Sec. 207. Moratorium on use of prescribed fire in Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, pending report
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/bill/113/hr/1526/rfs/section-207·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Except as provided in subsection (b), the Secretary of Agriculture may not conduct any prescribed fire in Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project until the report required by subsection
(c)is submitted to Congress. Subsection
(a)does not prohibit the use of prescribed fire as part of wildfire suppression activities. Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to Congress a report containing an evaluation of recent and current Forest Service management practices for Mark Twain National Forest, including lands in the National Forest enrolled, or under consideration for enrollment, in the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project to convert certain lands into shortleaf pine-oak woodlands, to determine the impact of such management practices on forest health and tree mortality. The report shall specifically address— the economic costs associated with the failure to utilize hardwoods cut as part of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project and the subsequent loss of hardwood production from the treated lands in the long term; the extent of increased tree mortality due to excessive heat generated by prescribed fires; the impacts to water quality and rate of water run off due to erosion of the scorched earth left in the aftermath of the prescribed fires; and a long-term plan for evaluation of the impacts of prescribed fires on lands previously burned within the Eleven Point Ranger District.