I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 528
To require the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a program for Post-
Disaster Reforestation and Restoration Program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Ms. P
ETTERSEN(for herself and Mr. EDWARDS) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a
program for Post-Disaster Reforestation and Restoration
Program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Post-Disaster Refor-4
estation and Restoration Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. POST-DISASTER REFORESTATION AND RESTORA-1
TION PROGRAM. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 3
date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, 4
the Secretary, in coordination with the heads of the cov-5
ered agencies, shall identify covered lands requiring refor-6
estation and restoration following unplanned disturbances 7
that are unlikely to experience natural regeneration with-8
out assistance. 9
(b) P
RIORITYPROJECTS.—In consultation with the 10
heads of covered agencies, the Secretary— 11
(1) shall propose a list of priority projects for 12
reforestation and restoration for each fiscal year; 13
(2) may carry out priority projects through— 14
(A) competitively awarded grants; 15
(B) contracts; 16
(C) contracts established under the Indian 17
Self-Determination and Education Assistance 18
Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); and 19
(D) cooperative agreements, to be awarded 20
in accordance with applicable requirements es-21
tablished by the Secretary; and 22
(3) may support any grant contract or coopera-23
tive agreement that may be necessary to ensure ade-24
quate and appropriate seed and seedling availability 25
to further the objectives of priority projects. 26
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(c) OUTREACH.—To fulfill requirements of this sec-1
tion the heads of covered agencies shall conduct outreach 2
to— 3
(1) Indian Tribes; 4
(2) States; 5
(3) territories; 6
(4) units of local government; 7
(5) Alaska Native organizations; 8
(6) Native Hawaiian organizations; 9
(7) institutions of higher education; 10
(8) Federal agencies with jurisdiction over Fed-11
eral land adjoining or proximal to priority projects; 12
and 13
(9) other stakeholders as determined by the 14
Secretary. 15
(d) R
EPORTS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS .—Not later 16
than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 17
and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the 18
relevant Congressional Committees a report that includes 19
the following: 20
(1) An accounting of all covered lands requiring 21
reforestation and restoration. 22
(2) A list of priority projects and implementa-23
tion progress to address reforestation and restora-24
tion objectives identified. 25
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(3) An accounting of grants, contracts, and co-1
operative agreements established in furtherance of 2
priority projects. 3
(4) Outreach efforts by covered agencies to ad-4
vance priority projects. 5
(5) Assessments of, and recommendations relat-6
ing to seed, seedling, and implementation gaps to 7
advance priority projects and opportunities to estab-8
lish dedicated funding necessary to address any 9
backlog of reforestation and restoration needs. 10
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
(1) C
OVERED AGENCY .—The term ‘‘covered 12
agency’’ means— 13
(A) each Federal land management agency 14
(as such term is defined in the Federal Lands 15
Recreation Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 16
6801)); and 17
(B) the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 18
(2) C
OVERED LANDS .—The term ‘‘covered 19
lands’’ means any Federal land or interest in land 20
administered by a covered agency and Indian Forest 21
Land or Rangeland. 22
(3) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 23
means any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, na-24
tion, pueblo, village, or community individually iden-25
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tified (including parenthetically) in the list published 1
most recently as of the date of enactment of this Act 2
pursuant to section 104 of the Federally Recognized 3
Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131). 4
(4) N
ATURAL REGENERATION .—The term ‘‘nat-5
ural regeneration’’ has the meaning given the term 6
in section (e)(4) of the Forest and Rangeland Re-7
newable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (U.S.C. 36 8
1601). 9
(5) R
EFORESTATION.—The term ‘‘reforest-10
ation’’ has the meaning given the term in section 11
(e)(4) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Re-12
sources Planning Act of 1974 (U.S.C. 36 1601). 13
(6) R
ESTORATION.—The term ‘‘restoration’’ 14
means assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that 15
has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed, including 16
the reestablishment of appropriate plant species 17
composition and community structure. 18
(7) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 19
the Secretary of Interior. 20
(8) U
NPLANNED DISTURBANCE .—The term 21
‘‘unplanned disturbance’’ means any unplanned dis-22
turbance that disrupts ecosystem structure or com-23
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position and may include a wildfire, an infestation of 1
insects or disease, or a weather event. 2
Æ
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