Will this bill improve the way National Forests and public lands are managed?

Environment and Energy
Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017 (H.R. 2936)
This bill has Passed the House of Representatives
Bill Summary

This bill aims to expedite and improve forest management activities on National Forest System lands, on public lands under the Bureau of Land Management's jurisdiction, and on Tribal lands in order to restore the health of national forests, and reverse poor land management. The Resilient Federal Forests Act: (1) includes a pilot project for utilizing arbitration for resolving legal challenges, time limits for preliminary injunctions, and requiring courts to weigh the risks of not taking action; (2) allows federal land managers to remove dead trees after wildfires, and (3) allows the president to declare major wildfires a natural disaster under the Stafford Act, making emergency funding available. Sponsor: Rep. Westerman, Bruce [R-AR-4]
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Opponents say

•      Under the guise of making national forests “healthier,” this proposed law pushes timber production on federal lands and undermines citizens’ ability to enforce environmental laws by eliminating rights for citizens to reclaim attorneys’ fees from the federal government under the Equal Access to Justice Act .
•    Under this bill, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) would be undermined by exempting several harmful activities from environmental review and public comment, including forest clearings for timber production on areas up to 30,000 acres.
•    This bill endangers natural life by attacking the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in many ways, including by allowing the Forest Service to determine itself when an activity is not likely to affect a listed species or critical habitat adversely, instead of consulting with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service experts.

Proponents say

•    This bill is crafted by a representative who has unique, credible experience: Rep. Bruce Westerman has an engineering degree from the University of Arkansas and a Master’s degree in forestry from Yale University, which makes him the only forester in the House.
•    This bill provides the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management the necessary tools and resources to better manage public lands, for example, by allowing federal land managers to quickly remove dead trees after wildfires.  
•    Bureaucracy and fears of litigation prevent federal forest management projects from being implemented. For instance, Forest Service employees typically spend 40% of their time doing paperwork instead of implementing projects to improve our national forests. This bill removes these impediments by providing limited categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act.
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