“To amend Public Law 96-586 to modernize the authority of the Forest Service to acquire and administer land under that Act, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section amends the Santini-Burton Act (P.L. 96-586) concerning environmentally sensitive lands in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Specifically, it (1) adds a congressional finding that the basin is the homeland of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, which owns less than 0.5% of basin lands, limiting tribal access and cultural resources; (2) inserts "and management" into the act's stated purpose of land acquisition; (3) adds the Washoe Tribe as an eligible recipient of land acquired under the act, alongside local governments; (4) authorizes transfers of unsuitable acquired land to the tribe or local governments and use of appropriated funds for related administrative costs; and (5) authorizes use of land acquisition funds by the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Forest Service, for land management activities on acquired lands and National Forest System lands within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, including transfers of such funds to state or local governments or the Washoe Tribe. Authorized activities include maintaining forest health, the wildland-urban interface (as defined in the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003), water quality, recreational impacts, cultural sites and indigenous practices, and related research; the Secretary may partner with federal agencies, state/local governments, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, or the tribe, including for public access projects. By March 15 of each fiscal year, the Forest Supervisor of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit must develop a spending plan for these activities, developed in consultation with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, California and Nevada, the Washoe Tribe, and local governments and prioritized based on achieving Tahoe Regional Planning Agency environmental thresholds.