Number: 2002-04
WHEREAS, in the last ten years, interest in a more active role in ecological restoration and the use of timber and non-timber resources on federal forests by local communities, tribal enterprises, watershed groups and wildlife habitat interests has led to a vibrant discussion and experimentation on ways in which the USDA Forest Service can more productively interact with various stakeholders through a process of Stewardship Contracting; and
WHEREAS, timber harvests have been steadily declining over the past decade and stewardship activities on federal forests have been largely dependent on funds generated from these harvests; and
WHEREAS, sound forest management, including timber harvesting, can be a valuable contribution to restoration objectives; and
WHEREAS, there is now a burgeoning need to de-couple stewardship and ecological restoration activities from timber resource extraction using new administrative and contracting approaches; and
WHEREAS, Congressional interest in creative stewardship approaches has led to the implementation of 28 stewardship contract demonstration projects under Section 347 in the FY 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 05-277) and another 28 pilot contracts under Section 338 of the FY 2001 Appropriations Act allowing the USDA Forest Service through the Stewardship End-Result Contracting Demonstration Project to test new administrative authorities that would meet land management goals and the needs of local and rural communities; and
WHEREAS, stewardship contracts are a means of implementing ecosystem management by relying on a shift of management objective towards achieving desired future resource conditions, rather than meeting an assigned target or predetermined schedule of output such as board feet of timber; and
WHEREAS, the pilot stewardship contracts are intended by Congress to utilize a process of broad-based community consultation and participation in order to clarify ecological objectives and the associated work to be performed through third party contracting with local vendors; and
WHEREAS, stewardship contracts can facilitate a more efficient use of agency resources by combining a set of land management activities into a single contract, thereby improving contract efficiency and reducing management and administrative costs; and
WHEREAS, early lessons from the stewardship “pilot” projects have confirmed their value in undertaking necessary restoration work, and in directing this work to local contractors and community groups which benefit from the employment opportunities, especially where smaller, more local vendors can be awarded contracts based, in part, on their knowledge, experience and record of performance rather than only lowest bid.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its Annual Meeting assembled March 6-9, 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia, calls upon Congress to embrace the spirit of collaboration and emphasis on forest stewardship and ecological restoration embodied in the pilot Stewardship Contracting program of the USDA Forest Service; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation calls upon the USDA Forest Service to affirmatively complete the current round of pilot stewardship projects, and communicate the lessons learned from these pilots to Congress, affected constituencies and the general public; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation calls upon Congress to evaluate a permanent role for USFS stewardship contracting that allows for the expanded use of new contracting authorities necessary to achieve the agreed-to restoration needs of individual federal forest districts within the framework of federal forest planning and other federal environmental laws, and where the selection of appropriate contracting methods is undertaken in an open and transparent manner; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation calls upon Congress, in consideration of any new permanent stewardship contracting authorities, to ensure that in the enabling of such authorities, the primary objective continues to focus on forest ecological restoration, wildlife habitat enhancement, and riparian and aquatic habitat protection; and that Congress should ensure that such contracts do not inadvertently allow for the indiscriminate commercial exploitation of federal timber or non-timber forest resources.