16 U.S.C. § 538a — Forest Service Legacy Road and Trail Remediation Program

(a) Establishment This section creates the Forest Service Legacy Road and Trail Remediation Program (called "the Program"), which the Secretary must set up. (b) Activities In running the Program, the Secretary must consider expected changes in weather and water patterns while doing all of the following: 1. Restoring passages for fish and other water-dwelling animals, by (A) improving, repairing, or replacing culverts and similar infrastructure, and (B) removing barriers the Secretary decides should come out. 2. Decommissioning (permanently closing) roads and trails that users created without authorization and that aren't official National Forest System roads or trails — but only where the relevant forest unit has published a map (a Motor Vehicle Use Map for roads, or a trail map for trails) that doesn't list that road or trail as official. 3. Preparing previously closed National Forest System roads for long-term storage — following the rules in subsections (c)(1) and (d) — in a way that (A) stops motor vehicle use consistent with how the route is designated, (B) prevents the road from damaging nearby resources, including water and wildlife resources, (C) cuts down or removes the need for future maintenance, and (D) keeps the road usable again someday. 4. Decommissioning previously closed National Forest System roads and trails, following subsections (c)(1) and (d). 5. Relocating National Forest System roads and trails (A) to make them hold up better against extreme weather, flooding, and other natural disasters, and (B) to respond to changing conditions and public input. 6. Converting National Forest System roads into trails, while still allowing motorized and nonmotorized recreation on them where that fits the road's or trail's management status. 7. Decommissioning certain temporary roads — specifically ones that (A) were built before November 15, 2021, either for emergency operations or to support a resource extraction project, (B) the Secretary designated as temporary, and (C) either still have no regrown vegetation in violation of section 1608(b) of this title, or haven't been fully decommissioned yet. 8. Carrying out projects on National Forest System roads, trails, and bridges to make them more resilient to extreme weather, flooding, or other natural disasters. (c) Project selection 1. Project eligibility. (A) The Secretary may only fund a subsection (b)(3) or (b)(4) project (long-term storage prep or decommissioning of previously closed roads/trails) if the Secretary already separately (i) asked the public for comments on changing the road's or trail's management status — to close it to access and to minimize harm to natural resources — and (ii) has actually closed that road or trail to access. (B) Every project funded under the Program must be on a National Forest System road or trail — except for a subsection (b)(2) project (decommissioning unauthorized roads/trails), or a project on a watershed covered by a cooperative agreement under section 1011a of this title. 2. Annual project selection. The Secretary must (A) set up a yearly process for choosing which projects to fund, following this section's requirements, (B) ask for and consider public input, region by region, when ranking projects, (C) give priority to projects that would protect or improve drinking-water quality, restore habitat for a threatened, endangered, or sensitive fish or wildlife species, or keep access open for the public, contractors, permit holders, or firefighters, and (D) publish on the Forest Service's website both the selection process itself and a yearly list describing each funded project and its expected outcome. (d) Implementation In carrying out the Program, the Secretary must make sure that: 1. The road and trail system on each relevant forest unit (A) can meet growing demand for timber, recreation, and other uses, (B) allows for intensive use, protection, development, and management under multiple-use and sustained-yield principles, (C) doesn't damage, degrade, or harm nearby resources — including water and wildlife resources — as far as practical, (D) reflects realistic long-term funding expectations, and (E) can support emergency operations, such as evacuation routes during wildfires and floods. 2. Every funded project fits the applicable forest plan or travel management plan. (e) Savings clause Funding a project under the Program does not change any past or future decision the Secretary makes about closing a road or trail. A decision under this Program stands on its own.