
93131 IRESHED.—The term ‘‘fireshed’’ means a 6
94132 landscape-scale area that faces similar wildfire 7
95-threat where a response strategy could influence the 8
96-wildfire outcome. 9 4
97-•HR 471 EH
98-(3) FIRESHED MANAGEMENT PROJECT .—The 1
99-term ‘‘fireshed management project’’ means a 2
100-project under section 106. 3
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135+•HR 471 IH
136+threat where a response strategy could influence the 1
137+wildfire outcome. 2
138+(3) F
139+IRESHED MANAGEMENT PROJECT .—The 3
140+term ‘‘fireshed management project’’ means a 4
141+project under section 106. 5
101142 (4) F
102-IRESHED REGISTRY.—The term ‘‘Fireshed 4
103-Registry’’ means the fireshed registry established 5
104-under section 103. 6
143+IRESHED REGISTRY.—The term ‘‘Fireshed 6
144+Registry’’ means the fireshed registry established 7
145+under section 103. 8
105146 (5) F
106-OREST PLAN.—The term ‘‘forest plan’’ 7
107-means—8
108-(A) a land use plan prepared by the Bu-9
109-reau of Land Management for public lands pur-10
110-suant to section 202 of the Federal Land Policy 11
111-and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 12
112-1712); 13
113-(B) a land and resource management plan 14
114-prepared by the Forest Service for a unit of the 15
115-National Forest System pursuant to section 6 16
116-of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Re-17
117-sources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 18
118-1604); or 19
119-(C) a forest management plan (as defined 20
120-in section 304 of the National Indian Forests 21
121-Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3104)) 22
122-with respect to Indian forest land or rangeland. 23
123-(6) G
124-OVERNOR.—The term ‘‘Governor’’ means 24
125-the Governor or any other appropriate executive offi-25 5
126-•HR 471 EH
127-cial of an affected State or Indian Tribe or the Com-1
128-monwealth of Puerto Rico. 2
147+OREST PLAN.—The term ‘‘forest plan’’ 9
148+means— 10
149+(A) a land use plan prepared by the Bu-11
150+reau of Land Management for public lands pur-12
151+suant to section 202 of the Federal Land Policy 13
152+and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 14
153+1712); 15
154+(B) a land and resource management plan 16
155+prepared by the Forest Service for a unit of the 17
156+National Forest System pursuant to section 6 18
157+of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Re-19
158+sources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 20
159+1604); or 21
160+(C) a forest management plan (as defined 22
161+in section 304 of the National Indian Forests 23
162+Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3104)) 24
163+with respect to Indian forest land or rangeland. 25
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166+•HR 471 IH
167+(6) GOVERNOR.—The term ‘‘Governor’’ means 1
168+the Governor or any other appropriate executive offi-2
169+cial of an affected State or Indian Tribe or the Com-3
170+monwealth of Puerto Rico. 4
129171 (7) H
130-AZARDOUS FUELS MANAGEMENT ACTIVI -3
131-TIES.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels management ac-4
132-tivities’’ means any vegetation management activities 5
133-(or combination thereof) that reduce the risk of 6
134-wildfire, including mechanical thinning, mastication, 7
135-prescribed burning, cultural burning (as determined 8
136-by the applicable Indian Tribe), timber harvest, and 9
137-grazing. 10
172+AZARDOUS FUELS MANAGEMENT ACTIVI -5
173+TIES.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels management ac-6
174+tivities’’ means any vegetation management activities 7
175+(or combination thereof) that reduce the risk of 8
176+wildfire, including mechanical thinning, mastication, 9
177+prescribed burning, cultural burning (as determined 10
178+by the applicable Indian Tribe), timber harvest, and 11
179+grazing. 12
138180 (8) HFRA
139-TERMS.—The terms ‘‘at-risk com-11
140-munity’’, ‘‘community wildfire protection plan’’, and 12
141-‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ have the meanings given 13
142-such terms, respectively, in section 101 of the 14
143-Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 15
144-6511). 16
181+TERMS.—The terms ‘‘at-risk com-13
182+munity’’, ‘‘community wildfire protection plan’’, and 14
183+‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ have the meanings given 15
184+such terms, respectively, in section 101 of the 16
185+Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 17
186+6511). 18
145187 (9) I
146-NDIAN FOREST LAND OR RANGELAND .—17
147-The term ‘‘Indian forest land or rangeland’’ means 18
148-land that—19
149-(A) is held in trust by, or with a restriction 20
150-against alienation by, the United States for an 21
151-Indian Tribe or a member of an Indian Tribe; 22
152-and 23
153-(B)(i)(I) is Indian forest land (as defined 24
154-in section 304 of the National Indian Forest 25 6
155-•HR 471 EH
156-Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3103)); 1
157-or 2
158-(II) has a cover of grasses, 3
159-brush, or any similar vegetation; or 4
160-(ii) formerly had a forest cover or veg-5
161-etative cover that is capable of restoration. 6
188+NDIAN FOREST LAND OR RANGELAND .— 19
189+The term ‘‘Indian forest land or rangeland’’ means 20
190+land that— 21
191+(A) is held in trust by, or with a restriction 22
192+against alienation by, the United States for an 23
193+Indian Tribe or a member of an Indian Tribe; 24
194+and 25
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198+(B)(i)(I) is Indian forest land (as defined 1
199+in section 304 of the National Indian Forest 2
200+Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3103)); 3
201+or 4
202+(II) has a cover of grasses, 5
203+brush, or any similar vegetation; or 6
204+(ii) formerly had a forest cover or veg-7
205+etative cover that is capable of restoration. 8
162206 (10) I
163-NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 7
164-has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 8
165-Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 9
166-Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 10
207+NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 9
208+has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 10
209+Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 11
210+Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 12
167211 (11) N
168-ATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS .—The 11
169-term ‘‘National Forest System lands’’ has the mean-12
170-ing given the term in section 11(a) of the Forest 13
171-and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 14
172-of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609). 15
212+ATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS .—The 13
213+term ‘‘National Forest System lands’’ has the mean-14
214+ing given the term in section 11(a) of the Forest 15
215+and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 16
216+of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609). 17
173217 (12) P
174-UBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 16
175-has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 17
176-the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 18
177-1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702), except that the term in-19
178-cludes Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant lands and Or-20
179-egon and California Railroad Grant lands. 21
180-(13) R
181-ELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -22
182-TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant Congressional Commit-23
183-tees’’ means—24 7
184-•HR 471 EH
185-(A) the Committees on Natural Resources 1
186-and Agriculture of the House of Representa-2
187-tives; and 3
188-(B) the Committees on Energy and Nat-4
189-ural Resources and Agriculture, Nutrition, and 5
190-Forestry of the Senate. 6
218+UBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 18
219+has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 19
220+the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 20
221+1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702), except that the term in-21
222+cludes Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant lands and Or-22
223+egon and California Railroad Grant lands. 23
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227+(13) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
228+TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant Congressional Commit-2
229+tees’’ means— 3
230+(A) the Committees on Natural Resources 4
231+and Agriculture of the House of Representa-5
232+tives; and 6
233+(B) the Committees on Energy and Nat-7
234+ural Resources and Agriculture, Nutrition, and 8
235+Forestry of the Senate. 9
191236 (14) R
192-ESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘re-7
193-sponsible official’’ means an employee of the Depart-8
194-ment of the Interior or Forest Service who has the 9
195-authority to make and implement a decision on a 10
196-proposed action. 11
237+ESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘re-10
238+sponsible official’’ means an employee of the Depart-11
239+ment of the Interior or Forest Service who has the 12
240+authority to make and implement a decision on a 13
241+proposed action. 14
197242 (15) S
198-ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 12
199-means each of—13
200-(A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 14
201-(B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 15
243+ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 15
244+means each of— 16
245+(A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 17
246+(B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 18
202247 (16) S
203-ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 16
204-means the Secretary of Agriculture. 17
248+ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 19
249+means the Secretary of Agriculture. 20
205250 (17) S
206-ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 18
207-‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means—19
208-(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-20
209-spect to National Forest System lands; and 21
210-(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-22
211-spect to public lands. 23 8
212-•HR 471 EH
213-(18) SPECIAL DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘special 1
214-district’’ means a political subdivision of a State 2
215-that—3
216-(A) has significant budgetary autonomy or 4
217-control; 5
218-(B) was created by or pursuant to the laws 6
219-of the State for the purpose of performing a 7
220-limited and specific governmental or proprietary 8
221-function; and 9
222-(C) is distinct from any other local govern-10
223-ment unit within the State. 11
251+ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 21
252+‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 22
253+(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-23
254+spect to National Forest System lands; and 24
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257+•HR 471 IH
258+(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-1
259+spect to public lands. 2
260+(18) S
261+PECIAL DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘special 3
262+district’’ means a political subdivision of a State 4
263+that— 5
264+(A) has significant budgetary autonomy or 6
265+control; 7
266+(B) was created by or pursuant to the laws 8
267+of the State for the purpose of performing a 9
268+limited and specific governmental or proprietary 10
269+function; and 11
270+(C) is distinct from any other local govern-12
271+ment unit within the State. 13
224272 (19) S
225-TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 12
226-the several States, the District of Columbia, and 13
227-each territory of the United States. 14
228-TITLE I—LANDSCAPE-SCALE 15
229-RESTORATION 16
230-Subtitle A—Addressing Emergency 17
231-Wildfire Risks in High Priority 18
232-Firesheds 19
233-SEC. 101. DESIGNATION OF FIRESHED MANAGEMENT 20
234-AREAS. 21
273+TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 14
274+the several States, the District of Columbia, and 15
275+each territory of the United States. 16
276+TITLE I—LANDSCAPE-SCALE 17
277+RESTORATION 18
278+Subtitle A—Addressing Emergency 19
279+Wildfire Risks in High Priority 20
280+Firesheds 21
281+SEC. 101. DESIGNATION OF FIRESHED MANAGEMENT 22
282+AREAS. 23
235283 (a) D
236-ESIGNATION OF FIRESHEDMANAGEMENT 22
284+ESIGNATION OF FIRESHEDMANAGEMENT 24
237285 A
238-REAS.—23
286+REAS.— 25
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289+•HR 471 IH
290+(1) INITIAL DESIGNATIONS.—For the period be-1
291+ginning on the date of enactment of this Act and 2
292+ending on the date that is 5 years after the date of 3
293+enactment of this Act, there are designated fireshed 4
294+management areas, which— 5
295+(A) shall be comprised of individual land-6
296+scape-scale firesheds identified as being a high 7
297+risk fireshed in the ‘‘Wildfire Crisis Strategy’’ 8
298+published by the Forest Service in January 9
299+2022; 10
300+(B) shall be comprised of individual land-11
301+scape-scale firesheds identified by the Secretary, 12
302+in consultation with the Secretary of the Inte-13
303+rior, as being in the top 20 percent of the 7,688 14
304+firesheds published by the Rocky Mountain Re-15
305+search Station of the Forest Service in 2019 for 16
306+wildfire exposure based on the following cri-17
307+teria— 18
308+(i) wildfire exposure and cor-19
309+responding risk to communities, including 20
310+risk to life and structures; 21
311+(ii) wildfire exposure and cor-22
312+responding risk to municipal watersheds, 23
313+including tribal water supplies and sys-24
314+tems; and 25
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317+•HR 471 IH
318+(iii) risk of forest conversion due to 1
319+wildfire; 2
320+(C) shall not overlap with any other 3
321+fireshed management areas; 4
322+(D) may contain Federal and non-Federal 5
323+land, including Indian forest lands or range-6
324+lands; and 7
325+(E) where the Secretary concerned shall 8
326+carry out fireshed management projects. 9
327+(2) F
328+URTHER FIRESHED MANAGEMENT AREA 10
329+DESIGNATIONS.— 11
330+(A) I
331+N GENERAL.—On the date that is 5 12
332+years after the date of the enactment of this 13
333+Act and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary, 14
334+in consultation with the Secretary of the Inte-15
335+rior, shall submit to the relevant Congressional 16
336+Committees an updated map of firesheds based 17
337+on the Fireshed Registry maintained under sec-18
338+tion 103. 19
339+(B) D
340+ESIGNATION.—Not later than 60 20
341+days after submitting an updated fireshed map 21
342+under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall, 22
343+based on such map, designate additional 23
344+fireshed management areas that are identified 24
345+as being in the top 20 percent of firesheds at 25
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348+•HR 471 IH
349+risk of wildfire exposure based on the criteria 1
350+specified in subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), and 2
351+(E) of paragraph (1). 3
352+(b) A
353+PPLICABILITY OFNEPA.—The designation of 4
354+fireshed management areas under this section shall not 5
355+be subject to the requirements of the National Environ-6
356+mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 7
357+SEC. 102. FIRESHED CENTER. 8
358+(a) E
359+STABLISHMENT.— 9
239360 (1) I
240-NITIAL DESIGNATIONS.—For the period be-24
241-ginning on the date of enactment of this Act and 25 9
242-•HR 471 EH
243-ending on the date that is 5 years after the date of 1
244-enactment of this Act, there are designated fireshed 2
245-management areas, which—3
246-(A) shall be comprised of individual land-4
247-scape-scale firesheds identified as being a high 5
248-risk fireshed in the ‘‘Wildfire Crisis Strategy’’ 6
249-published by the Forest Service in January 7
250-2022; 8
251-(B) shall be comprised of individual land-9
252-scape-scale firesheds identified by the Secretary, 10
253-in consultation with the Secretary of the Inte-11
254-rior, as being in the top 20 percent of the 7,688 12
255-firesheds published by the Rocky Mountain Re-13
256-search Station of the Forest Service in 2019 for 14
257-wildfire exposure based on the following cri-15
258-teria—16
259-(i) wildfire exposure and cor-17
260-responding risk to communities, including 18
261-risk to life and structures; 19
262-(ii) wildfire exposure and cor-20
263-responding risk to municipal watersheds, 21
264-including tribal water supplies and sys-22
265-tems; and 23
266-(iii) risk of forest conversion due to 24
267-wildfire; 25 10
268-•HR 471 EH
269-(C) shall not overlap with any other 1
270-fireshed management areas; 2
271-(D) may contain Federal and non-Federal 3
272-land, including Indian forest lands or range-4
273-lands; and 5
274-(E) where the Secretary concerned shall 6
275-carry out fireshed management projects. 7
276-(2) F
277-URTHER FIRESHED MANAGEMENT AREA 8
278-DESIGNATIONS.—9
279-(A) I
280-N GENERAL.—On the date that is 5 10
281-years after the date of the enactment of this 11
282-Act and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary, 12
283-in consultation with the Secretary of the Inte-13
284-rior, shall submit to the relevant Congressional 14
285-Committees an updated map of firesheds based 15
286-on the Fireshed Registry maintained under sec-16
287-tion 103. 17
288-(B) D
289-ESIGNATION.—Not later than 60 18
290-days after submitting an updated fireshed map 19
291-under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall, 20
292-based on such map, designate additional 21
293-fireshed management areas that are identified 22
294-as being in the top 20 percent of firesheds at 23
295-risk of wildfire exposure based on the criteria 24 11
296-•HR 471 EH
297-specified in subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), and 1
298-(E) of paragraph (1). 2
299-(b) A
300-PPLICABILITY OFNEPA.—The designation of 3
301-fireshed management areas under this section shall not 4
302-be subject to the requirements of the National Environ-5
303-mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 6
304-SEC. 102. FIRESHED CENTER. 7
305-(a) E
306-STABLISHMENT.—8
307-(1) I
308-N GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 9
309-through the Chief of the Forest Service, and the 10
310-Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Direc-11
311-tor of the U.S. Geological Survey, shall jointly estab-12
312-lish an interagency center, to be known as the 13
313-Fireshed Center (hereinafter referred to as the 14
314-‘‘Center’’) to carry out the purposes in subsection 15
315-(b). 16
361+N GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 10
362+through the Chief of the Forest Service, and the 11
363+Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Direc-12
364+tor of the U.S. Geological Survey, shall jointly estab-13
365+lish an interagency center, to be known as the 14
366+Fireshed Center (hereinafter referred to as the 15
367+‘‘Center’’) to carry out the purposes in subsection 16
368+(b). 17
316369 (2) C
317-OMPOSITION.—17
370+OMPOSITION.— 18
318371 (A) D
319-IVISIONS.—The Center shall be com-18
320-prised of the following divisions: 19
321-(i) Technology and Engineering. 20
322-(ii) Data Services. 21
323-(iii) Analysis and Prediction. 22
324-(iv) Education and Consultation. 23 12
325-•HR 471 EH
372+IVISIONS.—The Center shall be com-19
373+prised of the following divisions: 20
374+(i) Technology and Engineering. 21
375+(ii) Data Services. 22
376+(iii) Analysis and Prediction. 23
377+(iv) Education and Consultation. 24
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326381 (B) REPRESENTATIVES.—The Center shall 1
327382 be comprised of at least one career representa-2
328383 tive from each of the following: 3
329384 (i) The Forest Service. 4
330385 (ii) The Bureau of Land Manage-5
331386 ment. 6
332387 (iii) The National Park Service. 7
333388 (iv) The Bureau of Indian Affairs. 8
334389 (v) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv-9
335390 ice. 10
336391 (vi) The U.S. Geological Survey. 11
337392 (vii) The Department of Defense. 12
338393 (viii) The Department of Homeland 13
339394 Security. 14
340395 (ix) The Department of Energy. 15
341396 (x) The Federal Emergency Manage-16
342397 ment Agency. 17
343398 (xi) The National Science Foundation. 18
344399 (xii) The National Oceanic and At-19
345400 mospheric Administration. 20
346401 (xiii) The National Aeronautics and 21
347402 Space Administration. 22
348403 (xiv) The National Institute of Stand-23
349-ards and Technology. 24 13
350-•HR 471 EH
404+ards and Technology. 24
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351408 (xv) The United States Fire Adminis-1
352409 tration. 2
353410 (C) A
354411 PPOINTMENTS.—Each representative 3
355412 of a Department, Agency, or other entity speci-4
356413 fied in subparagraph (B) shall be appointed by 5
357414 the head of that Department, Agency, or other 6
358415 entity, as applicable. 7
359416 (3) D
360417 IRECTOR.—The representatives appointed 8
361418 under paragraph (2) shall, by majority vote, appoint 9
362419 a Director of the Center, who— 10
363420 (A) shall be an employee of the U.S. Geo-11
364421 logical Survey or the Forest Service; 12
365422 (B) shall serve an initial term of not more 13
366423 than 7 years; 14
367424 (C) may serve one additional term of not 15
368425 more than 7 years after the initial term de-16
369426 scribed in subparagraph (B); and 17
370427 (D) shall be responsible for the manage-18
371428 ment and operation of the Center. 19
372429 (4) A
373430 SSOCIATE DIRECTORS .—In consultation 20
374431 with the representatives appointed under paragraph 21
375432 (2), the Director may appoint such Associate Direc-22
376433 tors as the Director determines necessary. 23
377434 (5) A
378435 DDITIONAL REPRESENTATION .—The Sec-24
379-retary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Serv-25 14
380-•HR 471 EH
436+retary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Serv-25
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381440 ice, and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through 1
382441 the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, may 2
383442 jointly appoint additional representatives of Federal 3
384443 agencies, States, Indian Tribes, or local governments 4
385444 to the Center, as the Secretaries determine nec-5
386445 essary. 6
387446 (b) P
388447 URPOSES.—The purposes of the Center are to— 7
389448 (1) comprehensively assess and predict, using 8
390449 data tools (including artificial intelligence) and other 9
391450 decision support products, fire and smoke in the 10
392451 wildland and built environment interface across ju-11
393452 risdictions to inform— 12
394453 (A) land and fuels management; 13
395454 (B) community (including at-risk commu-14
396455 nities identified in fireshed assessments con-15
397456 ducted under section 105) and built environ-16
398457 ment risk reduction, including the support and 17
399458 development of community wildfire protection 18
400459 plans and evacuation decisions; and 19
401460 (C) public health risk reduction related to 20
402461 wildland fire and smoke, including air quality 21
403462 monitoring and forecasting and smoke pre-22
404463 diction models; 23
405464 (D) fire response and management, includ-24
406-ing the pre-positioning of wildfire suppression 25 15
407-•HR 471 EH
465+ing the pre-positioning of wildfire suppression 25
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408469 personnel and assets based on real-time risk; 1
409470 and 2
410471 (E) post-fire recovery activities, including 3
411472 activities related to vegetation recovery, debris 4
412473 flows and flooding, watershed recovery and pro-5
413474 tection, and ecosystem health; 6
414475 (2) provide data aggregation, real-time land 7
415476 and fuels management services, and science-based 8
416477 decision support services to inform the purposes 9
417478 specified in subparagraph (A) through (E) of para-10
418479 graph (1); 11
419480 (3) reduce fragmentation and duplication across 12
420481 Federal land management agencies with respect to 13
421482 predictive service and decision support functions re-14
422483 lated to wildland fire and smoke, including through 15
423484 the provision of data aggregation described in para-16
424485 graph (2); 17
425486 (4) promote coordination and sharing of data 18
426487 regarding wildland fire and smoke decision making 19
427488 (including through the provision of data aggregation 20
428489 described in paragraph (2)) to each of the entities 21
429490 specified in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of para-22
430491 graph (8); 23
431492 (5) streamline procurement processes for tech-24
432-nologies (including technologies identified under the 25 16
433-•HR 471 EH
434-pilot program established under section 303) and 1
435-cybersecurity systems related to addressing wildland 2
493+nologies (including technologies identified under the 25
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497+pilot program established under section 303) and cy-1
498+bersecurity systems related to addressing wildland 2
436499 fire and smoke for the purposes of scaling such tech-3
437500 nologies and systems across Federal agencies; 4
438501 (6) amplify and distribute existing, and develop 5
439502 as necessary, publicly accessible data, models, tech-6
440503 nologies (including mapping technologies), assess-7
441504 ments, and National Weather Service fire weather 8
442505 forecasts to support short- and long-term planning 9
443506 regarding wildland fire and smoke risk reduction 10
444507 and post-fire recovery while avoiding duplicative ef-11
445508 forts, as determined by the Director; 12
446509 (7) maintain the Fireshed Registry established 13
447510 under section 103; and 14
448511 (8) disseminate data tools (including artificial 15
449512 intelligence) and other decision support products, for 16
450513 use in manners consistent with the purposes de-17
451514 scribed paragraphs (1) through (7), to the following: 18
452515 (A) Federal agencies. 19
453516 (B) Indian Tribes. 20
454517 (C) State and local governments. 21
455518 (D) Academic or research institutions. 22
456519 (E) Wildland firefighting entities, includ-23
457520 ing applicable incident management teams and 24
458-geographic coordination centers. 25 17
459-•HR 471 EH
521+geographic coordination centers. 25
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460525 (F) Other entities, including public, pri-1
461526 vate, and nonprofit entities, with expertise in 2
462527 land management, air quality, water manage-3
463528 ment, or public health, as determined appro-4
464529 priate by the Director. 5
465530 (c) M
466531 EMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Center 6
467532 may enter into memoranda of understanding, contracts, 7
468533 or other agreements with State governments, Indian 8
469534 Tribes, local governments, academic or research institu-9
470535 tions, and private entities to improve the information and 10
471536 operations of the Center. 11
472537 (d) A
473538 DMINISTRATIVESUPPORT, TECHNICALSERV-12
474539 ICES, ANDSTAFFSUPPORT.— 13
475540 (1) USGS
476541 SUPPORT.—The Secretary of the In-14
477542 terior shall make personnel of the U.S. Geological 15
478543 Survey available to the Center for such administra-16
479544 tive support, technical services, and development and 17
480545 dissemination of data as the Secretary determines 18
481546 necessary to carry out this section. 19
482547 (2) USFS
483548 SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall 20
484549 make personnel of the Forest Service available to 21
485550 the Center for such administrative support, technical 22
486551 services, and the development and dissemination of 23
487-information related to fireshed management and the 24 18
488-•HR 471 EH
552+information related to fireshed management and the 24
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489556 Fireshed Registry as the Secretary determines nec-1
490557 essary to carry out this section. 2
491558 (3) F
492559 UNDING.—Notwithstanding section 708 of 3
493560 title VII of division E of the Consolidated Appro-4
494561 priations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117–328), the Sec-5
495562 retary of the Interior and Secretary may enter into 6
496563 agreements to share the management and oper-7
497564 ational costs of the Center. 8
498565 (e) R
499566 ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-9
500567 tion shall be construed to affect the ownership of any data 10
501568 sources. 11
502569 SEC. 103. FIRESHED REGISTRY. 12
503570 (a) F
504571 IRESHEDREGISTRY.—The Secretary, acting 13
505572 through the Director of the Fireshed Center appointed 14
506573 under section 102, shall maintain a Fireshed Registry on 15
507574 a publicly accessible website that provides interactive 16
508575 geospatial data on individual firesheds, including informa-17
509576 tion on— 18
510577 (1) wildfire exposure delineated by ownership, 19
511578 including rights-of-way for utilities and other public 20
512579 or private purposes; 21
513580 (2) any hazardous fuels management activities 22
514581 that have occurred within an individual fireshed in 23
515-the past 10 years; 24 19
516-•HR 471 EH
582+the past 10 years; 24
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517586 (3) wildfire exposure with respect to such 1
518587 fireshed delineated by— 2
519588 (A) wildfire exposure and corresponding 3
520589 risk to communities, including risk to life and 4
521590 structures; 5
522591 (B) wildfire exposure and corresponding 6
523592 risk to municipal watersheds, including tribal 7
524593 water supplies and systems; and 8
525594 (C) risk of forest conversion due to wild-9
526595 fire; 10
527596 (4) the percentage of the fireshed that has 11
528597 burned in wildfires in the past 10 years, including, 12
529598 to the extent practicable, delineations of acres that 13
530599 have burned at a high severity; 14
531600 (5) spatial patterns of wildfire exposure, includ-15
532601 ing plausible extreme fire events; and 16
533602 (6) any hazardous fuels management activities 17
534603 planned for the fireshed, including fireshed manage-18
535604 ment projects. 19
536605 (b) C
537606 OMMUNITYWILDFIREPROTECTIONPLANS.— 20
538607 The Director shall make data from the Fireshed Registry 21
539608 available to local communities developing or updating com-22
540-munity wildfire protection plans. 23 20
541-•HR 471 EH
609+munity wildfire protection plans. 23
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542613 (c) REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN.—As part of the 1
543614 website containing the Fireshed Registry, the Director 2
544615 shall— 3
545616 (1) publish fireshed assessments created under 4
546617 section 105; and 5
547618 (2) maintain a searchable database to track— 6
548619 (A) the status of Federal environmental re-7
549620 views, permits, and authorizations for fireshed 8
550621 management projects, including— 9
551622 (i) a comprehensive permitting time-10
552623 table; 11
553624 (ii) the status of the compliance of 12
554625 each lead agency, cooperating agency, and 13
555626 participating agency with the permitting 14
556627 timetable with respect to such fireshed 15
557628 management projects; 16
558629 (iii) any modifications of the permit-17
559630 ting timetable required under clause (i), in-18
560631 cluding an explanation as to why the per-19
561632 mitting timetable was modified; and 20
562633 (iv) information about project-related 21
563634 public meetings, public hearings, and pub-22
564635 lic comment periods, which shall be pre-23
565636 sented in English and the predominant 24
566-language of the community or communities 25 21
567-•HR 471 EH
637+language of the community or communities 25
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568641 most affected by the project, as that infor-1
569642 mation becomes available; 2
570643 (B) the projected cost of such fireshed 3
571644 management projects; and 4
572645 (C) in the case of completed fireshed man-5
573646 agement projects, the effectiveness of such 6
574647 projects in reducing the wildfire exposure within 7
575648 an applicable fireshed, including wildfire expo-8
576649 sure described in subparagraphs (A) through 9
577650 (C) of subsection (a)(3). 10
578651 (d) R
579652 ELIANCE ONEXISTINGASSESSMENTS.—In car-11
580653 rying out this section, the Director may rely on assess-12
581654 ments completed or data gather through existing partner-13
582655 ships, to the extent practicable. 14
583656 SEC. 104. SHARED STEWARDSHIP. 15
584657 (a) J
585658 OINTAGREEMENTS.—Not later than 90 days 16
586659 after receiving a written request from a Governor of a 17
587660 State or an Indian Tribe, the Secretary concerned shall 18
588661 enter into a shared stewardship agreement (or similar 19
589662 agreement) with such Governor or Indian Tribe to joint-20
590663 ly— 21
591664 (1) promote the reduction of wildfire exposure, 22
592665 based on the criteria in section 101(a)(1)(B), in 23
593666 fireshed management areas across jurisdictional 24
594-boundaries; and 25 22
595-•HR 471 EH
667+boundaries; and 25
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596671 (2) conduct fireshed assessments under section 1
597672 105. 2
598673 (b) A
599674 DDITIONALFIRESHEDMANAGEMENTAREAS.— 3
600675 With respect to a shared stewardship agreement (or simi-4
601676 lar agreement) with a Governor of a State or an Indian 5
602677 Tribe entered into under subsection (a), the Secretary con-6
603678 cerned, if requested by such Governor or Indian Tribe, 7
604679 may— 8
605680 (1) designate additional fireshed management 9
606681 areas under such agreement; and 10
607682 (2) update such agreement to address new wild-11
608683 fire threats. 12
609684 SEC. 105. FIRESHED ASSESSMENTS. 13
610685 (a) F
611686 IRESHEDASSESSMENTS.— 14
612687 (1) I
613688 N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 15
614689 the date on which the Secretary concerned enters 16
615690 into an agreement with a Governor of a State or an 17
616691 Indian Tribe under section 104, the Secretary con-18
617692 cerned and such Governor or Indian Tribe shall, 19
618693 with respect to the fireshed management areas des-20
619694 ignated in such State, jointly conduct a fireshed as-21
620695 sessment that— 22
621696 (A) identifies— 23
622697 (i) using the best available science, 24
623-wildfire exposure risks within each such 25 23
624-•HR 471 EH
698+wildfire exposure risks within each such 25
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625702 fireshed management area, including sce-1
626703 nario planning and wildfire hazard map-2
627704 ping and models; and 3
628705 (ii) each at-risk community within 4
629706 each fireshed management area; 5
630707 (B) identifies potential fireshed manage-6
631708 ment projects to be carried out in such fireshed 7
632709 management areas, giving priority— 8
633710 (i) primarily, to projects with the pur-9
634711 pose of reducing— 10
635712 (I) wildfire exposure and cor-11
636713 responding risk to communities, in-12
637714 cluding risk to life and structures; 13
638715 (II) wildfire exposure and cor-14
639716 responding risk to municipal water-15
640717 sheds, including tribal water supplies 16
641718 and systems; 17
642719 (III) risk of forest conversion due 18
643720 to wildfire; or 19
644721 (IV) any combination of purposes 20
645722 described in subclauses (I) through 21
646723 (III); and 22
647724 (ii) secondarily, to projects with the 23
648-purpose of protecting—24 24
649-•HR 471 EH
725+purpose of protecting— 24
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650729 (I) critical infrastructure, includ-1
651730 ing utility infrastructure; 2
652731 (II) wildlife habitats, including 3
653732 habitat for species listed under the 4
654733 Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 5
655734 1531 et seq.); 6
656735 (III) the built environment, in-7
657736 cluding residential and commercial 8
658737 buildings; 9
659738 (IV) resources of an Indian 10
660739 Tribe, as defined by the Indian Tribe; 11
661740 or 12
662741 (V) any combination of purposes 13
663742 described in subclauses (I) through 14
664743 (IV); 15
665744 (C) includes— 16
666745 (i) a strategy for reducing the threat 17
667746 of wildfire to at-risk communities in the 18
668747 wildland-urban interface on both Federal 19
669748 and non-Federal land; 20
670749 (ii) a timeline for the implementation 21
671750 of fireshed management projects; 22
672751 (iii) long-term benchmark goals for 23
673752 the completion of fireshed management 24
674-projects in the highest wildfire exposure 25 25
675-•HR 471 EH
753+projects in the highest wildfire exposure 25
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676757 areas so that such projects contribute to 1
677758 the development and maintenance of 2
678759 healthy and resilient landscapes; 3
679760 (iv) policies to ensure fireshed man-4
680761 agement projects comply with applicable 5
681762 forest plans and incorporate the best avail-6
682763 able science; and 7
683764 (v) a strategy for reducing the threat 8
684765 of wildfire to improve the effectiveness of 9
685766 wildland firefighting, particularly the effec-10
686767 tiveness of fuels treatments that would im-11
687768 prove wildland firefighter safety during 12
688769 wildfires; 13
689770 (D) shall be regularly updated based on 14
690771 the best available science, as determined by the 15
691772 Secretary concerned; and 16
692773 (E) shall be publicly available on a website 17
693774 maintained by the Secretary concerned. 18
694775 (2) L
695776 OCAL GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION .— 19
696777 Upon the written request of a local government, the 20
697778 Secretary concerned and the Governor of the State 21
698779 in which the local government is located may allow 22
699780 such local government to participate in producing 23
700781 the fireshed assessment under paragraph (1) for 24
701-such State. 25 26
702-•HR 471 EH
782+such State. 25
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703786 (3) INFORMATION IMPROVEMENT .— 1
704787 (A) M
705788 EMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING .— 2
706789 In carrying out a fireshed assessment under 3
707790 this subsection, the Secretary concerned may 4
708791 enter into memoranda of understanding with 5
709792 other Federal agencies or departments (includ-6
710793 ing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-7
711794 ministration), States, Indian Tribes, private en-8
712795 tities, or research or educational institutions to 9
713796 improve, with respect to such assessment, the 10
714797 use and integration of— 11
715798 (i) advanced remote sensing and 12
716799 geospatial technologies; 13
717800 (ii) statistical modeling and analysis; 14
718801 or 15
719802 (iii) any other technology or combina-16
720803 tion of technologies and analyses that the 17
721804 Secretary concerned determines will benefit 18
722805 the quality of information of such an as-19
723806 sessment. 20
724807 (B) B
725808 EST AVAILABLE SCIENCE .—In using 21
726809 the best available science for the fireshed as-22
727810 sessments completed under subsection (a)(1), 23
728811 the Secretary concerned and Governor shall, to 24
729-the maximum extent practicable, incorporate—25 27
730-•HR 471 EH
812+the maximum extent practicable, incorporate— 25
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731816 (i) traditional ecological knowledge 1
732817 from Indian Tribes; 2
733818 (ii) data from State forest action 3
734819 plans and State wildfire risk assessments; 4
735820 (iii) data from the Fireshed Registry 5
736821 maintained under section 103; and 6
737822 (iv) data from other Federal, State, 7
738823 Tribal, and local governments or agencies. 8
739824 (b) A
740825 PPLICABILITY OF NEPA.—Fireshed assess-9
741826 ments conducted under this section shall not be subject 10
742827 to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy 11
743828 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 12
744829 SEC. 106. EMERGENCY FIRESHED MANAGEMENT. 13
745830 (a) F
746831 IRESHEDMANAGEMENTPROJECTS.— 14
747832 (1) I
748833 N GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned, 15
749834 acting through a responsible official, shall carry out 16
750835 fireshed management projects in fireshed manage-17
751836 ment areas designated under section 101 in accord-18
752837 ance with this section. 19
753838 (2) F
754839 IRESHED MANAGEMENT PROJECTS .—The 20
755840 responsible official shall carry out the following for-21
756841 est and vegetation management activities as fireshed 22
757842 management projects under this section: 23
758843 (A) Conducting hazardous fuels manage-24
759-ment activities. 25 28
760-•HR 471 EH
844+ment activities. 25
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761848 (B) Creating fuel breaks and fire breaks. 1
762849 (C) Removing hazard trees, dead trees, 2
763850 dying trees, or trees at risk of dying, as deter-3
764851 mined by the responsible official. 4
765852 (D) Developing, approving, or conducting 5
766853 routine maintenance under a vegetation man-6
767854 agement, facility inspection, and operation and 7
768855 maintenance plan submitted under section 8
769856 512(c)(1) of the Federal Land Policy and Man-9
770857 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1772(c)(1)). 10
771858 (E) Removing trees to address over-11
772859 stocking or crowding in a forest stand, con-12
773860 sistent with the appropriate basal area of the 13
774861 forest stand as determined by the responsible 14
775862 official. 15
776863 (F) Using chemical or re-seeding and 16
777864 planting treatments to address insects and dis-17
778865 ease and control vegetation competition or 18
779866 invasive species. 19
780867 (G) Any activities recommended by an ap-20
781868 plicable fireshed assessment carried out under 21
782869 section 105. 22
783870 (H) Any activities recommended by an ap-23
784-plicable community wildfire protection plan. 24 29
785-•HR 471 EH
871+plicable community wildfire protection plan. 24
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786875 (I) Any combination of activities described 1
787876 in this paragraph. 2
788877 (3) E
789878 MERGENCY FIRESHED MANAGEMENT .— 3
790879 (A) I
791880 N GENERAL.—For any fireshed man-4
792881 agement area designated under section 101, the 5
793882 following shall have the force and effect of law: 6
794883 (i) Section 220.4(b) of title 36, Code 7
795884 of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 8
796885 date of enactment of this Act), with re-9
797886 spect to lands under the jurisdiction of the 10
798887 Secretary. 11
799888 (ii) Section 46.150 of title 43, Code of 12
800889 Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 13
801890 date of enactment of this Act), with re-14
802891 spect to lands under the jurisdiction of the 15
803892 Secretary of the Interior. 16
804893 (iii) Section 402.05 of title 50, Code 17
805894 of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 18
806895 date of enactment of this Act). 19
807896 (iv) Section 800.12 of title 36, Code 20
808897 of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 21
809898 date of enactment of this Act). 22
810899 (B) U
811900 TILIZATION OF EXISTING STREAM -23
812901 LINED AUTHORITIES IN FIRESHED MANAGE -24
813-MENT AREAS.—25 30
814-•HR 471 EH
902+MENT AREAS.— 25
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815906 (i) IN GENERAL.—Fireshed manage-1
816907 ment projects carried out under this sec-2
817908 tion shall be considered authorized projects 3
818909 under the following categorical exclusions: 4
819910 (I) Section 603(a) of the Healthy 5
820911 Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 6
821912 U.S.C. 6591b(a)). 7
822913 (II) Section 605(a) of the 8
823914 Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 9
824915 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591d(a)). 10
825916 (III) Section 606(b) of the 11
826917 Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 12
827918 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591e(b)). 13
828919 (IV) Section 40806(b) of the In-14
829920 frastructure Investment and Jobs Act 15
830921 (16 U.S.C. 6592b(b)). 16
831922 (V) Section 4(c)(4) of the Lake 17
832923 Tahoe Restoration Act (Public Law 18
833924 106–506; 114 Stat. 2353). 19
834925 (ii) A
835926 DDITIONAL EMERGENCY AC -20
836927 TIONS.—Subsection (d) of section 40807 of 21
837928 the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 22
838929 Act (16 U.S.C. 6592c) shall apply to 23
839930 fireshed management projects under this 24
840-section in the same manner as such sub-25 31
841-•HR 471 EH
931+section in the same manner as such sub-25
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842935 section applies to authorized emergency ac-1
843936 tions (as defined in subsection (a) of such 2
844937 section 40807) under such section 40807. 3
845938 (iii) U
846939 SE OF EXPEDITED AUTHORI -4
847940 TIES.—In carrying out a fireshed manage-5
848941 ment project, the Secretary shall apply a 6
849942 categorical exclusion under clause (i)— 7
850943 (I) in a manner consistent with 8
851944 the statute establishing such categor-9
852945 ical exclusion; and 10
853946 (II) in any area— 11
854947 (aa) designated as suitable 12
855948 for timber production within the 13
856949 applicable forest plan; or 14
857950 (bb) where timber harvest 15
858951 activities are not prohibited. 16
859952 (iv) F
860953 ISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT RE -17
861954 QUIREMENTS.—In carrying out this sec-18
862955 tion, the Secretary concerned shall ensure 19
863956 compliance with the amendments made to 20
864957 the National Environmental Policy Act (42 21
865958 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) by the Fiscal Respon-22
866959 sibility Act of 2023 (Public Law 118–5). 23
867960 (v) U
868961 SE OF OTHER AUTHORITIES .— 24
869-To the maximum extent practicable, the 25 32
870-•HR 471 EH
962+To the maximum extent practicable, the 25
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871966 Secretary concerned shall use the authori-1
872967 ties provided under this section in com-2
873968 bination with other authorities to carry out 3
874969 fireshed management projects, including— 4
875970 (I) good neighbor agreements en-5
876971 tered into under section 8206 of the 6
877972 Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 7
878973 2113a) (as amended by this Act); 8
879974 (II) stewardship contracting 9
880975 projects entered into under section 10
881976 604 of the Healthy Forests Restora-11
882977 tion Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) 12
883978 (as amended by this Act); 13
884979 (III) self-determination contracts 14
885980 and self-governance compact agree-15
886981 ments entered into under the Indian 16
887982 Self-Determination and Education As-17
888983 sistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); 18
889984 and 19
890985 (IV) agreements entered into 20
891986 under the Tribal Forest Protection 21
892987 Act of 2004 (25 U.S.C. 3115a et 22
893988 seq.). 23
894989 (b) E
895-XPANSION.—24 33
896-•HR 471 EH
990+XPANSION.— 24
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897994 (1) HFRA AMENDMENTS.—The Healthy For-1
898995 ests Restoration Act of 2003 is amended— 2
899996 (A) in section 3 (16 U.S.C. 6502), by in-3
900997 serting at the end the following: 4
901998 ‘‘(3) L
902999 OCAL GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘local 5
9031000 government’ means a county, municipality, or special 6
9041001 district. 7
9051002 ‘‘(4) S
9061003 PECIAL DISTRICT.—The term ‘special dis-8
9071004 trict’ means a political subdivision of a State that— 9
9081005 ‘‘(A) has significant budgetary autonomy 10
9091006 or control; 11
9101007 ‘‘(B) was created by or pursuant to the 12
9111008 laws of the State for the purpose of performing 13
9121009 a limited and specific governmental or propri-14
9131010 etary function; and 15
9141011 ‘‘(C) is distinct from any other local gov-16
9151012 ernment unit within the State.’’. 17
9161013 (B) in section 603(c)(1) (16 U.S.C. 18
9171014 6591b(c)(1)), by striking ‘‘3000 acres’’ and in-19
9181015 serting ‘‘10,000 acres’’; 20
9191016 (C) in section 603(c)(2)(B) (16 U.S.C. 21
9201017 6591b(c)(2)(B)), by striking ‘‘Fire Regime 22
9211018 Groups I, II, or III’’ and inserting ‘‘Fire Re-23
9221019 gime I, Fire Regime II, Fire Regime III, Fire 24
923-Regime IV, or Fire Regime V’’; 25 34
924-•HR 471 EH
1020+Regime IV, or Fire Regime V’’; 25
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9251024 (D) in section 605(c)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1
9261025 6591d(c)(1)), by striking ‘‘3000 acres’’ and in-2
9271026 serting ‘‘10,000 acres’’; and 3
9281027 (E) in section 606(g) (16 U.S.C. 4
9291028 6591e(g)), by striking ‘‘4,500 acres’’ and in-5
9301029 serting ‘‘10,000 acres’’. 6
9311030 (2) I
9321031 NFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS 7
9331032 ACT AMENDMENT .—Section 40806(d)(1) of the In-8
9341033 frastructure Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 9
9351034 6592b(d)(1)), by striking ‘‘3,000 acres’’ and insert-10
9361035 ing ‘‘10,000 acres’’. 11
9371036 (3) L
9381037 AKE TAHOE RESTORATION ACT AMEND -12
9391038 MENTS.—Section 4(c)(4)(C) of the Lake Tahoe Res-13
9401039 toration Act (Public Law 106–506; 114 Stat. 2353) 14
9411040 is amended— 15
9421041 (A) by striking ‘‘Lake Tahoe Basin Man-16
9431042 agement Unit’’; and 17
9441043 (B) by inserting ‘‘applicable to the area’’ 18
9451044 before the period at the end. 19
9461045 SEC. 107. SUNSET. 20
9471046 The authority under this subtitle shall terminate on 21
9481047 the date that is 7 years after the date of enactment of 22
949-this Act. 23 35
950-•HR 471 EH
1048+this Act. 23
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9511052 Subtitle B—Expanding Collabo-1
9521053 rative Tools to Reduce Wildfire 2
9531054 Risk and Improve Forest Health 3
9541055 SEC. 111. MODIFICATION OF THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN 4
9551056 REVENUE AND PAYMENTS UNDER GOOD 5
9561057 NEIGHBOR AGREEMENTS. 6
9571058 (a) G
9581059 OODNEIGHBORAUTHORITY.—Section 8206 of 7
9591060 the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a) is amend-8
9601061 ed— 9
9611062 (1) in subsection (a)(6), by striking ‘‘or Indian 10
9621063 tribe’’; 11
9631064 (2) in subsection (a), by inserting the following: 12
9641065 ‘‘(11) S
9651066 PECIAL DISTRICT.—The term ‘special 13
9661067 district’ means a political subdivision of a State 14
9671068 that— 15
9681069 ‘‘(A) has significant budgetary autonomy 16
9691070 or control; 17
9701071 ‘‘(B) was created by or pursuant to the 18
9711072 laws of the State for the purpose of performing 19
9721073 a limited and specific governmental or propri-20
9731074 etary function; and 21
9741075 ‘‘(C) is distinct from any other local gov-22
9751076 ernment unit within the State.’’. 23
976-(3) in subsection (b)—24 36
977-•HR 471 EH
1077+(3) in subsection (b)— 24
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9781081 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 1
9791082 Indian Tribe, special district,’’ after ‘‘Gov-2
9801083 ernor’’; 3
9811084 (B) in paragraph (2)(C)— 4
9821085 (i) in clause (i)— 5
9831086 (I) by inserting ‘‘special district,’’ 6
9841087 after ‘‘Indian Tribe,’’ each place it ap-7
9851088 pears; 8
9861089 (II) in subclause (I)— 9
9871090 (aa) by striking ‘‘on’’; and 10
9881091 (bb) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 11
9891092 inserting a semicolon; 12
9901093 (III) in subclause (II)(bb), by 13
9911094 striking the period at the end and in-14
9921095 serting a semicolon; and 15
9931096 (IV) by adding at the end the fol-16
9941097 lowing: 17
9951098 ‘‘(III) to construct new perma-18
9961099 nent roads on Federal lands that 19
9971100 are— 20
9981101 ‘‘(aa) necessary to imple-21
9991102 ment authorized restoration ac-22
10001103 tivities; and 23
10011104 ‘‘(bb) approved by the Fed-24
1002-eral agency through an environ-25 37
1003-•HR 471 EH
1105+eral agency through an environ-25
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10041109 mental analysis or categorical ex-1
10051110 clusion decision; 2
10061111 ‘‘(IV) to complete new permanent 3
10071112 road construction to replace and de-4
10081113 commission an existing permanent 5
10091114 road that is adversely impacting for-6
10101115 est, rangeland, or watershed health; 7
10111116 and 8
10121117 ‘‘(V) if there are funds remaining 9
10131118 after carrying out subclauses (I) 10
10141119 through (IV), to carry out authorized 11
10151120 restoration services under other good 12
10161121 neighbor agreements and for the ad-13
10171122 ministration of a good neighbor au-14
10181123 thority program by a Governor, In-15
10191124 dian tribe, special district, or coun-16
10201125 ty.’’; and 17
10211126 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘2028’’ 18
10221127 and inserting ‘‘2030’’; and 19
10231128 (C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, In-20
10241129 dian Tribe, special district,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; 21
10251130 and 22
1026-(D) by striking paragraph (4). 23 38
1027-•HR 471 EH
1131+(D) by striking paragraph (4). 23
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10281135 (b) CONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.—Section 8206(a) 1
10291136 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a(a)) is 2
10301137 amended— 3
10311138 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, Indian 4
10321139 Tribe, special district,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’; and 5
10331140 (2) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, Indian 6
10341141 Tribe, special district,’’ after ‘‘Governor’’. 7
10351142 (c) E
10361143 FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 8
10371144 this section apply to any project initiated pursuant to a 9
10381145 good neighbor agreement (as defined in section 8206(a) 10
10391146 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a(a)))— 11
10401147 (1) before the date of enactment of this Act, if 12
10411148 the project was initiated after the date of enactment 13
10421149 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Public 14
10431150 Law 115–334; 132 Stat. 4490); or 15
10441151 (2) on or after the date of enactment of this 16
10451152 Act. 17
10461153 SEC. 112. FIXING STEWARDSHIP END RESULT CON-18
10471154 TRACTING. 19
10481155 Section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 20
10491156 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) is amended— 21
10501157 (1) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘, including 22
10511158 retaining and expanding existing forest products in-23
1052-frastructure’’ before the period at the end; 24 39
1053-•HR 471 EH
1159+frastructure’’ before the period at the end; 24
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10541163 (2) in subsection (d)(3)(B), by striking ‘‘10 1
10551164 years’’ and inserting ‘‘20 years’’; and 2
10561165 (3) in subsection (h), by adding at the end the 3
10571166 following: 4
10581167 ‘‘(4) S
10591168 PECIAL RULE FOR LONG -TERM STEWARD-5
10601169 SHIP CONTRACTS.— 6
10611170 ‘‘(A) I
10621171 N GENERAL.—A long-term agree-7
10631172 ment or contract entered into with an entity 8
10641173 under subsection (b) by the Chief or the Direc-9
10651174 tor shall provide that in the case of the can-10
10661175 cellation or termination by the Chief or the Di-11
10671176 rector of such long-term agreement or contract, 12
10681177 the Chief or the Director, as applicable, shall 13
10691178 provide 10 percent of the agreement or contract 14
10701179 amount to such entity as cancellation or termi-15
10711180 nation costs. 16
10721181 ‘‘(B) D
10731182 EFINITION OF LONG-TERM AGREE-17
10741183 MENT OR CONTRACT .—In this paragraph, the 18
10751184 term ‘long-term agreement or contract’ means 19
10761185 an agreement or contract under subsection 20
10771186 (b)— 21
10781187 ‘‘(i) with a term of more than 5 years; 22
10791188 and 23
10801189 ‘‘(ii) entered into on or after the date 24
1081-of the enactment of this paragraph.’’. 25 40
1082-•HR 471 EH
1190+of the enactment of this paragraph.’’. 25
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10831194 SEC. 113. INTRA-AGENCY STRIKE TEAMS. 1
10841195 (a) E
10851196 STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary concerned 2
10861197 shall establish intra-agency strike teams to assist the Sec-3
10871198 retary concerned with— 4
10881199 (1) any reviews, including analysis under the 5
10891200 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 6
10901201 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), consultations under the Na-7
10911202 tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 8
10921203 470 et seq.), and consultations under the Endan-9
10931204 gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), 10
10941205 with the intent to accelerate and streamline inter-11
10951206 agency consultation processes; 12
10961207 (2) the implementation of any necessary site 13
10971208 preparation work in advance of or as part of a 14
10981209 fireshed management project; 15
10991210 (3) the implementation of fireshed management 16
11001211 projects under such section; and 17
11011212 (4) any combination of purposes under para-18
11021213 graphs (1) through (3). 19
11031214 (b) M
11041215 EMBERS.—The Secretary concerned may ap-20
11051216 point not more than 10 individuals to serve on an intra- 21
11061217 agency strike team comprised of— 22
11071218 (1) employees of the Department under the ju-23
11081219 risdiction of the Secretary concerned; 24
11091220 (2) employees of a different Federal agency, 25
1110-with the consent of that agency’s Secretary; 26 41
1111-•HR 471 EH
1221+with the consent of that agency’s Secretary; 26
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11121225 (3) private contractors from any nonprofit orga-1
11131226 nization, State government, Indian Tribe, local gov-2
11141227 ernment, quasi-governmental agency, academic insti-3
11151228 tution, or private organization; and 4
11161229 (4) volunteers from any nonprofit organization, 5
11171230 State government, Indian Tribe, local government, 6
11181231 quasi-governmental agency, academic institution, or 7
11191232 private organization. 8
11201233 (c) S
11211234 UNSET.—The authority provided under this sec-9
11221235 tion shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the 10
11231236 date of enactment of this Act. 11
11241237 SEC. 114. LOCALLY-LED RESTORATION. 12
11251238 (a) T
11261239 HRESHOLDADJUSTMENT.—Section 14(d) of the 13
11271240 National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 14
11281241 472a(d)) is amended by— 15
11291242 (1) striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting 16
11301243 ‘‘$55,000’’; and 17
11311244 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Begin-18
11321245 ning on January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, 19
11331246 the amount in the first sentence of this subsection 20
11341247 shall be adjusted by the Secretary for changes in the 21
11351248 Consumer Price Index of All Urban Consumers pub-22
11361249 lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the De-23
1137-partment of Labor.’’. 24 42
1138-•HR 471 EH
1250+partment of Labor.’’. 24
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11391254 (b) FIRESHEDMANAGEMENT PROJECTS.—Begin-1
11401255 ning on the date that is 30 days after the date of enact-2
11411256 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall solicit bids under sec-3
11421257 tion 14 of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 4
11431258 (16 U.S.C. 472a(d)) for fireshed management projects 5
11441259 under section 106. 6
11451260 SEC. 115. JOINT CHIEFS LANDSCAPE RESTORATION PART-7
11461261 NERSHIP PROGRAM. 8
11471262 Section 40808 of the Infrastructure Investment and 9
11481263 Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592d) is amended— 10
11491264 (1) in subsection (a)(2)— 11
11501265 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or’’ 12
11511266 at the end; 13
11521267 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 14
11531268 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 15
11541269 and 16
11551270 (C) by adding at the end the following: 17
11561271 ‘‘(D) to recover from wildfires; or 18
11571272 ‘‘(E) to enhance soil, water, and related 19
11581273 natural resources.’’; 20
11591274 (2) in subsection (d)(1)— 21
11601275 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 22
11611276 ‘‘and post-wildfire impacts’’ after ‘‘wildfire 23
1162-risk’’; and 24 43
1163-•HR 471 EH
1277+risk’’; and 24
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11641281 (B) in subparagraph (F), by inserting ‘‘, 1
11651282 as identified in the corresponding State forest 2
11661283 action plan or similar priority plan (such as a 3
11671284 State wildlife or water plan)’’ before the semi-4
11681285 colon; 5
11691286 (3) in subsection (g)(2), by inserting ‘‘and at 6
11701287 least once every 2 fiscal years thereafter’’ after ‘‘and 7
11711288 2023’’; and 8
11721289 (4) in subsection (h)(1), by striking ‘‘and 9
11731290 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘through 2030’’. 10
11741291 SEC. 116. COLLABORATIVE FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORA-11
11751292 TION PROGRAM. 12
11761293 Section 4003 of the Omnibus Public Land Manage-13
11771294 ment Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303) is amended— 14
11781295 (1) in subsection (b)(3)— 15
11791296 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘spe-16
11801297 cies;’’ and inserting ‘‘species or pathogens;’’; 17
11811298 (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking 18
11821299 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19
11831300 (C) in subparagraph (H), by adding ‘‘and’’ 20
11841301 after the semicolon at the end; and 21
11851302 (D) by adding at the end the following: 22
11861303 ‘‘(I) address standardized monitoring ques-23
11871304 tions and indicators;’’; 24
1188-(2) in subsection (c)(3)(A)—25 44
1189-•HR 471 EH
1305+(2) in subsection (c)(3)(A)— 25
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11901309 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1
11911310 end; 2
11921311 (B) in clause (ii), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 3
11931312 end; and 4
11941313 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5
11951314 ‘‘(iii) include a plan to provide sup-6
11961315 port to collaborative processes established 7
11971316 pursuant to subsection (b)(2);’’; 8
11981317 (3) in subsection (d)— 9
11991318 (A) in paragraph (2)— 10
12001319 (i) in subparagraph (E), by striking 11
12011320 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 12
12021321 (ii) in subparagraph (F), by striking 13
12031322 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 14
12041323 and’’; and 15
12051324 (iii) by adding at the end the fol-16
12061325 lowing: 17
12071326 ‘‘(G) proposals that seek to use innovative 18
12081327 implementation mechanisms, including good 19
12091328 neighbor agreements entered into under section 20
12101329 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 21
12111330 U.S.C. 2113a); 22
12121331 ‘‘(H) proposals that seek to remove or 23
12131332 treat insects or diseases, including the removal 24
1214-of trees killed by, or infested with, bark beetles 25 45
1215-•HR 471 EH
1333+of trees killed by, or infested with, bark beetles 25
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12161337 in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Mon-1
12171338 tana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, 2
12181339 South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyo-3
12191340 ming; 4
12201341 ‘‘(I) proposals that seek to facilitate the 5
12211342 sale of firewood and Christmas trees on lands 6
12221343 under the jurisdiction of the Secretary or the 7
12231344 Secretary of the Interior; 8
12241345 ‘‘(J) proposals that seek to reduce the risk 9
12251346 of uncharacteristic wildfire or increase ecologi-10
12261347 cal restoration activities— 11
12271348 ‘‘(i) within areas across land owner-12
12281349 ships, including State, Tribal, and private 13
12291350 land; and 14
12301351 ‘‘(ii) within the wildland-urban inter-15
12311352 face (as defined in section 101 of the 16
12321353 Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 17
12331354 (16 U.S.C. 6511)); and 18
12341355 ‘‘(K) proposals that seek to enhance water-19
12351356 shed health and drinking water sources.’’; and 20
12361357 (B) in paragraph (3)— 21
12371358 (i) by amending subparagraph (A) to 22
1238-read as follows: 23 46
1239-•HR 471 EH
1359+read as follows: 23
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12401363 ‘‘(A) 4 proposals in any 1 region of the 1
12411364 National Forest System to be funded during 2
12421365 any fiscal year; and’’; 3
12431366 (ii) by striking subparagraph (B); and 4
12441367 (iii) by redesignating subparagraph 5
12451368 (C) as subparagraph (B); and 6
12461369 (4) in subsection (f)(6), by striking ‘‘2019 7
12471370 through 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2025 through 2030’’. 8
12481371 SEC. 117. UTILIZING GRAZING FOR WILDFIRE RISK REDUC-9
12491372 TION. 10
12501373 The Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Forest 11
12511374 Service, in coordination with holders of permits to graze 12
12521375 livestock on Federal land, shall develop a strategy to in-13
12531376 crease opportunities to utilize livestock grazing as a wild-14
12541377 fire risk reduction strategy, including— 15
12551378 (1) completion of reviews (as required under the 16
12561379 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (U.S.C. 17
12571380 4321 et seq.)) to allow permitted grazing on vacant 18
12581381 grazing allotments during instances of drought, wild-19
12591382 fire, or other natural disasters that disrupt grazing 20
12601383 on allotments already permitted; 21
12611384 (2) use of targeted grazing; 22
12621385 (3) increased use of temporary permits to pro-23
12631386 mote targeted fuels reduction and reduction of 24
1264-invasive annual grasses; 25 47
1265-•HR 471 EH
1387+invasive annual grasses; 25
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12661391 (4) increased use of grazing as a postfire recov-1
12671392 ery and restoration strategy, where appropriate; and 2
12681393 (5) use of all applicable authorities under the 3
12691394 law. 4
12701395 SEC. 118. WATER SOURCE PROTECTION PROGRAM. 5
12711396 Section 303 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 6
12721397 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6542(g)(4)(B)) is amended— 7
12731398 (1) in subsection (a)— 8
12741399 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 9
12751400 through (7) as paragraphs (2) through (8), re-10
12761401 spectively; 11
12771402 (B) by inserting before paragraph (2), as 12
12781403 so redesignated, the following: 13
12791404 ‘‘(1) A
12801405 DJACENT LAND.—The term ‘adjacent 14
12811406 land’ means non-Federal land, including State, local, 15
12821407 and private land, that is adjacent to, and within the 16
12831408 same watershed as, National Forest System land on 17
12841409 which a watershed protection and restoration project 18
12851410 is carried out under this section.’’; and 19
12861411 (C) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated— 20
12871412 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 21
12881413 (G) and (H) as subparagraphs (K) and 22
12891414 (L), respectively; and 23
12901415 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 24
1291-(F) the following: 25 48
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1416+(F) the following: 25
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12931420 ‘‘(G) an acequia association; 1
12941421 ‘‘(H) a local, regional, or other public enti-2
12951422 ty that manages stormwater or wastewater re-3
12961423 sources or other related water infrastructure; 4
12971424 ‘‘(I) a land-grant mercedes; 5
12981425 ‘‘(J) a local, regional, or other private enti-6
12991426 ty that has water delivery authority;’’; 7
13001427 (2) in subsection (b)— 8
13011428 (A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall’’ and 9
13021429 inserting the following: 10
13031430 ‘‘(1) I
13041431 N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall’’; and 11
13051432 (B) by adding at the end the following: 12
13061433 ‘‘(2) R
13071434 EQUIREMENTS.—A watershed protection 13
13081435 and restoration project under the Program shall be 14
13091436 designed to— 15
13101437 ‘‘(A) protect and restore watershed health, 16
13111438 water supply and quality, a municipal or agri-17
13121439 cultural water supply system, and water-related 18
13131440 infrastructure; 19
13141441 ‘‘(B) protect and restore forest health from 20
13151442 insect infestation and disease or wildfire; or 21
13161443 ‘‘(C) advance any combination of the pur-22
13171444 poses described in subparagraphs (A) and (B). 23
13181445 ‘‘(3) P
13191446 RIORITIES.—In selecting watershed pro-24
1320-tection and restoration projects under the Program, 25 49
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1447+tection and restoration projects under the Program, 25
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13221451 the Secretary shall give priority to projects that 1
13231452 would— 2
13241453 ‘‘(A) provide risk management benefits as-3
13251454 sociated with: drought; wildfire; post-wildfire 4
13261455 conditions; extreme weather; flooding; resilience 5
13271456 to climate change; and watershed and fire resil-6
13281457 ience, including minimizing risks to watershed 7
13291458 health, water supply and quality, and water-re-8
13301459 lated infrastructure, including municipal and 9
13311460 agricultural water supply systems; 10
13321461 ‘‘(B) support aquatic restoration and con-11
13331462 servation efforts that complement existing or 12
13341463 planned forest restoration or wildfire risk re-13
13351464 duction efforts; or 14
13361465 ‘‘(C) provide quantifiable benefits to water 15
13371466 supply or quality and include the use of nature- 16
13381467 based solutions, such as restoring wetland and 17
13391468 riparian ecosystems. 18
13401469 ‘‘(4) C
13411470 ONDITIONS FOR PROJECTS ON ADJACENT 19
13421471 LAND.— 20
13431472 ‘‘(A) I
13441473 N GENERAL.—No project or activity 21
13451474 may be carried out under this section on adja-22
13461475 cent land unless the owner of the adjacent land 23
1347-agrees in writing that the owner is a willing and 24 50
1348-•HR 471 EH
1476+agrees in writing that the owner is a willing and 24
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13491480 engaged partner in carrying out that project or 1
13501481 activity. 2
13511482 ‘‘(B) E
13521483 FFECT.—Nothing in this section 3
13531484 shall be construed to authorize any change in— 4
13541485 ‘‘(i) the ownership of adjacent land on 5
13551486 which a project or activity is carried out 6
13561487 under this section; or 7
13571488 ‘‘(ii) the management of adjacent land 8
13581489 on which a project or activity is carried out 9
13591490 under this section, except during the car-10
13601491 rying out of that project or activity.’’; 11
13611492 (3) in subsection (c)— 12
13621493 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘with 13
13631494 end water users’’ and inserting ‘‘with end water 14
13641495 users to protect and restore the condition of 15
13651496 National Forest watersheds and adjacent land 16
13661497 that provide water— 17
13671498 ‘‘(A) to the end water users subject to the 18
13681499 agreement; or 19
13691500 ‘‘(B) for the benefit of another end water 20
13701501 user.’’; 21
13711502 (B) in paragraph (2)— 22
13721503 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 23
1373-‘‘or’’ at the end; 24 51
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1504+‘‘or’’ at the end; 24
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13751508 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph 1
13761509 (D) as subparagraph (E); and 2
13771510 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 3
13781511 (C) the following: 4
13791512 ‘‘(D) a good neighbor agreement entered 5
13801513 into under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act 6
13811514 of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); or’’; and 7
13821515 (C) by adding at the end the following: 8
13831516 ‘‘(3) C
13841517 OOPERATION WITH NON -FEDERAL PART-9
13851518 NERS.—The Secretary shall cooperate with non-Fed-10
13861519 eral partners in carrying out assessments, planning, 11
13871520 project design, and project implementation under 12
13881521 this section.’’; 13
13891522 (4) in subsection (d)— 14
13901523 (A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 15
13911524 follows: 16
13921525 ‘‘(2) R
13931526 EQUIREMENT.—A water source manage-17
13941527 ment plan shall be— 18
13951528 ‘‘(A) designed to protect and restore eco-19
13961529 logical integrity (as defined in section 219.19 of 20
13971530 title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef-21
13981531 fect on the date of enactment of this subpara-22
13991532 graph)); 23
14001533 ‘‘(B) based on the best available scientific 24
1401-information; and 25 52
1402-•HR 471 EH
1534+information; and 25
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14031538 ‘‘(C) conducted in a manner consistent 1
14041539 with the forest plan applicable to the National 2
14051540 Forest System land on which the watershed 3
14061541 protection and restoration project is carried 4
14071542 out.’’; and 5
14081543 (B) by adding at the end the following: 6
14091544 ‘‘(4) R
14101545 EDUCING REDUNDANCY .—An existing 7
14111546 watershed plan, such as a watershed protection and 8
14121547 restoration action plan developed under section 9
14131548 304(a)(3), or other applicable watershed planning 10
14141549 documents as approved by the Secretary may be 11
14151550 used as the basis for a water source management 12
14161551 plan under this subsection.’’; and 13
14171552 (5) in subsection (e)(1), by striking ‘‘primary 14
14181553 purpose of’’ and all that follows through the period 15
14191554 at the end and inserting ‘‘primary purpose of ad-16
14201555 vancing any of the purposes described in subsection 17
14211556 (b)(2).’’. 18
14221557 SEC. 119. WATERSHED CONDITION FRAMEWORK TECH-19
14231558 NICAL CORRECTIONS. 20
14241559 Section 304(a) of the Healthy Forests Restoration 21
14251560 Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6543(a)) is amended in para-22
1426-graphs (3) and (5) by striking ‘‘protection and’’. 23 53
1427-•HR 471 EH
1561+graphs (3) and (5) by striking ‘‘protection and’’. 23
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14281565 Subtitle C—Litigation Reform 1
14291566 SEC. 121. COMMONSENSE LITIGATION REFORM. 2
14301567 (a) I
14311568 NGENERAL.—A court shall not enjoin a covered 3
14321569 agency action if the court determines that the plaintiff is 4
14331570 unable to demonstrate that the claim of the plaintiff is 5
14341571 likely to succeed on the merits. 6
14351572 (b) B
14361573 ALANCINGSHORT- ANDLONG-TERMEFFECTS 7
14371574 OFCOVEREDAGENCYACTION INCONSIDERINGINJUNC-8
14381575 TIVERELIEF.—As part of its weighing the equities while 9
14391576 considering any request for an injunction that applies to 10
14401577 a covered agency action, the court reviewing such action 11
14411578 shall balance the impact to the ecosystem likely affected 12
14421579 by such action of— 13
14431580 (1) the short- and long-term effects of under-14
14441581 taking such action; against 15
14451582 (2) the short- and long-term effects of not un-16
14461583 dertaking such action. 17
14471584 (c) L
14481585 IMITATIONS ONJUDICIALREVIEW.— 18
14491586 (1) I
14501587 N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 19
14511588 provision of law (except this section), in the case of 20
14521589 a claim arising under Federal law seeking judicial 21
14531590 review of a covered agency action— 22
14541591 (A) a court shall not hold unlawful, set 23
1455-aside, or otherwise limit, delay, stay, vacate, or 24 54
1456-•HR 471 EH
1592+aside, or otherwise limit, delay, stay, vacate, or 24
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14571596 enjoin such agency action unless the court de-1
14581597 termines that— 2
14591598 (i) such action poses or will pose a 3
14601599 risk of a proximate and substantial envi-4
14611600 ronmental harm; and 5
14621601 (ii) there is no other equitable remedy 6
14631602 available as a matter of law; and 7
14641603 (B) if a court determines that subpara-8
14651604 graph (A) does not apply to the covered agency 9
14661605 action the only remedy the court may order 10
14671606 with regard to such agency action is to remand 11
14681607 the matter to the agency with instructions to, 12
14691608 during the 180-day period beginning on the 13
14701609 date of the order, take such additional actions 14
14711610 as may be necessary to redress any legal wrong 15
14721611 suffered by, or adverse effect on, the plaintiff, 16
14731612 except such additional actions may not include 17
14741613 the preparation of a new agency document un-18
14751614 less the court finds the agency was required 19
14761615 and failed to prepare such agency document. 20
14771616 (2) E
14781617 FFECT OF REMAND.—In the case of a cov-21
14791618 ered agency action to which paragraph (1)(B) ap-22
14801619 plies, the agency may— 23
14811620 (A) continue to carry out such agency ac-24
1482-tion to the extent the action does not impact 25 55
1483-•HR 471 EH
1621+tion to the extent the action does not impact 25
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14841625 the additional actions required pursuant to such 1
14851626 paragraph; and 2
14861627 (B) if the agency action relates to an agen-3
14871628 cy document, use any format to correct such 4
14881629 document (including a supplemental environ-5
14891630 mental document, memorandum, or errata 6
14901631 sheet). 7
14911632 (d) L
14921633 IMITATIONS ONCLAIMS.—Notwithstanding any 8
14931634 other provision of law (except this section), a claim arising 9
14941635 under Federal law seeking judicial review of a covered 10
14951636 agency action shall be barred unless— 11
14961637 (1) with respect to an agency document or the 12
14971638 application of a categorical exclusion noticed in the 13
14981639 Federal Register, such claim is filed not later than 14
14991640 120 days after the date of publication of a notice in 15
15001641 the Federal Register of agency intent to carry out 16
15011642 the fireshed management project relating to such 17
15021643 agency document or application, unless a shorter pe-18
15031644 riod is specified in such Federal law; 19
15041645 (2) in the case of an agency document or the 20
15051646 application of a categorical exclusion not described 21
15061647 in paragraph (1), such claim is filed not later than 22
15071648 120 days after the date that is the earlier of— 23
15081649 (A) the date on which such agency docu-24
1509-ment or application is published; and 25 56
1510-•HR 471 EH
1650+ment or application is published; and 25
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15111654 (B) the date on which such agency docu-1
15121655 ment or application is noticed; and 2
15131656 (3) in the case of a covered agency action for 3
15141657 which there was a public comment period, such 4
15151658 claim— 5
15161659 (A) is filed by a party that— 6
15171660 (i) participated in the administrative 7
15181661 proceedings regarding the fireshed man-8
15191662 agement project relating to such action; 9
15201663 and 10
15211664 (ii) submitted a comment during such 11
15221665 public comment period and such comment 12
15231666 was sufficiently detailed to put the applica-13
15241667 ble agency on notice of the issue upon 14
15251668 which the party seeks judicial review; and 15
15261669 (B) is related to such comment. 16
15271670 (e) D
15281671 EFINITIONS.—ln this section: 17
15291672 (1) A
15301673 GENCY DOCUMENT .—The term ‘‘agency 18
15311674 document’’ means, with respect to a fireshed man-19
15321675 agement project, a record of decision, environmental 20
15331676 document, or programmatic environmental docu-21
15341677 ment. 22
15351678 (2) C
15361679 OVERED AGENCY ACTION .—The term 23
1537-‘‘covered agency action’’ means—24 57
1538-•HR 471 EH
1680+‘‘covered agency action’’ means— 24
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15391684 (A) the establishment of a fireshed man-1
15401685 agement project by an agency; 2
15411686 (B) the application of a categorical exclu-3
15421687 sion to a fireshed management project; 4
15431688 (C) the preparation of any agency docu-5
15441689 ment for a fireshed management project; or 6
15451690 (D) any other agency action as part of a 7
15461691 fireshed management project. 8
15471692 (3) NEPA
15481693 TERMS.—The terms ‘‘categorical ex-9
15491694 clusion’’, ‘‘environmental document’’, and ‘‘pro-10
15501695 grammatic environmental document’’ have the mean-11
15511696 ings given such terms, respectively, in section 111 of 12
15521697 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 13
15531698 U.S.C. 4336e). 14
15541699 SEC. 122. CONSULTATION ON FOREST PLANS. 15
15551700 (a) F
15561701 ORESTSERVICEPLANS.—Section 6(d)(2) of the 16
15571702 Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 17
15581703 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604(d)(2)) is amended to read as 18
15591704 follows: 19
15601705 ‘‘(2) N
15611706 O ADDITIONAL CONSULTATION RE -20
15621707 QUIRED UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES .—Not-21
15631708 withstanding any other provision of law, the Sec-22
15641709 retary shall not be required to reinitiate consultation 23
15651710 under section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act 24
1566-of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2)) or section 402.16 of 25 58
1567-•HR 471 EH
1711+of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2)) or section 402.16 of 25
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15681715 title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor 1
15691716 regulation), on a land management plan approved, 2
15701717 amended, or revised under this section when— 3
15711718 ‘‘(A) a new species is listed or critical habi-4
15721719 tat is designated under the Endangered Species 5
15731720 Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or 6
15741721 ‘‘(B) new information reveals effects of the 7
15751722 land management plan that may affect a spe-8
15761723 cies listed or critical habitat designated under 9
15771724 that Act in a manner or to an extent not pre-10
15781725 viously considered.’’. 11
15791726 (b) B
15801727 UREAU OFLANDMANAGEMENTPLANS.—Sec-12
15811728 tion 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 13
15821729 of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712) is amended by adding at the 14
15831730 end the following: 15
15841731 ‘‘(g) N
15851732 OADDITIONALCONSULTATION REQUIRED 16
15861733 U
15871734 NDERCERTAINCIRCUMSTANCES.—Notwithstanding 17
15881735 any other provision of law, the Secretary shall not be re-18
15891736 quired to reinitiate consultation under section 7(a)(2) of 19
15901737 the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 20
15911738 1536(a)(2)) or section 402.16 of title 50, Code of Federal 21
15921739 Regulations (or a successor regulation), on a land use plan 22
1593-approved, amended, or revised under this section when—23 59
1594-•HR 471 EH
1740+approved, amended, or revised under this section when— 23
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15951744 ‘‘(1) a new species is listed or critical habitat 1
15961745 is designated under the Endangered Species Act of 2
15971746 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or 3
15981747 ‘‘(2) new information reveals effects of the land 4
15991748 use plan that may affect a species listed or critical 5
16001749 habitat designated under that Act in a manner or to 6
16011750 an extent not previously considered.’’. 7
16021751 TITLE II—PROTECTING COMMU-8
16031752 NITIES IN THE WILDLAND- 9
16041753 URBAN INTERFACE 10
16051754 SEC. 201. COMMUNITY WILDFIRE RISK REDUCTION PRO-11
16061755 GRAM. 12
16071756 (a) E
16081757 STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 13
16091758 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall 14
16101759 jointly establish an interagency program to be known as 15
16111760 the ‘‘Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Program’’ that 16
16121761 shall consist of at least one representative from each of 17
16131762 the following: 18
16141763 (1) The Office of Wildland Fire of the Depart-19
16151764 ment of the Interior. 20
16161765 (2) The National Park Service. 21
16171766 (3) The Bureau of Land Management. 22
16181767 (4) The United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-23
16191768 ice. 24
1620-(5) The Bureau of Indian Affairs. 25 60
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1769+(5) The Bureau of Indian Affairs. 25
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16221773 (6) The Forest Service. 1
16231774 (7) The Federal Emergency Management Agen-2
16241775 cy. 3
16251776 (8) The United States Fire Administration. 4
16261777 (9) The National Institute of Standards and 5
16271778 Technology. 6
16281779 (10) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 7
16291780 Administration. 8
16301781 (b) P
16311782 URPOSE.—The purpose of the program estab-9
16321783 lished under subsection (a) is to support interagency co-10
16331784 ordination in reducing the risk of, and the damages result-11
16341785 ing from, wildfires in communities (including tribal com-12
16351786 munities) in the wildland-urban interface through— 13
16361787 (1) advancing research and science in wildfire 14
16371788 resilience and land management, including support 15
16381789 for non-Federal research partnerships; 16
16391790 (2) supporting adoption by Indian Tribes and 17
16401791 local governmental entities of fire-resistant building 18
16411792 methods, codes, and standards; 19
16421793 (3) supporting efforts by Indian Tribes or local 20
16431794 governmental entities to address the effects of 21
16441795 wildland fire on such communities, including prop-22
1645-erty damages, air quality, and water quality; 23 61
1646-•HR 471 EH
1796+erty damages, air quality, and water quality; 23
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16471800 (4) encouraging public-private partnerships to 1
16481801 conduct hazardous fuels management activities in 2
16491802 the wildland-urban interface; 3
16501803 (5) providing technical and financial assistance 4
16511804 targeted towards communities, including tribal com-5
16521805 munities, through streamlined and unified technical 6
16531806 assistance and grant management mechanisms, in-7
16541807 cluding the portal and grant application established 8
16551808 under subsection (c), to— 9
16561809 (A) encourage critical risk reduction meas-10
16571810 ures on private property with high wildfire risk 11
16581811 exposure in such communities; and 12
16591812 (B) mitigate costs for and improve capac-13
16601813 ity among such communities. 14
16611814 (c) P
16621815 ORTAL ANDUNIFORMGRANTAPPLICATION.— 15
16631816 (1) I
16641817 N GENERAL.—As part of the program es-16
16651818 tablished under subsection (a), the Secretaries and 17
16661819 the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man-18
16671820 agement Agency shall establish a portal through 19
16681821 which a person may submit a single, uniform appli-20
16691822 cation for any of the following: 21
16701823 (A) A community wildfire defense grant 22
16711824 under section 40803(f) of the Infrastructure In-23
1672-vestment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(f)). 24 62
1673-•HR 471 EH
1825+vestment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(f)). 24
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16741829 (B) An emergency management perform-1
16751830 ance grant under section 662 of the Post- 2
16761831 Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 3
16771832 2006 (6 U.S.C. 761). 4
16781833 (C) A grant under section 33 of the Fed-5
16791834 eral Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 6
16801835 (15 U.S.C. 2229). 7
16811836 (D) A grant under section 34 of the Fed-8
16821837 eral Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 9
16831838 (15 U.S.C. 2229a). 10
16841839 (E) Financial or technical assistance or a 11
16851840 grant under sections 203, 205, 404, 406, or 12
16861841 420 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 13
16871842 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 14
16881843 5133, 5135, 5170c, 5172, 5187). 15
16891844 (2) S
16901845 IMPLIFICATION OF APPLICATION .—In es-16
16911846 tablishing the portal and application under para-17
16921847 graph (1), the Secretaries and the Administrator 18
16931848 shall seek to reduce the complexity and length of the 19
16941849 application process for the grants described in para-20
16951850 graph (1). 21
16961851 (3) T
16971852 ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .—The Secretaries 22
16981853 shall provide technical assistance to communities or 23
1699-persons seeking to apply for financial assistance 24 63
1700-•HR 471 EH
1854+persons seeking to apply for financial assistance 24
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17011858 through the portal using the application established 1
17021859 under paragraph (1). 2
17031860 (d) S
17041861 UNSET.—The program established under this 3
17051862 section shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after 4
17061863 the date of enactment of this Act. 5
17071864 SEC. 202. COMMUNITY WILDFIRE DEFENSE RESEARCH PRO-6
17081865 GRAM. 7
17091866 (a) I
17101867 NGENERAL.—The Secretaries shall, acting 8
17111868 jointly, expand the Joint Fire Science Program to include 9
17121869 a performance-driven research and development program 10
17131870 known as the ‘‘Community Wildfire Defense Research 11
17141871 Program’’ for the purpose of testing and advancing inno-12
17151872 vative designs to create or improve the wildfire-resistance 13
17161873 of structures and communities. 14
17171874 (b) P
17181875 ROGRAMPRIORITIES.—In carrying out the pro-15
17191876 gram established under subsection (a), the Secretaries 16
17201877 shall evaluate opportunities to create wildfire-resistant 17
17211878 structures and communities through— 18
17221879 (1) different affordable building materials, in-19
17231880 cluding mass timber; 20
17241881 (2) home hardening, including policies to 21
17251882 incentivize and incorporate defensible space; 22
17261883 (3) subdivision design and other land use plan-23
17271884 ning and design; 24
1728-(4) landscape architecture; and 25 64
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1885+(4) landscape architecture; and 25
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17301889 (5) other wildfire-resistant designs, as deter-1
17311890 mined by the Secretary. 2
17321891 (c) C
17331892 OMMUNITYWILDFIREDEFENSEINNOVATION 3
17341893 P
17351894 RIZE.— 4
17361895 (1) I
17371896 N GENERAL.—In carrying out the program 5
17381897 established under subsection (a), the Secretaries 6
17391898 shall carry out a competition through which a person 7
17401899 may submit to the Secretaries innovative designs for 8
17411900 the creation or improvement of an ignition-resistant 9
17421901 structure or fire-adapted communities. 10
17431902 (2) P
17441903 RIZE.—Subject to the availability of ap-11
17451904 propriations made in advance for such purpose, the 12
17461905 Secretaries may award a prize under the competition 13
17471906 described in paragraph (1), based on criteria estab-14
17481907 lished by the Secretaries and in accordance with 15
17491908 paragraph (3). 16
17501909 (3) S
17511910 CALE.—In awarding a prize under para-17
17521911 graph (2), the Secretaries shall prioritize for an 18
17531912 award designs with the most potential to scale to ex-19
17541913 isting infrastructure. 20
17551914 (d) C
17561915 OLLABORATION AND NONDUPLICATION.—In 21
17571916 carrying out the program established under subsection (a), 22
17581917 the Secretaries shall ensure collaboration and nonduplica-23
17591918 tion of activities with the Building Technologies Office of 24
1760-the Department of Energy. 25 65
1761-•HR 471 EH
1919+the Department of Energy. 25
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17621923 (e) SUNSET.—The program established under sub-1
17631924 section (a) shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after 2
17641925 the date of enactment of this Act. 3
17651926 SEC. 203. VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, FACILITY INSPEC-4
17661927 TION, AND OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE 5
17671928 RELATING TO ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION AND 6
17681929 DISTRIBUTION FACILITY RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 7
17691930 (a) H
17701931 AZARDTREESWITHIN150 FEET OFELECTRIC 8
17711932 P
17721933 OWERLINE.—Section 512(a)(1)(B)(ii) of the Federal 9
17731934 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 10
17741935 1772(a)(1)(B)(ii)) is amended by striking ‘‘10’’ and in-11
17751936 serting ‘‘150’’. 12
17761937 (b) C
17771938 ONSULTATIONWITHPRIVATELANDOWNERS.— 13
17781939 Section 512(c)(3)(E) of such Act (43 U.S.C. 14
17791940 1772(c)(3)(E)) is amended— 15
17801941 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 16
17811942 (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period and in-17
17821943 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 18
17831944 (3) by adding at the end the following: 19
17841945 ‘‘(iii) consulting with a private land-20
17851946 owner with respect to any hazard trees 21
17861947 identified for removal from land owned by 22
1787-the private landowner.’’. 23 66
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1948+the private landowner.’’. 23
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17891952 (c) REVIEW AND APPROVALPROCESS.—Section 1
17901953 512(c)(4)(A)(iv) of such Act (43 U.S.C. 2
17911954 1772(c)(4)(A)(iv)) is amended to read as follows: 3
17921955 ‘‘(iv) ensures that— 4
17931956 ‘‘(I) a plan submitted without a 5
17941957 modification under clause (iii) shall be 6
17951958 automatically approved 120 days after 7
17961959 being submitted; and 8
17971960 ‘‘(II) with respect to a plan sub-9
17981961 mitted with a modification under 10
17991962 clause (iii), if not approved within 120 11
18001963 days after being submitted, the Sec-12
18011964 retary concerned shall develop and 13
18021965 submit a letter to the owner and oper-14
18031966 ator describing— 15
18041967 ‘‘(aa) a detailed timeline (to 16
18051968 conclude within 165 days after 17
18061969 the submission of the plan) for 18
18071970 completing review of the plan; 19
18081971 ‘‘(bb) any identified defi-20
18091972 ciencies with the plan and spe-21
18101973 cific opportunities for the owner 22
18111974 and operator to address such de-23
1812-ficiencies; and 24 67
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1975+ficiencies; and 24
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18141979 ‘‘(cc) any other relevant in-1
18151980 formation, as determined by the 2
18161981 Secretary concerned.’’. 3
18171982 SEC. 204. CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION FOR ELECTRIC UTIL-4
18181983 ITY LINES RIGHTS-OF-WAY. 5
18191984 (a) C
18201985 ATEGORICALEXCLUSIONESTABLISHED.—For-6
18211986 est management activities described in subsection (b) are 7
18221987 a category of activities hereby designated as being cat-8
18231988 egorically excluded from the preparation of an environ-9
18241989 mental assessment or an environmental impact statement 10
18251990 under section 102 of the National Environmental Policy 11
18261991 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 12
18271992 (b) F
18281993 ORESTMANAGEMENTACTIVITIESDESIGNATED 13
18291994 FORCATEGORICALEXCLUSION.—The forest management 14
18301995 activities designated under subsection (a) for a categorical 15
18311996 exclusion are— 16
18321997 (1) the development and approval of a vegeta-17
18331998 tion management, facility inspection, and operation 18
18341999 and maintenance plan submitted under section 19
18352000 512(c)(1) of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-20
18362001 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1772(c)(1)) by the 21
18372002 Secretary concerned; and 22
18382003 (2) the implementation of routine activities con-23
1839-ducted under the plan referred to in paragraph (1). 24 68
1840-•HR 471 EH
2004+ducted under the plan referred to in paragraph (1). 24
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18412008 (c) AVAILABILITY OFCATEGORICALEXCLUSION.— 1
18422009 On and after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-2
18432010 retary concerned may use the categorical exclusion estab-3
18442011 lished under subsection (a) in accordance with this section. 4
18452012 (d) E
18462013 XCLUSION OFCERTAINAREASFROMCATEGOR-5
18472014 ICALEXCLUSION.—The categorical exclusion established 6
18482015 under subsection (a) shall not apply to any forest manage-7
18492016 ment activity conducted— 8
18502017 (1) in a component of the National Wilderness 9
18512018 Preservation System; or 10
18522019 (2) on National Forest System lands on which 11
18532020 the removal of vegetation is restricted or prohibited 12
18542021 by an Act of Congress. 13
18552022 (e) P
18562023 ERMANENTROADS.— 14
18572024 (1) P
18582025 ROHIBITION ON ESTABLISHMENT .—A for-15
18592026 est management activity designated under subsection 16
18602027 (b) shall not include the establishment of a perma-17
18612028 nent road. 18
18622029 (2) E
18632030 XISTING ROADS.—The Secretary con-19
18642031 cerned may carry out necessary maintenance and re-20
18652032 pair on an existing permanent road for the purposes 21
18662033 of conducting a forest management activity des-22
18672034 ignated under subsection (b). 23
18682035 (3) T
18692036 EMPORARY ROADS .—The Secretary con-24
1870-cerned shall decommission any temporary road con-25 69
1871-•HR 471 EH
2037+cerned shall decommission any temporary road con-25
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18722041 structed for carrying out a forest management activ-1
18732042 ity designated under subsection (b) not later than 2
18742043 the date that is 3 years after the date on which the 3
18752044 forest management activity is completed. 4
18762045 (f) A
18772046 PPLICABLELAWS.—Clauses (iii) and (iv) of sec-5
18782047 tion 106(a)(3) shall apply to forest management activities 6
18792048 designated under subsection (b). 7
18802049 SEC. 205. SEEDS OF SUCCESS. 8
18812050 (a) S
18822051 TRATEGYESTABLISHED.—Not later than 2 9
18832052 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secre-10
18842053 taries and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly develop 11
18852054 and implement a strategy, to be known as the ‘‘Seeds of 12
18862055 Success strategy’’, to enhance the domestic supply chain 13
18872056 of seeds. 14
18882057 (b) E
18892058 LEMENTS.—The strategy required under sub-15
18902059 section (a) shall include a plan for each of the following: 16
18912060 (1) Facilitating sustained interagency coordina-17
18922061 tion in, and a comprehensive approach to, native 18
18932062 plant materials development and restoration. 19
18942063 (2) Promoting the re-seeding of native or fire- 20
18952064 resistant vegetation post-wildfire, particularly in the 21
18962065 wildland-urban interface. 22
18972066 (3) Creating and consolidating information on 23
1898-native or fire-resistant vegetation and sharing such 24 70
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2067+native or fire-resistant vegetation and sharing such 24
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19002071 information with State governments, Indian Tribes, 1
19012072 and local governments. 2
19022073 (4) Building regional programs and partner-3
19032074 ships to promote the development of materials made 4
19042075 from plants native to the United States and restore 5
19052076 such plants to their respective, native habitats within 6
19062077 the United States, giving priority to the building of 7
19072078 such programs and partnerships in regions of the 8
19082079 Bureau of Land Management where such partner-9
19092080 ships and programs do not already exist as of the 10
19102081 date of enactment of this Act. 11
19112082 (5) Expanding seed storage and seed-cleaning 12
19122083 infrastructure. 13
19132084 (6) Expanding the Warehouse System of the 14
19142085 Bureau of Land Management, particularly the cold 15
19152086 storage capacity of the Warehouse System. 16
19162087 (7) Shortening the timeline for the approval of 17
19172088 permits to collect seeds on public lands managed by 18
19182089 the Bureau of Land Management. 19
19192090 (c) R
19202091 EPORT.—The Secretaries and the Secretary of 20
19212092 Defense shall submit to the relevant Congressional Com-21
1922-mittees the strategy developed under paragraph (1). 22 71
1923-•HR 471 EH
2093+mittees the strategy developed under paragraph (1). 22
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19242097 SEC. 206. PROGRAM TO SUPPORT PRIORITY REFOREST-1
19252098 ATION AND RESTORATION PROJECTS OF DE-2
19262099 PARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 3
19272100 (a) I
19282101 NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 4
19292102 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Inte-5
19302103 rior, in coordination with the heads of covered Federal 6
19312104 agencies, shall establish a program to provide support for 7
19322105 priority projects identified under subsection (c)(2), in ac-8
19332106 cordance with this section. 9
19342107 (b) S
19352108 UPPORT.—In carrying out the program under 10
19362109 subsection (a), the Secretary may provide support 11
19372110 through— 12
19382111 (1) cooperative agreements entered into in ac-13
19392112 cordance with processes established by the Sec-14
19402113 retary; and 15
19412114 (2) contracts, including contracts established 16
19422115 pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-17
19432116 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.). 18
19442117 (c) A
19452118 NNUAL IDENTIFICATION OF PRIORITY 19
19462119 P
19472120 ROJECTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-20
19482121 ment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary 21
19492122 of the Interior, in consultation with the heads of covered 22
19502123 Federal agencies, shall— 23
19512124 (1) identify lands of the United States adminis-24
19522125 tered by, or under the jurisdiction of, the Secretary 25
1953-of the Interior that require reforestation and res-26 72
1954-•HR 471 EH
2126+of the Interior that require reforestation and res-26
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19552130 toration due to unplanned disturbances and that are 1
19562131 unlikely to experience natural regeneration without 2
19572132 assistance; and 3
19582133 (2) establish a list of priority projects for refor-4
19592134 estation and restoration for the upcoming year, 5
19602135 which may include activities to ensure adequate and 6
19612136 appropriate seed and seedling availability to further 7
19622137 the objectives of other priority projects. 8
19632138 (d) C
19642139 ONSULTATION.—In carrying out the program 9
19652140 under subsection (a) and the requirements under sub-10
19662141 section (c), the Secretary shall consult or collaborate with, 11
19672142 as appropriate, and inform the following: 12
19682143 (1) State and local governments. 13
19692144 (2) Indian Tribes. 14
19702145 (3) Covered institutions of higher education. 15
19712146 (4) Federal agencies that administer lands of 16
19722147 the United States that adjoin or are proximal to 17
19732148 lands that are the subject of priority projects and 18
19742149 potential priority projects. 19
19752150 (5) Other stakeholders, as determined by the 20
19762151 Secretary. 21
19772152 (e) A
19782153 NNUALREPORT.—Not later than 2 years after 22
19792154 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 23
1980-the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to the relevant 24 73
1981-•HR 471 EH
2155+the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to the relevant 24
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19822159 Congressional Committees a report that includes the fol-1
19832160 lowing: 2
19842161 (1) An accounting of all lands identified under 3
19852162 subsection (c)(1) for the period covered by the re-4
19862163 port. 5
19872164 (2) A list of priority projects identified under 6
19882165 subsection (c)(2) for the period covered by the re-7
19892166 port and, with respect to each such priority project, 8
19902167 any support issued under the program under sub-9
19912168 section (a) and any progress made towards reforest-10
19922169 ation and restoration. 11
19932170 (3) An accounting of each contract and cooper-12
19942171 ative agreement established under the program 13
19952172 under subsection (a). 14
19962173 (4) A description of the actions taken in accord-15
19972174 ance with subsection (d). 16
19982175 (5) Assessments with respect to— 17
19992176 (A) gaps in— 18
20002177 (i) the implementation of the program 19
20012178 under subsection (a); and 20
20022179 (ii) the progress made under the pro-21
20032180 gram with respect to priority projects; and 22
20042181 (B) opportunities to procure funding nec-23
2005-essary to address any such gaps. 24 74
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2182+essary to address any such gaps. 24
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20072186 (f) NONDUPLICATION.—In carrying out this section, 1
20082187 the Secretary of the Interior shall collaborate with the Sec-2
20092188 retary and the Secretary of Defense to ensure the non-3
20102189 duplication of activities carried out under section 205. 4
20112190 (g) S
20122191 UNSET.—The authority provided under this sec-5
20132192 tion shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the 6
20142193 date of enactment of this Act. 7
20152194 (h) D
20162195 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
20172196 (1) C
20182197 OVERED FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 9
20192198 ‘‘covered Federal agency’’ means the National Park 10
20202199 Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 11
20212200 the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of 12
20222201 Reclamation, or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 13
20232202 (2) C
20242203 OVERED INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU -14
20252204 CATION.—The term ‘‘covered institution of higher 15
20262205 education’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘eligible 16
20272206 institution’’ in section 301(e)(3). 17
20282207 (3) N
20292208 ATURAL REGENERATION ; REFOREST-18
20302209 ATION.—The terms ‘‘natural regeneration’’ and ‘‘re-19
20312210 forestation’’ have the meanings given such terms in 20
20322211 section 3(e)(4)(A) of the Forest and Rangeland Re-21
20332212 newable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 22
20342213 1601(3)(4)(A)). 23
20352214 (4) R
20362215 ESTORATION.—The term ‘‘restoration’’ 24
2037-means activities that facilitate the recovery of an 25 75
2038-•HR 471 EH
2216+means activities that facilitate the recovery of an 25
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20392220 ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or de-1
20402221 stroyed, including the reestablishment of appropriate 2
20412222 plant species composition and community structure. 3
20422223 (5) U
20432224 NPLANNED ECOSYSTEM DISTURBANCE .— 4
20442225 The term ‘‘unplanned ecosystem disturbance’’ means 5
20452226 any unplanned disturbance that disrupts the struc-6
20462227 ture or composition of an ecosystem, including a 7
20472228 wildfire, an infestation of insects or disease, and a 8
20482229 weather event. 9
20492230 SEC. 207. FIRE DEPARTMENT REPAYMENT. 10
20502231 (a) E
20512232 STABLISHMENT OF STANDARDOPERATING 11
20522233 P
20532234 ROCEDURES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 12
20542235 the enactment of this section, the Secretaries shall— 13
20552236 (1) establish standard operating procedures re-14
20562237 lating to payment timelines for fire suppression cost 15
20572238 share agreements established under the Act of May 16
20582239 27, 1955 (42 U.S.C. 1856a) (commonly known as 17
20592240 the ‘‘Reciprocal Fire Protection Act’’); and 18
20602241 (2) with respect to each fire suppression cost 19
20612242 share agreement in operation on such date— 20
20622243 (A) review each such agreement; and 21
20632244 (B) modify each agreement as necessary to 22
20642245 comply with the standard operating procedures 23
2065-required under paragraph (1). 24 76
2066-•HR 471 EH
2246+required under paragraph (1). 24
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20672250 (b) ALIGNMENT OFFIRESUPPRESSIONCOSTSHARE 1
20682251 A
20692252 GREEMENTS WITHCOOPERATIVEFIREPROTECTION 2
20702253 A
20712254 GREEMENTS.—The standard operating procedures re-3
20722255 quired under subsection (a)(1) shall include a requirement 4
20732256 that each fire suppression cost share agreement be aligned 5
20742257 with each of the cooperative fire protection agreements ap-6
20752258 plicable to the entity subject to such fire suppression cost 7
20762259 share agreement. 8
20772260 (c) P
20782261 AYMENTSPURSUANT TOCOSTSHAREAGREE-9
20792262 MENTS.—With respect to payments made pursuant to fire 10
20802263 suppression cost share agreements, the standard operating 11
20812264 procedures required under subsection (a)(1) shall require 12
20822265 that the Federal paying entity reimburse a local fire de-13
20832266 partment if such fire department submits an invoice in 14
20842267 accordance with cost settlement procedures. 15
20852268 (d) S
20862269 ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-16
20872270 gress that the Secretaries should carry out reciprocal fire 17
20882271 suppression cost share agreement repayments to local fire 18
20892272 suppression organizations as soon as practicable after fire 19
20902273 suppression occurs but not later than 1 year after fire sup-20
2091-pression occurs. 21 77
2092-•HR 471 EH
2274+pression occurs. 21
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20932278 TITLE III—TRANSPARENCY, 1
20942279 TECHNOLOGY, AND PARTNER-2
20952280 SHIPS 3
20962281 Subtitle A—Transparency and 4
20972282 Technology 5
20982283 SEC. 301. BIOCHAR INNOVATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES 6
20992284 FOR CONSERVATION, HEALTH, AND AD-7
21002285 VANCEMENTS IN RESEARCH. 8
21012286 (a) D
21022287 EMONSTRATIONPROJECTS.— 9
21032288 (1) E
21042289 STABLISHMENT.— 10
21052290 (A) I
21062291 N GENERAL.—Subject to the avail-11
21072292 ability of appropriations made in advance for 12
21082293 such purpose, not later than 2 years after the 13
21092294 date of enactment of this Act, the covered Sec-14
21102295 retaries shall establish a program to enter into 15
21112296 partnerships with eligible entities to carry out 16
21122297 demonstration projects to support the develop-17
21132298 ment and commercialization of biochar in ac-18
21142299 cordance with this subsection. 19
21152300 (B) L
21162301 OCATION OF DEMONSTRATION 20
21172302 PROJECTS.—In carrying out the program estab-21
21182303 lished under subparagraph (A), the covered 22
21192304 Secretaries shall, to the maximum extent prac-23
21202305 ticable, enter into partnerships with eligible en-24
2121-tities such that not fewer than one demonstra-25 78
2122-•HR 471 EH
2306+tities such that not fewer than one demonstra-25
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21232310 tion project is carried out in each region of the 1
21242311 Forest Service and each region of the Bureau 2
21252312 of Land Management. 3
21262313 (2) P
21272314 ROPOSALS.—To be eligible to enter into a 4
21282315 partnership to carry out a biochar demonstration 5
21292316 project under paragraph (1)(A), an eligible entity 6
21302317 shall submit to the covered Secretaries a proposal at 7
21312318 such time, in such manner, and containing such in-8
21322319 formation as the covered Secretaries may require. 9
21332320 (3) P
21342321 RIORITY.—In selecting proposals under 10
21352322 paragraph (2), the covered Secretaries shall give pri-11
21362323 ority to entering into partnerships with eligible enti-12
21372324 ties that submit proposals to carry out biochar dem-13
21382325 onstration projects that— 14
2139-(A) have the most potential to create new 15
2140-jobs and contribute to local economies, particu-16
2141-larly in rural areas; 17
2142-(B) have the most potential to dem-18
2143-onstrate—19
2144-(i) new and innovative uses of biochar; 20
2145-(ii) market viability for cost effective 21
2146-biochar-based products; 22
2147-(iii) the restorative benefits of biochar 23
2148-with respect to forest heath and resiliency, 24
2149-including forest soils and watersheds; or 25 79
2150-•HR 471 EH
2151-(iv) any combination of purposes spec-1
2152-ified in clauses (i) through (iii); 2
2153-(C) are located in areas that have a high 3
2154-need for biochar production, as determined by 4
2155-the covered Secretaries, due to—5
2156-(i) nearby lands identified as having 6
2157-high or very high or extreme risk of wild-7
2158-fire; 8
2159-(ii) availability of sufficient quantities 9
2160-of feedstocks; or 10
2161-(iii) a high level of demand for 11
2162-biochar or other commercial byproducts of 12
2163-biochar; or 13
2164-(D) satisfy any combination of purposes 14
2165-specified in subparagraphs (A) through (C). 15
2326+(A) have the most carbon sequestration po-15
2327+tential; 16
2328+(B) have the most potential to create new 17
2329+jobs and contribute to local economies, particu-18
2330+larly in rural areas; 19
2331+(C) have the most potential to dem-20
2332+onstrate— 21
2333+(i) new and innovative uses of biochar; 22
2334+(ii) market viability for cost effective 23
2335+biochar-based products; 24
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2338+•HR 471 IH
2339+(iii) the ecosystem services created or 1
2340+supported by the use of biochar; 2
2341+(iv) the restorative benefits of biochar 3
2342+with respect to forest heath and resiliency, 4
2343+including forest soils and watersheds; or 5
2344+(v) any combination of purposes speci-6
2345+fied in clauses (i) through (iv); 7
2346+(D) are located in areas that have a high 8
2347+need for biochar production, as determined by 9
2348+the covered Secretaries, due to— 10
2349+(i) nearby lands identified as having 11
2350+high or very high or extreme risk of wild-12
2351+fire; 13
2352+(ii) availability of sufficient quantities 14
2353+of feedstocks; or 15
2354+(iii) a high level of demand for 16
2355+biochar or other commercial byproducts of 17
2356+biochar; or 18
2357+(E) satisfy any combination of purposes 19
2358+specified in subparagraphs (A) through (D). 20
21662359 (4) U
2167-SE OF FUNDS.—In carrying out the pro-16
2168-gram established under paragraph (1)(A), the cov-17
2169-ered Secretaries may enter into partnerships and 18
2170-provide funding to such partnerships to carry out 19
2171-demonstration projects to—20
2172-(A) acquire and test various feedstocks and 21
2173-their efficacy; 22
2174-(B) develop and optimize commercially and 23
2175-technologically viable biochar production units, 24
2176-including mobile and permanent units; 25 80
2177-•HR 471 EH
2178-(C) demonstrate—1
2179-(i) the production of biochar from for-2
2180-est residue; and 3
2181-(ii) the use of biochar to restore forest 4
2182-health and resiliency; 5
2183-(D) build, expand, or establish biochar fa-6
2184-cilities; 7
2185-(E) conduct research on new and innova-8
2186-tive uses of biochar; 9
2187-(F) demonstrate cost-effective market op-10
2188-portunities for biochar and biochar-based prod-11
2189-ucts; 12
2190-(G) carry out any other activities the cov-13
2191-ered Secretaries determine appropriate; or 14
2192-(H) any combination of the purposes speci-15
2193-fied in subparagraphs (A) through (F). 16
2360+SE OF FUNDS.—In carrying out the pro-21
2361+gram established under paragraph (1)(A), the cov-22
2362+ered Secretaries may enter into partnerships and 23
2363+provide funding to such partnerships to carry out 24
2364+demonstration projects to— 25
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2367+•HR 471 IH
2368+(A) acquire and test various feedstocks and 1
2369+their efficacy; 2
2370+(B) develop and optimize commercially and 3
2371+technologically viable biochar production units, 4
2372+including mobile and permanent units; 5
2373+(C) demonstrate— 6
2374+(i) the production of biochar from for-7
2375+est residue; and 8
2376+(ii) the use of biochar to restore forest 9
2377+health and resiliency; 10
2378+(D) build, expand, or establish biochar fa-11
2379+cilities; 12
2380+(E) conduct research on new and innova-13
2381+tive uses of biochar; 14
2382+(F) demonstrate cost-effective market op-15
2383+portunities for biochar and biochar-based prod-16
2384+ucts; 17
2385+(G) carry out any other activities the cov-18
2386+ered Secretaries determine appropriate; or 19
2387+(H) any combination of the purposes speci-20
2388+fied in subparagraphs (A) through (F). 21
21942389 (5) F
2195-EEDSTOCK REQUIREMENTS .—To the max-17
2196-imum extent practicable, an eligible entity that car-18
2197-ries out a biochar demonstration project under this 19
2198-subsection shall, with respect to the feedstock used 20
2199-under such project, derive at least 50 percent of 21
2200-such feedstock from forest thinning and manage-22
2201-ment activities, including mill residues, conducted on 23
2202-National Forest System lands or public lands. 24
2390+EEDSTOCK REQUIREMENTS .—To the max-22
2391+imum extent practicable, an eligible entity that car-23
2392+ries out a biochar demonstration project under this 24
2393+subsection shall, with respect to the feedstock used 25
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2396+•HR 471 IH
2397+under such project, derive at least 50 percent of 1
2398+such feedstock from forest thinning and manage-2
2399+ment activities, including mill residues, conducted on 3
2400+National Forest System lands or public lands. 4
22032401 (6) R
2204-EVIEW OF BIOCHAR DEMONSTRATION .—25 81
2205-•HR 471 EH
2206-(A) IN GENERAL.—The covered Secretaries 1
2207-shall conduct regionally-specific research, in-2
2208-cluding economic analyses and life-cycle assess-3
2209-ments, on any biochar produced from a dem-4
2210-onstration project carried out under the pro-5
2211-gram established in paragraph (1)(A), includ-6
2212-ing—7
2213-(i) the effects of such biochar on—8
2214-(I) forest health and resiliency; 9
2215-(II) carbon capture and seques-10
2216-tration, including increasing soil car-11
2217-bon in the short-term and long-term; 12
2218-(III) productivity, reduced input 13
2219-costs, and water retention in agricul-14
2220-tural practices; 15
2221-(IV) the health of soil and grass-16
2222-lands used for grazing activities, in-17
2223-cluding grazing activities on National 18
2224-Forest System land and public land; 19
2225-and 20
2226-(V) environmental remediation 21
2227-activities, including abandoned mine 22
2228-land remediation; 23 82
2229-•HR 471 EH
2230-(ii) the effectiveness of biochar as a 1
2231-co-product of biofuels or in biochemicals; 2
2232-and 3
2233-(iii) the effectiveness of other poten-4
2234-tial uses of biochar to determine if any 5
2235-such use is technologically and commer-6
2236-cially viable. 7
2402+EVIEW OF BIOCHAR DEMONSTRATION .— 5
2403+(A) I
2404+N GENERAL.—The covered Secretaries 6
2405+shall conduct regionally-specific research, in-7
2406+cluding economic analyses and life-cycle assess-8
2407+ments, on any biochar produced from a dem-9
2408+onstration project carried out under the pro-10
2409+gram established in paragraph (1)(A), includ-11
2410+ing— 12
2411+(i) the effects of such biochar on— 13
2412+(I) forest health and resiliency; 14
2413+(II) carbon capture and seques-15
2414+tration, including increasing soil car-16
2415+bon in the short-term and long-term; 17
2416+(III) productivity, reduced input 18
2417+costs, and water retention in agricul-19
2418+tural practices; 20
2419+(IV) the health of soil and grass-21
2420+lands used for grazing activities, in-22
2421+cluding grazing activities on National 23
2422+Forest System land and public land; 24
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2426+(V) environmental remediation 1
2427+activities, including abandoned mine 2
2428+land remediation; and 3
2429+(VI) other ecosystem services cre-4
2430+ated or supported by the use of 5
2431+biochar; 6
2432+(ii) the effectiveness of biochar as a 7
2433+co-product of biofuels or in biochemicals; 8
2434+and 9
2435+(iii) the effectiveness of other poten-10
2436+tial uses of biochar to determine if any 11
2437+such use is technologically and commer-12
2438+cially viable. 13
22372439 (B) C
2238-OORDINATION.—The covered Secre-8
2239-taries shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 9
2240-provide data, analyses, and other relevant infor-10
2241-mation collected under subparagraph (A) with 11
2242-recipients of a grant under subsection (b). 12
2440+OORDINATION.—The covered Secre-14
2441+taries shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 15
2442+provide data, analyses, and other relevant infor-16
2443+mation collected under subparagraph (A) with 17
2444+recipients of a grant under subsection (b). 18
22432445 (7) L
2244-IMITATION ON FUNDING FOR ESTAB -13
2245-LISHING BIOCHAR FACILITIES .—If the covered Sec-14
2246-retaries provide to an eligible entity that enters into 15
2247-a partnership with the covered Secretaries under 16
2248-paragraph (1)(A) funding for establishing a biochar 17
2249-facility, such funding may not exceed 35 percent of 18
2250-the total capital cost of establishing such biochar fa-19
2251-cility. 20
2446+IMITATION ON FUNDING FOR ESTAB -19
2447+LISHING BIOCHAR FACILITIES .—If the covered Sec-20
2448+retaries provide to an eligible entity that enters into 21
2449+a partnership with the covered Secretaries under 22
2450+paragraph (1)(A) funding for establishing a biochar 23
2451+facility, such funding may not exceed 35 percent of 24
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2455+the total capital cost of establishing such biochar fa-1
2456+cility. 2
22522457 (b) B
2253-IOCHARRESEARCH ANDDEVELOPMENTGRANT 21
2458+IOCHARRESEARCH ANDDEVELOPMENTGRANT 3
22542459 P
2255-ROGRAM.—22
2460+ROGRAM.— 4
22562461 (1) E
2257-STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the In-23
2258-terior, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, 24
2259-shall establish or expand an existing applied biochar 25 83
2260-•HR 471 EH
2261-research and development grant program to make 1
2262-competitive grants to eligible institutions to carry 2
2263-out the activities described in paragraph (3). 3
2462+STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the In-5
2463+terior, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, 6
2464+shall establish or expand an existing applied biochar 7
2465+research and development grant program to make 8
2466+competitive grants to eligible institutions to carry 9
2467+out the activities described in paragraph (3). 10
22642468 (2) A
2265-PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 4
2266-grant under this subsection, an eligible institution 5
2267-shall submit to the Secretary a proposal at such 6
2268-time, in such manner, and containing such informa-7
2269-tion as the Secretary may require. 8
2469+PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 11
2470+grant under this subsection, an eligible institution 12
2471+shall submit to the Secretary a proposal at such 13
2472+time, in such manner, and containing such informa-14
2473+tion as the Secretary may require. 15
22702474 (3) U
2271-SE OF FUNDS.—An eligible institution 9
2272-that receives a grant under this subsection shall use 10
2273-the grant funds to conduct applied research on—11
2274-(A) the effect of biochar on forest health 12
2275-and resiliency, accounting for variations in 13
2276-biochar, soil, climate, and other factors; 14
2277-(B) the effect of biochar on soil health and 15
2278-water retention, accounting for variations in 16
2279-biochar, soil, climate, and other factors; 17
2280-(C) the long-term carbon sequestration po-18
2281-tential of biochar; 19
2282-(D) the best management practices with 20
2283-respect to biochar and biochar-based products 21
2284-that maximize—22
2285-(i) carbon sequestration benefits; and 23
2286-(ii) the commercial viability and appli-24
2287-cation of such products in forestry, agri-25 84
2288-•HR 471 EH
2289-culture, environmental remediation, water 1
2290-quality improvement, and any other similar 2
2291-uses, as determined by the Secretary; 3
2292-(E) the regional uses of biochar to increase 4
2293-productivity and profitability, including—5
2294-(i) uses in agriculture and environ-6
2295-mental remediation; and 7
2296-(ii) use as a co-product in fuel produc-8
2297-tion; 9
2298-(F) new and innovative uses for biochar 10
2299-byproducts; and 11
2300-(G) opportunities to expand markets for 12
2301-biochar and create related jobs, particularly in 13
2302-rural areas. 14
2475+SE OF FUNDS.—An eligible institution 16
2476+that receives a grant under this subsection shall use 17
2477+the grant funds to conduct applied research on— 18
2478+(A) the effect of biochar on forest health 19
2479+and resiliency, accounting for variations in 20
2480+biochar, soil, climate, and other factors; 21
2481+(B) the effect of biochar on soil health and 22
2482+water retention, accounting for variations in 23
2483+biochar, soil, climate, and other factors; 24
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2487+(C) the long-term carbon sequestration po-1
2488+tential of biochar; 2
2489+(D) the best management practices with 3
2490+respect to biochar and biochar-based products 4
2491+that maximize— 5
2492+(i) carbon sequestration benefits; and 6
2493+(ii) the commercial viability and appli-7
2494+cation of such products in forestry, agri-8
2495+culture, environmental remediation, water 9
2496+quality improvement, and any other similar 10
2497+uses, as determined by the Secretary; 11
2498+(E) the regional uses of biochar to increase 12
2499+productivity and profitability, including— 13
2500+(i) uses in agriculture and environ-14
2501+mental remediation; and 15
2502+(ii) use as a co-product in fuel produc-16
2503+tion; 17
2504+(F) new and innovative uses for biochar 18
2505+byproducts; and 19
2506+(G) opportunities to expand markets for 20
2507+biochar and create related jobs, particularly in 21
2508+rural areas. 22
23032509 (c) R
2304-EPORTS.—15
2510+EPORTS.— 23
23052511 (1) R
2306-EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 2 16
2307-years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 17
2308-covered Secretaries shall submit to Congress a re-18
2309-port that—19
2310-(A) includes policy and program rec-20
2311-ommendations to improve the widespread use of 21
2312-biochar; 22
2313-(B) identifies any area of research needed 23
2314-to advance biochar commercialization; and 24 85
2315-•HR 471 EH
2316-(C) identifies barriers to further biochar 1
2317-commercialization, including permitting and 2
2318-siting considerations. 3
2512+EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 2 24
2513+years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 25
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2517+covered Secretaries shall submit to Congress a re-1
2518+port that— 2
2519+(A) includes policy and program rec-3
2520+ommendations to improve the widespread use of 4
2521+biochar; 5
2522+(B) identifies any area of research needed 6
2523+to advance biochar commercialization; and 7
2524+(C) identifies barriers to further biochar 8
2525+commercialization, including permitting and 9
2526+siting considerations. 10
23192527 (2) M
2320-ATERIALS SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF 4
2321-THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—Beginning with the 5
2322-second fiscal year that begins after the date of en-6
2323-actment of this Act and annually thereafter until the 7
2324-date described in subsection (d), the covered Secre-8
2325-taries shall include in the materials submitted to 9
2326-Congress in support of the President’s budget pursu-10
2327-ant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 11
2328-a report describing, for the fiscal year covered by the 12
2329-report, the status of each demonstration project car-13
2330-ried out under subsection (a) and each research and 14
2331-development grant carried out under subsection (b). 15
2528+ATERIALS SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF 11
2529+THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—Beginning with the 12
2530+second fiscal year that begins after the date of en-13
2531+actment of this Act and annually thereafter until the 14
2532+date described in subsection (d), the covered Secre-15
2533+taries shall include in the materials submitted to 16
2534+Congress in support of the President’s budget pursu-17
2535+ant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 18
2536+a report describing, for the fiscal year covered by the 19
2537+report, the status of each demonstration project car-20
2538+ried out under subsection (a) and each research and 21
2539+development grant carried out under subsection (b). 22
23322540 (d) S
2333-UNSET.—The authority to carry out this section 16
2334-shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date 17
2335-of enactment of this Act. 18
2336-(e) D
2337-EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
2541+UNSET.—The authority to carry out this section 23
2542+shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date 24
2543+of enactment of this Act. 25
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2547+(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1
23382548 (1) B
2339-IOCHAR.—The term ‘‘biochar’’ means car-20
2340-bonized biomass produced by converting feedstock 21
2341-through reductive thermal processing for non-fuel 22
2342-uses. 23
2549+IOCHAR.—The term ‘‘biochar’’ means car-2
2550+bonized biomass produced by converting feedstock 3
2551+through reductive thermal processing for non-fuel 4
2552+uses. 5
23432553 (2) E
2344-LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-24
2345-ty’’ means—25 86
2346-•HR 471 EH
2347-(A) a State, local, special district, or Tribal 1
2348-government; 2
2349-(B) an eligible institution; 3
2350-(C) a private, non-private, or cooperative 4
2351-entity or organization; 5
2352-(D) a National Laboratory (as such term 6
2353-is defined in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act 7
2354-of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)); or 8
2355-(E) a partnership or consortium of two or 9
2356-more entities described in subparagraphs (A) 10
2357-through (D). 11
2554+LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-6
2555+ty’’ means— 7
2556+(A) a State, local, special district, or Tribal 8
2557+government; 9
2558+(B) an eligible institution; 10
2559+(C) a private, non-private, or cooperative 11
2560+entity or organization; 12
2561+(D) a National Laboratory (as such term 13
2562+is defined in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act 14
2563+of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)); or 15
2564+(E) a partnership or consortium of two or 16
2565+more entities described in subparagraphs (A) 17
2566+through (D). 18
23582567 (3) E
2359-LIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi-12
2360-ble institution’’ means land-grant colleges and uni-13
2361-versities, including institutions eligible for funding 14
2362-under the—15
2363-(A) Act of July 2, 1862 (12 Stat. 503, 16
2364-chapter 130; 7 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); 17
2365-(B) Act of August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. 417, 18
2366-chapter 841; 7 U.S.C. 321 et seq.), including 19
2367-Tuskegee University; 20
2368-(C) Public Law 87–788 (commonly known 21
2369-as the ‘‘McIntire-Stennis Act of 1962’’); or 22
2370-(D) Equity in Educational Land-Grant 23
2371-Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note; Public 24
2372-Law 103–382). 25 87
2373-•HR 471 EH
2374-(4) FEEDSTOCK.—The term ‘‘feedstock’’ means 1
2375-excess biomass in the form of plant matter or mate-2
2376-rials that serves as the raw material for the produc-3
2377-tion of biochar. 4
2568+LIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi-19
2569+ble institution’’ means land-grant colleges and uni-20
2570+versities, including institutions eligible for funding 21
2571+under the— 22
2572+(A) Act of July 2, 1862 (12 Stat. 503, 23
2573+chapter 130; 7 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); 24
2574+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00086 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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2576+•HR 471 IH
2577+(B) Act of August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. 417, 1
2578+chapter 841; 7 U.S.C. 321 et seq.), including 2
2579+Tuskegee University; 3
2580+(C) Public Law 87–788 (commonly known 4
2581+as the ‘‘McIntire-Stennis Act of 1962’’); or 5
2582+(D) Equity in Educational Land-Grant 6
2583+Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note; Public 7
2584+Law 103–382). 8
2585+(4) F
2586+EEDSTOCK.—The term ‘‘feedstock’’ means 9
2587+excess biomass in the form of plant matter or mate-10
2588+rials that serves as the raw material for the produc-11
2589+tion of biochar. 12
23782590 (5) C
2379-OVERED SECRETARIES .—The term ‘‘cov-5
2380-ered Secretaries’’ means—6
2381-(A) the Secretary, acting through the Chief 7
2382-of the Forest Service; 8
2383-(B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 9
2384-through the Director of the Bureau of Land 10
2385-Management; and 11
2386-(C) the Secretary of Energy, acting 12
2387-through the Director of the Office of Science. 13
2388-SEC. 302. ACCURATE HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION RE-14
2389-PORTS. 15
2591+OVERED SECRETARIES .—The term ‘‘cov-13
2592+ered Secretaries’’ means— 14
2593+(A) the Secretary, acting through the Chief 15
2594+of the Forest Service; 16
2595+(B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 17
2596+through the Director of the Bureau of Land 18
2597+Management; and 19
2598+(C) the Secretary of Energy, acting 20
2599+through the Director of the Office of Science. 21
2600+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00087 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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2602+•HR 471 IH
2603+SEC. 302. ACCURATE HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION RE-1
2604+PORTS. 2
23902605 (a) I
2391-NCLUSION OFHAZARDOUSFUELSREDUCTION 16
2606+NCLUSION OFHAZARDOUSFUELSREDUCTION 3
23922607 R
2393-EPORT INMATERIALSSUBMITTED INSUPPORT OF THE 17
2608+EPORT INMATERIALSSUBMITTED INSUPPORT OF THE 4
23942609 P
2395-RESIDENT’SBUDGET.—18
2610+RESIDENT’SBUDGET.— 5
23962611 (1) I
2397-N GENERAL.—Beginning with the first fis-19
2398-cal year that begins after the date of enactment of 20
2399-this Act, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Sec-21
2400-retary concerned shall include in the materials sub-22
2401-mitted to Congress in support of the President’s 23
2402-budget pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United 24
2403-States Code, a report on the number of acres of 25 88
2404-•HR 471 EH
2405-Federal land on which the Secretary concerned car-1
2406-ried out hazardous fuels reduction activities during 2
2407-the preceding fiscal year. 3
2612+N GENERAL.—Beginning with the first fis-6
2613+cal year that begins after the date of enactment of 7
2614+this Act, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Sec-8
2615+retary concerned shall include in the materials sub-9
2616+mitted to Congress in support of the President’s 10
2617+budget pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United 11
2618+States Code, a report on the number of acres of 12
2619+Federal land on which the Secretary concerned car-13
2620+ried out hazardous fuels reduction activities during 14
2621+the preceding fiscal year. 15
24082622 (2) R
2409-EQUIREMENTS.—For purposes of the re-4
2410-port required under paragraph (1), the Secretary 5
2411-concerned shall—6
2412-(A) in determining the number of acres of 7
2413-Federal land on which the Secretary concerned 8
2414-carried out hazardous fuels reduction activities 9
2415-during the period covered by the report—10
2416-(i) record acres of Federal land on 11
2417-which hazardous fuels reduction activities 12
2418-were completed during such period; and 13
2419-(ii) record each acre described in 14
2420-clause (i) once in the report, regardless of 15
2421-whether multiple hazardous fuels reduction 16
2422-activities were carried out on such acre 17
2423-during such period; and 18
2424-(B) with respect to the acres of Federal 19
2425-land recorded in the report, include information 20
2426-on—21
2427-(i) which such acres are located in the 22
2428-wildland-urban interface; 23 89
2429-•HR 471 EH
2430-(ii) the level of wildfire risk (high, 1
2431-moderate, or low) on the first and last day 2
2432-of the period covered by the report; 3
2433-(iii) the types of hazardous fuels ac-4
2434-tivities completed for such acres, delin-5
2435-eating between whether such activities 6
2436-were conducted—7
2437-(I) in a wildfire managed for re-8
2438-source benefits; or 9
2439-(II) through a planned project; 10
2440-(iv) the cost per acre of hazardous 11
2441-fuels activities carried out during the pe-12
2442-riod covered by the report; 13
2443-(v) the region or system unit in which 14
2444-the acres are located; and 15
2445-(vi) the effectiveness of the hazardous 16
2446-fuels reduction activities on reducing the 17
2447-risk of wildfire. 18
2623+EQUIREMENTS.—For purposes of the re-16
2624+port required under paragraph (1), the Secretary 17
2625+concerned shall— 18
2626+(A) in determining the number of acres of 19
2627+Federal land on which the Secretary concerned 20
2628+carried out hazardous fuels reduction activities 21
2629+during the period covered by the report— 22
2630+(i) record acres of Federal land on 23
2631+which hazardous fuels reduction activities 24
2632+were completed during such period; and 25
2633+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00088 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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2635+•HR 471 IH
2636+(ii) record each acre described in 1
2637+clause (i) once in the report, regardless of 2
2638+whether multiple hazardous fuels reduction 3
2639+activities were carried out on such acre 4
2640+during such period; and 5
2641+(B) with respect to the acres of Federal 6
2642+land recorded in the report, include information 7
2643+on— 8
2644+(i) which such acres are located in the 9
2645+wildland-urban interface; 10
2646+(ii) the level of wildfire risk (high, 11
2647+moderate, or low) on the first and last day 12
2648+of the period covered by the report; 13
2649+(iii) the types of hazardous fuels ac-14
2650+tivities completed for such acres, delin-15
2651+eating between whether such activities 16
2652+were conducted— 17
2653+(I) in a wildfire managed for re-18
2654+source benefits; or 19
2655+(II) through a planned project; 20
2656+(iv) the cost per acre of hazardous 21
2657+fuels activities carried out during the pe-22
2658+riod covered by the report; 23
2659+(v) the region or system unit in which 24
2660+the acres are located; and 25
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2663+•HR 471 IH
2664+(vi) the effectiveness of the hazardous 1
2665+fuels reduction activities on reducing the 2
2666+risk of wildfire. 3
24482667 (3) T
2449-RANSPARENCY.—The Secretary concerned 19
2450-shall make each report submitted under paragraph 20
2451-(1) publicly available on the websites of the Depart-21
2452-ment of Agriculture and the Department of the Inte-22
2453-rior, as applicable. 23
2668+RANSPARENCY.—The Secretary concerned 4
2669+shall make each report submitted under paragraph 5
2670+(1) publicly available on the websites of the Depart-6
2671+ment of Agriculture and the Department of the Inte-7
2672+rior, as applicable. 8
24542673 (b) A
2455-CCURATEDATACOLLECTION.—24 90
2456-•HR 471 EH
2457-(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 1
2458-the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary con-2
2459-cerned shall implement standardized procedures for 3
2460-tracking data related to hazardous fuels reduction 4
2461-activities carried out by the Secretary concerned. 5
2674+CCURATEDATACOLLECTION.— 9
2675+(1) I
2676+N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 10
2677+the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary con-11
2678+cerned shall implement standardized procedures for 12
2679+tracking data related to hazardous fuels reduction 13
2680+activities carried out by the Secretary concerned. 14
24622681 (2) E
2463-LEMENTS.—The standardized procedures 6
2464-required under paragraph (1) shall include—7
2465-(A) regular, standardized data reviews of 8
2466-the accuracy and timely input of data used to 9
2467-track hazardous fuels reduction activities; 10
2468-(B) verification methods that validate 11
2469-whether such data accurately correlates to the 12
2470-hazardous fuels reduction activities carried out 13
2471-by the Secretary concerned; 14
2472-(C) an analysis of the short- and long-term 15
2473-effectiveness of the hazardous fuels reduction 16
2474-activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and 17
2475-(D) for hazardous fuels reduction activities 18
2476-that occur partially within the wildland-urban 19
2477-interface, methods to distinguish which acres 20
2478-are located within the wildland-urban interface 21
2479-and which acres are located outside the 22
2480-wildland-urban interface. 23
2682+LEMENTS.—The standardized procedures 15
2683+required under paragraph (1) shall include— 16
2684+(A) regular, standardized data reviews of 17
2685+the accuracy and timely input of data used to 18
2686+track hazardous fuels reduction activities; 19
2687+(B) verification methods that validate 20
2688+whether such data accurately correlates to the 21
2689+hazardous fuels reduction activities carried out 22
2690+by the Secretary concerned; 23
2691+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00090 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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2693+•HR 471 IH
2694+(C) an analysis of the short- and long-term 1
2695+effectiveness of the hazardous fuels reduction 2
2696+activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; and 3
2697+(D) for hazardous fuels reduction activities 4
2698+that occur partially within the wildland-urban 5
2699+interface, methods to distinguish which acres 6
2700+are located within the wildland-urban interface 7
2701+and which acres are located outside the 8
2702+wildland-urban interface. 9
24812703 (3) R
2482-EPORT.—Not later than 2 weeks after im-24
2483-plementing the standardized procedures required 25 91
2484-•HR 471 EH
2485-under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall 1
2486-submit to Congress a report that describes—2
2487-(A) such standardized procedures; and 3
2488-(B) program and policy recommendations 4
2489-to Congress to address any limitations in track-5
2490-ing data related to hazardous fuels reduction 6
2491-activities under this subsection. 7
2704+EPORT.—Not later than 2 weeks after im-10
2705+plementing the standardized procedures required 11
2706+under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall 12
2707+submit to Congress a report that describes— 13
2708+(A) such standardized procedures; and 14
2709+(B) program and policy recommendations 15
2710+to Congress to address any limitations in track-16
2711+ing data related to hazardous fuels reduction 17
2712+activities under this subsection. 18
24922713 (c) GAO S
2493-TUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the 8
2494-date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 9
2495-of the United States shall—10
2496-(1) conduct a study on the implementation of 11
2497-this section, including any limitations with respect 12
2498-to—13
2499-(A) reporting hazardous fuels reduction ac-14
2500-tivities under subsection (a); or 15
2501-(B) tracking data related to hazardous 16
2502-fuels reduction activities under subsection (b); 17
2503-and 18
2504-(2) submit to Congress a report that describes 19
2505-the results of the study under paragraph (1). 20
2714+TUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the 19
2715+date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 20
2716+of the United States shall— 21
2717+(1) conduct a study on the implementation of 22
2718+this section, including any limitations with respect 23
2719+to— 24
2720+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00091 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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2722+•HR 471 IH
2723+(A) reporting hazardous fuels reduction ac-1
2724+tivities under subsection (a); or 2
2725+(B) tracking data related to hazardous 3
2726+fuels reduction activities under subsection (b); 4
2727+and 5
2728+(2) submit to Congress a report that describes 6
2729+the results of the study under paragraph (1). 7
25062730 (d) D
2507-EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
2731+EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
25082732 (1) H
2509-AZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION ACTIV -22
2510-ITY.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction activ-23
2511-ity’’—24 92
2512-•HR 471 EH
2513-(A) means any vegetation management ac-1
2514-tivity to reduce the risk of wildfire, including 2
2515-mechanical treatments, grazing, and prescribed 3
2516-burning; and 4
2517-(B) does not include the awarding of con-5
2518-tracts to conduct hazardous fuels reduction ac-6
2519-tivities. 7
2733+AZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION ACTIV -9
2734+ITY.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction activ-10
2735+ity’’— 11
2736+(A) means any vegetation management ac-12
2737+tivity to reduce the risk of wildfire, including 13
2738+mechanical treatments, grazing, and prescribed 14
2739+burning; and 15
2740+(B) does not include the awarding of con-16
2741+tracts to conduct hazardous fuels reduction ac-17
2742+tivities. 18
25202743 (2) F
2521-EDERAL LANDS .—The term ‘‘Federal 8
2522-lands’’ means lands under the jurisdiction of the 9
2523-Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary. 10
2744+EDERAL LANDS .—The term ‘‘Federal 19
2745+lands’’ means lands under the jurisdiction of the 20
2746+Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary. 21
25242747 (e) N
2525-OADDITIONALFUNDSAUTHORIZED.—No addi-11
2526-tional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements 12
2527-of this section, and the activities authorized by this section 13
2528-are subject to the availability of appropriations made in 14
2529-advance for such purposes. 15
2530-SEC. 303. PUBLIC-PRIVATE WILDFIRE TECHNOLOGY DE-16
2531-PLOYMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PARTNER-17
2532-SHIP. 18
2748+OADDITIONALFUNDSAUTHORIZED.—No addi-22
2749+tional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements 23
2750+of this section, and the activities authorized by this section 24
2751+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00092 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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2753+•HR 471 IH
2754+are subject to the availability of appropriations made in 1
2755+advance for such purposes. 2
2756+SEC. 303. PUBLIC-PRIVATE WILDFIRE TECHNOLOGY DE-3
2757+PLOYMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PARTNER-4
2758+SHIP. 5
25332759 (a) D
2534-EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
2760+EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
25352761 (1) C
2536-OVERED AGENCY .—The term ‘‘covered 20
2537-agency’’ means—21
2538-(A) each Federal land management agency 22
2539-(as such term is defined in the Federal Lands 23
2540-Recreation Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 24
2541-6801)); 25 93
2542-•HR 471 EH
2543-(B) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 1
2544-Administration; 2
2545-(C) the United States Fire Administration; 3
2546-(D) the Federal Emergency Management 4
2547-Agency; 5
2548-(E) the National Aeronautics and Space 6
2549-Administration; 7
2550-(F) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; 8
2551-(G) the Department of Defense; 9
2552-(H) a State, Tribal, county, or municipal 10
2553-fire department or district operating through 11
2554-the United States Fire Administration or pur-12
2555-suant to an agreement with a Federal agency; 13
2556-and 14
2557-(I) any other Federal agency involved in 15
2558-wildfire response. 16
2762+OVERED AGENCY .—The term ‘‘covered 7
2763+agency’’ means— 8
2764+(A) each Federal land management agency 9
2765+(as such term is defined in the Federal Lands 10
2766+Recreation Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 11
2767+6801)); 12
2768+(B) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 13
2769+Administration; 14
2770+(C) the United States Fire Administration; 15
2771+(D) the Federal Emergency Management 16
2772+Agency; 17
2773+(E) the National Aeronautics and Space 18
2774+Administration; 19
2775+(F) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; 20
2776+(G) the Department of Defense; 21
2777+(H) a State, Tribal, county, or municipal 22
2778+fire department or district operating through 23
2779+the United States Fire Administration or pur-24
2780+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00093 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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2782+•HR 471 IH
2783+suant to an agreement with a Federal agency; 1
2784+and 2
2785+(I) any other Federal agency involved in 3
2786+wildfire response. 4
25592787 (2) C
2560-OVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-17
2561-tity’’ means—18
2562-(A) a private entity; 19
2563-(B) a nonprofit organization; or 20
2564-(C) an institution of higher education (as 21
2565-defined in section 101 of the Higher Education 22
2566-Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)). 23
2788+OVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-5
2789+tity’’ means— 6
2790+(A) a private entity; 7
2791+(B) a nonprofit organization; or 8
2792+(C) an institution of higher education (as 9
2793+defined in section 101 of the Higher Education 10
2794+Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)). 11
25672795 (b) I
2568-NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 24
2569-date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, in coordina-25 94
2570-•HR 471 EH
2571-tion with the heads of the covered agencies, shall establish 1
2572-a deployment and demonstration pilot program (in this 2
2573-section referred to as ‘‘Pilot Program’’) for new and inno-3
2574-vative wildfire prevention, detection, communication, and 4
2575-mitigation technologies. 5
2796+NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 12
2797+date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, in coordina-13
2798+tion with the heads of the covered agencies, shall establish 14
2799+a deployment and demonstration pilot program (in this 15
2800+section referred to as ‘‘Pilot Program’’) for new and inno-16
2801+vative wildfire prevention, detection, communication, and 17
2802+mitigation technologies. 18
25762803 (c) F
2577-UNCTIONS.—In carrying out the Pilot Program, 6
2578-the Secretaries shall—7
2579-(1) incorporate the Pilot Program into the Na-8
2580-tional Wildfire Coordinating Group; 9
2581-(2) in consultation with the heads of covered 10
2582-agencies, identify and advance the demonstration 11
2583-and deployment of key technology priority areas with 12
2584-respect to wildfire prevention, detection, communica-13
2585-tion, and mitigation technologies, including—14
2586-(A) hazardous fuels reduction treatments 15
2587-or activities; 16
2588-(B) dispatch communications; 17
2589-(C) remote sensing, detection, and track-18
2590-ing; 19
2591-(D) safety equipment; 20
2592-(E) common operating pictures or oper-21
2593-ational dashboards; and 22
2594-(F) interoperable commercial data; and 23
2595-(3) connect each covered entity selected to par-24
2596-ticipate in the Pilot Program with the appropriate 25 95
2597-•HR 471 EH
2598-covered agency to coordinate real-time and on-the-1
2599-ground testing of technology during wildland fire 2
2600-mitigation activities and training. 3
2804+UNCTIONS.—In carrying out the Pilot Program, 19
2805+the Secretaries shall— 20
2806+(1) incorporate the Pilot Program into the Na-21
2807+tional Wildfire Coordinating Group; 22
2808+(2) in consultation with the heads of covered 23
2809+agencies, identify and advance the demonstration 24
2810+and deployment of key technology priority areas with 25
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2813+•HR 471 IH
2814+respect to wildfire prevention, detection, communica-1
2815+tion, and mitigation technologies, including— 2
2816+(A) hazardous fuels reduction treatments 3
2817+or activities; 4
2818+(B) dispatch communications; 5
2819+(C) remote sensing, detection, and track-6
2820+ing; 7
2821+(D) safety equipment; 8
2822+(E) common operating pictures or oper-9
2823+ational dashboards; and 10
2824+(F) interoperable commercial data; and 11
2825+(3) connect each covered entity selected to par-12
2826+ticipate in the Pilot Program with the appropriate 13
2827+covered agency to coordinate real-time and on-the- 14
2828+ground testing of technology during wildland fire 15
2829+mitigation activities and training. 16
26012830 (d) A
2602-PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to be selected to 4
2603-participate in the Pilot Program, a covered entity shall 5
2604-submit to the Secretaries an application at such time, in 6
2605-such manner, and containing such information as the Sec-7
2606-retaries may require, including a proposal to demonstrate 8
2607-technologies specific to the key technology priority areas 9
2608-identified pursuant to subsection (c)(2). 10
2831+PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to be selected to 17
2832+participate in the Pilot Program, a covered entity shall 18
2833+submit to the Secretaries an application at such time, in 19
2834+such manner, and containing such information as the Sec-20
2835+retaries may require, including a proposal to demonstrate 21
2836+technologies specific to the key technology priority areas 22
2837+identified pursuant to subsection (c)(2). 23
26092838 (e) P
2610-RIORITIZATION OF EMERGING TECH-11
2611-NOLOGIES.—In selecting covered entities to participate in 12
2612-the Pilot Program, the Secretaries shall give priority to 13
2613-covered entities—14
2614-(1) that have participated in the Fire Weather 15
2615-Testbed of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 16
2616-Administration; or 17
2617-(2) developing and applying emerging tech-18
2618-nologies for wildfire mitigation, including artificial 19
2619-intelligence, quantum sensing, computing and quan-20
2620-tum-hybrid applications, thermal mid-wave infrared 21
2621-equipped low earth orbit satellites, augmented re-22
2622-ality, 5G private networks, and device-to-device com-23
2623-munications supporting nomadic mesh networks and 24
2624-detection. 25 96
2625-•HR 471 EH
2626-(f) OUTREACH.—The Secretaries, in coordination 1
2627-with the heads of covered agencies, shall make public the 2
2628-key technology priority areas identified pursuant to sub-3
2629-section (c)(2) and invite covered entities to apply under 4
2630-subsection (d) to deploy and demonstrate their tech-5
2631-nologies to address such priority areas. 6
2839+RIORITIZATION OF EMERGING TECH-24
2840+NOLOGIES.—In selecting covered entities to participate in 25
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2843+•HR 471 IH
2844+the Pilot Program, the Secretaries shall give priority to 1
2845+covered entities— 2
2846+(1) that have participated in the Fire Weather 3
2847+Testbed of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 4
2848+Administration; or 5
2849+(2) developing and applying emerging tech-6
2850+nologies for wildfire mitigation, including artificial 7
2851+intelligence, quantum sensing, computing and quan-8
2852+tum-hybrid applications, thermal mid-wave infrared 9
2853+equipped low earth orbit satellites, augmented re-10
2854+ality, 5G private networks, and device-to-device com-11
2855+munications supporting nomadic mesh networks and 12
2856+detection. 13
2857+(f) O
2858+UTREACH.—The Secretaries, in coordination 14
2859+with the heads of covered agencies, shall make public the 15
2860+key technology priority areas identified pursuant to sub-16
2861+section (c)(2) and invite covered entities to apply under 17
2862+subsection (d) to deploy and demonstrate their tech-18
2863+nologies to address such priority areas. 19
26322864 (g) R
2633-EPORTS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS .—Not later 7
2634-than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 8
2635-annually thereafter for the duration of the Pilot Program, 9
2636-the Secretaries shall submit to the relevant Congressional 10
2637-Committees, the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-11
2638-nology of the House of Representatives, and the Com-12
2639-mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 13
2640-Senate a report that includes, with respect to the Pilot 14
2641-Program, the following: 15
2642-(1) A list of participating covered entities. 16
2643-(2) A brief description of the technologies de-17
2644-ployed and demonstrated by each such covered enti-18
2645-ty. 19
2646-(3) An estimate of the cost of acquiring each 20
2647-such technology and applying the technology at 21
2648-scale. 22
2649-(4) Outreach efforts by Federal agencies to cov-23
2650-ered entities developing wildfire technologies. 24 97
2651-•HR 471 EH
2652-(5) Assessments of, and recommendations relat-1
2653-ing to, new technologies with potential adoption and 2
2654-application at-scale in Federal land management 3
2655-agencies’ wildfire prevention, detection, communica-4
2656-tion, and mitigation efforts. 5
2657-(6) A description of the relationship and coordi-6
2658-nation between the Pilot Program and the activities 7
2659-of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-8
2660-tration, including the Fire Weather Testbed. 9
2865+EPORTS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS .—Not later 20
2866+than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 21
2867+annually thereafter for the duration of the Pilot Program, 22
2868+the Secretaries shall submit to the relevant Congressional 23
2869+Committees, the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-24
2870+nology of the House of Representatives, and the Com-25
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2873+•HR 471 IH
2874+mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 1
2875+Senate a report that includes, with respect to the Pilot 2
2876+Program, the following: 3
2877+(1) A list of participating covered entities. 4
2878+(2) A brief description of the technologies de-5
2879+ployed and demonstrated by each such covered enti-6
2880+ty. 7
2881+(3) An estimate of the cost of acquiring each 8
2882+such technology and applying the technology at 9
2883+scale. 10
2884+(4) Outreach efforts by Federal agencies to cov-11
2885+ered entities developing wildfire technologies. 12
2886+(5) Assessments of, and recommendations relat-13
2887+ing to, new technologies with potential adoption and 14
2888+application at-scale in Federal land management 15
2889+agencies’ wildfire prevention, detection, communica-16
2890+tion, and mitigation efforts. 17
2891+(6) A description of the relationship and coordi-18
2892+nation between the Pilot Program and the activities 19
2893+of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-20
2894+tration, including the Fire Weather Testbed. 21
26612895 (h) S
2662-UNSET.—The authority to carry out this section 10
2663-shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date 11
2664-of enactment of this Act. 12
2665-SEC. 304. GAO STUDY ON FOREST SERVICE POLICIES. 13
2666-Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 14
2667-of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 15
2668-shall—16
2669-(1) conduct a study evaluating—17
2670-(A) the effectiveness of Forest Service 18
2671-wildland firefighting operations; 19
2672-(B) transparency and accountability meas-20
2673-ures in the Forest Service’s budget and ac-21
2674-counting process; and 22
2675-(C) the suitability and feasibility of estab-23
2676-lishing a new Federal agency with the responsi-24 98
2677-•HR 471 EH
2678-bility of responding and suppressing wildland 1
2679-fires on Federal lands; and 2
2680-(2) submit to Congress a report that describes 3
2681-the results of the study required under paragraph 4
2682-(1). 5
2683-SEC. 305. FOREST SERVICE WESTERN HEADQUARTERS 6
2684-STUDY. 7
2685-Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment 8
2686-of this Act, the Chief of the Forest Service shall—9
2687-(1) conduct a study evaluating—10
2688-(A) potential locations for a Western head-11
2689-quarters for the Forest Service, including po-12
2690-tential locations in at least 3 different States lo-13
2691-cated west of the Mississippi river; and 14
2692-(B) the potential benefits of creating a 15
2693-Western headquarters for the Forest Service, 16
2694-including expected—17
2695-(i) improvements to customer service; 18
2696-(ii) improvements to employee recruit-19
2697-ment and retention; and 20
2698-(iii) operational efficiencies and cost 21
2699-savings; and 22
2700-(2) submit to Congress a report that describes 23
2701-the results of the study required under paragraph 24
2702-(1). 25 99
2703-•HR 471 EH
2704-SEC. 306. KEEPING FOREST PLANS CURRENT AND MON-1
2705-ITORED. 2
2896+UNSET.—The authority to carry out this section 22
2897+shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date 23
2898+of enactment of this Act. 24
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2902+SEC. 304. GAO STUDY ON FOREST SERVICE POLICIES. 1
2903+Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 2
2904+of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 3
2905+shall— 4
2906+(1) conduct a study evaluating— 5
2907+(A) the effectiveness of Forest Service 6
2908+wildland firefighting operations; 7
2909+(B) transparency and accountability meas-8
2910+ures in the Forest Service’s budget and ac-9
2911+counting process; and 10
2912+(C) the suitability and feasibility of estab-11
2913+lishing a new Federal agency with the responsi-12
2914+bility of responding and suppressing wildland 13
2915+fires on Federal lands; and 14
2916+(2) submit to Congress a report that describes 15
2917+the results of the study required under paragraph 16
2918+(1). 17
2919+SEC. 305. FOREST SERVICE WESTERN HEADQUARTERS 18
2920+STUDY. 19
2921+Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment 20
2922+of this Act, the Chief of the Forest Service shall— 21
2923+(1) conduct a study evaluating— 22
2924+(A) potential locations for a Western head-23
2925+quarters for the Forest Service, including po-24
2926+tential locations in at least 3 different States lo-25
2927+cated west of the Mississippi river; and 26
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2930+•HR 471 IH
2931+(B) the potential benefits of creating a 1
2932+Western headquarters for the Forest Service, 2
2933+including expected— 3
2934+(i) improvements to customer service; 4
2935+(ii) improvements to employee recruit-5
2936+ment and retention; and 6
2937+(iii) operational efficiencies and cost 7
2938+savings; and 8
2939+(2) submit to Congress a report that describes 9
2940+the results of the study required under paragraph 10
2941+(1). 11
2942+SEC. 306. KEEPING FOREST PLANS CURRENT AND MON-12
2943+ITORED. 13
27062944 (a) I
2707-NGENERAL.—The Secretary—3
2708-(1) to the greatest extent practicable and sub-4
2709-ject to the availability of appropriations made in ad-5
2710-vance for such purpose—6
2711-(A) ensure forest plans comply with the re-7
2712-quirements of section 6(f)(5)(A) of the Forest 8
2713-and Rangeland Resources Planning Act of 1974 9
2714-(16 U.S.C. 1604(f)(5)(A)); and 10
2715-(B) prioritize revising any forest plan not 11
2716-in compliance with such section 6(f)(5)(A); 12
2717-(2) not be considered to be in violation of sec-13
2718-tion 6(f)(5)(A) of the Forest and Rangeland Renew-14
2719-able Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 15
2720-1604(f)(5)(A)) solely because more than 15 years 16
2721-have passed without revision of the plan for a unit 17
2722-of the National Forest System; 18
2723-(3) not later than 120 days after the date of 19
2724-the enactment of this Act, submit to the relevant 20
2725-Congressional Committees the date on which each 21
2726-forest plan required by such section 6 was most re-22
2727-cently revised, amended, or modified; 23
2728-(4) seek to publish a new, complete version of 24
2729-a forest plan that the Secretary has been directed to 25
2730-amend, revise, or modify by a court order within 60 26 100
2731-•HR 471 EH
2732-days of such amendment, revision, or modification, 1
2733-subject to the availability of appropriations made in 2
2734-advance for such purpose; and 3
2735-(5) maintain a central, publicly accessible 4
2736-website with links to—5
2737-(A) the most recently available forest plan 6
2738-adopted, amended, or modified by a court order 7
2739-as a single document; and 8
2740-(B) the most recently published forest plan 9
2741-monitoring report for each unit of the National 10
2742-Forest System. 11
2945+NGENERAL.—The Secretary— 14
2946+(1) to the greatest extent practicable and sub-15
2947+ject to the availability of appropriations made in ad-16
2948+vance for such purpose— 17
2949+(A) ensure forest plans comply with the re-18
2950+quirements of section 6(f)(5)(A) of the Forest 19
2951+and Rangeland Resources Planning Act of 1974 20
2952+(16 U.S.C. 1604(f)(5)(A)); and 21
2953+(B) prioritize revising any forest plan not 22
2954+in compliance with such section 6(f)(5)(A); 23
2955+(2) not be considered to be in violation of sec-24
2956+tion 6(f)(5)(A) of the Forest and Rangeland Renew-25
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2959+•HR 471 IH
2960+able Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1
2961+1604(f)(5)(A)) solely because more than 15 years 2
2962+have passed without revision of the plan for a unit 3
2963+of the National Forest System; 4
2964+(3) not later than 120 days after the date of 5
2965+the enactment of this Act, submit to the relevant 6
2966+Congressional Committees the date on which each 7
2967+forest plan required by such section 6 was most re-8
2968+cently revised, amended, or modified; 9
2969+(4) seek to publish a new, complete version of 10
2970+a forest plan that the Secretary has been directed to 11
2971+amend, revise, or modify by a court order within 60 12
2972+days of such amendment, revision, or modification, 13
2973+subject to the availability of appropriations made in 14
2974+advance for such purpose; and 15
2975+(5) maintain a central, publicly accessible 16
2976+website with links to— 17
2977+(A) the most recently available forest plan 18
2978+adopted, amended, or modified by a court order 19
2979+as a single document; and 20
2980+(B) the most recently published forest plan 21
2981+monitoring report for each unit of the National 22
2982+Forest System. 23
27432983 (b) G
2744-OODFAITHUPDATES.—If the Secretary is not 12
2745-acting expeditiously and in good faith, within the funding 13
2746-available to revise, amend, or modify a plan for a unit 14
2747-of the National Forest System as required by law or a 15
2748-court order, subsection (a) shall be void with respect to 16
2749-such plan and a court of proper jurisdiction may order 17
2750-completion of the plan on an accelerated basis. 18
2984+OODFAITHUPDATES.—If the Secretary is not 24
2985+acting expeditiously and in good faith, within the funding 25
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2988+•HR 471 IH
2989+available to revise, amend, or modify a plan for a unit 1
2990+of the National Forest System as required by law or a 2
2991+court order, subsection (a) shall be void with respect to 3
2992+such plan and a court of proper jurisdiction may order 4
2993+completion of the plan on an accelerated basis. 5
27512994 (c) R
2752-EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 19
2753-of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 20
2754-a report to the relevant Congressional Committees sum-21
2755-marizing the implementation of this section. 22 101
2756-•HR 471 EH
2757-SEC. 307. CONTAINER AERIAL FIREFIGHTING SYSTEM 1
2758-(CAFFS). 2
2995+EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 6
2996+of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 7
2997+a report to the relevant Congressional Committees sum-8
2998+marizing the implementation of this section. 9
2999+SEC. 307. CONTAINER AERIAL FIREFIGHTING SYSTEM 10
3000+(CAFFS). 11
27593001 (a) E
2760-VALUATION.—Not later than 90 days after the 3
2761-date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the 4
2762-Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the National 5
2763-Interagency Aviation Committee and the Interagency 6
2764-Airtanker Board, shall jointly conduct an evaluation of the 7
2765-container aerial firefighting system to assess the use of 8
2766-such system to mitigate and suppress wildfires. 9
3002+VALUATION.—Not later than 90 days after the 12
3003+date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the 13
3004+Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the National 14
3005+Interagency Aviation Committee and the Interagency 15
3006+Airtanker Board, shall jointly conduct an evaluation of the 16
3007+container aerial firefighting system to assess the use of 17
3008+such system to mitigate and suppress wildfires. 18
27673009 (b) R
2768-EPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 10
2769-of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Sec-11
2770-retary of the Interior, in consultation with the National 12
2771-Interagency Aviation Committee and the Interagency 13
2772-Airtanker Board, shall jointly submit to the relevant Con-14
2773-gressional Committees a report that includes the results 15
2774-of the evaluation required under subsection (a). 16
2775-SEC. 308. STUDY ON PINE BEETLE INFESTATION. 17
2776-Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 18
2777-of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the 19
2778-Forest Service, shall—20
2779-(1) carry out a study on the causes and effects 21
2780-of, and solutions for, the infestation of pine beetles 22
2781-in the Northeastern region of the United States; and 23
2782-(2) submit to the relevant Congressional Com-24
2783-mittees a report that includes the results of the 25
2784-study required under paragraph (1). 26 102
2785-•HR 471 EH
2786-SEC. 309. FIRE SAFE ELECTRICAL CORRIDORS. 1
3010+EPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 19
3011+of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Sec-20
3012+retary of the Interior, in consultation with the National 21
3013+Interagency Aviation Committee and the Interagency 22
3014+Airtanker Board, shall jointly submit to the relevant Con-23
3015+gressional Committees a report that includes the results 24
3016+of the evaluation required under subsection (a). 25
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3020+SEC. 308. STUDY ON PINE BEETLE INFESTATION. 1
3021+Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 2
3022+of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the 3
3023+Forest Service, shall— 4
3024+(1) carry out a study on the causes and effects 5
3025+of, and solutions for, the infestation of pine beetles 6
3026+in the Northeastern region of the United States; and 7
3027+(2) submit to the relevant Congressional Com-8
3028+mittees a report that includes the results of the 9
3029+study required under paragraph (1). 10
3030+Subtitle B—White Oak Resilience 11
3031+SEC. 311. WHITE OAK RESTORATION INITIATIVE COALI-12
3032+TION. 13
27873033 (a) I
2788-NGENERAL.—In any special use permit or ease-2
2789-ment on National Forest System land provided to an elec-3
2790-trical utility, the Secretary may provide permission to cut 4
2791-and remove trees or other vegetation from within the vicin-5
2792-ity of distribution lines or transmission lines without re-6
2793-quiring a separate timber sale, if that cutting and removal 7
2794-is consistent with—8
2795-(1) the applicable land and resource manage-9
2796-ment plan; and 10
2797-(2) other applicable environmental laws (includ-11
2798-ing regulations). 12
2799-(b) U
2800-SE OFPROCEEDS.—A special use permit or 13
2801-easement that includes permission for cutting and removal 14
2802-described in subsection (a) shall include a requirement 15
2803-that, if the applicable electrical utility sells any portion 16
2804-of the material removed under the permit or easement, 17
2805-the electrical utility shall provide to the Secretary, acting 18
2806-through the Chief of the Forest Service, any proceeds re-19
2807-ceived from the sale, less any transportation costs incurred 20
2808-in the sale. 21
2809-(c) E
2810-FFECT.—Nothing in subsection (b) shall require 22
2811-the sale of any material removed under a permit or ease-23
2812-ment that includes permission for cutting and removal de-24
2813-scribed in subsection (a). 25 103
2814-•HR 471 EH
2815-Subtitle B—White Oak Resilience 1
2816-SEC. 311. WHITE OAK RESTORATION INITIATIVE COALI-2
2817-TION. 3
3034+NGENERAL.—The White Oak Restoration Ini-14
3035+tiative Coalition shall be established— 15
3036+(1) as a voluntary collaborative group of Fed-16
3037+eral, State, Tribal, and local governments and pri-17
3038+vate and non-governmental organizations to carry 18
3039+out the duties described in subsection (b); and 19
3040+(2) in accordance with the charter titled ‘‘White 20
3041+Oak Initiative Coalition Charter’’ adopted by the 21
3042+White Oak Initiative Board of Directors on March 22
3043+21, 2023 (or a successor charter). 23
3044+(b) D
3045+UTIES.—In addition to the duties specified in 24
3046+the charter described in subsection (a)(2), the duties of 25
3047+the White Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition are— 26
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3050+•HR 471 IH
3051+(1) to coordinate Federal, State, Tribal, local, 1
3052+private, and non-governmental restoration of white 2
3053+oak in the United States; and 3
3054+(2) to make program and policy recommenda-4
3055+tions, consistent with applicable forest management 5
3056+plans, with respect to— 6
3057+(A) changes necessary to address Federal 7
3058+and State policies that impede activities to im-8
3059+prove the health, resiliency, and natural regen-9
3060+eration of white oak; 10
3061+(B) adopting or modifying Federal and 11
3062+State policies to increase the pace and scale of 12
3063+white oak regeneration and resiliency of white 13
3064+oak; 14
3065+(C) options to enhance communication, co-15
3066+ordination, and collaboration between forest 16
3067+land owners, particularly for cross-boundary 17
3068+projects, to improve the health, resiliency, and 18
3069+natural regeneration of white oak; 19
3070+(D) research gaps that should be ad-20
3071+dressed to improve the best available science on 21
3072+white oak; 22
3073+(E) outreach to forest landowners with 23
3074+white oak or white oak regeneration potential; 24
3075+and 25
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3079+(F) options and policies necessary to im-1
3080+prove the quality and quantity of white oak in 2
3081+tree nurseries. 3
3082+(c) A
3083+DMINISTRATIVESUPPORT, TECHNICALSERV-4
3084+ICES, ANDSTAFFSUPPORT.—The Secretary of the Inte-5
3085+rior and the Secretary shall make such personnel available 6
3086+to the White Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition for ad-7
3087+ministrative support, technical services, and development 8
3088+and dissemination of educational materials as the Secre-9
3089+taries determine necessary to carry out this section. 10
3090+(d) P
3091+RIVATEFUNDING OFWHITEOAKRESTORA-11
3092+TIONPROJECTS.—Subject to the availability of appropria-12
3093+tions made in advance for such purpose, the Secretary 13
3094+may make funds available to the White Oak Restoration 14
3095+Initiative Coalition to carry out this section from the ac-15
3096+count established pursuant to section 1241(f) of the Food 16
3097+Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(f)). 17
3098+SEC. 312. FOREST SERVICE PILOT PROGRAM. 18
28183099 (a) I
2819-NGENERAL.—The White Oak Restoration Ini-4
2820-tiative Coalition shall be established—5
2821-(1) as a voluntary collaborative group of Fed-6
2822-eral, State, Tribal, and local governments and pri-7
2823-vate and non-governmental organizations to carry 8
2824-out the duties described in subsection (b); and 9
2825-(2) in accordance with the charter titled ‘‘White 10
2826-Oak Initiative Coalition Charter’’ adopted by the 11
2827-White Oak Initiative Board of Directors on March 12
2828-21, 2023 (or a successor charter). 13
3100+NGENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 19
3101+Chief of the Forest Service, shall establish and carry out 20
3102+5 pilot projects in national forests to restore white oak 21
3103+in such forests through white oak restoration and natural 22
3104+regeneration practices that are consistent with applicable 23
3105+forest management plans. 24
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3109+(b) NATIONALFORESTSRESERVED ORWITHDRAWN 1
3110+F
3111+ROM THEPUBLICDOMAIN.—At least 3 pilot projects re-2
3112+quired under subsection (a) shall be carried out on na-3
3113+tional forests reserved or withdrawn from the public do-4
3114+main. 5
3115+(c) A
3116+UTHORITYTOENTERINTOCOOPERATIVE 6
3117+A
3118+GREEMENTS.—The Secretary may enter into cooperative 7
3119+agreements to carry out the pilot projects required under 8
3120+subsection (a). 9
3121+(d) S
3122+UNSET.—The authority under this section shall 10
3123+terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 11
3124+the enactment of this Act. 12
3125+SEC. 313. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WHITE OAK RE-13
3126+VIEW AND RESTORATION. 14
3127+(a) A
3128+SSESSMENT.— 15
3129+(1) I
3130+N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Inte-16
3131+rior shall carry out an assessment of land under the 17
3132+administrative jurisdiction of the Department of the 18
3133+Interior, including fish and wildlife refuges and 19
3134+abandoned mine land, to evaluate— 20
3135+(A) whether white oak is present on such 21
3136+land; and 22
3137+(B) the potential to restore white oak for-23
3138+ests on such land. 24
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3142+(2) USE OF INFORMATION.—In carrying out the 1
3143+assessment under paragraph (1), the Secretary may 2
3144+use information from sources other than the Depart-3
3145+ment of the Interior, including from the White Oak 4
3146+Initiative and the Forest Service. 5
3147+(3) R
3148+EPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the 6
3149+date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 7
3150+shall submit to Congress, and make publicly avail-8
3151+able on the website of the Department of the Inte-9
3152+rior, a report regarding the results of the assessment 10
3153+carried out under this subsection. 11
3154+(b) P
3155+ILOTPROJECTS.—After the date on which the 12
3156+report required under subsection (a)(3) is submitted, the 13
3157+Secretary shall establish and carry out 5 pilot projects in 14
3158+different areas of land described in subsection (a)(1) to 15
3159+restore and naturally regenerate white oak. 16
3160+(c) A
3161+UTHORITY TO ENTERINTOCOOPERATIVE 17
3162+A
3163+GREEMENTS.—The Secretary of the Interior may enter 18
3164+into cooperative agreements to carry out the pilot projects 19
3165+required under subsection (b). 20
3166+(d) S
3167+UNSET.—The authority under this section shall 21
3168+terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 22
3169+the enactment of this Act. 23
3170+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00106 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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3172+•HR 471 IH
3173+SEC. 314. WHITE OAK REGENERATION AND UPLAND OAK 1
3174+HABITAT. 2
3175+(a) E
3176+STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 3
3177+the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 4
3178+establish a non-regulatory program to be known as the 5
3179+‘‘White Oak and Upland Oak Habitat Regeneration Pro-6
3180+gram’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Program’’). 7
28293181 (b) D
2830-UTIES.—In addition to the duties specified in 14
2831-the charter described in subsection (a)(2), the duties of 15
2832-the White Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition are—16
2833-(1) to coordinate Federal, State, Tribal, local, 17
2834-private, and non-governmental restoration of white 18
2835-oak in the United States; and 19
2836-(2) to make program and policy recommenda-20
2837-tions, consistent with applicable forest management 21
2838-plans, with respect to—22
2839-(A) changes necessary to address Federal 23
2840-and State policies that impede activities to im-24 104
2841-•HR 471 EH
2842-prove the health, resiliency, and natural regen-1
2843-eration of white oak; 2
2844-(B) adopting or modifying Federal and 3
2845-State policies to increase the pace and scale of 4
2846-white oak regeneration and resiliency of white 5
2847-oak; 6
2848-(C) options to enhance communication, co-7
2849-ordination, and collaboration between forest 8
2850-land owners, particularly for cross-boundary 9
2851-projects, to improve the health, resiliency, and 10
2852-natural regeneration of white oak; 11
2853-(D) research gaps that should be ad-12
2854-dressed to improve the best available science on 13
2855-white oak; 14
2856-(E) outreach to forest landowners with 15
2857-white oak or white oak regeneration potential; 16
2858-and 17
2859-(F) options and policies necessary to im-18
2860-prove the quality and quantity of white oak in 19
2861-tree nurseries. 20
2862-(c) A
2863-DMINISTRATIVESUPPORT, TECHNICALSERV-21
2864-ICES, ANDSTAFFSUPPORT.—The Secretary of the Inte-22
2865-rior and the Secretary shall make such personnel available 23
2866-to the White Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition for ad-24
2867-ministrative support, technical services, and development 25 105
2868-•HR 471 EH
2869-and dissemination of educational materials as the Secre-1
2870-taries determine necessary to carry out this section. 2
3182+UTIES.—In carrying out the Program, the Sec-8
3183+retary shall— 9
3184+(1) draw upon the best available science and 10
3185+management plans for species of white oak to iden-11
3186+tify, prioritize, and implement restoration and con-12
3187+servation activities that will improve the growth of 13
3188+white oak within the United States; 14
3189+(2) collaborate and coordinate with the White 15
3190+Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition to prioritize 16
3191+white oak restoration initiatives; 17
3192+(3) adopt a white oak restoration strategy 18
3193+that— 19
3194+(A) supports the implementation of a 20
3195+shared set of science-based restoration and con-21
3196+servation activities developed in accordance with 22
3197+paragraph (1); 23
3198+(B) targets cost effective projects with 24
3199+measurable results; and 25
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3202+•HR 471 IH
3203+(C) maximizes restoration outcomes with 1
3204+no net gain of Federal full-time equivalent em-2
3205+ployees; and 3
3206+(4) establish the voluntary grant and technical 4
3207+assistance programs in accordance with subsection 5
3208+(e). 6
3209+(c) C
3210+OORDINATION.—In establishing the Program 7
3211+the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Serv-8
3212+ice, shall consult with— 9
3213+(1) the heads of Federal agencies, including— 10
3214+(A) the Director of the United States Fish 11
3215+and Wildlife Service; and 12
3216+(B) the Chief of the Natural Resources 13
3217+Conservation Service; and 14
3218+(2) the Governor of each State in which res-15
3219+toration efforts will be carried out pursuant to the 16
3220+Program. 17
28713221 (d) P
2872-RIVATEFUNDING OFWHITEOAKRESTORA-3
2873-TIONPROJECTS.—Subject to the availability of appropria-4
2874-tions made in advance for such purpose, the Secretary 5
2875-may make funds available to the White Oak Restoration 6
2876-Initiative Coalition to carry out this section from the ac-7
2877-count established pursuant to section 1241(f) of the Food 8
2878-Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(f)). 9
2879-SEC. 312. FOREST SERVICE PILOT PROGRAM. 10
3222+URPOSES.—The purposes of the Program in-18
3223+clude— 19
3224+(1) coordinating restoration and conservation 20
3225+activities among Federal, State, local, and Tribal en-21
3226+tities and conservation partners to address white oak 22
3227+restoration priorities; 23
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3231+(2) improving and regenerating white oak and 1
3232+upland oak forests and the wildlife habitat such for-2
3233+ests provide; 3
3234+(3) carrying out coordinated restoration and 4
3235+conservation activities that lead to the increased 5
3236+growth of species of white oak in native white oak 6
3237+regions on Federal, State, Tribal, and private land; 7
3238+(4) facilitating strategic planning to maximize 8
3239+the resilience of white oak systems and habitats 9
3240+under changing climate conditions; 10
3241+(5) engaging the public through outreach, edu-11
3242+cation, and citizen involvement to increase capacity 12
3243+and support for coordinated restoration and con-13
3244+servation activities for species of white oak; and 14
3245+(6) increasing scientific capacity to support the 15
3246+planning, monitoring, and research activities nec-16
3247+essary to carry out such coordinated restoration and 17
3248+conservation activities. 18
3249+(e) G
3250+RANTS ANDASSISTANCE.— 19
3251+(1) I
3252+N GENERAL.—To the extent that funds are 20
3253+available to carry out this section, the Secretary 21
3254+shall establish a voluntary grant and technical as-22
3255+sistance program (in this section referred to as the 23
3256+‘‘grant program’’) to achieve the purposes of the 24
3257+Program described in subsection (d). 25
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3261+(2) ADMINISTRATION.— 1
28803262 (A) I
2881-NGENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 11
2882-Chief of the Forest Service, shall establish and carry out 12
2883-5 pilot projects in national forests to restore white oak 13
2884-in such forests through white oak restoration and natural 14
2885-regeneration practices that are consistent with applicable 15
2886-forest management plans. 16
2887-(b) N
2888-ATIONALFORESTSRESERVED ORWITHDRAWN 17
2889-F
2890-ROM THEPUBLICDOMAIN.—At least 3 pilot projects re-18
2891-quired under subsection (a) shall be carried out on na-19
2892-tional forests reserved or withdrawn from the public do-20
2893-main. 21
2894-(c) A
2895-UTHORITYTOENTERINTOCOOPERATIVE 22
2896-A
2897-GREEMENTS.—The Secretary may enter into cooperative 23
2898-agreements to carry out the pilot projects required under 24
2899-subsection (a). 25 106
2900-•HR 471 EH
2901-(d) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 1
2902-terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 2
2903-the enactment of this Act. 3
2904-SEC. 313. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WHITE OAK RE-4
2905-VIEW AND RESTORATION. 5
2906-(a) A
2907-SSESSMENT.—6
2908-(1) I
2909-N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Inte-7
2910-rior shall carry out an assessment of land under the 8
2911-administrative jurisdiction of the Department of the 9
2912-Interior, including fish and wildlife refuges and 10
2913-abandoned mine land, to evaluate—11
2914-(A) whether white oak is present on such 12
2915-land; and 13
2916-(B) the potential to restore white oak for-14
2917-ests on such land. 15
2918-(2) U
2919-SE OF INFORMATION.—In carrying out the 16
2920-assessment under paragraph (1), the Secretary may 17
2921-use information from sources other than the Depart-18
2922-ment of the Interior, including from the White Oak 19
2923-Initiative and the Forest Service. 20
2924-(3) R
2925-EPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the 21
2926-date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 22
2927-shall submit to Congress, and make publicly avail-23
2928-able on the website of the Department of the Inte-24 107
2929-•HR 471 EH
2930-rior, a report regarding the results of the assessment 1
2931-carried out under this subsection. 2
2932-(b) P
2933-ILOTPROJECTS.—After the date on which the 3
2934-report required under subsection (a)(3) is submitted, the 4
2935-Secretary shall establish and carry out 5 pilot projects in 5
2936-different areas of land described in subsection (a)(1) to 6
2937-restore and naturally regenerate white oak. 7
2938-(c) A
2939-UTHORITY TO ENTERINTOCOOPERATIVE 8
2940-A
2941-GREEMENTS.—The Secretary of the Interior may enter 9
2942-into cooperative agreements to carry out the pilot projects 10
2943-required under subsection (b). 11
2944-(d) S
2945-UNSET.—The authority under this section shall 12
2946-terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 13
2947-the enactment of this Act. 14
2948-SEC. 314. WHITE OAK REGENERATION AND UPLAND OAK 15
2949-HABITAT. 16
2950-(a) E
2951-STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 17
2952-the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 18
2953-establish a non-regulatory program to be known as the 19
2954-‘‘White Oak and Upland Oak Habitat Regeneration Pro-20
2955-gram’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Program’’). 21
2956-(b) D
2957-UTIES.—In carrying out the Program, the Sec-22
2958-retary shall—23
2959-(1) draw upon the best available science and 24
2960-management plans for species of white oak to iden-25 108
2961-•HR 471 EH
2962-tify, prioritize, and implement restoration and con-1
2963-servation activities that will improve the growth of 2
2964-white oak within the United States; 3
2965-(2) collaborate and coordinate with the White 4
2966-Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition to prioritize 5
2967-white oak restoration initiatives; 6
2968-(3) adopt a white oak restoration strategy 7
2969-that—8
2970-(A) supports the implementation of a 9
2971-shared set of science-based restoration and con-10
2972-servation activities developed in accordance with 11
2973-paragraph (1); 12
2974-(B) targets cost effective projects with 13
2975-measurable results; and 14
2976-(C) maximizes restoration outcomes with 15
2977-no net gain of Federal full-time equivalent em-16
2978-ployees; and 17
2979-(4) establish the voluntary grant and technical 18
2980-assistance programs in accordance with subsection 19
2981-(e). 20
2982-(c) C
2983-OORDINATION.—In establishing the Program 21
2984-the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Forest Serv-22
2985-ice, shall consult with—23
2986-(1) the heads of Federal agencies, including—24 109
2987-•HR 471 EH
2988-(A) the Director of the United States Fish 1
2989-and Wildlife Service; and 2
2990-(B) the Chief of the Natural Resources 3
2991-Conservation Service; and 4
2992-(2) the Governor of each State in which res-5
2993-toration efforts will be carried out pursuant to the 6
2994-Program. 7
2995-(d) P
2996-URPOSES.—The purposes of the Program in-8
2997-clude—9
2998-(1) coordinating restoration and conservation 10
2999-activities among Federal, State, local, and Tribal en-11
3000-tities and conservation partners to address white oak 12
3001-restoration priorities; 13
3002-(2) improving and regenerating white oak and 14
3003-upland oak forests and the wildlife habitat such for-15
3004-ests provide; 16
3005-(3) carrying out coordinated restoration and 17
3006-conservation activities that lead to the increased 18
3007-growth of species of white oak in native white oak 19
3008-regions on Federal, State, Tribal, and private land; 20
3009-(4) facilitating strategic planning to maximize 21
3010-the resilience of white oak systems and habitats 22
3011-under changing climate conditions; 23
3012-(5) engaging the public through outreach, edu-24
3013-cation, and citizen involvement to increase capacity 25 110
3014-•HR 471 EH
3015-and support for coordinated restoration and con-1
3016-servation activities for species of white oak; and 2
3017-(6) increasing scientific capacity to support the 3
3018-planning, monitoring, and research activities nec-4
3019-essary to carry out such coordinated restoration and 5
3020-conservation activities. 6
3021-(e) G
3022-RANTS ANDASSISTANCE.—7
3023-(1) I
3024-N GENERAL.—To the extent that funds are 8
3025-available to carry out this section, the Secretary 9
3026-shall establish a voluntary grant and technical as-10
3027-sistance program (in this section referred to as the 11
3028-‘‘grant program’’) to achieve the purposes of the 12
3029-Program described in subsection (d). 13
3030-(2) A
3031-DMINISTRATION.—14
3263+N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 2
3264+enter into a cooperative agreement with the Na-3
3265+tional Fish and Wildlife Foundation (in this 4
3266+subsection referred to as the ‘‘Foundation’’) to 5
3267+manage and administer the grant program. 6
3268+(B) F
3269+UNDING.—Subject to the availability 7
3270+of appropriations made in advance for such 8
3271+purpose, after the Secretary enters into a coop-9
3272+erative agreement with the Foundation under 10
3273+subparagraph (A), the Foundation shall for 11
3274+each fiscal year, receive amounts to carry out 12
3275+this subsection in an advance payment of the 13
3276+entire amount on October 1, or as soon as prac-14
3277+ticable thereafter, of that fiscal year. 15
3278+(3) A
3279+PPLICATION OF NATIONAL FISH AND 16
3280+WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT ACT .— 17
3281+Amounts received by the Foundation to carry out 18
3282+the grant program shall be subject to the National 19
3283+Fish and Wildlife Foundation Establishment Act (16 20
3284+U.S.C. 3701 et seq.), excluding section 10(a) of that 21
3285+Act (16 U.S.C. 3709(a)). 22
3286+(f) S
3287+UNSET.—The authority under this section shall 23
3288+terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 24
3289+the enactment of this Act. 25
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3293+SEC. 315. TREE NURSERY SHORTAGES. 1
30323294 (a) I
3033-N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 15
3034-enter into a cooperative agreement with the Na-16
3035-tional Fish and Wildlife Foundation (in this 17
3036-subsection referred to as the ‘‘Foundation’’) to 18
3037-manage and administer the grant program. 19
3038-(B) F
3039-UNDING.—Subject to the availability 20
3040-of appropriations made in advance for such 21
3041-purpose, after the Secretary enters into a coop-22
3042-erative agreement with the Foundation under 23
3043-subparagraph (A), the Foundation shall for 24
3044-each fiscal year, receive amounts to carry out 25 111
3045-•HR 471 EH
3046-this subsection in an advance payment of the 1
3047-entire amount on October 1, or as soon as prac-2
3048-ticable thereafter, of that fiscal year. 3
3049-(3) A
3050-PPLICATION OF NATIONAL FISH AND 4
3051-WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT ACT .—5
3052-Amounts received by the Foundation to carry out 6
3053-the grant program shall be subject to the National 7
3054-Fish and Wildlife Foundation Establishment Act (16 8
3055-U.S.C. 3701 et seq.), excluding section 10(a) of that 9
3056-Act (16 U.S.C. 3709(a)). 10
3057-(f) S
3058-UNSET.—The authority under this section shall 11
3059-terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 12
3060-the enactment of this Act. 13
3061-SEC. 315. TREE NURSERY SHORTAGES. 14
3295+NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 2
3296+date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, acting 3
3297+through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall— 4
3298+(1) develop and implement a national strategy 5
3299+to increase the capacity of Federal, State, Tribal, 6
3300+and private tree nurseries to address the nationwide 7
3301+shortage of tree seedlings; and 8
3302+(2) coordinate such strategy with— 9
3303+(A) the national reforestation strategy of 10
3304+the Forest Service; and 11
3305+(B) each regional implementation plan for 12
3306+National Forests. 13
3307+(b) E
3308+LEMENTS.—The strategy required under sub-14
3309+section (a) shall— 15
3310+(1) be based on the best available science and 16
3311+data; and 17
3312+(2) identify and address— 18
3313+(A) regional seedling shortages of bareroot 19
3314+and container tree seedlings; 20
3315+(B) regional reforestation opportunities 21
3316+and the seedling supply necessary to fulfill such 22
3317+opportunities; 23
3318+(C) opportunities to enhance seedling di-24
3319+versity and close gaps in seed inventories; and 25
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3322+•HR 471 IH
3323+(D) barriers to expanding, enhancing, or 1
3324+creating new infrastructure to increase nursery 2
3325+capacity. 3
3326+SEC. 316. WHITE OAK RESEARCH. 4
30623327 (a) I
3063-NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 15
3064-date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, acting 16
3065-through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall—17
3066-(1) develop and implement a national strategy 18
3067-to increase the capacity of Federal, State, Tribal, 19
3068-and private tree nurseries to address the nationwide 20
3069-shortage of tree seedlings; and 21
3070-(2) coordinate such strategy with—22
3071-(A) the national reforestation strategy of 23
3072-the Forest Service; and 24 112
3073-•HR 471 EH
3074-(B) each regional implementation plan for 1
3075-National Forests. 2
3076-(b) E
3077-LEMENTS.—The strategy required under sub-3
3078-section (a) shall—4
3079-(1) be based on the best available science and 5
3080-data; and 6
3081-(2) identify and address—7
3082-(A) regional seedling shortages of bareroot 8
3083-and container tree seedlings; 9
3084-(B) regional reforestation opportunities 10
3085-and the seedling supply necessary to fulfill such 11
3086-opportunities; 12
3087-(C) opportunities to enhance seedling di-13
3088-versity and close gaps in seed inventories; and 14
3089-(D) barriers to expanding, enhancing, or 15
3090-creating new infrastructure to increase nursery 16
3091-capacity. 17
3092-SEC. 316. WHITE OAK RESEARCH. 18
3328+NGENERAL.—The Secretary may enter into a 5
3329+memorandum of understanding with an Indian Tribe or 6
3330+institution, including a covered land grant college, to col-7
3331+laboratively conduct research on— 8
3332+(1) white oak genes with resistance or tolerance 9
3333+to stress; 10
3334+(2) white oak trees that exhibit vigor for the 11
3335+purpose of increasing survival and growth; 12
3336+(3) establishing a genetically diverse white oak 13
3337+seeds bank capable of responding to stressors; 14
3338+(4) providing a sustainable supply of white oak 15
3339+seedlings and genetic resources; 16
3340+(5) improved methods for aligning seed sources 17
3341+with the future climate at planting sites; 18
3342+(6) reforestation of white oak through natural 19
3343+and artificial regeneration; 20
3344+(7) improved methods for retaining and increas-21
3345+ing white oak trees in forests; 22
3346+(8) improved methods for reforesting aban-23
3347+doned mine land sites; and 24
3348+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00112 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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3350+•HR 471 IH
3351+(9) economic and social aspects of white oak 1
3352+forest management across land ownerships. 2
3353+(b) C
3354+ONSULT.—In carrying out the research under 3
3355+subsection (a), the Indian Tribe or institution, including 4
3356+a covered land grant college, that enters into the memo-5
3357+randum of understanding under such subsection may con-6
3358+sult with such States, nonprofit organizations, institutions 7
3359+of higher education, and other scientific bodies, as the en-8
3360+tity subject to such memorandum determines appropriate. 9
3361+(c) S
3362+UNSET.—The authority under this section shall 10
3363+terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 11
3364+the enactment of this Act. 12
3365+(d) C
3366+OVEREDLANDGRANTCOLLEGEDEFINED.— 13
3367+In this section, the term ‘‘covered land grant college’’ 14
3368+means an 1862 Institution, an 1890 Institution, or a 1994 15
3369+Institution (as such terms are defined, respectively, in sec-16
3370+tion 2 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Edu-17
3371+cation Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7601)). 18
3372+SEC. 317. USDA FORMAL INITIATIVE. 19
30933373 (a) I
3094-NGENERAL.—The Secretary may enter into a 19
3095-memorandum of understanding with an Indian Tribe or 20
3096-institution, including a covered land grant college, to col-21
3097-laboratively conduct research on—22
3098-(1) white oak genes with resistance or tolerance 23
3099-to stress; 24 113
3100-•HR 471 EH
3101-(2) white oak trees that exhibit vigor for the 1
3102-purpose of increasing survival and growth; 2
3103-(3) establishing a genetically diverse white oak 3
3104-seeds bank capable of responding to stressors; 4
3105-(4) providing a sustainable supply of white oak 5
3106-seedlings and genetic resources; 6
3107-(5) improved methods for aligning seed sources 7
3108-with the future climate at planting sites; 8
3109-(6) reforestation of white oak through natural 9
3110-and artificial regeneration; 10
3111-(7) improved methods for retaining and increas-11
3112-ing white oak trees in forests; 12
3113-(8) improved methods for reforesting aban-13
3114-doned mine land sites; and 14
3115-(9) economic and social aspects of white oak 15
3116-forest management across land ownerships. 16
3117-(b) C
3118-ONSULT.—In carrying out the research under 17
3119-subsection (a), the Indian Tribe or institution, including 18
3120-a covered land grant college, that enters into the memo-19
3121-randum of understanding under such subsection may con-20
3122-sult with such States, nonprofit organizations, institutions 21
3123-of higher education, and other scientific bodies, as the en-22
3124-tity subject to such memorandum determines appropriate. 23 114
3125-•HR 471 EH
3126-(c) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 1
3127-terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 2
3128-the enactment of this Act. 3
3129-(d) C
3130-OVEREDLANDGRANTCOLLEGEDEFINED.—4
3131-In this section, the term ‘‘covered land grant college’’ 5
3132-means an 1862 Institution, an 1890 Institution, or a 1994 6
3133-Institution (as such terms are defined, respectively, in sec-7
3134-tion 2 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Edu-8
3135-cation Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7601)). 9
3136-SEC. 317. USDA FORMAL INITIATIVE. 10
3137-(a) I
3138-NGENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 11
3139-Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and 12
3140-in coordination with the Chief of the Forest Service, shall 13
3141-establish a formal initiative on white oak to—14
3142-(1) re-establish white oak forests where appro-15
3143-priate; 16
3144-(2) improve management of existing white oak 17
3145-forests to foster natural regeneration of white oak; 18
3146-(3) provide technical assistance to private land-19
3147-owners to re-establish, improve management of, and 20
3148-naturally regenerate white oak; 21
3149-(4) improve and expand white oak nursery 22
3150-stock; and 23
3151-(5) adapt and improve white oak seedlings. 24 115
3152-•HR 471 EH
3153-(b) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 1
3154-terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 2
3155-the enactment of this Act. 3
3156-SEC. 318. AUTHORITIES. 4
3157-To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary of 5
3158-the Interior and the Secretary shall use the authorities 6
3159-provided under this title in combination with other au-7
3160-thorities to carry out projects, including—8
3161-(1) good neighbor agreements entered into 9
3162-under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 10
3163-(16 U.S.C. 2113) (as amended by this Act); and 11
3164-(2) stewardship contracting projects entered 12
3165-into under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Res-13
3166-toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591) (as amended 14
3167-by this Act). 15
3168-TITLE IV—ENSURING CASUALTY 16
3169-ASSISTANCE FOR OUR FIRE-17
3170-FIGHTERS 18
3171-SEC. 401. WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT CASUALTY AS-19
3172-SISTANCE PROGRAM. 20
3374+NGENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 20
3375+Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and 21
3376+in coordination with the Chief of the Forest Service, shall 22
3377+establish a formal initiative on white oak to— 23
3378+(1) re-establish white oak forests where appro-24
3379+priate; 25
3380+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00113 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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3382+•HR 471 IH
3383+(2) improve management of existing white oak 1
3384+forests to foster natural regeneration of white oak; 2
3385+(3) provide technical assistance to private land-3
3386+owners to re-establish, improve management of, and 4
3387+naturally regenerate white oak; 5
3388+(4) improve and expand white oak nursery 6
3389+stock; and 7
3390+(5) adapt and improve white oak seedlings. 8
3391+(b) S
3392+UNSET.—The authority under this section shall 9
3393+terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 10
3394+the enactment of this Act. 11
3395+SEC. 318. AUTHORITIES. 12
3396+To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary of 13
3397+the Interior and the Secretary shall use the authorities 14
3398+provided under this title in combination with other au-15
3399+thorities to carry out projects, including— 16
3400+(1) good neighbor agreements entered into 17
3401+under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 18
3402+(16 U.S.C. 2113) (as amended by this Act); and 19
3403+(2) stewardship contracting projects entered 20
3404+into under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Res-21
3405+toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591) (as amended 22
3406+by this Act). 23
3407+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00114 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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3409+•HR 471 IH
3410+TITLE IV—ENSURING CASUALTY 1
3411+ASSISTANCE FOR OUR FIRE-2
3412+FIGHTERS 3
3413+SEC. 401. WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT CASUALTY AS-4
3414+SISTANCE PROGRAM. 5
31733415 (a) D
3174-EVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 6 21
3175-months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 22
3176-Secretary of the Interior shall develop a Wildland Fire 23
3177-Management Casualty Assistance Program (referred to in 24 116
3178-•HR 471 EH
3179-this section as the ‘‘Program’’) to provide assistance to 1
3180-the next-of-kin of—2
3181-(1) firefighters who, while in the line of duty, 3
3182-suffer illness or are critically injured or killed; and 4
3183-(2) wildland fire support personnel critically in-5
3184-jured or killed in the line of duty. 6
3416+EVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 6 6
3417+months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 7
3418+Secretary of the Interior shall develop a Wildland Fire 8
3419+Management Casualty Assistance Program (referred to in 9
3420+this section as the ‘‘Program’’) to provide assistance to 10
3421+the next-of-kin of— 11
3422+(1) firefighters who, while in the line of duty, 12
3423+suffer illness or are critically injured or killed; and 13
3424+(2) wildland fire support personnel critically in-14
3425+jured or killed in the line of duty. 15
31853426 (b) A
3186-SPECTS OFPROGRAM.—The Program shall ad-7
3187-dress the following: 8
3188-(1) The initial and any subsequent notifications 9
3189-to the next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire sup-10
3190-port personnel who—11
3191-(A) are killed in the line of duty; or 12
3192-(B) require hospitalization or treatment at 13
3193-a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 14
3194-illness. 15
3195-(2) The reimbursement of next-of-kin for ex-16
3196-penses associated with travel to visit firefighters or 17
3197-wildland fire support personnel who—18
3198-(A) are killed in the line of duty; or 19
3199-(B) require hospitalization or treatment at 20
3200-a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 21
3201-illness. 22
3202-(3) The qualifications, assignment, training, du-23
3203-ties, supervision, and accountability for the perform-24
3204-ance of casualty assistance responsibilities. 25 117
3205-•HR 471 EH
3206-(4) The relief or transfer of casualty assistance 1
3207-officers, including notification to survivors of critical 2
3208-injury or illness in the line of duty and next-of-kin 3
3209-of the reassignment of such officers to other duties. 4
3210-(5) Centralized, short-term and long-term case 5
3211-management procedures for casualty assistance, in-6
3212-cluding rapid access by survivors of firefighters or 7
3213-wildland fire support personnel and casualty assist-8
3214-ance officers to expert case managers and coun-9
3215-selors. 10
3216-(6) The provision, through a computer acces-11
3217-sible website and other means and at no cost to sur-12
3218-vivors and next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire 13
3219-support personnel, of personalized, integrated infor-14
3220-mation on the benefits and financial assistance avail-15
3221-able to such survivors from the Federal Government. 16
3222-(7) The provision of information to survivors 17
3223-and next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire sup-18
3224-port personnel on mechanisms for registering com-19
3225-plaints about, or requests for, additional assistance 20
3226-related to casualty assistance. 21
3227-(8) Liaison with the Department of the Inte-22
3228-rior, the Department of Justice, and the Social Se-23
3229-curity Administration to ensure prompt and accurate 24
3230-resolution of issues relating to benefits administered 25 118
3231-•HR 471 EH
3232-by those agencies for survivors of firefighters or 1
3233-wildland fire support personnel. 2
3234-(9) Data collection, in consultation with the 3
3235-United States Fire Administration and the National 4
3236-Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, re-5
3237-garding the incidence and quality of casualty assist-6
3238-ance provided to survivors of firefighters or wildland 7
3239-fire support personnel. 8
3427+SPECTS OFPROGRAM.—The Program shall ad-16
3428+dress the following: 17
3429+(1) The initial and any subsequent notifications 18
3430+to the next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire sup-19
3431+port personnel who— 20
3432+(A) are killed in the line of duty; or 21
3433+(B) require hospitalization or treatment at 22
3434+a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 23
3435+illness. 24
3436+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00115 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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3438+•HR 471 IH
3439+(2) The reimbursement of next-of-kin for ex-1
3440+penses associated with travel to visit firefighters or 2
3441+wildland fire support personnel who— 3
3442+(A) are killed in the line of duty; or 4
3443+(B) require hospitalization or treatment at 5
3444+a medical facility due to a line-of-duty injury or 6
3445+illness. 7
3446+(3) The qualifications, assignment, training, du-8
3447+ties, supervision, and accountability for the perform-9
3448+ance of casualty assistance responsibilities. 10
3449+(4) The relief or transfer of casualty assistance 11
3450+officers, including notification to survivors of critical 12
3451+injury or illness in the line of duty and next-of-kin 13
3452+of the reassignment of such officers to other duties. 14
3453+(5) Centralized, short-term and long-term case 15
3454+management procedures for casualty assistance, in-16
3455+cluding rapid access by survivors of firefighters or 17
3456+wildland fire support personnel and casualty assist-18
3457+ance officers to expert case managers and coun-19
3458+selors. 20
3459+(6) The provision, through a computer acces-21
3460+sible website and other means and at no cost to sur-22
3461+vivors and next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire 23
3462+support personnel, of personalized, integrated infor-24
3463+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00116 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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3465+•HR 471 IH
3466+mation on the benefits and financial assistance avail-1
3467+able to such survivors from the Federal Government. 2
3468+(7) The provision of information to survivors 3
3469+and next-of-kin of firefighters or wildland fire sup-4
3470+port personnel on mechanisms for registering com-5
3471+plaints about, or requests for, additional assistance 6
3472+related to casualty assistance. 7
3473+(8) Liaison with the Department of the Inte-8
3474+rior, the Department of Justice, and the Social Se-9
3475+curity Administration to ensure prompt and accurate 10
3476+resolution of issues relating to benefits administered 11
3477+by those agencies for survivors of firefighters or 12
3478+wildland fire support personnel. 13
3479+(9) Data collection, in consultation with the 14
3480+United States Fire Administration and the National 15
3481+Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, re-16
3482+garding the incidence and quality of casualty assist-17
3483+ance provided to survivors of firefighters or wildland 18
3484+fire support personnel. 19
32403485 (c) L
3241-INE-OF-DUTYDEATHBENEFITS.—The Pro-9
3242-gram shall not affect existing authorities for Line-of-Duty 10
3243-Death benefits for Federal firefighters and wildland fire 11
3244-support personnel. 12
3486+INE-OF-DUTYDEATHBENEFITS.—The Pro-20
3487+gram shall not affect existing authorities for Line-of-Duty 21
3488+Death benefits for Federal firefighters and wildland fire 22
3489+support personnel. 23
32453490 (d) N
3246-EXT-OF-KINDEFINED.—In this section, the 13
3247-term ‘‘next-of-kin’’ means a person or persons in the high-14
3248-est category of priority as determined by the following list 15
3249-(categories appear in descending order of priority): 16
3250-(1) Surviving legal spouse. 17
3251-(2) Children (whether by current or prior mar-18
3252-riage) age 18 years or older in descending order of 19
3253-precedence by age. 20
3254-(3) Father or mother, unless custody has been 21
3255-vested, by court order, in another (adoptive parent 22
3256-takes precedence over natural parent). 23
3257-(4) Siblings (whole or half) age 18 years or 24
3258-older in descending order of precedence by age. 25 119
3259-•HR 471 EH
3260-(5) Grandfather or grandmother. 1
3261-(6) Any other relative (order of precedence to 2
3262-be determined in accordance with the civil law of de-3
3263-scent of the deceased former member’s State of 4
3264-domicile at time of death). 5
3265-Passed the House of Representatives January 23,
3266-2025.
3267-Attest:
3268-Clerk. 119
3269-TH
3270-CONGRESS
3271-1
3272-ST
3273-S
3274-ESSION
3275-
3276-H. R. 471
3277-AN ACT
3278-
3279-To expedite under the National Environmental Pol-
3280-icy Act of 1969 and improve forest management
3281-activities on National Forest System lands, on
3282-public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau
3283-of Land Management, and on Tribal lands to re-
3284-turn resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested
3285-lands, and for other purposes.
3491+EXT-OF-KINDEFINED.—In this section, the 24
3492+term ‘‘next-of-kin’’ means a person or persons in the high-25
3493+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00117 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
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3495+•HR 471 IH
3496+est category of priority as determined by the following list 1
3497+(categories appear in descending order of priority): 2
3498+(1) Surviving legal spouse. 3
3499+(2) Children (whether by current or prior mar-4
3500+riage) age 18 years or older in descending order of 5
3501+precedence by age. 6
3502+(3) Father or mother, unless custody has been 7
3503+vested, by court order, in another (adoptive parent 8
3504+takes precedence over natural parent). 9
3505+(4) Siblings (whole or half) age 18 years or 10
3506+older in descending order of precedence by age. 11
3507+(5) Grandfather or grandmother. 12
3508+(6) Any other relative (order of precedence to 13
3509+be determined in accordance with the civil law of de-14
3510+scent of the deceased former member’s State of 15
3511+domicile at time of death). 16
3512+Æ
3513+VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Jan 17, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00118 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H471.IH H471
3514+kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB