Accelerating Forest Restoration Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1849 To provide flexibility and improve the effectiveness of the Four Forests Restoration Initiative in the State of Arizona. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 13, 2019 Ms. MCSALLY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To provide flexibility and improve the effectiveness of the Four Forests Restoration Initiative in the State of Arizona. 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 ‘‘Accelerating Forest 4 Restoration Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) there is an urgent need in the State of Ari- 8 zona— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1849 IS (A) to restore the ponderosa pine forest 1 ecosystems; 2 (B) to reestablish beneficial natural fire re- 3 gimes; 4 (C) to sustain native biological diversity; 5 and 6 (D) to protect communities from unnatu- 7 rally severe fires; 8 (2) the low and zero values of forest restoration 9 byproducts undermine the success of establishing 10 and maintaining a private sector wood industry; 11 (3) Forest Service appraisal, sale, and account- 12 ability procedures for conventional timber production 13 overemphasize capturing marginal wood value at the 14 expense of accelerating treatments and private sector 15 success; 16 (4) the economic and natural resource benefits 17 of a restored acre, such as wildfire avoidance, water- 18 shed protection, wildlife habitat, and recreational op- 19 portunities, exceed the value of the wood removed 20 and provide greater benefit to taxpayers; 21 (5) Forest Service analyses do not capture the 22 low value of timber under 4FRI as a byproduct of 23 restoration or reflect the cost of removal and trans- 24 portation of that timber to available markets; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1849 IS (6) landscape-scale forest restoration under 1 4FRI can and should be accelerated in an economi- 2 cally and socially viable manner that promotes eco- 3 logical sustainability, forest resilience, and shared 4 forest stewardship across multiple users of national 5 forests; and 6 (7) progress under 4FRI has not kept pace 7 with stated goals to partner with industry to me- 8 chanically treat approximately 1,000,000 acres of 9 ponderosa pine forests within 20 years. 10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 11 In this Act: 12 (1) 4FRI.—The term ‘‘4FRI’’ means the Four 13 Forests Restoration Initiative under the Restoration 14 Program, which— 15 (A) aims to restore 2,400,000 acres of 16 ponderosa pine forests and associated eco- 17 systems in the State of Arizona through a com- 18 bination of mechanical thinning, prescribed 19 fires, and comprehensive restoration activities; 20 (B) is a joint effort between the Restora- 21 tion Program administered by the Forest Serv- 22 ice and the Four Forests Restoration Initiative 23 Stakeholder Group; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1849 IS (C) takes place on portions of the 1 Coconino, Kaibab, Apache-Sitgreaves, and 2 Tonto national forests along the Mogollon Rim 3 in the State of Arizona. 4 (2) FOREST RESTORATION BYPRODUCT.—The 5 term ‘‘forest restoration byproduct’’ means a forest 6 product derived from active ecological restoration 7 through commercial timber sales and permits, stew- 8 ardship contracts, special forest product sales and 9 permits, and woody biomass utilization (as defined 10 in the implementation guidelines of the Restoration 11 Program). 12 (3) LOW-VALUE RESTORATION BYPRODUCT.— 13 The term ‘‘low-value restoration byproduct’’ means a 14 forest restoration byproduct the value of which is 15 not more than 25 percent of industry expectations 16 for high value restoration byproducts. 17 (4) NO-VALUE RESTORATION BYPRODUCT.— 18 The term ‘‘no-value restoration byproduct’’ means a 19 forest restoration byproduct that has zero or nega- 20 tive value after stumpage, harvest, processing, and 21 transport costs are deducted from the price charged 22 by a mill, power plant, or other processing facility to 23 sell that forest restoration byproduct. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1849 IS (5) PARTNER.—The term ‘‘partner’’ means any 1 4FRI contractor or agent of a contractor that has 2 a contract or agreement with, or permit from, the 3 Forest Service to implement an approved project in 4 accordance with the Restoration Program. 5 (6) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘project’’ means an 6 activity conducted under any timber-related sale, 7 contract, or stewardship agreement— 8 (A) to which the Forest Service is a party; 9 and 10 (B) that implements an approved 4FRI 11 restoration treatment under a contract, agree- 12 ment, or permit that complies with the require- 13 ments of the Restoration Program. 14 (7) RESTORATION PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Res- 15 toration Program’’ means the Collaborative Forest 16 Landscape Restoration Program established under 17 section 4003 of the Omnibus Public Land Manage- 18 ment Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303). 19 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20 the Secretary of Agriculture. 21 SEC. 4. CLASSIFICATION OF RESTORATION BYPRODUCTS 22 AS LOW-VALUE OR NO-VALUE. 23 The Secretary may designate as a low-value or no- 24 value restoration byproduct a forest restoration byproduct 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1849 IS that is not a low-value or no-value restoration byproduct 1 if that forest restoration byproduct was harvested— 2 (1) in a manner consistent with the require- 3 ments of the Restoration Program; and 4 (2) within any geographic area on which 4FRI 5 takes place. 6 SEC. 5. EXCEPTION TO WHOLE LOG EXPORT LIMITATION 7 FOR PROJECT TIMBER. 8 The Secretary shall revise section 223.162 of title 36, 9 Code of Federal Regulations, to permit unprocessed forest 10 restoration byproducts and low-value and no-value restora- 11 tion byproducts to be exported from the United States if 12 those byproducts were harvested— 13 (1) in a manner consistent with the require- 14 ments of the Restoration Program; and 15 (2) within any geographic area on which 4FRI 16 takes place. 17 SEC. 6. EXEMPTION TO IDENTIFYING AND MARKING 18 PROJECT TIMBER. 19 The Secretary shall revise section 223.195 of title 36, 20 Code of Federal Regulations, to exclude low-value or no- 21 value forest restoration byproducts from the requirement 22 to paint, brand, or hammerstamp timber under that sec- 23 tion if those byproducts were harvested— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1849 IS (1) in a manner consistent with the require- 1 ments of the Restoration Program; and 2 (2) within any geographic area on which 4FRI 3 takes place. 4 SEC. 7. TRANSPORTATION OF FOREST RESTORATION BY- 5 PRODUCTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not require 7 a partner to weigh a vehicle used for a project. 8 (b) AVERAGE TRUCK WEIGHT.—The Secretary may 9 assign an average truck weight for a truck carrying forest 10 restoration byproducts from a project using— 11 (1) existing load ticket data; and 12 (2) an average product weight that is mutually 13 agreed on by the Forest Service and each partner 14 for that project. 15 (c) MAXIMUM TRUCK WEIGHT.—Notwithstanding 16 any other provision of law, on request of the Governor of 17 Arizona, for a logging truck on a project— 18 (1) the Secretary shall increase the maximum 19 truck weight limit on Forest Service roads and 20 bridges to 91,800 pounds (or the multi-axle equiva- 21 lent); and 22 (2) the Secretary of Transportation shall in- 23 crease the maximum truck weight limit on any route 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1849 IS on the Interstate System in the State of Arizona to 1 91,800 pounds (or the multi-axle equivalent). 2 (d) WAIVER OF CLEANING AND INSPECTION RE- 3 QUIREMENTS.—At the request of a partner, the Secretary 4 shall waive any applicable cleaning or inspection require- 5 ment for any piece of equipment or any truck that— 6 (1) is used in harvesting under the project; and 7 (2) has passed at least 1 prior inspection. 8 SEC. 8. ADJUSTMENT TO TIME-SINCE-CUT REQUIREMENTS. 9 The Secretary shall allow forest restoration byprod- 10 ucts harvested under a project to remain at the project 11 site for not more than 120 days before removal by the 12 partner on that project. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1849.IS S1849 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS