Treating Tribes and Counties as Good Neighbors Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1450) to amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to modify the treatment of revenue from timber sale contracts and certain payments made by counties to the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior under good neighbor agreements, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1450, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support Congressman Fulcher's bill, the Treating Tribes and Counties as Good Neighbors Act.

This legislation would greatly enhance the collaborative stewardship of our Federal lands with Tribal and county partners. This is a bipartisan effort that passed out of the House Natural Resources and Agriculture Committees unanimously, and it is my hope that we can pass this thoughtful proposal in a similar fashion here on the House floor today.

The Federal Government owns roughly 640 million acres, an astonishing 28 percent of the entire country. States, Tribes, and counties all have a very clear interest in how these lands are managed.

When Federal lands are mismanaged, it is those closest to the lands that are most impacted. There is no clearer example of this reality than the forest health and wildfire crisis affecting vast swaths of Federal lands. Fire knows no boundaries between managed land and unmanaged lands. It knows no jurisdictional boundaries.

As Federal land managers struggle to address this worsening problem, Congress developed the Good Neighbor Authority to empower States to assist in active forest management efforts on Federal lands.

Under the Good Neighbor Authority, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management had the ability to authorize States to undertake restoration projects such as hazardous fuel reduction, habitat improvement, and road restoration on Federal lands within their borders.

By all accounts, this program for States has been very successful. Since 2014, over 490 projects have begun in 38 States. Just last year, approximately 274 million board feet of timber was sold under Good Neighbor agreements.

The 2018 farm bill extended Good Neighbor Authority to counties and Tribes in the hopes that even more active forest management could be accomplished. Unfortunately, the participation of counties and Tribes has been limited.

Current law does not give Tribes and counties the same authority that States have benefited from to retain timber receipts for use on additional restoration work. This reality removes a substantial incentive for counties and Tribes to pursue Good Neighbor projects, and the numbers have shown this to be true. There are currently only six counties and five Tribes that have entered into Good Neighbor agreements.

H.R. 1450 offers a solution to this dilemma by extending the authority to retain timber receipts from Good Neighbor projects to counties and Tribes to fund additional restoration projects, bringing them into parity with the treatment that States currently receive.

In addition to providing important parity, this bill will also improve cross-boundary work by allowing restoration projects to occur on non-Federal lands. As I mentioned earlier, wildfires know no boundaries.

Good Neighbor Authority has unquestionably been a successful program that has not yet reached its full potential. I believe that Congressman Fulcher's bill will improve this program and pave the way for Tribes and counties to partner on much-needed forest management efforts. Fully empowering counties and Tribes to utilize this authority will reduce wildfire risks and improve the health of our Federal lands for generations to come. I applaud Congressman Fulcher for his leadership on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Fulcher), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson), the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.

Mr. Speaker, I must say it is an honor to work with a colleague like Chairman Thompson who cares so much about forest health, and I appreciate the ranking member in the minority for supporting this bill as well, as it did pass unanimously out of both committees.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the magnitude of our forest health crises demands an all-hands-on-deck approach that utilizes all of the tools in the toolbox.

The Good Neighbor Authority has proven to be an exceptional tool when used by the States. We need to improve and expand on that with H.R. 1450 by including Tribes and counties.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, for years, States could enter into cooperative agreements with Federal land management agencies to aid in reducing the excess fuel load that makes fires in the West so damaging to people, property, and wildlife.

H.R. 1450 fully extends the same authority and access to revenue that States have to counties and Tribes.

Some States, primarily in the Western U.S., have large percentages of their land controlled by the Federal Government. In my home State of Idaho, for example, it is 62 percent. As a result, citizens in my State must generate enough economic growth to sustain our needs from just the resources contained within the available land remaining.

One can argue that Idahoans and citizens from other States with a similar dynamic are merely tenants of their Federal landlord.

Counties and Tribes face a microcosm of that challenge within the States they reside. There are counties in my district, like Idaho around Owyhee, for example, where the Federal Government controls more than 83 percent of the land within their borders. Without ready access to the natural resources and related tax revenue in these areas, it is difficult for residents and local municipalities to create wealth and provide the ingredients necessary to raise families and grow businesses.

This bill would enable access to resources. As a result, the livelihoods of people in rural America would be enhanced through job creation, new sources of income, and the economic activity that comes with it.

Federal land management agencies are often unable, due to lack of resources, or unwilling, due to bad policy or litigation, to adequately maintain the density of tree growth, brush, and other vegetation that creates the fuel load for wildfires. Yet local residents, as tenants of the land under their own feet, can only wait and hope for their Federal landlord to come up with the resources needed to responsibly manage land in and around their communities. H.R. 1450 empowers local counties and Tribes so they can engage, and at least have a chance to put some wisdom into how these lands are managed.

We, in the West, care about our environment. God has blessed us with an abundance of natural resources, and that comes with the responsibility of wise stewardship. H.R. 1450 recognizes and incentivizes just that, allowing a portion of receipts from timber sales, for example, to be shared with counties and Tribes. That is a win-win situation. Tribes and counties are local, and as such, they are on the front lines of the land management battle.

I thank Chairman Westerman, my co-lead, Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, and all of my other colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee and the Agriculture Committee for their support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Grijalva for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1450, the Treating Tribes and Counties as Good Neighbors Act.

This bill is critical for districts like mine. Why? This bill gives back the flexibility that is critical to counties and Tribes, who understand that wildfires and natural disasters do not discriminate between Federal and non-Federal lands, and ensures that we use all of the tools at our disposal to mitigate the effects of wildfire and maintain healthy forests.

In the 2018 farm bill, Congress expanded Good Neighbor Authority to make Tribes and counties eligible to enter into Good Neighbor agreements. However, Tribes and counties were not afforded the same authority as States to retain the receipts from these GNA project revenues to reinvest in conservation. This fundamentally reduced the ability to engage and partner on critical management projects like wildfire mitigation, invasive species management, and habitat maintenance.

Additionally, the 2018 farm bill removed the ability to carry out restoration services that were agreed to under the Good Neighbor Agreements to take place off of Federal lands. You can literally get out in the woods, and you can see the boundaries and political boundaries between the treated land and untreated land that has resulted.

As a result, adjacent Tribal and county land that is essential to the health of national forests can no longer be restored as comprehensive landscapes.

Rural, timber-based Skamania County, my home county, is leading innovation with Good Neighbor Authority by hiring foresters with these funds to advance timber harvests for forest health, fire management, and invasive species management, all mounting issues in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest that have not been addressed for decades.

Skamania County was the first to build a relationship with the State Department of Natural Resources to determine how this Good Neighbor Authority could help the forest health conditions of the national forests, which make up 80 percent of Skamania County.

This partnership between the Forest Service, the State agency, and Skamania County has been hugely successful. The additional flexibility provided by this bill is a commonsense fix to a program that has been proven to be highly successful.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. I thank Congressman Fulcher for his leadership

on this bill. I thank Chairman Westerman and Ranking Member Grijalva, as well as Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Scott, for their support of this critical legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1450, the Treating Tribes and Counties as Good Neighbors Act, introduced by my good friend and colleague, Representative Fulcher of Idaho.

St. Louis County, Minnesota, is the largest county east of the Mississippi River and the place I have always called home.

St. Louis County is a checkerboard of Federal and non-Federal land. As such, there are many actors managing the land, be it the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Forest Service that manage our Federal lands, or the States, the counties, and the local Tribes that manage our non-Federal lands.

Since its introduction over two decades ago, the Good Neighbor Authority program has facilitated co-stewardship of our Federal and non-Federal lands. By partnering Federal land managers with State stakeholders, we have created healthier forests, lowered fire risks, and better conserved our landscapes.

However, the most successful stewardship of our public lands occurs when all parties are brought together and everyone is able to do their part.

Unfortunately, our counties and Tribal partners, who do a lion's share of the work on Federal lands, are still unable to access the Good Neighbor Authority program.

H.R. 1450 will allow our counties and federally recognized Tribes to access this critical management tool and allow them the ability to reinvest in restoration projects. This will build on the success of the program and further benefit our conservation efforts across this Nation.

This bipartisan bill passed both the Natural Resources Committee and the Agriculture Committee with broad support. I am hopeful that the House can continue this forward momentum today.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 1450 is the Treating Tribes and Counties as Good Neighbors Act introduced by my colleague from Idaho, Representative Fulcher.

This bill updates the Good Neighbor Authority program to update the incentives for Tribes and counties to partner with the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management on restoration projects designed to enhance resilience and promote healthy landscapes.

As climate change intensifies, it is crucial that land managers utilize collaborative, consensus-driven tools such as Good Neighbor Authority to facilitate conservation, restoration, and resiliency of Federal lands and neighboring lands.

However, under current law, only States are authorized to retain revenues from timber sales and contracts executed through this program.

This legislation provides parity for Tribes and counties to increase community participation in the restoration of our public lands.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Perez), the sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. It creates parity and access for two significant constituencies, counties and Tribes, and creates parity for them. I think at the end of the day, it creates a collaborative effort that is more comprehensive and more extensive.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.