Fire Recovery Improvement Act

Fire Recovery Improvement Act

This bill authorizes the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture to address post-wildfire flooding in certain communities adjacent to or downstream from Forest System land.

Specifically, the service may carry out watershed protection and flood prevention measures to address the effects of flooding in communities that are (1) located on land not under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service, and (2) threatened by post-wildfire flooding due to a post-wildfire burn scar on adjacent or upstream Forest Service lands. Upon receiving an independent hydraulic study that shows that severe and repetitive flooding is likely in such communities, the service may also carry out activities to mitigate potential effects of that flooding.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8084 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8084

  To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act to allow 
 additional flood prevention measures on certain lands, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 15, 2022

Mr. O'Halleran introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act to allow 
 additional flood prevention measures on certain lands, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fire Recovery Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL FLOOD PREVENTION MEASURES.

    The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. 1001 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 16. ADDITIONAL FLOOD PREVENTION MEASURES.

    ``(a) Forest Service Lands.--In carrying out this Act, the 
Secretary, acting through the Chief of the Natural Resources 
Conservation Service, may--
            ``(1) carry out activities on eligible lands to address the 
        effects of flooding in downstream communities; and
            ``(2) carry out activities to mitigate potential effects of 
        flooding in downstream communities upon the receipt of an 
        independent hydraulic study that shows that severe and 
        repetitive flooding is likely in such communities.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Downstream community.--The term `downstream 
        community' means a community that--
                    ``(A) is located on land not under the jurisdiction 
                of the Forest Service; and
                    ``(B) is threatened by post-wildfire flooding in 
                such community due to a post-wildfire burn scar on 
                adjacent or upstream Forest Service lands.
            ``(2) Eligible land.--The term `eligible land' means land 
        that is--
                    ``(A) located in a county in which less than 50 
                percent of the land is privately owned; and
                    ``(B) under the jurisdiction of the Forest 
                Service.''.
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