25 U.S.C. § 3103 — Definitions

Page 548 TITLE 25—INDIANS § 3079 Stat. 2372, known as the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act of 2021, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 3071 of this title and Tables. § 3079. Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this chapter $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2027. (Pub. L. 117–258, § 11, Dec. 21, 2022, 136 Stat. 2385.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original ‘‘this Act’’, meaning Pub. L. 117–258, Dec. 21, 2022, 136 Stat. 2372, known as the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act of 2021, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 3071 of this title and Tables. CHAPTER 33—NATIONAL INDIAN FOREST RESOURCES MANAGEMENT Sec. 3101. Findings. 3102. Purposes. 3103. Definitions. 3104. Management of Indian forest land. 3105. Forest management deduction. 3106. Forest trespass. 3107. Direct payment of forest products receipts. 3108. Secretarial recognition of tribal laws. 3109. Indian forest land assistance account. 3110. Tribal forestry programs. 3111. Assessment of Indian forest land and manage- ment programs. 3112. Alaska Native technical assistance program. 3113. Establishment of Indian and Alaska Native forestry education assistance. 3114. Postgraduation recruitment, education and training programs. 3115. Cooperative agreement between Department of the Interior and Indian tribes. 3115a. Tribal forest assets protection. 3115b. Tribal forest management demonstration project. 3116. Obligated service; breach of contract. 3117. Authorization of appropriations. 3118. Regulations. 3119. Severability. 3120. Trust responsibility. § 3101. Findings The Congress finds and declares that— (1) the forest lands of Indians are among their most valuable resources and Indian for- est lands— (A) encompass more than 15,990,000 acres, including more than 5,700,000 acres of com- mercial forest land and 8,700,000 acres of woodland, (B) are a perpetually renewable and man- ageable resource, (C) provide economic benefits, including income, employment, and subsistence, and (D) provide natural benefits, including ecological, cultural, and esthetic values; (2) the United States has a trust responsi- bility toward Indian forest lands; (3) existing Federal laws do not sufficiently assure the adequate and necessary trust man- agement of Indian forest lands; (4) the Federal investment in, and the man- agement of, Indian forest land is significantly below the level of investment in, and manage- ment of, National Forest Service forest land, Bureau of Land Management forest land, or private forest land; (5) tribal governments make substantial contributions to the overall management of Indian forest land; and (6) there is a serious threat to Indian forest lands arising from trespass and unauthorized harvesting of Indian forest land resources. (Pub. L. 101–630, title III, § 302, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4532.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE OF 2004 AMENDMENT Pub. L. 108–278, § 1, July 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 868, pro- vided that: ‘‘This Act [enacting section 3115a of this title and enacting provisions set out as a note under section 3115b of this title] may be cited as the ‘Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004’.’’ SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 101–630, title III, § 301, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4532, provided that: ‘‘This title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘National Indian Forest Resources Management Act’.’’ § 3102. Purposes The purposes of this chapter are to— (1) allow the Secretary of the Interior to take part in the management of Indian forest lands, with the participation of the lands’ ben- eficial owners, in a manner consistent with the Secretary’s trust responsibility and with the objectives of the beneficial owners; (2) clarify the authority of the Secretary to make deductions from the proceeds of sale of Indian forest products, assure the use of such deductions on the reservation from which they are derived solely for use in forest land man- agement activities, and assure that no other deductions shall be collected; (3) increase the number of professional In- dian foresters and related staff in forestry pro- grams on Indian forest land; and (4) provide for the authorization of necessary appropriations to carry out this chapter for the protection, conservation, utilization, man- agement, and enhancement of Indian forest lands. (Pub. L. 101–630, title III, § 303, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4532.) § 3103. Definitions For the purposes of this chapter, the term— (1) ‘‘Alaska Native’’ means Native as defined in section 1602(b) of title 43; (2) ‘‘forest’’ means an ecosystem of at least one acre in size, including timberland and woodland, which— (A) is characterized by a more or less dense and extensive tree cover, (B) contains, or once contained, at least ten percent tree crown cover, and (C) is not developed or planned for exclu- sive nonforest use; (3) ‘‘Indian forest land’’ means Indian lands, including commercial and non-commercial Page 549 TITLE 25—INDIANS § 3103 timberland and woodland, that are considered chiefly valuable for the production of forest products or to maintain watershed or other land values enhanced by a forest cover, regard- less whether a formal inspection and land clas- sification action has been taken; (4) ‘‘forest land management activities’’ means all activities performed in the manage- ment of Indian forest lands, including— (A) all aspects of program administration and executive direction such as— (i) development and maintenance of pol- icy and operational procedures, program oversight, and evaluation, (ii) securing of legal assistance and han- dling of legal matters, (iii) budget, finance, and personnel man- agement, and (iv) development and maintenance of necessary data bases and program reports; (B) all aspects of the development, prepa- ration and revision of forest inventory and management plans, including aerial photog- raphy, mapping, field management inven- tories and re-inventories, inventory anal- ysis, growth studies, allowable annual cut calculations, environmental assessment, and forest history, consistent with and reflective of tribal integrated resource management plans; (C) forest land development, including for- estation, thinning, tree improvement activi- ties, and the use of silvicultural treatments to restore or increase growth and yield to the full productive capacity of the forest en- vironment; (D) protection against losses from wildfire, including acquisition and maintenance of fire fighting equipment and fire detection systems, construction of firebreaks, hazard reduction, prescribed burning, and the devel- opment of cooperative wildfire management agreements; (E) protection against insects and disease, including— (i) all aspects of detection and evalua- tion, (ii) preparation of project proposals con- taining project description, environmental assessments and statements, and cost-ben- efit analyses necessary to secure funding, (iii) field suppression operations, and (iv) reporting; (F) assessment of damage caused by forest trespass, infestation or fire, including field examination and survey, damage appraisal, investigation assistance, and report, demand letter, and testimony preparation; (G) all aspects of the preparation, adminis- tration, and supervision of timber sale con- tracts, paid and free use permits, and other Indian forest product harvest sale docu- ments including— (i) cruising, product marking, silvicul- tural prescription, appraisal and harvest supervision, (ii) forest product marketing assistance, including evaluation of marketing and de- velopment opportunities related to Indian forest products and consultation and ad- vice to tribes, tribal and Indian enterprises on maximization of return on forest prod- ucts, (iii) archeological, historical, environ- mental and other land management re- views, clearances, and analyses, (iv) advertising, executing, and super- vising contracts, (v) marking and scaling of timber, and (vi) collecting, recording and distrib- uting receipts from sales; (H) provision of financial assistance for the education of Indians enrolled in accred- ited programs of postsecondary and post- graduate forestry and forestry-related fields of study, including the provision of scholar- ships, internships, relocation assistance, and other forms of assistance to cover edu- cational expenses; (I) participation in the development and implementation of tribal integrated resource management plans, including activities to coordinate current and future multiple uses of Indian forest lands; (J) improvement and maintenance of ex- tended season primary and secondary Indian forest land road systems; and (K) research activities to improve the basis for determining appropriate manage- ment measures to apply to Indian forest lands; (5) ‘‘forest management plan’’ means the principal document, approved by the Sec- retary, reflecting and consistent with a tribal integrated resource management plan, which provides for the regulation of the detailed, multiple-use operation of Indian forest land by methods assuring that such lands remain in a continuously productive state while meeting the objectives of the tribe and which shall in- clude— (A) standards setting forth the funding and staffing requirements necessary to carry out each management plan, with a report of cur- rent forestry funding and staffing levels; and (B) standards providing quantitative cri- teria to evaluate performance against the objectives set forth in the plan; (6) ‘‘forest product’’ means— (A) timber, (B) a timber product, including lumber, lath, crating, ties, bolts, logs, pulpwood, fuelwood, posts, poles and split products, (C) bark, (D) Christmas trees, stays, branches, fire- wood, berries, mosses, pinyon nuts, roots, acorns, syrups, wild rice, and herbs, (E) other marketable material, and (F) gravel which is extracted from, and utilized on, Indian forest lands; (7) ‘‘forest resources’’ means all the benefits derived from Indian forest lands, including for- est products, soil productivity, water, fish- eries, wildlife, recreation, and aesthetic or other traditional values of Indian forest lands; (8) ‘‘forest trespass’’ means the act of ille- gally removing forest products from, or ille- gally damaging forest products on, forest lands; Page 550 TITLE 25—INDIANS § 3104 (9) ‘‘Indian’’ means a member of an Indian tribe; (10) ‘‘Indian land’’ means land title to which is held by— (A) the United States in trust for an In- dian, an individual of Indian or Alaska Na- tive ancestry who is not a member of a fed- erally-recognized Indian tribe, or an Indian tribe, or (B) an Indian, an individual of Indian or Alaska Native ancestry who is not a member of a federally recognized tribe, or an Indian tribe subject to a restriction by the United States against alienation; (11) ‘‘Indian tribe’’ or ‘‘tribe’’ means any In- dian tribe, band, nation, Pueblo or other orga- nized group or community which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and serv- ices provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians and shall mean, where appropriate, the recognized tribal government of such tribe’s reservation; (12) ‘‘reservation’’ includes Indian reserva- tions established pursuant to treaties, Acts of Congress or Executive orders, public domain Indian allotments, and former Indian reserva- tions in Oklahoma; (13) ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the Interior; (14) ‘‘sustained yield’’ means the yield of for- est products that a forest can produce continu- ously at a given intensity of management; and (15) ‘‘tribal integrated resource management plan’’ means a document, approved by an In- dian tribe and the Secretary, which provides coordination for the comprehensive manage- ment of such tribe’s natural resources. (Pub. L. 101–630, title III, § 304, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4533.) § 3104. Management of Indian forest land (a) Management activities The Secretary shall undertake forest land management activities on Indian forest land, ei- ther directly or through contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants under the Indian Self-De- termination Act [25 U.S.C. 5321 et seq.]. (b) Management objectives Indian forest land management activities un- dertaken by the Secretary shall be designed to achieve the following objectives— (1) the development, maintenance, and en- hancement of Indian forest land in a perpet- ually productive state in accordance with the principles of sustained yield and with the standards and objectives set forth in forest management plans by providing effective man- agement and protection through the applica- tion of sound silvicultural and economic prin- ciples to— (A) the harvesting of forest products, (B) forestation, (C) timber stand improvement, and (D) other forestry practices; (2) the regulation of Indian forest lands through the development and implementation, with the full and active consultation and par- ticipation of the appropriate Indian tribe, of forest management plans which are supported by written tribal objectives and forest mar- keting programs; (3) the regulation of Indian forest lands in a manner that will ensure the use of good meth- od and order in harvesting so as to make pos- sible, on a sustained yield basis, continuous productivity and a perpetual forest business; (4) the development of Indian forest lands and associated value-added industries by Indi- ans and Indian tribes to promote self-sus- taining communities, so that Indians may re- ceive from their Indian forest land not only stumpage value, but also the benefit of all the labor and profit that such Indian forest land is capable of yielding; (5) the retention of Indian forest land in its natural state when an Indian tribe determines that the recreational, cultural, aesthetic, or traditional values of the Indian forest land represents the highest and best use of the land; (6) the management and protection of forest resources to retain the beneficial effects to In- dian forest lands of regulating water run-off and minimizing soil erosion; and (7) the maintenance and improvement of timber productivity, grazing, wildlife, fish- eries, recreation, aesthetic, cultural and other traditional values. (Pub. L. 101–630, title III, § 305, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4535.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The Indian Self-Determination Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is title I of Pub. L. 93–638, Jan. 4, 1975, 88 Stat. 2206, which is classified principally to subchapter I (§ 5321 et seq.) of chapter 46 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 5301 of this title and Tables. § 3105. Forest management deduction (a) Withholding of deduction Pursuant to the authority of section 413 of this title, the Secretary shall withhold a reason- able deduction from the gross proceeds of sales of forest products harvested from Indian forest land under a timber sale contract, permit, or other harvest sale document, which has been ap- proved by the Secretary, to cover in whole or part the cost of managing and protecting such Indian forest land. (b) Amount of deduction Deductions made pursuant to subsection (a) shall not exceed the lesser amount of— (1) 10 percent of gross proceeds, or (2) the percentage of gross proceeds collected on November 28, 1990, as forest management deductions by the Secretary on such sales of Indian forest products, unless the appropriate Indian tribe consents to an increase in the deductions. (c) Use of deduction The full amount of any deduction collected by the Secretary shall be expended according to an approved expenditure plan, approved by the Sec- retary and the appropriate Indian tribe, for the