Link to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry:  
www.agriculture.senate.gov
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry
328A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC, 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2035
Fax: (202) 228-2125
 
Link to information on HR2647:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2647/all-info

There are 4 summaries for H.R.2647. View summaries
Passed House amended (07/09/2015)
Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015
TITLE VII--TRIBAL FORESTRY PARTICIPATION AND PROTECTION
(Sec. 701) Interior shall take specified administrative action under the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 within 120 days of receiving a request from an Indian Tribe to enter into an agreement or contract to carry out a project to protect Indian forest land or rangeland (including bordering or adjacent federal land). Interior shall (under current law, may) issue a notice of denial to the Tribe if the request is denied.
(Sec. 702) The Department concerned, at the request of an Indian Tribe, may treat federal forest land as Indian forest land for purposes of planning and conducting forest land management activities under the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act if the federal forest land is located within, or mostly within, a geographic area presenting a feature or involving circumstances principally relevant to that Indian tribe.
The Department concerned and the Tribe, as part of an agreement to treat federal land as Indian forest land, shall:

• provide for continued public access (with possible exceptions),
• continue sharing revenue generated by the federal forest land with state and local governments,
• comply with applicable prohibitions on the export of unprocessed logs harvested from the federal forest land,
• recognize all right-of way agreements in place on federal forest land before tribal management activities commence; and
• ensure that all commercial timber removed from the federal forest land is sold on a competitive bid basis.
  (Sec. 703) Interior and USDA may carry out demonstration projects by which federally recognized Indian tribes or tribal organizations may contract to perform administrative, management, and other functions of programs of the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 through contracts entered into under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.
   
  TITLE VIII--MISCELLANEOUS FOREST MANAGEMENT PROVISIONS
  (Sec. 807) The Northwest Forest Plan Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standard and Guidelines shall not apply to any System or public lands.
  (Sec. 808) All of the public land managed by the BLM in the Salem District, Eugene District, Roseburg District, Coos Bay District, Medford District, and the Klamath Resource Area of the Lakeview District in Oregon shall be managed pursuant to federal law relating to management of the revested Oregon and California Railroad and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands under Interior jurisdiction and classified as timberlands and power-site lands valuable for timber. All of the revenue produced from such lands shall be deposited into the Oregon and California land-grant fund, except any revenue required to be deposited into the Coos Bay Wagon Road grant fund.
  (Sec. 809) Interior shall develop and consider, a reference analysis and two additional alternatives as part of the revisions of the resource management plans for the BLM's Salem, Eugene, Coos Bay, Roseburg, and Medford Districts and the Klamath Resource Area of the Lakeview District.
  This reference analysis shall measure and assume the harvest of the annual growth net of natural mortality for all forested land in the planning area in order to determine the maximum sustained yield capacity of the forested land base and to establish a baseline by which Interior shall measure incremental effects on the sustained yield capacity and environmental impacts from management prescriptions in all other alternatives.
  Interior shall develop and consider:

• one additional alternative with the goal of maximizing the total carbon benefits from forest storage and wood product storage; and
• a second additional alternative that produces the greater of 500 million board feet or the annual net growth on the acres classified as timberland, excluding any congressionally reserved areas.
  Interior shall publish the reference analysis and additional alternatives and analyze their environmental and economic consequences in a supplemental draft environmental impact statement.

SEC. 702. Management of Indian forest land authorized to include related National Forest System lands and public lands.

Section 305 of the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3104) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

“(c) Inclusion of certain National Forest System land and public land.--

“(1) AUTHORITY.—At the request of an Indian tribe, the Secretary concerned may treat Federal forest land as Indian forest land for purposes of planning and conducting forest land management activities under this section if the Federal forest land is located within, or mostly within, a geographic area that presents a feature or involves circumstances principally relevant to that Indian tribe, such as Federal forest land ceded to the United States by treaty, Federal forest land within the boundaries of a current or former reservation, or Federal forest land adjudicated to be tribal homelands.

“(2) REQUIREMENTS.—As part of the agreement to treat Federal forest land as Indian forest land under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned and the Indian tribe making the request shall--

“(A) provide for continued public access applicable to the Federal forest land prior to the agreement, except that the Secretary concerned may limit or prohibit such access as needed;

“(B) continue sharing revenue generated by the Federal forest land with State and local governments either--

“(i) on the terms applicable to the Federal forest land prior to the agreement, including, where applicable, 25-percent payments or 50-percent payments; or

“(ii) at the option of the Indian tribe, on terms agreed upon by the Indian tribe, the Secretary concerned, and State and county governments participating in a revenue sharing agreement for the Federal forest land;

“(C) comply with applicable prohibitions on the export of unprocessed logs harvested from the Federal forest land;

“(D) recognize all right-of-way agreements in place on Federal forest land prior to commencement of tribal management activities; and

“(E) ensure that all commercial timber removed from the Federal forest land is sold on a competitive bid basis.

“(3) LIMITATION.—Treating Federal forest land as Indian forest land for purposes of planning and conducting management activities pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not be construed to designate the Federal forest land as Indian forest lands for any other purpose.

“(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:

“(A) FEDERAL FOREST LAND.—The term ‘Federal forest land’ means--

“(i) National Forest System lands; and

“(ii) public lands (as defined in section 103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702(e))), including Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant lands reconveyed to the United States pursuant to the first section of the Act of February 26, 1919 (40 Stat. 1179), and Oregon and California Railroad Grant lands.

“(B) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘Secretary concerned’ means--

“(i) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to the Federal forest land referred to in subparagraph (A)(i); and

“(ii) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to the Federal forest land referred to in subparagraph (A)(ii).”.

SEC. 808. Management of Bureau of Land Management lands in western Oregon.

(a) General rule.—All of the public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the Salem District, Eugene District, Roseburg District, Coos Bay District, Medford District, and the Klamath Resource Area of the Lakeview District in the State of Oregon shall hereafter be managed pursuant to title I of the of the Act of August 28, 1937 (43 U.S.C. 1181a through 1181e). Except as provided in subsection (b), all of the revenue produced from such land shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States in the Oregon and California land-grant fund and be subject to the provisions of title II of the Act of August 28, 1937 (43 U.S.C. 1181f).

(b) Certain lands excluded.—Subsection (a) does not apply to any revenue that is required to be deposited in the Coos Bay Wagon Road grant fund pursuant to sections 1 through 4 of the Act of May 24, 1939 (43 U.S.C. 1181f–1 through f–4).

SEC. 809. Bureau of Land Management resource management plans.

(a) Additional Analysis and Alternatives.—To develop a full range of reasonable alternatives as required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Secretary of the Interior shall develop and consider in detail a reference analysis and two additional alternatives as part of the revisions of the resource management plans for the Bureau of Land Management’s Salem, Eugene, Coos Bay, Roseburg, and Medford Districts and the Klamath Resource Area of the Lakeview District.

(b) Reference Analysis.—The reference analysis required by subsection (a) shall measure and assume the harvest of the annual growth net of natural mortality for all forested land in the planning area in order to determine the maximum sustained yield capacity of the forested land base and to establish a baseline by which the Secretary of the Interior shall measure incremental effects on the sustained yield capacity and environmental impacts from management prescriptions in all other alternatives.

(c) Additional Alternatives.--

(1) CARBON SEQUESTRATION ALTERNATIVE.—The Secretary of the Interior shall develop and consider an additional alternative with the goal of maximizing the total carbon benefits from forest storage and wood product storage. To the extent practicable, the analysis shall consider--

(A) the future risks to forest carbon from wildfires, insects, and disease;

(B) the amount of carbon stored in products or in landfills;

(C) the life cycle benefits of harvested wood products compared to non-renewable products; and

(D) the energy produced from wood residues.

(2) SUSTAINED YIELD ALTERNATIVE.—The Secretary of the Interior shall develop and consider an additional alternative that produces the greater of 500 million board feet or the annual net growth on the acres classified as timberland, excluding any congressionally reserved areas. The projected harvest levels, as nearly as practicable, shall be distributed among the Districts referred to in subsection (a) in the same proportion as the maximum yield capacity of each such District bears to maximum yield capacity of the planning area as a whole.

(d) Additional Analysis and Public Participation.—The Secretary of the Interior shall publish the reference analysis and additional alternatives and analyze their environmental and economic consequences in a supplemental draft environmental impact statement. The draft environmental impact statement and supplemental draft environmental impact statement shall be made available for public comment for a period of not less than 180 days. The Secretary shall respond to any comments received before making a final decision between all alternatives.

(e) Rule of construction.—Nothing in this section shall affect the obligation of the Secretary of the Interior to manage the timberlands as required by the Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874; 43 U.S.C. 1181a–1181j).

Call Oregon Senators & tell them to Support H.R.1526 

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN POVERTY?

From a Watchdog in Josephine County

Jack Swift is the Vice Chairman of the Southern Oregon Resource Alliance

From a Watchdog in Josephine County

Senator Wyden’s O&C plan will bankrupt counties

Oregon: Transfer public lands from feds?

State Forests Management Superior to Federal Forests
for Job Creation, Revenue Production, Local Economies and Fire Prevention

“[Washington state] lands generate an average of $168 million annually, support construction of public elementary, middle school and high schools statewide, facilities at the state’s universities, and other state facilities and institutions. In comparison, the U.S. Forest Service is responsible for managing over 9 million acres of forest land contained within seven different national forests in the State of Washington, yet harvests just 2 percent of the new growth, yielding a four-year average of only $589,000 in revenue,”  said Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04).  “Rather than offering all-too-familiar rhetoric of how complying with one federal law or another ‘costs too much,’ it’s time for the federal government to adjust how it does business, and honor its own statutory responsibilities to manage the forests, including allowing sufficient timber harvests, that benefit forested counties and their schools, as well as improve declining forest health and reduce the threat and soaring costs of catastrophic wildfire.” 

“Over the last few decades we’ve seen our National Forest System fall into complete neglect—what was once a valuable asset that deteriorated into a growing liability. I believe our forests and public lands are long overdue for a paradigm shift,” said Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01).“It’s time for the federal government to cease being the absentee landlord of over 600 million acres of land in this country that it controls and start leveraging those lands in a way  that benefits rather than burdens the taxpayers and communities who are forced to play host to the federal estate.”

The following are two related articles from The Natural Resource Report

O&C Timber Bill may see Sept. hearing

http://naturalresourcereport.com/2013/09/farm-bureau-comdemns-cattle-killer/
September 9, 2013

O&C Timber Bill likely in September or October
Natural Resource Note:

 Congressman Greg Walden has been pressing for a bill for the O&C forest lands and now it appears to be likely to fall in September or October.  The issue made the leadership agenda among  10 other major items to be discussed this fall as detailed by a memo from Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia. Memo agenda note:
 
Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act.  For over 100 years, the federal government has managed our national forests while sharing with impacted local communities a percentage of management revenue.Chairman Doc Hastings’s bill, Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act (H.R. 1526), renews the government’s commitment to rural communities, improves forest health, and will help prevent catastrophic wildfires which threaten millions of Americans through proactive measures. The bill also provides a short-term extension of the Secure Rural Schools payments program.

Timber & log prices drop

http://naturalresourcereport.com/2013/09/timber-log-prices-drop/
September 9, 2013

Timber Industry Report
By Rick Sohn PhD.
Umpqua Coquille LLC

 Interest rates increased last month, but real estate sales rose, as if homebuyers wanted to catch the bottom. Log prices dropped a lot, and lumber only somewhat, helping the mills. Seven-year trend of lumber, logs, housing, and mortgage statistics are shown below.

Interpretation
The price of lumber has decreased, but the price of logs has REALLY dropped. Net result? Logs are more affordable, mills
are breathing a sigh of relief, and are making some money.

Fire danger has decreased in areas of the Pacific Northwest where it has been raining, This will ultimately help keep log prices down since logging operations can proceed and logs become more plentiful. Fire season still has life however, and things can change with a dry September.