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ection 321 modifies a provision concerning Forest Service land management planning which was proposed by the House and the Senate and which was included in

[Page: H12382]  GPO's PDF

   Section 322 continues the limitation on funding for completion and issuance of the five-year program under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act as proposed by the Senate. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 323 prohibits the use of funds to support government-wide administrative functions unless they are in the budget justification and approved by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations as proposed by the House. The Senate had no similar provision.

   Section 324 modifies a provision proposed by the House prohibiting the use of funds for certain programs. The modification retains the limitation on the use of funds for General Services Administration Telecommunications Centers and for the President's Council on Sustainable Development and deletes the limitation dealing with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The Senate had no similar provision.

   The conference agreement does not include language proposed by the Senate in section 324 that would continue the moratorium on new or expanded Indian self-determination and self-governance contracts and compacts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 326 authorizes certain special resource studies. This issue is addressed in more detail under the construction account in the National Park Service.

   Section 327 retains the text of section 324 as proposed by the House and section 325 as proposed by the Senate which permits the Forest Service to use the roads and trails fund for backlog maintenance and priority forest health treatments.

   Section 328 modifies language proposed by the House in section 325 dealing with the establishment of a National Wildlife Refuge in the Kankakee watershed in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois. The modification stipulates that refuge establishment must be consistent with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers' efforts to control flooding and siltation in that area. Written certification of consistency and compatibility must be submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations prior to refuge establishment. The Committees note that any land acquisition for such a refuge may only occur after funds have been requested in subsequent budget submissions and approved by the Committees.

   Section 329 modifies language proposed by the House in Section 326 concerning the American Heritage Rivers initiative. The modified language specifically prevents funds from being transferred to, or used to fund personnel, training or other administrative activities at, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for purposes related to this program, but the language no longer prevents headquarters or departmental activities for these purposes. The Council on Environmental Quality, as part of the Executive Office of the President, is funded through a different appropriations bill to cover all of its program needs, including those associated with the American Heritage Rivers initiative. The Committees note that the appropriations act funding the CEQ provides that no funds other than those specifically appropriated to the CEQ may be used for or by the CEQ. Thus, no detailees from agencies funded by this Act may be used for or by the CEQ. The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations do not object to the agencies covered by this bill from participating in this initiative if it is a normal part of their programs. In fact, the technical assistance programs funded in this bill are intended to help respond to local initiatives and needs. The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations encourage maximum cost-sharing and expect the agencies to emphasize field-level accomplishments rather than headquarters or regional office bureaucratic efforts.

   The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations are very concerned about reports that individuals employed by the Federal government who work on the American Heritage Rivers initiative have engaged in inappropriate lobbying activities with Congressional offices and Federal career employees concerning this legislative issue. Such activities should cease immediately and disciplinary actions should be taken. Such inappropriate behavior by Federal employees should not be tolerated, and staff should not be allowed to interfere with Congressional efforts to improve management and accountability.

   Section 330 modifies language proposed by the House in section 327 restricting the use of answering machines during core business hours except in case of emergency. The modification requires that there be an option that permits the caller to reach immediately another individual. The American taxpayer deserves to receive personal attention from public servants. The Senate had no similar provision.

   Section 331 modifies a provision proposed by the House concerning Forest Service administration of rights-of-way and land uses. The Senate had no similar provision. The modification retains most of the language proposed by the House, with technical modifications, but the provision now makes this a five-year pilot program and requires annual reports to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations summarizing activities and funds involved during the previous year. The Forest Service is directed to follow the instructions proposed by the House regarding this provision. The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations and the authorizing committees of jurisdiction will review this pilot program and determine subsequently if it warrants permanent authority.

   Section 332 modifies a provision included in the fiscal year 1999 act regarding the Institute of Hardwood Technology Transfer and Applied Research to make the related authorities permanent as proposed by the Senate in section 326. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 333 modifies language proposed by the Senate in section 327 to continue a program by which Alaska's surplus western red cedar is made available preferentially to U.S. domestic mills outside Alaska, prior to export abroad. The House had no similar provision. The provision has been modified to conform to the standard transaction evidence timber appraisal system used elsewhere in the national forest system and recently implemented in Region 10.

   The conference agreement does not include the Senate-proposed section 328 concerning Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management inventorying, monitoring and surveying requirements. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 334 includes language clarifying the Presidio Trust's borrowing authority by requiring that obligations issued to the Secretary of the Treasury be subject to terms and conditions prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury including a review of the creditworthiness of the properties designed as the source of repayment of the obligations.

   Section 335 modifies language regarding reports on the feasibility and cost of implementing the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project as proposed by the House in section 329. The Senate proposed similar language in section 330. The provision has been modified so that a report describing the estimated production of goods and services produced in the study area for the first five years during the course of the decision may be reported for each Resource Advisory Council or Provincial Advisory Council rather than for each individual unit of Federal land as required in the House and Senate passed versions.

   The conference agreement does not include section 330 as proposed by the House which would have provided authority for breastfeeding in the National Park Service, the Smithsonian, the John F. Kennedy Center, the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Gallery of Art. A separate appropriations bill funding general government programs includes a similar provision, but one that is broader in its application. The Senate bill had no similar provision.

   Section 336 prohibits the use of funds to propose or issue rules, regulations, decrees or orders for implementing the Kyoto Protocol prior to Senate ratification as proposed by the House in section 331. The Senate had no similar provision.

   The conference agreement does not include House proposed bill language included under section 333 prohibiting the use of funds to directly construct timber access roads in the National Forest System. The Senate had no similar provision.

   The conference agreement does not include either the across the board cut proposed by the House in section 333 or the across the board cut proposed by the Senate in section 348.

   Section 337 modifies language proposed by the House in section 334 and the Senate in section 335 regarding patent applications. The modification exempts from the Solicitor's opinion of November 7, 1997 mining operations with approved plans of operation, patents that were grandfathered as part of the 1995 mining patent moratorium, and plans of operation submitted prior to the Solicitor's opinion of November 7, 1997. It is inequitable to apply the Solicitor's millsite opinion to those plans of operation retroactively, since the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service have been approving and modifying plans of operation routinely for years without raising an issue with operators about the ratio of millsites to claims. The Departments of the Interior and Agriculture may not implement the millsite opinion for existing plans of operation. Further, the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture may not reopen decisions already made and relied upon by the stakeholders when these existing plans were approved.

   The conference agreement does not include language proposed by the House in section 335 prohibiting certain uses of leghold traps and neck snares within the National Wildlife Refuge system.

   The conference agreement does not include language as proposed by the House in section 336 that would prohibit implementation of certain portions of the Gettysburg NMP general management plan.

   Section 338 modifies a Senate provision in section 330 concerning consistency among federal land managing agencies for the exemption to the Service Contract Act for concession contracts. The modified language deals only with the Forest Service and applies only in fiscal year 2000. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 339 modifies section 331 as proposed by the Senate regarding the establishment of a five-year pilot program for the Forest Service to collect fair market value

[Page: H12383]  GPO's PDF

   Section 340 includes the Senate-proposed section 333 extending the authorization for the Forest Service to provide funds to Auburn University, AL, for construction of a non-federal building. The House bill had no similar provision.

   Section 341 modifies the Senate-proposed section 334 dealing with Forest Service stewardship end-results contracting. The modification deletes the Senate proposal to provide the Northern region with nine additional projects. The modified provision includes technical changes to the language which authorized the pilot program. These changes make it clear that the Forest Service can enter into a contract or agreement with either a public or private entity; that an agreement as opposed to a contract can be the primary vehicle for implementing a pilot project; and there is a national limit on projects, as opposed to contracts. This will allow, if necessary, use of more than one contract to implement a project. The House bill had no similar provision.

   The conference agreement does not include Senate proposed bill language included under section 335 that provides that residents living within the boundaries of the White Mountain National Forest are exempt from certain user fees. The House bill had no similar provision.

   Section 342 modifies the Senate-proposed section 336 dealing with special use fees paid for recreation residences on Forest Service managed lands. This provision supersedes section 343 of P.L. 105-83 and limits fee increases during fiscal year 2000 to $2,000 per permit. The House had no similar provision.

   The conference agreement does not include language proposed by the Senate in section 337 concerning acquisition of lands within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 343 redesignates the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor as the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.

   Section 344 provides that the Forest Service may not use the Recreation Fee Demonstration program to supplant existing recreation contracts on the national forests as proposed by the Senate in section 338. The House bill had no similar provision.

   Section 345 amends the National Forest-Dependent Rural Communities Economic Diversification Act, as proposed by the Senate in section 339, to make Forest Service grasslands eligible for economic recovery funding. The House bill had no similar provision.

   Section 346 modifies language proposed by the Senate in section 340 regarding the I-90 Land Exchange Act of 1998 to reflect a recently negotiated settlement of a federal district court case involving Plum Creek and five environmental groups. The settlement reconfigures the exchange in a way not reflected in the original amendment in the Senate Interior Appropriations bill. The settlement significantly reduces the scope of the exchange. Several parcels in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest were dropped from the exchange, along with several Plum Creek parcels destined for public ownership. As a result, the new language reflects the settlement agreement. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 347 modifies language proposed by the Senate in section 341 adjusting the boundary of the Snoqualmie National Forest. Eight Plum Creek parcels will be placed in escrow for three years to be eligible for Forest Service ownership through either appropriations, additional land conveyances or private donation. If the parcels are not acquired after three years, the titles revert back to Plum Creek. The original section in the Senate Interior Appropriations bill placed five Plum Creek parcels in escrow. However, the value of the lands in escrow remains the same. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 348 amends the Food Security Act to protect the confidentiality of Forest Inventory and Analysis data on private lands as proposed by the Senate in section 342. The House bill had no similar provision.

   Section 349 provides, as proposed by the Senate in section 343, that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to implement or enforce any provision in Presidential Executive Order 13123 regarding the Federal Energy Management Program which circumvents or contradicts any statutes relevant to Federal energy use and the measurement thereof. The Department is expected to adhere to existing law governing energy conservation and efficiency in implementing the Federal Energy Management Program. The House had no similar provision.

   The conference agreement does not include Senate proposed bill language included under section 344 directing the Forest Service to use funds to improve the control or eradication of pine beetles in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. The conference agreement provides direction on this matter under the Forest Service heading.

   The conference agreement does not include Senate proposed bill language included under section 346 prohibiting the use of funds for certain activities on the Shawnee National Forest, IL.

   The conference agreement does not include language proposed by the Senate in section 345 prohibiting funds for the physical relocation of grizzly bears into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana. The House had no similar provision. This action is based on written assurances, by letter of November 8, 1999, from the Fish and Wildlife Service that the Service will not reintroduce or relocate grizzly bears during fiscal year 2000.

   Section 350 provides for the investment of Exxon Valdez oil spill funds in high yield investments and in marine research.

   Section 351 directs that up to $1,000,000 of Bureau of Land Management funds be used to fund high priority projects to be conducted by the Youth Conservation Corps as proposed by the Senate in section 347. The House bill had no similar provision.

   Section 352 makes a permanent appropriation for the North Pacific Research Board. To date, these funds have been subject to appropriation.

   Section 353 prohibits the withdrawal of certain lands on the Mark Twain NF, MO, from mining activities and prohibits the issuance of new prospecting permits. The House had no similar provision.

   Section 354 makes a minor technical modification to a previously established pilot program. This modification authorizes the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service to establish transfer appropriation accounts in order to facilitate efficient inter-agency fund transfers. The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations support the pilot effort of the two agencies to accomplish mutually beneficial management of respective lands. The agencies are expected to provide a combined report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on the use of these accounts by June 30, 2000.

   Section 355 provides for an extension of the public comment period for the White River National Forest, CO, forest plan revision for ninety days past the February 9, 2000, deadline currently in place.

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