Environmental and Economic Benefits Restoration Act of 2016

Environmental and Economic Benefits Restoration Act of 2016

This bill amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to direct the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a landscape-scale restoration program to provide financial and technical assistance for landscape-scale restoration projects on state, political subdivision, and private forest lands that maintain or improve benefits from trees and forests on such lands.

The program shall:

• address the national private forest conservation priorities specified under the Act; and
• enhance public benefits from trees and forests, as identified in a state-wide assessment and a long-term state-wide forest resource strategy under the Act.

The program shall also have one or more objectives, including to:

• protect or improve water quality or quantity;
• reduce wildfire risk;
• protect or enhance wildlife habitat, consistent with wildlife objectives established by the applicable state fish and wildlife agency;
• improve forest health, including addressing native, nonnative, and invasive pests; or
• enhance opportunities for new and existing markets in which the production and use of wood products strengthens local and regional economies.

USDA shall establish a measurement system to measure the results of landscape-scale restoration projects assisted under this bill.

USDA shall allocate from the amounts made available under this bill:

• 50% for the competitive process for distributing funds for landscape-scale restoration projects; and
• 50% proportionally to states to maximize the achievement of the restoration program's objectives and to address the highest national priorities, as identified in state-wide assessments and long-term state-wide forest resource strategies.

The bill amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to allocate funds and use specified authorities of the USDA or of the Department of the Interior, as appropriate, to assist cross-boundary hazardous fuel reduction and wildfire mitigation programs.