S. 3014 would amend the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act to authorize the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service to treat certain federal forest land as Indian land for the purposes of conducting land management activities, upon the request of an Indian tribe.
If BLM or the Forest Service approves a request, the tribe could implement forest restoration projects to reduce the risk of insects, diseases, and wildfires on federal forest land that is within 200 miles of tribal land. Approval of a request would not designate the federal forest land as Indian land for any purpose other than planning and conducting restoration projects.
Based on information from the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service, CBO estimates that implementing S. 3014 would have no significant effect on the federal budget. Under current law, restoration projects in federal forests are funded through appropriations and receipts from the sale of resources, such as timber. S. 3014 would not alter the method or amount of funding required to conduct those forest restoration projects. Any change in the agencies’ administrative costs under the bill, which would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds, would not exceed $500,000 in any year.
Enacting S. 3014 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting the legislation would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
S. 3014 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. The bill would benefit Indian tribes. Because activities carried out under the bill would be at the request of the tribes, any costs to the tribal governments would be incurred voluntarily as a result of entering into an agreement with the federal government.
