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S 661 113th Congress Senate Public Lands and Natural Resources Administrative remedies Environmental assessment, monitoring, research Fires Floods and storm protection Forests, forestry, trees Natural disasters

A bill to amend the Health Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to promote timely emergency rehabilitation and restoration of Federal forest land impacted by catastrophic events, to redirect for a…

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A bill to amend the Health Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to promote timely emergency rehabilitation and restoration of Federal forest land impacted by catastrophic events, to redirect for a 5-year-period funding normally made available for land acquisition to mechanical forest treatment and salvage operations due to catastrophic events, and for other purposes.

Introduced: March 22, 2013 Introduced by: Thune, John Republican · South Dakota See on congress.gov
This bill died when the 113th Congress ended
It never became law before the 113th Congress (2013–2014) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Mar 22, 2013
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Mar 22, 2013
Introduced in Senate
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 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) and the Secretary of the Interior, as appropriate, to implement procedures to ensure that not less than 600,000 acres of federal land each fiscal year are treated with mechanical treatments intended to produce merchantable wood.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) declare that emergency circumstances exist for all federal land affected by a catastrophic event, including federal land outside urban interface areas; and (2) take actions necessary for the rehabilitation or restoration of such federal land, with highest priority given to land impacted by large-scale beetle infestations.

Directs the Secretary to initiate salvage activities on federal land affected by a catastrophic event so as to prevent significant deterioration of timber values, development of significant fire hazard, or other forest mortality that would prevent such land from regenerating to forest within five years.

Excludes from the provisions of this Act: (1) a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System; (2) federal land on which the removal of vegetation is prohibited or restricted by Congress, the President, or a land management plan; or (3) a wilderness study area.

What's happening now March 22, 2013

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

 Related & companion bills 1
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 661: A bill to amend the Health Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to promote timely emergency rehabilitation and restoration of Federal forest land impacted by catastrophic events, to redirect for a 5-year-period funding normally made available for land acquisition to mechanical forest treatment and salvage operations due to catastrophic events, and for other purposes.. 113th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-661/
MLA
"S. 661: A bill to amend the Health Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to promote timely emergency rehabilitation and restoration of Federal forest land impacted by catastrophic events, to redirect for a 5-year-period funding normally made available for land acquisition to mechanical forest treatment and salvage operations due to catastrophic events, and for other purposes.." 113th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-661/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 661, 113th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-661/.
Markdown link
[S. 661: A bill to amend the Health Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to promote timely emergency rehabilitation and restoration of Federal forest land impacted by catastrophic events, to redirect for a 5-year-period funding normally made available for land acquisition to mechanical forest treatment and salvage operations due to catastrophic events, and for other purposes.](https://openamerica.io/bill/113-S-661/)
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