Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110
§6591c Stewardship End Result Contracting Projects
Title 16 › CHAPTER 84 — HEALTHY FOREST RESTORATION › SUBCHAPTER VI — MISCELLANEOUS › § 6591c
Summary
The Chief of the Forest Service and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management can make "stewardship" agreements or contracts with private people or other groups to do work on national forests and public lands that helps local and rural communities. These projects can fix or remove roads and trails, protect water and soil, improve wildlife and fish habitat, use controlled burns, remove unhealthy vegetation and reduce fire risk, restore watersheds, and control invasive weeds and replant native species. These contracts must be awarded on a best-value basis. A contract can run longer than 5 years but no more than 10 years. Timber or other forest products taken can be used to offset the cost of services, with value set by suitable appraisal methods (including per-acre pricing). The agencies may collect money as a secondary goal, keep and spend those funds at the project site, and require deposits for removal costs under sections 490 and 498. They may also require performance and payment bonds under Federal Acquisition Regulation sections 28.103–2 and 28.103–3. If offset value is more than improvement costs, the extra can cover cancelled-contract debts or other stewardship projects. They may act despite certain other laws (including subsections (d) and (g) of section 472a and the Materials Act of 1947) and the Knutson-Vanderberg Act does not apply. The Chief had to issue standard fire-liability language within 90 days after February 7, 2014. For big multiyear contracts with cancellation ceilings over $25,000,000 that lack cancellation funding, the agencies must notify Congress 30 days before signing and send that notice to OMB within 14 days. They must set up multiparty monitoring (including tribes and local groups) and report to Congress one year after February 7, 2014 and every year after on progress, results, and local community involvement.
Full Legal Text
Title 16, §6591c
Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Definitions
In this section: (1) Chief
(2)Director
The term “Director” means the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
(b)Projects
The Chief and the Director, via agreement or contract as appropriate, may enter into stewardship contracting projects with private persons or other public or private entities to perform services to achieve land management goals for the national forests and the public lands that meet local and rural community needs.
(c)Land management goals
The land management goals of a project under subsection (b) may include any of the following:
(1)Road and trail maintenance or obliteration to restore or maintain water quality.
(2)Soil productivity, habitat for wildlife and fisheries, or other resource values.
(3)Setting of prescribed fires to improve the composition, structure, condition, and health of stands or to improve wildlife habitat.
(4)Removing vegetation or other activities to promote healthy forest stands, reduce fire hazards, or achieve other land management objectives.
(5)Watershed restoration and maintenance.
(6)Restoration and maintenance of wildlife and fish.
(7)Control of noxious and exotic weeds and reestablishing native plant species.
(d)Agreements or contracts
(1)Procurement procedure
A source for performance of an agreement or contract under subsection (b) shall be selected on a best-value basis, including consideration of source under other public and private agreements or contracts.
(2)Contract for sale of property
A contract entered into under this section may, at the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture, be considered a contract for the sale of property under such terms as the Secretary may prescribe without regard to any other provision of law.
(3)Term
(A)In general
Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the Chief and the Director may enter into a contract under subsection (b) in accordance with section 3903 of title 41.
(B)Maximum
The period of the contract under subsection (b) may exceed 5 years but may not exceed 10 years.
(4)Offsets
(A)In general
The Chief and the Director may apply the value of timber or other forest products removed as an offset against the cost of services received under the agreement or contract described in subsection (b).
(B)Methods of appraisal
The value of timber or other forest products used as an offset under subparagraph (A)—
(i)shall be determined using appropriate methods of appraisal commensurate with the quantity of products to be removed; and
(ii)may—
(I)be determined using a unit of measure appropriate to the contracts; and
(II)may include valuing products on a per-acre basis.
(5)Relation to other laws
Notwithstanding subsections (d) and (g) of section 472a of this title, the Chief may enter into an agreement or contract under subsection (b). Notwithstanding the Materials Act of 1947 (30 U.S.C. 602(a)), the Director may enter into an agreement or contract under subsection (b).
(6)Contracting officer
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary or the Secretary of the Interior may determine the appropriate contracting officer to enter into and administer an agreement or contract under subsection (b).
(7)Fire liability provisions
Not later than 90 days after February 7, 2014, the Chief shall issue for use in all contracts and agreements under this section fire liability provisions that are in substantially the same form as the fire liability provisions contained in— (A)
(B)timber sale contracts conducted pursuant to section 472a of this title.
(e)Receipts
(1)In general
The Chief and the Director may collect monies from an agreement or contract under subsection (b) if the collection is a secondary objective of negotiating the contract that will best achieve the purposes of this section.
(2)Use
Monies from an agreement or contract under subsection (b)—
(A)may be retained by the Chief and the Director; and
(B)shall be available for expenditure without further appropriation at the project site from which the monies are collected or at another project site.
(3)Relation to other laws
(A)In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the value of services received by the Chief or the Director under a stewardship contract project conducted under this section, and any payments made or resources provided by the contractor, Chief, or Director shall not be considered monies received from the National Forest System or the public lands.
(B)Knutson-Vanderberg Act
The Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the “Knutson-Vanderberg 2 Act”) (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.) shall not apply to any agreement or contract under subsection (b).
(f)Costs of removal
Notwithstanding the fact that a contractor did not harvest the timber, the Chief may collect deposits from a contractor covering the costs of removal of timber or other forest products under—
(1)section 490 of this title; and
(2)section 498 of this title.
(g)Performance and payment guarantees
(1)In general
The Chief and the Director may require performance and payment bonds under section 28.103–2 and 28.103–3 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in an amount that the contracting officer considers sufficient to protect the investment in receipts by the Federal Government generated by the contractor from the estimated value of the forest products to be removed under a contract under subsection (b).
(2)Excess offset value
If the offset value of the forest products exceeds the value of the resource improvement treatments, the Chief and the Director may—
(A)use the excess to satisfy any outstanding liabilities for cancelled agreements or contracts; or
(B)if there are no outstanding liabilities described in subparagraph (A), apply the excess to other authorized stewardship projects.
(h)Cancellation ceilings
(1)In general
Notwithstanding section 3903(b)(1) of title 41, the Chief and the Director may obligate funds in stages that are economically or programmatically viable to cover any potential cancellation or termination costs for an agreement or contract under subsection (b).
(2)Advance notice to Congress of cancellation ceiling in excess of $25,000,000
Not later than 30 days before entering into a multiyear agreement or contract under subsection (b) that includes a cancellation ceiling in excess of $25,000,000, but does not include proposed funding for the costs of cancelling the agreement or contract up to that cancellation ceiling, the Chief or the Director, as applicable, shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives a written notice that includes—
(A)a description of the cancellation ceiling amounts proposed for each program year in the agreement or contract;
(B)the reasons why the cancellation ceiling amounts described under subparagraph (A) were selected;
(C)a description of the extent to which the costs of contract cancellation are not included in the budget for the agreement or contract; and
(D)an assessment of the financial risk of not including budgeting for the costs of agreement or contract cancellation.
(3)Transmittal of notice to OMB
Not later than 14 days after the date on which written notice is provided under paragraph (2), the Chief or the Director, as appropriate, shall transmit a copy of the notice to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
(i)Monitoring and evaluation
(1)In general
The Chief and the Director shall establish a multiparty monitoring and evaluation process that accesses the stewardship contracting projects conducted under this section.
(2)Participants
Other than the Chief and Director, participants in the process described in paragraph (1) may include—
(A)any cooperating governmental agencies, including tribal governments; and
(B)any other interested groups or individuals.
(j)Reporting
Not later than 1 year after February 7, 2014, and annually thereafter, the Chief and the Director shall submit to the congressional committees described in subsection (h)(2) a report on—
(1)the status of development, execution, and administration of agreements or contracts under subsection (b);
(2)the specific accomplishments that have resulted; and
(3)the role of local communities in the development of agreements or contract plans.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Materials Act of 1947, referred to in subsec. (d)(5), is act July 31, 1947, ch. 406, 61 Stat. 681, which is classified generally to subchapter I (§ 601 et seq.) of chapter 15 of Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining. section 602(a) of Title 30 is section 2(a) of the Act. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 601 of Title 30 and Tables. The Act of
June 9, 1930, referred to in subsec. (e)(3)(B), is act
June 9, 1930, ch. 416, 46 Stat. 527, popularly known as the Knutson-Vandenberg Act, which is classified generally to section 576, 576a, and 576b of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 576 of this title and Tables. section 490 of this title, referred to in subsec. (f)(1), was in the original “the Act of
August 11, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 490)”, and was translated as referring to the undesignated provisions appearing in act Aug. 11, 1916, ch. 313, 39 Stat. 462, which are classified to section 490 of this title. section 498 of this title, referred to in subsec. (f)(2), was in the original “the Act of
June 30, 1914 (16 U.S.C. 498)”, and was translated as referring to the undesignated provisions appearing in act
June 30, 1914, ch. 131, 38 Stat. 430, which are classified to section 498 of this title.
Amendments
2018—Subsec. (g)(2). Pub. L. 115–141, § 205, added subpars. (A) and (B) and struck out former subpars. (A) and (B) which read as follows: “(A) collect any residual receipts under the Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the “Knutson-Vanderberg Act”) (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.); and “(B) apply the excess to other authorized stewardship projects.” Subsecs. (h), (i). Pub. L. 115–141, § 204, added subsec. (h) and redesignated former subsec. (h) as (i). Former subsec. (i) redesignated (j). Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 115–141, §§ 204(1), 206, redesignated subsec. (i) as (j) and substituted “submit to the congressional committees described in subsection (h)(2) a report” for “report to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives” in introductory provisions. 2017—Subsec. (d)(5). Pub. L. 115–31, § 422(1), inserted at end “Notwithstanding the Materials Act of 1947 (30 U.S.C. 602(a)), the Director may enter into an agreement or contract under subsection (b).” Subsec. (d)(7). Pub. L. 115–31, § 422(2), struck out “and the Director” after “the Chief” in introductory provisions.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
20-Year Stewardship Contracting Pub. L. 115–141, div. O, title II, § 207, Mar. 23, 2018, 132 Stat. 1065, provided that: “(a) In General.—The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior may award contracts or agreements under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511 [6591c]), for terms not to exceed 20 years on areas where the majority of Federal lands are in Fire Regime Groups I, II, or III. “(b) Preference.—In awarding a contract under this section, the Secretary concerned [see Definitions note below] may, notwithstanding the Federal Acquisition
Regulations
, give a procurement preference to a contractor that would, as part of the contract, promote an innovative use of forest products, including cross-laminated timber.” Definitions Pub. L. 115–141, div. O, title II, § 201, Mar. 23, 2018, 132 Stat. 1062, provided that: “In this title [see Tables for classification]: “(1) National forest system.—The term ‘National Forest System’ has the meaning given the term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)). “(2) Public land.—The term ‘public land’ has the meaning given the term ‘public lands’ in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). “(3) Secretary concerned.—The term ‘Secretary concerned’ means—“(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to National Forest System land; and “(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to public land.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 6591c
Title 16, Conservation
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110