Environmental and Economic Benefits Restoration Act of 2016

Summary

Environmental and Economic Benefits Restoration Act of 2016 This bill amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to direct the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a landscape-scale restoration program to provide financial and technical assistance for landscape-scale restoration projects on state, political subdivision, and private forest lands that maintain or improve benefits from trees and forests on such lands. The program shall: address the national private forest conservation priorities specified under the Act; and enhance public benefits from trees and forests, as identified in a state-wide assessment and a long-term state-wide forest resource strategy under the Act. The program shall also have one or more objectives, including to: protect or improve water quality or quantity; reduce wildfire risk; protect or enhance wildlife habitat, consistent with wildlife objectives established by the applicable state fish and wildlife agency; improve forest health, including addressing native, nonnative, and invasive pests; or enhance opportunities for new and existing markets in which the production and use of wood products strengthens local and regional economies. USDA shall establish a measurement system to measure the results of landscape-scale restoration projects assisted under this bill. USDA shall allocate from the amounts made available under this bill: 50% for the competitive process for distributing funds for landscape-scale restoration projects; and 50% proportionally to states to maximize the achievement of the restoration program's objectives and to address the highest national priorities, as identified in state-wide assessments and long-term state-wide forest resource strategies. The bill amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to allocate funds and use specified authorities of the USDA or of the Department of the Interior, as appropriate, to assist cross-boundary hazardous fuel reduction and wildfire mitigation programs.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

1. 12 September 2016

   Introduced

   Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 12 September 2016

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

• Introduced in Senate · 12 September 2016 · Official file

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 12 September 2016

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 12 September 2016

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 12 September 2016

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Amy Klobuchar · D · Sponsor
• Steve Daines · R · Sponsor
• · ssaf00 · Standing

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.