To restore employment and educational opportunities in, and improve the economic stability of, counties containing National Forest System land, while also reducing Forest Service management costs, by ensuring that such counties have a dependable source of revenue from timber sales conducted on National Forest System land, to reduce payments under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 to reflect such counties' receipt of timber sale revenues, to strengthen stewardship end result contracting, and for other purposes.
# Summary of H.R. 4228, the FORESTS Act of 2023
This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to establish "Forest Active Management Areas" on national forests and harvest timber from them at set annual volumes to generate revenue for counties historically dependent on national forest payments. The law mandates that the Forest Service begin timber sales within one year and complete initial area designations within 60 days of enactment. At least 50 percent of commercial forest land in each national forest must be included in these management areas, which will focus on forests identified as overstocked or at wildfire risk.
Revenue from these timber sales will be used to make payments to states for distribution to beneficiary counties—those that received national forest payments between 2001 and 2015. The bill streamlines environmental review for these projects by requiring only environmental assessments (rather than full environmental impact statements), eliminating the need to study alternative approaches, and limiting cumulative effects analysis. The bill also expedites Endangered Species Act compliance with 30-day review periods and allows disputes over projects developed through collaborative processes to be resolved through binding arbitration rather than litigation.
Additionally, the legislation extends the duration of stewardship contracting projects from 10 to 20 years, ensures counties receive 25 percent of revenues from these contracts, allows states to withhold nothing from timber payment distributions to counties, and expands the definition of fire suppression activities to include post-fire reforestation and site rehabilitation. The Forest Service must submit annual reports to Congress detailing harvesting volumes, costs, and revenues for each management area.
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