Save Our Forests Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8731 To fill vacancies for Forest Service recreation management and planning staff in National Forests, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 5, 2020 Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Mr. CARBAJAL, and Mr. THOMPSON of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ag- riculture A BILL To fill vacancies for Forest Service recreation management and planning staff in National Forests, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Save Our Forests Act 4 of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8731.IH H8731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8731 IH (1) Between 2015 and 2019, on average, 88 1 percent of wildfires in the United States have been 2 human-caused. 3 (2) Human-caused fires tend to occur in or 4 near the wildland-urban interface (as defined in sec- 5 tion 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 6 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511)), where there is a greater 7 risk to people and communities and a higher cost to 8 suppress fires. 9 (3) The wildland-urban interface is the fastest- 10 growing land use type in the United States, posing 11 challenges for fire management and suppression. 12 (4) Over the last 10 years, an average of 13 64,100 wildfires and an average of 6.8 million acres 14 burned annually. In 2019, 50,477 wildfires burned 15 and 4,700,000 acres burned nationwide. Approxi- 16 mately 65 percent of these acres burned on Federal 17 land, of which close to 20 percent or 600,000 acres 18 were National Forest System lands. 19 (5) The Forest Service suffers from chronic 20 staffing shortages, with several National Forests 21 struggling to maintain their acreage with insufficient 22 recreation management and planning staff. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8731.IH H8731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8731 IH SEC. 3. FILLING FOREST SERVICE RECREATION MANAGE- 1 MENT STAFF VACANCIES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture, act- 3 ing through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall fill va- 4 cancies in National Forests for Forest Service recreation 5 management and planning staff, including recreation tech- 6 nicians, recreation officers, and natural resource man- 7 agers. 8 (b) PRIORITY.—In seeking to fill vacancies under 9 subsection (a), the Secretary shall prioritize filling vacan- 10 cies in National Forests that— 11 (1) are at high or very high risk of catastrophic 12 wildfires; 13 (2) are located in or near the wildland-urban 14 interface; and 15 (3) have experienced an increase in visitation 16 over the past decade. 17 (c) TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION AS A FOREST 18 PROTECTION OFFICER.—The Secretary may provide the 19 opportunity for any individual who fills a vacancy pursu- 20 ant to subsection (a) to receive training and certification 21 as a Forest Protection Officer. 22 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to other funds 24 that may be available to the Forest Service for the 25 purposes specified in this section, there is authorized 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8731.IH H8731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8731 IH to be appropriated to carry out this section such 1 sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2021 and 2 each fiscal year thereafter. 3 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 4 amounts available under paragraph (1) for each fis- 5 cal year, not more than 3 percent may be used for 6 administrative expenses incurred in carrying out this 7 section. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8731.IH H8731 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS