The "QLG Bill" -- What it does.

Blue highlighted text are links to S. 1028 text, indicates a link to a related QLG document.

• Establishes a "Pilot Project Area." (See the landbase or request QLG map.)

The Lassen National Forest, Plumas National Forest, and the Sierraville District of the Tahoe National Forest.

• Excludes Certain Lands. (Non-green areas on QLG map.)
  
  • Neither the Pilot Project nor timber harvesting will be done in Spotted Owl Habitat Areas (SOHAs) or Protected Activity Centers (PACs).
    
  • Neither road building nor timber harvesting will be done in "Off Base" or "Deferred" areas of the QLG map.

• Protects Riparian Areas. (Streams, rivers, lakes, shorelines.)
  
  • The "Scientific Advisory Team" (SAT) guidelines shall apply to all Pilot Project activities and timber harvests during the five years of the Project. The SAT Guidelines include more streams and require wider protection zones than present "standard" guidelines.

• Requires Compliance with CASPO Guidelines.
  
  • Must comply with the Interim Guidelines and with subsequently issued Final Guidelines, whichever is in effect.
    
• Requires Forest Service Action.
  
  • A strategic system of defensible fuelbreaks on not less than 40,000 nor more than 60,000 acres per year. These are strips of "thinning from below" fuel reduction, each about 1/4 mile wide and containing a road for rapid fire-fighter access (and retreat if necessary). Their purpose is to limit the spread of high intensity wildfire and permit safe and effective suppression efforts against such fires.
    
  • Group Selection and Individual Tree Selection. Harvest of small groups of trees (generally 1 to 2 acres each) and individual trees, to achieve an all-age, multi-story, fire resilient forest.

Group Selection on 0.57 percent of the Project area land each year. These small openings make possible new growth of pines, which are otherwise shaded out by today's unnatural growth of white fir and incense cedar on much land that originally grew mostly pines.

Individual tree selection may also be used in the Pilot Project.

• Riparian Restoration. A program of riparian management, including wide protection zones and riparian restoration projects, consistent with the SAT guidelines (see above).
  
• Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP).
  
  • Initiate the process to amend or revise the LRMPs, including consideration of one alternative that incorporates the Pilot Project and other aspects of the QLG Community Stability Proposal and makes other changes warranted by NEPA and other applicable laws.
    
• Requires an Environmental Impact Statement.
  
  • Within 200 days of the law taking effect, the Forest Service will complete and issue a record of decision on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Pilot Project.
    
• Requires Reports to Congress.
  
  • Each year during the Pilot Project, after consulting with QLG, the Forest Service must report on money spent, the acres treated, the economic benefits to local communities, revenues generated, activities scheduled for the following year, and any adverse environmental effects.
    
  • After eighteen months, the Forest Service must start compiling a science-based assessment of how effective the Pilot Project is, including watershed monitoring, water release timing, water quality and quantity over the short and long term, and any adverse effects.
    
  • At the end of five years, the Forest Service must report to Congress the results of the science-based assessment described above.
    
• Forest Service Must Obey All Other Laws.
  
  • Nothing exempts the Pilot Project from any Federal environmental law.

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