Subject to the terms and conditions of this section, up to $250,000,000 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund is authorized to be appropriated to acquire lands referenced in the Agreement of September 28, 1996, which consist of approximately 4,500 acres commonly referred to as the “Headwaters Forest”, approximately 1,125 acres referred to as the “Elk Head Forest”, and approximately 9,600 acres referred to as the “Elk River Property”, which are located in Humboldt County, California. This section is the sole authorization for the acquisition of such property, which is the subject of the Agreement dated September 28, 1996 between the United States of America (hereinafter “United States”), the State of California, MAXXAM, Inc., and the Pacific Lumber Company. Of the entire Elk River Property, the United States and the State of California are to retain approximately 1,845 acres and transfer the remaining approximately 7,755 acres of Elk River Property to the Pacific Lumber Company. The property to be acquired and retained by the United States and the State of California is that property that is the subject of the Agreement of September 28, 1996 as generally depicted on maps labeled as sheets 1 through 7 of Township 3 and 4 North, Ranges 1 East and 1 West, of the Humboldt Meridian, California, titled “Dependent Resurvey and Tract Survey”, as approved by Lance J. Bishop, Chief Cadastral Surveyor—California, on August 29, 1997. Such maps shall be on file in the Office of the Chief Cadastral Surveyor, Bureau of Land Management, Sacramento, California. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to make such typographical and other corrections to this description as are mutually agreed upon by the parties to the Agreement of September 28, 1996. The land retained by the United States and the State of California (approximately 7,470 acres) shall hereafter be the “Headwaters Forest”. Any funds appropriated by the Federal Government to acquire lands or interests in lands that enlarge the Headwaters Forest by more than five acres per each acquisition shall be subject to specific authorization enacted subsequent to this Act, except that such funds may be used pursuant to existing authorities to acquire such lands up to five acres per each acquisition or interests in lands that may be necessary for roadways to provide access to the Headwaters Forest.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the amount paid by the United States to acquire identified lands and interests in lands referred to in subsection (a) may differ from the value contained in the appraisal required by subsection (b)(5) if the Secretary of the Interior certifies, in writing, to Congress that such action is in the best interest of the United States.
Within 60 days after November 14, 1997, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall report to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives on the scientific and legal standards and criteria for threatened, endangered, and candidate species under the Endangered Species Act [16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.] and any other species used to develop the habitat conservation plan (hereinafter “HCP”) and the section 10(a) [16 U.S.C. 1539(a)] incidental take permit for the Pacific Lumber Company land.
If the Pacific Lumber Company submits an application for an incidental take permit under section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act [16 U.S.C. 1539(a)] for the transaction authorized by subsection (a), and the permit is not issued, then the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service shall set forth the substantive rationale or rationales for why the measures proposed by the applicant for such permit did not meet the issuance criteria for the species at issue. Such report shall be submitted to the Congress within 60 days of the decision not to issue such permit or by May 1, 1999, whichever is earlier.
If a section 10(a) permit for the Pacific Lumber Company HCP is issued, it shall be deemed to be unique to the circumstances associated with the acquisition authorized by this section and shall not establish a higher or lesser standard for any other multispecies HCPs than would otherwise be established under existing law.
Within 30 days of the acquisition of the Headwaters Forest, the Secretary of the Interior shall provide a $10,000,000 direct payment to Humboldt County, California.
The Federal portion of the Headwaters Forest acquired pursuant to this section shall be entitlement land under section 6905 of title 31.
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to vest management authority and responsibility in the Trust composed of a board of five trustees each appointed for terms of three years. Two trustees shall be appointed by the Governor of the State of California. Three trustees shall be appointed by the President of the United States. The first group of trustees shall be appointed within 60 days of exercising the authority under this subsection and the terms of the trustees shall begin on such day. The Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Resources of the State of California, and the Chairman of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors shall be nonvoting, ex officio members of the board of trustees. The Secretary is authorized to make grants to the Trust for the management of the Headwaters Forest from amounts authorized and appropriated.
The National Environmental Policy Act [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.] shall apply to the development and implementation of the management plan.