Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3853 To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 6, 2023 Mr. GALLEGO (for himself, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. WATSON COLE- MAN, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. STANSBURY, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. CHU, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. BEYER, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. TONKO, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. POCAN, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) 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 determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System. 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 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3853.IH H3853 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3853 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Congress finds that— 2 (1) there is a compelling need to establish na- 3 tional protection for inventoried roadless areas of the 4 National Forest System in order to protect the 5 unique social and ecological values of those irreplace- 6 able resources; 7 (2) roadless areas protect healthy watersheds 8 and the numerous benefits of healthy watersheds, 9 which include— 10 (A) providing the setting for many forms 11 of outdoor recreation; 12 (B) ensuring a supply of clean water for 13 domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses; 14 (C) providing drinking water to tens of 15 millions of citizens of the United States; and 16 (D) helping maintain abundant and 17 healthy fish and wildlife populations and habi- 18 tats; 19 (3) maintaining roadless areas in a relatively 20 undisturbed condition— 21 (A) saves downstream communities mil- 22 lions of dollars in water filtration costs; and 23 (B) is crucial to preserve the flow of af- 24 fordable, clean water to a growing population; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3853.IH H3853 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3853 IH (4) the protection of roadless areas can main- 1 tain biological strongholds and refuges for many im- 2 periled species by halting the ongoing fragmentation 3 of the landscape into smaller and smaller parcels of 4 land divided by road corridors; 5 (5) roadless areas conserve native biodiversity 6 by serving as a bulwark against the spread of non- 7 native invasive species; 8 (6) roadless areas provide important back- 9 country fish and game habitat, creating opportuni- 10 ties for hunting and commercial and sport fishing; 11 (7) roadless areas provide unparalleled opportu- 12 nities for outdoor recreation, including hiking, camp- 13 ing, picnicking, wildlife viewing, hunting, fishing, 14 cross-country skiing, canoeing, mountain biking, and 15 similar activities; 16 (8) while roadless areas may have many wilder- 17 ness-like attributes, unlike wilderness areas, the use 18 of mechanized means of travel is allowed in many 19 roadless areas; 20 (9) roadless areas contain many sites sacred to 21 Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and other groups 22 that use roadless areas for spiritual and religious 23 practices and access, including customary and tradi- 24 tional uses and activities; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3853.IH H3853 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3853 IH (10) from the inception of Federal land man- 1 agement, the mission of the Forest Service has been 2 to manage the National Forest System for multiple 3 uses, including resource utilization, conservation, 4 and other uses; 5 (11) consistent with the multiple-use mission 6 described in paragraph (10), this Act— 7 (A) ensures the continued protection of so- 8 cial and ecological values, while allowing for 9 many multiple uses of inventoried roadless 10 areas; and 11 (B) does not impose any new limitations 12 on— 13 (i) inventoried roadless areas; or 14 (ii) the use of, or access to, National 15 Forest System, State, or private land out- 16 side inventoried roadless areas; 17 (12) enacting a law for the protection of inven- 18 toried roadless areas— 19 (A) provides additional reliability to areas 20 with recreation-based economies that depend on 21 public land without roads for jobs, revenue, and 22 consumer spending; and 23 (B) encourages forest managers to con- 24 tinue giving priority to conducting fuel reduc- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3853.IH H3853 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3853 IH tion treatments in the areas in which the treat- 1 ments will have the most impact; 2 (13) wildfires are almost twice as likely to occur 3 in roaded areas as in roadless areas, because road- 4 less areas are generally located further away from 5 communities and are harder to access; 6 (14) the Forest Service has an enormous back- 7 log of maintenance needs for the existing 371,581- 8 mile road system of the Forest Service that will cost 9 $3,200,000,000 to eliminate; and 10 (15) continued protection of roadless areas will 11 continue to allow for the development of hydropower 12 projects. 13 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide, 14 within the context of multiple-use management, lasting 15 protection for inventoried roadless areas within the Na- 16 tional Forest System. 17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 18 In this Act: 19 (1) INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREA.—The term 20 ‘‘inventoried roadless area’’ means any area in which 21 road construction, road reconstruction, or logging is 22 subject to regulation under the Roadless Rule. 23 (2) ROADLESS RULE.—The term ‘‘Roadless 24 Rule’’ means part 294 of title 36, Code of Federal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3853.IH H3853 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3853 IH Regulations, as adopted on January 12, 2001, and 1 modified for Idaho on October 16, 2008, and for 2 Colorado on July 3, 2012, and December 19, 2016. 3 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 4 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 5 Chief of the Forest Service. 6 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREAS. 7 The Secretary shall not allow road construction, road 8 reconstruction, or logging in an inventoried roadless area 9 where those activities are prohibited by the Roadless Rule. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3853.IH H3853 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS