[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4838 Received in Senate (RDS)]
2d Session
H. R. 4838
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 29, 2004
Received
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To establish a Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps to provide a
means by which young adults can carry out rehabilitation and
enhancement projects to prevent fire and suppress fires, rehabilitate
public land affected or altered by fires, and provide disaster relief,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Healthy Forest Youth Conservation
Corps Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the natural fire regimes of forested public land have
been altered by intensive fire suppression;
(2) fire suppression has led to increased risk of
unnaturally severe wildfires that in recent years have
destroyed thousands of homes, devastated agricultural crops and
livestock, reduced biodiversity, and scorched thousands of
areas of soil and natural resources;
(3) catastrophic wildfires pose a particular threat to
communities and wildlife living close to forested wildland,
known as the ``wildland-urban interface'';
(4) each year millions of dollars are spent to fight severe
wildfires and protect communities where municipal water
supplies, human lives, and property are threatened;
(5) contracts and cooperative agreements between Federal
agencies and State and local governments and other entities
empower communities and are cost-effective tools that provide
positive social and environmental benefits, and the use of such
contracts and agreements should be encouraged as a means to
prevent unnaturally severe fires, rehabilitate public land
affected or altered by fires, and enhance and maintain
environmentally important land and water; and
(6) joint collaborations between the Federal agencies and
service and conservation corps composed of young adults are
particularly beneficial, as the collaborations provide--
(A) young adults the opportunity to prepare for
productive lives while engaged in meaningful and
educational public service opportunities; and
(B) the public with cost-saving human resources to
assist in conserving, maintaining, and protecting
public land.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to allow service and conservation corps to enter into
agreements with public land management agencies to perform
rehabilitation and enhancement projects to prevent fire,
rehabilitate public land affected or altered by fires, and
suppress fires, and provide disaster relief;
(2) to offer young adults who are members of a service and
conservation corps, particularly young adults who are at-risk
or economically disadvantaged, a chance to obtain skills and
experience in forest restoration, so that they are better
equipped to gain productive employment in the expanding
workforce being deployed on National Forest System lands in
fuels reduction, post-fire rehabilitation, and other forest
health projects, and so that the pool of trained workers in
forest restoration is expanded to satisfy the existing and
increasing need for such workers;
(3) to provide those young adults the opportunity to serve
their communities and their country; and
(4) to expand educational opportunities by rewarding
individuals who participate in the Healthy Forest Youth
Conservation Corps with an increased ability to pursue higher
education or employment.
SEC. 4. HEALTHY FOREST YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS.
(a) Establishment.--There is established a Healthy Forest Youth
Conservation Corps.
(b) Participants.--The Corps shall consist of young adults who are
enrolled as members of a service and conservation corps covered by a
contract or cooperative agreement entered into under subsection (c).
(c) Contracts or Agreements.--The Secretary concerned may enter
into contracts or cooperative agreements directly with--
(1) any service and conservation corps to carry out a
rehabilitation and enhancement project described in subsection
(d); or
(2) a department of natural resources, agriculture, or
forestry (or an equivalent department) of any State that has
entered into a contract or cooperative agreement with a service
and conservation corps to carry out a rehabilitation and
enhancement project described in subsection (d).
(d) Authorized Projects.--Under a contract or cooperative agreement
entered into under subsection (c), a service and conservation corps may
carry out a rehabilitation and enhancement project to prevent fire and
suppress fires, rehabilitate public land affected or altered by fires,
and provide disaster relief, including--
(1) a project relating to the National Fire Plan;
(2) a project relating to the Healthy Forests Restoration
Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.); and
(3) other activities allowed under--
(A) a national forest and grassland land management
plan; or
(B) a Bureau of Land Management land use plan.
(e) Priority Projects.--In entering into a contract or cooperative
agreement under subsection (c), the Secretary concerned shall give
priority to rehabilitation and enhancement projects that will--
(1) reduce hazardous fuels on public land;
(2) restore public land affected or imminently threatened
by disease or insect infestation;
(3) rehabilitate public land affected or altered by fires;
(4) assess windthrown public land or public land at high
risk of reburn;
(5) work to address public land located within relative
proximity to a municipal watershed and municipal water supply;
(6) provide related emergency assistance, such as natural
disaster relief and the rescue of lost or injured persons;
(7) instill in members of the service and conservation
corps a work ethic and a sense of personal responsibility;
(8) be labor-intensive; and
(9) be planned and initiated promptly.
(f) Activities Performed by Corps Members Who are Under 18.--A
young adult under the age of 18 who is enrolled as a member of a
service and conservation corps covered by a contract or cooperative
agreement entered into under subsection (c) may perform the following
types of activities as part of a rehabilitation and enhancement project
carried out under the contract or cooperative agreement:
(1) Performance of logistical support at fire caches or
with the supply unit in support of a fire suppression project.
(2) Conducting pre-treatment inventory and other
preparatory work, such as building control lines with hand
tools, in advance of a prescribed fire project, and conducting
post-treatment evaluation and monitoring of the project.
(3) Participation in fire-prevention patrols and the
dissemination of fire prevention information.
(4) Performance of certain aspects of a Burned Area
Emergency Rehabilitation project, approved by the Secretary, if
not on site, then in a support role receiving and distributing
materials and supplies.
(g) Supportive Services.--The Secretary concerned may provide such
services as the Secretary considers to be necessary to carry out this
Act, including technical assistance, oversight, monitoring, and
evaluation to or for--
(1) State departments of natural resources and agriculture
(or equivalent agencies);
(2) service and conservation corps;
(3) in the case of Indian lands, the applicable Indian
tribe;
(4) in the case of Hawaiian home lands, the applicable
State agency in the State of Hawaii; and
(5) in the case of land under the jurisdiction of an Alaska
Native Corporation, the applicable Alaska Native Corporation.
(h) Other Uses of Funds.--Funds made available under this Act may
be used to support implementation, monitoring, training, technical
assistance, and administrative work of service and conservation corps
covered by a contract or cooperative agreement entered into under
subsection (c).
SEC. 5. NONCOMPETITIVE HIRING STATUS.
The Secretary may grant a person who is a former member of the
Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps with credit for time served as
a member of the Corps toward future Federal hiring and may provide the
person with a noncompetitive hiring status for not more than 120 days
beginning on the date on which the person completed service as a member
of the Corps.
SEC. 6. NONDISPLACEMENT.
The nondisplacement requirements of section 177(b) of the National
and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12637(b)) shall apply to
activities carried out under this Act.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Alaska native corporation.--The term ``Alaska Native
Corporation'' means a Regional Corporation or Village
Corporation, as those terms are defined in section 3 of the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602).
(2) Hawaiian home lands.--The term ``Hawaiian home lands''
has the meaning given the term in section 203 of Public Law 91-
378 (commonly known as the Youth Conservation Corps Act of
1970; 16 U.S.C. 1722).
(3) Indian lands.--The term ``Indian lands'' has the
meaning given the term in section 203 of Public Law 91-378
(commonly known as the Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970; 16
U.S.C. 1722).
(4) Public land.--The term ``public land'' means--
(A) land of the National Forest System (as defined
in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)));
(B) public lands (as defined in section 103 of the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43
U.S.C. 1702)) and other land administered by the
Secretary of the Interior through the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service;
(C) land owned by a State or local agency;
(D) Indian lands, with the approval of the
applicable Indian tribe;
(E) Hawaiian home lands, with the approval of the
applicable State agency in the State of Hawaii; and
(F) land under the jurisdiction of an Alaska Native
Corporation, with the approval of the applicable Alaska
Native Corporation.
(5) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned''
means--
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to
land of the National Forest System described in
subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4);
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to
public land described in subparagraph (B) of such
paragraph; and
(C) the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
of the Interior jointly, with respect to land described
in subparagraphs (C) through (F) of such paragraph.
(6) Service and conservation corps.--The term ``service and
conservation corps'' means any organization established by a
State or local government, nonprofit organization, or Indian
tribe that--
(A) has a research-validated demonstrable
capability to provide productive work to individuals;
(B) gives participants a combination of work
experience, basic and life skills, education, training,
and support services; and
(C) provides participants with the opportunity to
develop citizenship values through service to their
communities and the United States.
(7) State.--The term ``State'' means--
(A) a State;
(B) the District of Columbia;
(C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
(D) Guam;
(E) American Samoa;
(F) the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands;
(G) the Federated States of Micronesia;
(H) the Republic of the Marshall Islands;
(I) the Republic of Palau; and
(J) the United States Virgin Islands.
(8) Young adult.--The term ``young adult'' means an
individual between 16 and 25 years of age.
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009.
Passed the House of Representatives September 28, 2004.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.