To provide for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7273 To provide for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 18, 2020 Ms. SCHRIER (for herself and Mr. KILMER) 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 for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. FOREST SERVICE LEGACY ROADS AND TRAILS 3 REMEDIATION PROGRAM. 4 Public Law 88–657 (16 U.S.C. 532 et seq.) (com- 5 monly known as the ‘‘Forest Roads and Trails Act’’) is 6 amended by adding at the end the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7273.IH H7273 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7273 IH ‘‘SEC. 8. FOREST SERVICE LEGACY ROADS AND TRAILS RE- 1 MEDIATION PROGRAM. 2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 3 Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Pro- 4 gram (referred to in this section as ‘the Program’). 5 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Program shall be ad- 6 ministered by the Secretary, acting through the Chief of 7 the Forest Service (referred to in this section as the ‘Sec- 8 retary’). 9 ‘‘(c) NATIONAL STRATEGY.—The Secretary shall de- 10 velop a national strategy to carry out the Program, in ac- 11 cordance with this section. 12 ‘‘(d) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the Program, the 13 Secretary shall— 14 ‘‘(1) carry out critical deferred maintenance, 15 urgent repairs, road and trail relocation, and associ- 16 ated activities on National Forest System roads, 17 trails, and bridges; 18 ‘‘(2) restore passages of fish and other aquatic 19 species by removing or replacing unnatural barriers 20 from such passages; and 21 ‘‘(3) decommission roads and trails in accord- 22 ance with subsection (h). 23 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In implementing the Program, the 24 Secretary shall give priority to projects that protect or re- 25 store— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7273.IH H7273 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7273 IH ‘‘(1) water quality and watershed function; 1 ‘‘(2) a watershed that supplies a public drinking 2 water system; 3 ‘‘(3) the habitat of a threatened, endangered, or 4 sensitive fish or wildlife species, or species of con- 5 servation concern; or 6 ‘‘(4) a watershed for which the Secretary has 7 completed a watershed protection and restoration ac- 8 tion plan pursuant to section 304 of the Healthy 9 Forests Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 6543). 10 ‘‘(f) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.—Except with re- 11 spect to a project carried out on a watershed for which 12 the Secretary has a cooperative agreement under section 13 323 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agen- 14 cies Appropriations Act, 1999 (16 U.S.C. 1011a), each 15 project carried out under this section shall be on a Na- 16 tional Forest System road or trail. 17 ‘‘(g) IDENTIFICATION OF MINIMUM ROAD SYS- 18 TEMS.—Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 19 of this section, the Secretary shall identify, for each unit 20 of the National Forest System, the minimum road system 21 and unneeded roads in accordance with section 212.5(b) 22 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 23 the date of enactment of this Act). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7273.IH H7273 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7273 IH ‘‘(h) UNNEEDED ROADS.—The Secretary shall de- 1 commission any roads identified as unneeded under sub- 2 section (g) as soon as practicable after making the identi- 3 fication under that subsection. 4 ‘‘(i) REVIEW; REVISION.—The Secretary shall review, 5 and may revise, an identification made under subsection 6 (g) for a unit of the National Forest System during a revi- 7 sion of the land and resource management plan applicable 8 to that unit. 9 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 10 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 11 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 12 2030.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7273.IH H7273 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS