Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 117.djvu/1927

 117 STAT. 1908

PUBLIC LAW 108–148—DEC. 3, 2003 (5)(A) epidemic populations of Southern pine beetles are ravaging forests in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia; and (B) in 2001, Florida and Kentucky experienced 146 percent and 111 percent increases, respectively, in Southern pine beetle populations; (6) those epidemic outbreaks of Southern pine beetles have forced private landowners to harvest dead and dying trees, in rural areas and increasingly urbanized settings; (7) according to the Forest Service, recent outbreaks of the red oak borer in Arkansas and Missouri have been unprecedented, with more than 1,000,000 acres infested at population levels never seen before; (8) much of the damage from the red oak borer has taken place in national forests, and the Federal response has been inadequate to protect forest ecosystems and other ecological and economic resources; (9)(A) previous silvicultural assessments, while useful and informative, have been limited in scale and scope of application; and (B) there have not been sufficient resources available to adequately test a full array of individual and combined applied silvicultural assessments; (10) only through the full funding, development, and assessment of potential applied silvicultural assessments over specific time frames across an array of environmental and climatic conditions can the most innovative and cost effective management applications be determined that will help reduce the susceptibility of forest ecosystems to attack by forest pests; (11)(A) often, there are significant interactions between insects and diseases; (B) many diseases (such as white pine blister rust, beech bark disease, and many other diseases) can weaken trees and forest stands and predispose trees and forest stands to insect attack; and (C) certain diseases are spread using insects as vectors (including Dutch elm disease and pine pitch canker); and (12) funding and implementation of an initiative to combat forest pest infestations and associated diseases should not come at the expense of supporting other programs and initiatives of the Secretary. (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this title are— (1) to require the Secretary to develop an accelerated basic and applied assessment program to combat infestations by forest-damaging insects and associated diseases; (2) to enlist the assistance of colleges and universities (including forestry schools, land grant colleges and universities, and 1890 Institutions), State agencies, and private landowners to carry out the program; and (3) to carry out applied silvicultural assessments.

16 USC 6552.

SEC. 402. DEFINITIONS.

In this title: (1) APPLIED SILVICULTURAL ASSESSMENT.—

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