Public Lands Management Improvement Act of 1997

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Ensuring the Effectiveness and Implementation of

Federal Land Planning

Part A: In General

Part B: Resource Management and Management Activity

Planning

Part C: Challenges to Planning

Title II: Coordination and Compliance with Other

Environmental Laws

Title III: Development of Ecoregion Assessments

Title IV: Development of a Global Renewable Resources

Assessment

Title V: Administration

Part A: In General

Part B: Non-Federal Lands

Part C: The Forest Resource

Title VI: Miscellaneous

Public Lands Management Improvement Act of 1997 - Provides that this Act shall prevail in the event of an inconsistency with other laws applicable to Federal lands, except for laws governing the National Wilderness Preservation System, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or the National Trails System and as otherwise provided.

Title I: Ensuring the Effectiveness and Implementation of Federal Land Planning - Part A: In General - Requires the mission of the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to be to manage Federal lands to furnish a sustainable flow of multiple goods and services while protecting and providing a full range and diversity of natural habitats of native species.

(Sec. 103) Directs the Secretaries, in rendering decisions concerning resource management plans for and management activities on Federal lands, to utilize the best scientific and commercial data available.

Part B: Resource Management and Management Activity Planning - Limits the Secretaries to two levels of planning for Federal lands comprised of: (1) multiple-use planning in the form of resource management plans for planning units; and (2) site or area specific planning for management activities.

Authorizes the Secretaries to conduct analyses or assessments for geographical areas larger or smaller than designated planning units but bars their application to affected Federal lands unless the resource management plans for such units are amended or revised in accordance with this Act and other laws.

Grants the Secretaries three years from this Act's enactment date to amend or revise plans to modify policies in plans which do not comply with this Act's planning requirements. Terminates noncomplying plans after such three-year period.

(Sec. 105) Sets forth specific plan requirements, planning deadlines, and procedures for amending and revising plans to eliminate conflicts between plan provisions and the Secretaries' policies.

(Sec. 107) Continues management activities during the amendment or revision process, except as otherwise required by this Act, court order, or a formal declaration of the Secretary concerned.

(Sec. 109) Requires, in preparing or revising plans, consideration of the stability of each community dependent on the resources of the Federal lands to which a plan applies.

(Sec. 110) Requires alternatives to plans or revisions developed by independent committees of local interest to be included in documentation related to environmental impact assessment analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Requires committees to be composed of interests representing commodity resource production and noncommodity resource protection, respectively. Authorizes funding to such committees for plan monitoring and implementation if the Secretary concerned adopts a significant part of a committee's alternative.

Encourages the Secretaries to establish committees corresponding to planning units.

(Sec. 111) Requires consideration of ecosystem management principles in environmental analysis documents prepared for plans and plan revisions. Directs the Secretaries, in such documents, to specify the fully allocated cost, expressed as a user or cost-per- beneficiary, of each noncommodity output from Federal lands to which plans apply.

(Sec. 113) Sets forth procedures for citizen petitions to challenge plans or plan revisions.

(Sec. 114) Requires the President's budget requests to the Congress governing the planning and management of Federal lands to include a statement of what funds would be required to achieve 100 percent of annual outputs specified in, and implement fully, the plan for each planning unit.

Directs each Secretary to report annually to specified congressional committees on the total cost and costs per function or procedure incurred in the preparation of plans, ecoregion assessments, and significant plan revisions, including costs incurred by other Federal agencies.

(Sec. 115) Requires each Secretary to report in each decision to undertake a management activity on Federal lands that the decision contributes to or, at a minimum, does not preclude, achievement of plan goals, land allocations, outputs, or policies.

Provides for monitoring of plan implementation and Federal land management at least every two years.

Part C: Challenges to Planning - Requires each Secretary to promulgate regulations to govern administrative appeals of decisions to approve plans and plan revisions and to approve or disapprove Federal land management activities. Replaces certain Forest Service regulations promulgated pursuant to provisions related to decisionmaking and appeals reform with those required by this Act.

(Sec. 117) Sets forth provisions regarding judicial review of challenges to planning, citizen suits, and filing deadlines.

Title II: Coordination and Compliance with Other Environmental Laws - Directs the Secretary concerned to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) pursuant to NEPA in developing a plan or plan revision. Requires environmental assessments (or an EIS if the nature or scope of activity is substantially different from, or greater than, consequences considered in the plan EIS) with respect to planning management activities on Federal lands.

(Sec. 203) Directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the Forest Service, as appropriate, to ensure that plan or management activities are not likely to jeopardize the existence of any threatened or endangered species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat. Sets forth procedures for certifying such agencies to perform certain consultation and biological assessment actions currently assigned to the Secretaries of the Interior or Commerce.

(Sec. 204) Deems management activities on Federal lands which constitute a nonpoint source of water pollution certified by the State in which the Federal lands are located to meet best management practices to be in compliance with area wide waste treatment management plans and State nonpoint source management programs under the Clean Water Act.

(Sec. 205) Deems a prescribed use of fire on Federal lands which, pursuant to a finding by a Forest Service supervisor or BLM district manager, would reduce the risk of greater emissions from a wildfire and will be conducted in a manner to minimize air quality impacts, to be in compliance with State implementation plans for air quality standards and any other Environmental Protection Agency requirements imposed under the Clean Air Act.

Title III: Development of Ecoregion Assessments - Authorizes each Secretary to prepare or participate in the preparation of ecoregion assessments which may encompass all Federal and non-Federal lands within a region specified by the Secretary. Permits the inclusion of non-Federal lands only upon concurrence of the affected State's Governor.

Provides for review of assessments and requires the Forest Service or BLM to determine whether a plan revision is warranted. Bars regulation of non-Federal lands based on an assessment.

(Sec. 306) Authorizes the Consortium of Regional Forest Assessment Centers, through the University of Washington, to conduct a review of the Pacific Northwest Forest Plan and supporting documentation, including documents regarding the Northern spotted owl. Requires such review to be submitted to specified congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations.

Title IV: Development of a Global Renewable Resources Assessment - Directs the National Council on Renewable Resources Policy (established by this Act) to prepare a Global Renewable Resources Assessment, to be submitted to specified congressional committees every five years.

(Sec. 403) Establishes the Council.

(Sec. 404) Repeals provisions of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act relating to a Renewable Resource Assessment and presidential budget requests for Forest Service activities.

Title V: Administration - Part A: In General - Sets forth provisions regarding the presidential appointment and confirmation of the Chief of the Forest Service.

(Sec. 502) Requires the Secretary of the Interior to establish a Public Lands Monitoring Fund and the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a Forest Lands Monitoring Fund.

(Sec. 503) Authorizes interagency land transfers and interchanges of jurisdiction between the Secretaries to facilitate land management or achieve other public purposes, subject to specified conditions.

(Sec. 505) Requires the General Accounting Office to conduct, and report to specified congressional committees on, a study of the feasibility and likely effects of prohibiting appropriations to the Forest Service and the BLM, except for activities conducted on or related to non-Federal lands, and permitting such agencies to retain for their use, without fiscal year limitation, all revenues from Federal lands minus funds necessary to make payments to State and local governments.

Part B: Non-Federal Lands - Sets forth deadlines and processing requirements for applications for access through Federal lands to non-Federal lands pursuant to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

(Sec. 507) Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to set forth certain procedural deadlines and requirements related to the exchange of Federal lands for non-Federal lands.

Increases the maximum combined value of Federal lands that may be exchanged in exchanges of lands of approximately equal value.

Part C: The Forest Resource - Authorizes the Secretaries to require, as a condition of any specific salvage sale of forest products from Federal lands or any sale of forest products constituting a forest health enhancement project, that the purchaser undertake a forest management activity which addresses effects of the sale or past sales or involves vegetation management within the sale or affected area.

Sets forth financing provisions and authorizes the use of appropriated funds for such activities, subject to certain conditions.

Requires the Secretary, prior to the advertisement of such sales, to determine the amount of forest health credits to be allocated to each activity to be performed by the purchaser. Permits the transfer of unused credits from one sale to another sale held by the same purchaser if the other sale applies to Federal lands under the jurisdiction of the same Secretary and is located in the same State as the original sale.

Terminates the authority to offer such sales five years after this Act's enactment date but continues contracts in effect on such date.

(Sec. 509) Requires the Secretary of the Interior to maintain a special fund to be derived from the Federal share of monies received from the salvage sales of forest products from BLM lands and to be available for planning, preparing, and administering such sales, subsequent site preparation and reforestation, and forest health enhancement projects.

Credits the Federal share of all monies received from such sales and other specified activities on lands within the National Forest System to the Forest Service Permanent Appropriations. Lists purposes for which such funds shall be expended.

Considers monies received from salvage sales and other activities funded by this section to be money received for purposes of computing and distributing payments to State and local governments under other law concerning the distribution of revenues derived from forest resources from affected lands.

(Sec. 510) Requires the Secretaries, to the extent feasible and subject to specified conditions, to use private contractors to prepare sales for forest products.

(Sec. 511) Permits purchasers of sales of forest products from Federal lands, with specified exceptions, to elect not to harvest the stands of trees subject to the sale.

(Sec. 512) Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to bar the imposition of liability without fault for fire suppression costs with respect to a right-of-way granted or renewed to or for a nonprofit entity.

Title VI: Miscellaneous - Authorizes appropriations to carry out this Act.

(Sec. 604) Sets forth certain laws that will prevail in case of inconsistencies with this Act.