Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Invasive Species Prevention and Forest Restoration Act”.
Invasive Species Prevention and Forest Restoration Act
A BILL
To amend the Plant Protection Act for purposes of mitigating the threat of invasive species, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Emergency authority with respect to invasive species
Section 442 of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7772) is amended—
in subsection (a), by inserting “directly or indirectly” before “threatens”;
in subsection (b)—
by striking “shall remain” and inserting the following:
“(1) remain”
in paragraph (1) (as so designated), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(2) be transferred not later than 60 days after the date on which the Secretary determines that there is an emergency described in subsection (a).”
by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
“(c) Emergency determination—In determining whether there is an emergency described in subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider, but shall not treat as a dispositive factor, whether there are sufficient Federal funds available to timely achieve the arrest, control, eradication, or prevention of the spread of the applicable plant pest or noxious weed.”
Sec. 3 Forest reclamation grants
Subtitle K of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3310 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“1473I. Forest reclamation grants
“(a) Definitions—In this section:
“(1) Eligible entity—The term eligible entity means any of the following:
“(A) A Federal agency.
“(B) A State cooperative institution.
“(C) A college or university offering a baccalaureate or higher degree in the study of food, forestry, and agricultural sciences.
“(D) An organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of that Code.
“(2) Noxious weed; plant pest—The terms noxious weed and plant pest have the meanings given those terms in section 403 of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7702).
“(b) Grant awards—For purposes of addressing the critical threat to numerous tree species posed by nonnative plant pests and noxious weeds, the Secretary shall award competitive grants to eligible entities under which the eligible entities shall—
“(1) conduct research to promote the restoration of affected tree species, including research on—
“(A) biological control of nonnative plant pests or noxious weeds threatening or heavily damaging native tree species;
“(B) exploration of genetic manipulation of plant pests or noxious weeds;
“(C) enhancement of pest-resistance mechanisms of hosts; and
“(D) development of other strategies for restoring individual tree species; and
“(2) develop, and disseminate to the public, tools and information based on the research conducted under paragraph (1).
“(c) Applications—An eligible entity seeking to receive a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including a description of a comprehensive forest restoration research program to be carried out by the eligible entity using the funds received through the grant.
“(d) Use of funds
“(1) In general—An eligible entity receiving a grant under this section shall use the funds received through the grant to conduct research intended to address specific questions relating to the recovery of tree species that are native to the United States and suffering severe levels of mortality caused by nonnative plant pests or noxious weeds.
“(2) Matching requirement
“(A) In general—An eligible entity receiving a grant under this section shall provide matching funds from non-Federal sources in an amount equal to not less than 20 percent of the grant.
“(B) Indirect costs
“(i) In general—Indirect costs charged against a grant awarded under this section shall not exceed 30 percent of the total Federal funds provided under the grant award.
“(ii) Inclusions—Indirect costs described in clause (i) shall include—
“(I) equipment used in relation to the grant;
“(II) capital improvements of facilities that are necessary to carry out the grant;
“(III) accounting costs, personnel costs, and administrative costs incurred by an eligible entity necessary to carry out the grant; and
“(IV) such other costs as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
“(3) Maximum amount of grants—An eligible entity may not receive more than a total of $400,000 per year in grant funding under this section.
“(e) Cooperation among eligible entities—To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall encourage eligible entities to cooperate in setting research priorities under this section.
“(f) Committees—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall—
“(1) establish a committee of experts composed of representatives of the Forest Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agricultural Research Service, and State forestry agencies to advise the Secretary on criteria appropriate for—
“(A) defining research topics eligible for funding under this section;
“(B) reviewing the adherence of grant proposals to the purposes described in subsection (b)(1); and
“(C) membership in scientific peer review panels to review grant applications under this section; and
“(2) establish an advisory committee composed of representatives of land-grant colleges and universities and affiliated State agricultural experiment stations, the forest products industry, recreationists, and professional forester, conservation, and conservation scientist organizations to assist the committee of experts established under paragraph (1) with respect to the responsibilities of that committee described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of that paragraph.
“(g) Reports—Not later than 1 year after the date on which the first grant is awarded under this section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report describing the use of funds under this section in the previous year.
“(h) Funding—Of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use to carry out this section—
“(1) $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2023;
“(2) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2024;
“(3) $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; and
“(4) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.”
Sec. 4 Forest restoration implementation grants
Subtitle K of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3310 et seq.) (as amended by section 3) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“1473J. Forest restoration implementation grants
“(a) Definitions—In this section:
“(1) Eligible entity—The term eligible entity means any of the following:
“(A) A cooperating forestry school.
“(B) A land-grant college or university.
“(C) A State agricultural experimental station.
“(D) An organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of that Code.
“(2) Noxious weed; plant pest—The terms noxious weed and plant pest have the meanings given those terms in section 403 of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7702).
“(b) Grant awards—The Secretary may award grants on a competitive basis under this section to eligible entities to support—
“(1) the implementation of research conducted under section 1473I; or
“(2) any other solution that the committee established under subsection (f)(1) of that section determines to be effective in restoring forest tree species native to forests in the United States that have suffered severe levels of mortality caused by nonnative plant pests or noxious weeds.
“(c) Application—An eligible entity seeking to receive a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including a demonstration that the eligible entity has a program in effect with a forest restoration strategy that incorporates a majority of the following components:
“(1) Collection and conservation of native tree genetic material.
“(2) Production of propagules of native trees in numbers large enough for landscape-scale restoration.
“(3) Preparation of planting sites in former habitats of the native tree species that are the subjects of the application.
“(4) Planting of native tree seedlings.
“(5) Post-planting maintenance of native trees.
“(d) Selection criteria—The Secretary shall select an eligible entity to receive a grant under this section based on the degree to which the application submitted by the eligible entity under subsection (c) addresses the following criteria:
“(1) The risk posed to the forests of the State in which the work is to be conducted using funding received through the grant by nonnative plant pest or noxious weed species present in the State.
“(2) The proportion of the forest land of the State composed of species vulnerable to nonnative plant pests or noxious weeds present in the United States.
“(3) The rate of spread in the State, through natural or human-assisted means, of nonnative plant pests or noxious weeds.
“(4) The environmental and public health safety of the project proposed to be conducted using funding received through the grant, as demonstrated by supporting research.
“(e) Matching requirement
“(1) In general—An eligible entity receiving a grant under this section shall provide matching funds from non-Federal sources in an amount equal to not less than 10 percent of the grant.
“(2) Indirect costs
“(A) In general—Indirect costs charged against a grant awarded under this section shall not exceed 30 percent of the total Federal funds provided under the grant award.
“(B) Inclusions—Indirect costs described in subparagraph (A) shall include—
“(i) equipment used in relation to the grant;
“(ii) capital improvements of facilities that are necessary to carry out the grant;
“(iii) accounting costs, personnel costs, and administrative costs incurred by an eligible entity necessary to carry out the grant; and
“(iv) such other costs as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
“(f) Funding
“(1) In general—Of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use to carry out this section $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2026.
“(2) Limitation—Of the funds made available under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, not more than 5 percent may be used by the Secretary for expenses relating to the administration of this section.”
Sec. 5 Study on protection of forests from nonnative plant pests and pathogens
Findings— Congress finds that—
many Federal agencies have important roles to play in addressing nonnative plant pests and pathogens in the stewardship and management of forests by those Federal agencies;
because of a lack of national policy, nonnative plant pests and pathogens of forests are a low priority for all Federal agencies; and
efforts to prevent the introduction and spread of nonnative plant pests and pathogens, and especially to reduce the resulting damage and restore tree species to forests, lack coordination and action.
Study—
In general— The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall seek to enter into an agreement (referred to in this section as the “Agreement”) with the National Academy of Sciences, or another nongovernmental entity that the Secretary determines to be most appropriate, under which the National Academy of Sciences or other entity, as applicable, not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, shall conduct, and submit to Congress a report describing the results of, a study to analyze the available resources that Federal agencies have to research, and find solutions to, nonnative plant pests and pathogens.
Recommendations— The report submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include recommendations—
with respect to—
establishing a national policy to effectively counter the threat posed by nonnative pests and disease pathogens to tree species, including preventing the introduction and spread of those pests and pathogens, minimizing the damage caused by those pests and pathogens, and restoring affected tree species to the forest;
improving coordination and cooperation among Federal agencies with responsibility for management and repair of the decimation of tree species affected by nonnative pests and disease pathogens and associated ecological destruction;
addressing the low prioritization by the Federal agencies described in clause (ii) of nonnative plant pests and pathogens affecting forests and trees;
identifying expertise and site and facility resources within the Federal agencies described in clause (ii); and
improving coordination among those agencies with respect to the management and repair described in clause (ii), including coordination with academic institutions and other appropriate nonprofit organizations;
the establishment of a center for nonnative forest pest control, prevention, and species restoration within the Department of Agriculture, including potential organizational structures of such a center, with an emphasis on including representation of a wide variety of appropriate agencies within the center, including the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agriculture Research Service, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Forest Service, and any other agency that the Secretary determines is appropriate; and
giving priority to the emergency response of the Department of Agriculture to an emergency relating to nonnative pests and disease pathogens;
clarifying the coordination of the Department of Agriculture with other Federal agencies in responding to those emergencies; and
identifying funding levels sufficient to carry out responses to those emergencies; and
that—
take into account existing Federal resources; and
may be implemented through further legislative and administrative action.
Consultation— The Agreement shall require the National Academy of Sciences or other entity, as applicable, to consult with specialists in entomology, genetics, forest pathology, tree breeding, forest and urban ecology, and invasive species management.