Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 279 To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 12, 2021 Mr. GALLEGO (for himself, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. WELCH, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. KILMER, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. PA- NETTA, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. COHEN, Mr. SIRES, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. CASE, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TONKO, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOV- ERN, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. BEYER, Mr. POCAN, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. CHU, Mr. SUOZZI, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. NADLER, and Mrs. KIRKPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, 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 provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H279.IH H279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 279 IH 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 ‘‘Roadless Area Con- 4 servation Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Congress finds that— 7 (1) there is a compelling need to establish na- 8 tional protection for inventoried roadless areas of the 9 National Forest System in order to protect the 10 unique social and ecological values of those irreplace- 11 able resources; 12 (2) roadless areas protect healthy watersheds 13 and the numerous benefits of healthy watersheds, 14 which include— 15 (A) providing the setting for many forms 16 of outdoor recreation; 17 (B) ensuring a supply of clean water for 18 domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses; 19 (C) providing drinking water to tens of 20 millions of citizens of the United States; and 21 (D) helping maintain abundant and 22 healthy fish and wildlife populations and habi- 23 tats; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H279.IH H279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 279 IH (3) maintaining roadless areas in a relatively 1 undisturbed condition— 2 (A) saves downstream communities mil- 3 lions of dollars in water filtration costs; and 4 (B) is crucial to preserve the flow of af- 5 fordable, clean water to a growing population; 6 (4) the protection of roadless areas can main- 7 tain biological strongholds and refuges for many im- 8 periled species by halting the ongoing fragmentation 9 of the landscape into smaller and smaller parcels of 10 land divided by road corridors; 11 (5) roadless areas conserve native biodiversity 12 by serving as a bulwark against the spread of non- 13 native invasive species; 14 (6) roadless areas provide important backcoun- 15 try fish and game habitat, creating opportunities for 16 hunting and commercial and sport fishing; 17 (7) roadless areas provide unparalleled opportu- 18 nities for outdoor recreation, including hiking, camp- 19 ing, picnicking, wildlife viewing, hunting, fishing, 20 cross-country skiing, canoeing, mountain biking, and 21 similar activities; 22 (8) while roadless areas may have many wilder- 23 ness-like attributes, unlike wilderness areas, the use 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H279.IH H279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 279 IH of mechanized means of travel is allowed in many 1 roadless areas; 2 (9) roadless areas contain many sites sacred to 3 Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and other groups 4 that use roadless areas for spiritual and religious 5 practices and access, including customary and tradi- 6 tional uses and activities; 7 (10) from the inception of Federal land man- 8 agement, the mission of the Forest Service has been 9 to manage the National Forest System for multiple 10 uses, including resource utilization, conservation, 11 and other uses; 12 (11) consistent with the multiple-use mission 13 described in paragraph (10), this Act— 14 (A) ensures the continued protection of so- 15 cial and ecological values, while allowing for 16 many multiple uses of inventoried roadless 17 areas; and 18 (B) does not impose any new limitations 19 on— 20 (i) inventoried roadless areas; or 21 (ii) the use of, or access to, National 22 Forest System, State, or private land out- 23 side inventoried roadless areas; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H279.IH H279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 279 IH (12) enacting a law for the protection of inven- 1 toried roadless areas— 2 (A) provides additional reliability to areas 3 with recreation-based economies that depend on 4 public land without roads for jobs, revenue, and 5 consumer spending; and 6 (B) encourages forest managers to con- 7 tinue giving priority to conducting fuel reduc- 8 tion treatments in the areas in which the treat- 9 ments will have the most impact; 10 (13) wildfires are almost twice as likely to occur 11 in roaded areas as in roadless areas, because road- 12 less areas are generally located further away from 13 communities and are harder to access; 14 (14) the Forest Service has an enormous back- 15 log of maintenance needs for the existing 371,581- 16 mile road system of the Forest Service that will cost 17 $3,200,000,000 to eliminate; and 18 (15) continued protection of roadless areas will 19 continue to allow for the development of hydropower 20 projects. 21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide, 22 within the context of multiple-use management, lasting 23 protection for inventoried roadless areas within the Na- 24 tional Forest System. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H279.IH H279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 279 IH SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREA.—The term 3 ‘‘inventoried roadless area’’ means any area in which 4 road construction, road reconstruction, or logging is 5 subject to regulation under the Roadless Rule. 6 (2) ROADLESS RULE.—The term ‘‘Roadless 7 Rule’’ means part 294 of title 36, Code of Federal 8 Regulations, as adopted on January 12, 2001, and 9 modified for Idaho on October 16, 2008, and for 10 Colorado on July 3, 2012, and December 19, 2016. 11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 13 Chief of the Forest Service. 14 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREAS. 15 The Secretary shall not allow road construction, road 16 reconstruction, or logging in an inventoried roadless area 17 where those activities are prohibited by the Roadless Rule. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H279.IH H279 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS