Angie Craig: “this week marked the 21st anniversary of the congressional passage of the 1976 National Forest Management Act. It is…”

“this week marked the 21st anniversary of the congressional passage of the 1976 National Forest Management Act. It is, therefore, a particularly appropriate time to discuss revisions to modernize NFMA and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act also passed in 1976. Today, I am introducing a revised version draft of a legislative proposal I first circulated for comments and review last December. Actually, as I will explain shortly, I am introducing two bills today. The first bill, called the Public Lands Improvement Act of 1997, provides a series of reforms to the management programs of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The second bill, called the Federal Lands Management Adjustment Act of 1997, provides an opportunity for the States or other parties to seek certain management responsibilities for Federal, multiple-use lands. These two bills were bound together as one proposal in my December draft. But they have changed significantly as a consequence of six workshops sponsored by the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management, as well as a foot-thick pile of comments provided by individuals and groups who took the time and effort to review the December proposal, offer us their views, and suggest many helpful changes. The proposal that I am introducing today has been shared with the Clinton administration. We reviewed the proposal with them earlier this week.”