US Congress Senate Bill 661 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: Introduced on March 22 2013 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2013-03-22 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Pending: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, And Forestry Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) and the Secretary of the Interior, as appropriate, to implement procedures to ensure that not less than 600,000 acres of federal land each fiscal year are treated with mechanical treatments intended to produce merchantable wood. Directs the Secretary to: (1) declare that emergency circumstances exist for all federal land affected by a catastrophic event, including federal land outside urban interface areas; and (2) take actions necessary for the rehabilitation or restoration of such federal land, with highest priority given to land impacted by large-scale beetle infestations. Directs the Secretary to initiate salvage activities on federal land affected by a catastrophic event so as to prevent significant deterioration of timber values, development of significant fire hazard, or other forest mortality that would prevent such land from regenerating to forest within five years. Excludes from the provisions of this Act: (1) a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System; (2) federal land on which the removal of vegetation is prohibited or restricted by Congress, the President, or a land management plan; or (3) a wilderness study area.

A bill to amend the Health Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to promote timely emergency rehabilitation and restoration of Federal forest land impacted by catastrophic events, to redirect for a 5-year-period funding normally made available for land acquisition to mechanical forest treatment and salvage operations due to catastrophic events, and for other purposes.

Sen. John Thune [R-SD]

Date	Chamber	Action
2013-03-22	Senate	Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

HB1511 (Same As) 2013-05-03 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/661/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/113/bills/s661/BILLS-113s661is.pdf