§3111 Assessment of Indian Forest Land and Management Programs

Summary

Require the Secretary of the Interior to hire, within 1 year after November 28, 1990, an outside expert to do a national review of Indian forest lands and how they are being managed. The review must compare management and funding to similar federal and private lands, check forest health and productivity, look at staffing and timber-sale procedures, test whether some BIA rules can be cut back, judge whether tribal and BIA forest plans are adequate, consider creating minimum program standards, and recommend reforms and funding. It must include examples from each U.S. region with Indian forest lands and be finished no later than 36 months after November 28, 1990. The finished review must be sent to the House Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and to the tribes. Every 10 years after November 28, 1990, an independent follow-up review must be done using the same checks and comparing to past findings. The Secretary must also send a report within 1 year of the first full fiscal year after November 28, 1990, and within 6 months after each later fiscal year, to those same committees and to affected tribes. That report must show how each tribe’s forest lands measure up to approved plans and must list land needing planting or other treatment and the amount of timber available, offered, and sold for each tribe. The Secretary of Agriculture, through the Forest Service, may provide technical help at the Interior Secretary’s request without charging reimbursement.