§ 1608. — National Forest Transportation System.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC1608]
TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 36--FOREST AND RANGELAND RENEWABLE RESOURCES PLANNING
SUBCHAPTER I--PLANNING
Sec. 1608. National Forest Transportation System
(a) Congressional declaration of policy; time for development; method of
financing; financing of forest development roads
The Congress declares that the installation of a proper system of
transportation to service the National Forest System, as is provided for
in sections 532 to 538 of this title, shall be carried forward in time
to meet anticipated needs on an economical and environmentally sound
basis, and the method chosen for financing the construction and
maintenance of the transportation system should be such as to enhance
local, regional, and national benefits: Provided, That limitations on
the level of obligations for construction of forest roads by timber
purchasers shall be established in annual appropriation Acts.
(b) Construction of temporary roadways in connection with timber
contracts, and other permits or leases
Unless the necessity for a permanent road is set forth in the forest
development road system plan, any road constructed on land of the
National Forest System in connection with a timber contract or other
permit or lease shall be designed with the goal of reestablishing
vegetative cover on the roadway and areas where the vegetative cover has
been disturbed by the construction of the road, within ten years after
the termination of the contract, permit, or lease either through
artificial or natural means. Such action shall be taken unless it is
later determined that the road is needed for use as a part of the
National Forest Transportation System.
(c) Standards of roadway construction
Roads constructed on National Forest System lands shall be designed
to standards appropriate for the intended uses, considering safety, cost
of transportation, and impacts on land and resources.
(Pub. L. 93-378, Sec. 10, formerly Sec. 9, Aug. 17, 1974, 88 Stat. 479,
renumbered Sec. 10 and amended Pub. L. 94-588, Secs. 2, 8, Oct. 22,
1976, 90 Stat. 2949, 2956; Pub. L. 97-100, title II, Sec. 201, Dec. 23,
1981, 95 Stat. 1405.)
Amendments
1981--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97-100 substituted ``Provided, That
limitations on the level of obligations for construction of forest roads
by timber purchasers shall be established in annual appropriation Acts''
for ``, except that the financing of forest development roads as
authorized by clause (2) of section 535 of this title, shall be deemed
`budget authority' and `budget outlays' as those terms are defined in
section 1302(a) of title 31, and shall be effective for any fiscal year
only in the manner required for new spending authority as specified by
section 1351(a) of title 31''.
1976--Pub. L. 94-588, Sec. 8, designated existing provisions as
subsec. (a) and added subsecs. (b) and (c).
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of certain enforcement functions of Secretary or other
official in Department of Agriculture under this subchapter to Federal
Inspector, Office of Federal Inspector for Alaska Natural Gas
Transportation System, and subsequent transfer to Secretary of Energy,
see note set out under section 1601 of this title.
County Payment Mitigation; Transportation System Moratorium
Pub. L. 105-174, title III, Sec. 3006, May 1, 1998, 112 Stat. 85,
provided that:
``(a)(1) This section provides compensation for loss of revenues
that would have been provided to counties if no road moratorium, as
described in subsection (a)(2), were implemented or no substitute sales
offered as described in subsection (b)(1). This section does not endorse
or prohibit the road building moratorium nor does it affect the
applicability of existing law to any moratorium.
``(2) The Chief of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, in
his sole discretion, may offer any timber sales that were scheduled
October 1, 1997, or thereafter, to be offered in fiscal year 1998 or
fiscal year 1999 even if such sales would have been delayed or halted as
a result of any moratorium (resulting from the Federal Register proposal
of January 28, 1998, pages 4351-4354) on construction of roads in
roadless areas within the National Forest System adopted as policy or by
regulation that would otherwise be applicable to such sales.
``(3) Any sales offered pursuant to subsection (a)(2) shall--
``(A) comply with all applicable laws and regulations and be
consistent with applicable land and resource management plans,
except any regulations or plan amendments which establish or
implement the moratorium referred to in subsection (a)(2); and
``(B) be subject to administrative appeals pursuant to part 215
of title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations and to judicial
review.
``(b)(1) For any previously scheduled sales that are not offered
pursuant to subsection (a)(2), the Chief may, to the extent practicable,
offer substitute sales within the same State in fiscal year 1998 or
fiscal year 1999. Such substitute sales shall be subject to the
requirements of subsection (a)(3).
``(2)(A) The Chief shall pay as soon as practicable after fiscal
year 1998 and fiscal year 1999 to any State in which sales previously
scheduled to be offered that are referred to in, but not offered
pursuant to, subsection (a)(2) would have occurred, 25 percent of any
anticipated receipts from such sales that--
``(i) were scheduled from fiscal year 1998 or fiscal year 1999
sales in the absence of any moratorium referred to in subsection
(a)(2); and
``(ii) are not offset by revenues received in such fiscal years
from substitute projects authorized pursuant to subsection (b)(1).
``(B) After reporting the amount of funds required to make any
payments required by subsection (b)(2)(A), and the source from which
such funds are to be derived, to the Committees on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives and the Senate, the Chief shall make any
payments required by subsection (b)(2)(A) from any funds available to
the Forest Service in fiscal year 1998 or fiscal year 1999, subject to
approval of the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate, that are not specifically earmarked for
another purpose by the applicable appropriation Act or a committee or
conference report thereon.
``(C) Any State which receives payments required by subsection
(b)(2)(A) shall expend such funds only in the manner, and for the
purposes, prescribed in section 500 of title 16, United States Code.
``(c)(1) During the term of the moratorium referred to in subsection
(a)(2), the Chief shall prepare and submit to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report
on each of the following--
``(A) a study of whether standards and guidelines in existing
land and resource management plans compel or encourage entry into
roadless areas within the National Forest System for the purpose of
constructing roads or undertaking any other ground-disturbing
activities;
``(B) an inventory of all roads within the National Forest
System and the uses which they serve, in a format that will inform
and facilitate the development of a long-term Forest Service
transportation policy; and
``(C) a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the economic and
social effects of the moratorium referred to in subsection (a)(2) on
county, State, and regional levels.''
