Sec. 102. Establishment of Forest Active Management Areas and annual volume requirements
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Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall establish one or more Forest Active Management Areas within each unit of the National Forest System. To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall complete the establishment of Forest Active Management Areas not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. The purpose of a Forest Active Management Area is to provide a dependable source of 25-percent payments and economic activity through sustainable forest management for each beneficiary county containing National Forest System land included within that Forest Active Management Area.
The Secretary shall have a fiduciary responsibility to beneficiary counties to manage a Forest Active Management Area to satisfy the annual volume requirement established for that Forest Active Management Area. Not later than 30 days after the date of the establishment of a Forest Active Management Area or as soon thereafter as practicable, the Secretary shall establish the annual volume requirement for that Forest Active Management Area. The Secretary may establish the annual volume requirement for a Forest Active Management Area at a level below 50 percent of the sustained yield of that Forest Active Management Area if the lower level is developed and agreed upon through a collaborative process.
Except as provided in paragraph (3), the Forest Active Management Areas established within a unit of the National Forest System shall include not less than 50 percent of the National Forest System lands in that unit identified as commercial forest land capable of producing twenty cubic feet of timber per acre. Except as provided in paragraph (3), once a Forest Active Management Area is established, the Secretary may not reduce the number of acres of National Forest System land included in that Forest Active Management Area.
The Secretary may reduce the number of acres of National Forest System land included in a Forest Active Management Area, including an acreage reduction resulting in the inclusion of a quantity of commercial forest land below the percentage required by paragraph
(1)and section 101(5)(B), if the reduction is developed and agreed upon through a collaborative process. The Secretary shall submit a map of all Forest Active Management Areas established under subsection
(a)and a map of any Forest Active Management Area whose acreage is adjusted made pursuant to subsection (f)(3)— to the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; and to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate. Neither the establishment of Forest Active Management Areas under subsection
(a)nor any other provision of this title shall be construed to limit or restrict— access to National Forest System land for hunting, fishing, recreation, and other related purposes; or valid and existing rights regarding National Forest System land, including rights of any federally recognized Indian tribe.