Washington, DC - On Friday, November 21, 2003, the House passed the conference committee compromise struck by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on H.R. 1904, the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. The measure was overwhelmingly approved by a vote of 286-140. The Senate is also expected to pass the legislation today, paving the way for President Bush to sign the bill into law.

Since 1997, the Resources Committee has passed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act twice, held 73 official legislative meetings on the issue, and 32,811,288 acres have burned.

"The overwhelming bi-partisan support for this legislation in both the House and Senate makes the need for and quality of this legislation irrefutable," said Chairman Pombo. "This is the most significant reform of forest management policy in nearly a century, and it could not come any sooner.

In recent years, we have seen millions of acres of forestland and wildlife habitat decimated, water supplies and air quality polluted, and family homes and human lives lost forever at the hands of catastrophic wildfire. This bill will empower experts to actively maintain our national forests to reduce the risk of these tragedies from occurring in the future. By reducing dangerous fuel loads on the forest floor, we can reverse the trend in our national forests from one of increasing risk and disease to one that reflects healthier and well-managed forests for future generations to enjoy."

This bill will:

(1) Revamp the Forest Service's conflict-ridden administrative appeals process, requiring would-be appellants to participate early in the development stages of a forest restoration project in order to reserve the right to file an appeal. This provision is virtually identical to the House-passed language.

(2) Create an historic paradigm shift in the way Courts consider legal challenges to hazardous fuels reduction projects, mandating that the Courts weigh the environmental consequences of management inaction when the specter of catastrophic wildfire looms. It would also require that federal judges reconsider any injunctions to projects every 60 days.

(3) Expedite analysis and review requirements for priority wildfire mitigation projects, applying House-passed environmental analysis requirements to projects focused on protecting communities, and Senate passed analysis procedures to projects focused on protecting watersheds and endangered wildlife. Senate-passed old growth language was also restructured to eliminate significant litigation loopholes. Requirements related to the retention of certain large trees were clarified ensuring that the bill's wildfire mitigation purposes were not trumped by these new standards as well.

(4) Ensure that the public has a full and thorough opportunity to participate in the decision making process. It embraces the House-passed, bipartisan Western Governor Association 10-Year Strategy's robust public input and participation requirements, ensuring that interested persons will have numerous opportunities to engage decision makers during all phases of a project's development and implementation.

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