Thanks to Nick Smith for the link, from the National Association of Counties.
- The Locally Led Restoration Act would improve relationships between intergovernmental partners and outside organizations, including the private sector, helping to reestablish healthy and resilient federal forests.
- The bill would improve the implementation of stewardship contracts to better support landscape restoration projects and create well-paying jobs in our communities.
- The bill would allow third-party contractors to propose their own stewardship contracts to the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management if at least 10 percent of the vegetation to be removed is salvage. The bill classifies salvage as beetle kill, dead or dying trees and wildfire kill.
- Crucially, this legislation does not change the established process for timber harvests on federal lands – it only makes necessary improvements to stewardship contracting.