Sec. 4. Land management
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/bill/113/s/1301/is/section-4A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall select all or part of 1 or more National Forests in the State as part of the Initiative. The selection under paragraph
(1)shall be for a period of 15 years. The provisions of this Act shall apply to the covered area. In the covered area, the Secretary shall, considering the best available science, seek— to conserve and restore forest health, watershed health, and other ecosystems; to reduce the risk of, and increase the resistance and resiliency of the land to, uncharacteristic disturbances; to allow for characteristic natural disturbances; and to harvest wood to maintain adequate levels of industry infrastructure to accomplish the goals described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C). To achieve the goals of paragraph
(1)in the forested land in the covered area, the Secretary shall consider opportunities— to reduce the basal area in overstocked forest stands; to increase the mean diameter of forest stands; to maintain or create a forest composition that focuses on more fire- and drought-tolerant species; to restore historic levels of within-forest stand spatial heterogeneity; to conserve and restore old growth; to conserve and restore population levels of older trees; to conserve and restore ecologically sustainable forest stands and landscapes to incorporate characteristic forest stand structures and older tree populations; to harvest wood and use the value of merchantable sawlogs and biomass to help offset the cost of improving forest health and watershed health; to restore or maintain sustainable and fire-resilient conditions in perpetuity through active management (including management through prescribed or wildland fire and mechanical treatments); to restore or maintain ecologically appropriate spatial complexity (including a range of open to dense forest patches at scales from the forest stand to the landscape); to create nonuniform effects in carrying out vegetation management projects by avoiding extensive areas of uniform treatment, except for certain treatments (such as broadcast burns) that are carried out to enhance the spatial heterogeneity of the forest site; to restore or maintain ecologically appropriate understory plant community composition and condition, including— by restoring and maintaining native ground cover; and by reducing the impacts of, and potential for, exotic and other invasive species; and to increase stakeholder participation through collaborative groups. To help to achieve the goals described in subsection (b), the Secretary shall use landscape scale planning based on watershed areas as a tool to implement ecological restoration projects in the covered area. Not later than 60 days after the date on which the Secretary selects the covered area, the Secretary, in consultation with the relevant collaborative groups, may establish performance goals, in addition to the goals that are established by subsection (b), that the Secretary shall seek to achieve consistent with the purposes of this Act and the goals and opportunities described in subsection
(b)for the covered area. Subject to paragraph (3), each performance goal established under paragraph
(1)shall be measured annually for a period of 15 years. The Secretary may develop additional performance goals that the Secretary determines to be appropriate during the period established by paragraph (2). Subject to the limitations described in section 12(c), the Secretary shall prioritize the vegetation management and hazardous fuels reduction program activities in the covered area to achieve the performance goals established under this subsection. Within the covered area, consistent with the goals, and after considering the opportunities, described in subsection (b), the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, prepare, offer, and promptly implement— projects that— are predominantly comprised of mechanical treatment in the covered area that emphasize sawtimber as a byproduct; and are conducted on— for the first fiscal year after the date of enactment of this Act, not less than 60,000 acres; for the subsequent fiscal year, not less than 80,000 acres; and for each fiscal year thereafter until the fiscal year in which at least 1 ecological restoration project for each National Forest is initiated under section 7, not less than 100,000 acres; and for each fiscal year after the fiscal year specified in subparagraph clause (i)(II)(cc), an ecological restoration project on each National Forest in the covered area with a gross planning area of not less than 25,000 acres. Beginning in the first fiscal year after the date on which at least 1 ecological restoration project is initiated for each National Forest under section 8 and each fiscal year thereafter until the date on which the Initiative is completed, the Secretary may, subject to clause (ii), set annual acreage performance goals for projects that are predominantly comprised of mechanical treatment in the covered area that emphasize sawtimber as a byproduct consistent with the goals, and after considering the opportunities, described in subsection (b). In setting goals under clause (i), the Secretary shall consider— any specific recommendations of the advisory panel relating to acreage treatment needs; and advice provided by a collaborative group relating to acreage treatment needs. In seeking to meet the restoration goals established under subparagraph
(A)or (B), the Secretary shall prioritize for treatment— any area located on a pilot landscape; and any area that has opportunities for reduced planning and implementation costs because of— opportunities to work with a collaborative group on the project; or opportunities to use non-Federal resources to complete the project. Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall prohibit the cutting or removal of any live tree located in the covered area that is 150 years of age or older measured at breast height. The prohibition described in paragraph
(1)shall not apply if the Secretary determines that there is no reasonable alternative to the cutting or removal of the tree to provide for a safe administrative, public, or special use. The Secretary shall provide to the public and each relevant collaborative group notice and an opportunity to comment before making a determination under subparagraph (A), unless the Secretary determines that the cutting or removal of the tree is necessary to respond to an emergency condition. Subject to clause (ii), if the Secretary, after considering the recommendations of the relevant collaborative group or the recommendations report issued under section 6(d), determines that the prohibition in paragraph
(1)is infeasible to implement for a specific vegetation management project, the Secretary shall apply the Decision Notice with respect to the specific vegetation management project. In applying the Decision Notice to a specific vegetation management project under clause (i), the Secretary may make site-specific forest plan amendments to allow the cutting or removal of live trees greater than 21 inches in diameter at breast height that are younger than 150 years old at breast height, the cutting or removal of which is necessary to meet the land management goals described in subsection (b)(1). In carrying out any vegetation management project in the covered area, the Secretary shall— not construct any permanent road, unless the Secretary determines that the road is a justifiable realignment of a permanent road to restore or improve the ecological structure, composition, and function and the natural processes of the affected forest or watershed; and by the earlier of the date on which the vegetation management project is completed or the date that is 1 year after the activities for which the road was constructed are complete, decommission any temporary road constructed to carry out the vegetation management project by— reestablishing vegetation on the road; and restoring any natural drainage, watershed function, or other ecological processes that are disrupted or adversely impacted by the road, including by removing or hydrologically disconnecting the road prism.