(a) Short title.—This Act may be cited as the “Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act”.

(b) Table of contents.—The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 3. Definitions.

It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) forests and other ecosystems, including grasslands and coastal wetlands, sequester and store atmospheric carbon on climatologically relevant timescales;

(2) conserving, protecting, and restoring forest, grassland, and wetland ecosystems globally would sequester a substantial amount of atmospheric carbon and constitute a pragmatic step towards addressing global carbon emissions and the degradation of biodiversity;

(3) blue carbon habitat can also store a substantial amount of atmospheric carbon and provide numerous other environmental, cultural, and economic benefits;

(4) as methods to address the changing climate, restore ecosystems, and benefit human health, the United States Government should take a leadership role, both domestically and abroad, in—

(A) ending deforestation;

(B) supporting tree planting, natural regeneration, forest landscape restoration, wildfire risk reduction, and sustainable forest management; and

(C) conserving and restoring grasslands, wetlands, blue carbon habitats, and other lands and waters at scale; and

(5) the 1t.org trillion trees platform established by the World Economic Forum, the Global Environment Facility, and other domestic and international efforts to conserve and expand healthy forest and tree cover, grasslands, wetlands, and blue carbon habitats globally should be supported.

In this Act:

(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term “Administrator” means the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

(2) BLUE CARBON HABITAT.—The term “blue carbon habitat” means a coastal habitat in the soils and vegetation of which carbon is stored, including a tidal wetland, a mangrove forest, a seagrass bed, a kelp forest, and other saltwater and estuarine coastal systems.

(3) CARBON SEQUESTRATION.—The term “carbon sequestration” means the processes of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide for a climatologically relevant period of time.

(4) FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION.—The term “forest landscape restoration” means a process that aims to regain ecological functionality and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded landscapes.

(5) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.—The term “National Forest System” has the meaning given the term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).

(6) NATURALLY REGENERATE.—The term “naturally regenerate” means the regeneration of natural tree growth from—

(A) available seed sources native to the specific forest area; or

(B) any other natural process that does not primarily involve planting.

(7) NET CARBON STOCK.—The term “net carbon stock” means the absolute quantity of carbon held within a discrete portion of the biosphere (including carbon held within a discrete portion of aboveground forest biomass and forest soil) at a specified time.

(8) SECRETARY.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture.

(9) SUSTAINABLE.—The term “sustainable” means the manner in which a land-use activity will, over the long-term—

(A) satisfy the human and ecological needs associated with the use of land;

(B) conserve critical habitat and conserve and enhance the environmental quality of the land; and

(C) optimize current and future land uses to ensure any enhancements in productivity are at a rate and in a manner that does not threaten decline.

(a) In general.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in collaboration with the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall establish—

(1) objectives for increased net carbon stock for the forest, grassland, wetland, and coastal blue carbon habitat ecosystems of the United States that are owned or managed by the Federal Government; and

(2) objectives that shall be developed collaboratively between 1 or more non-Federal entities and 1 or more Federal partners for increased net carbon stock for the forest, grassland, wetland, and coastal blue carbon habitat ecosystems of the United States that are owned or managed by a State or local government, an Indian Tribe, or a private person.

(b) Requirements.—Objectives established under subsection (a)—

(1) shall be based on the best available scientific and commercial information, including current and reference net carbon stock conditions for each ecosystem;

(2) shall be based on information relating to the maintenance or restoration of the ecological integrity of the ecosystems described in subsection (a), including maintaining or restoring ecologically appropriate forest, grassland, wetland, and blue carbon habitat structure, function, composition, and connectivity;

(3) shall consider naturally regenerated plant growth and planted growth;

(4) shall be established at levels that assist in achieving—

(A) the optimally feasible and ecologically appropriate increase in the total net carbon stock that private domestic, State, and Tribal landowners and the Federal Government can achieve by January 1, 2030, and every 10 years thereafter through January 1, 2100; and

(B) the maximum practicable retention, recruitment, and restoration of critical habitats, as appropriate for the forest type, to the extent that the trees promote increased net carbon stock;

(5) shall be informed by data collected through the Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the Forest Service and other relevant data;

(6) shall not negatively impact forest ecological integrity, forest function, forest composition, forest connectivity, and sustained yield and multiple uses;

(7) shall be published in the Federal Register, after notice and an opportunity for public comment, together with a statement of the basis and justification for the objectives;

(8) shall consider input from and the interests of local stakeholders; and

(9) shall consider—

(A) the conservation of existing ecosystems that sequester carbon; and

(B) the impact that a changing climate may have on—

(i) existing net carbon stocks in forest, grassland, wetland, and coastal blue carbon habitat ecosystems; and

(ii) the carbon sequestration potential of the ecosystems described in clause (i).

(a) Renewable resource assessment.—Section 3 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1601) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)—

(A) in each of paragraphs (4) and (5), by striking “and” at the end;

(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the comma at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

“(7) an analysis of the total carbon storage capacity of the National Forest System based on the lifecycle analysis established under section 102(b) of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act; and

“(8) an analysis of the opportunities to enhance and optimize total net carbon stock (as defined in section 3 of that Act and taking into consideration the requirements described in section 101(b) of that Act) in the National Forest System.”; and

(2) in subsection (c)—

(A) in paragraph (2), by striking “and” at the end;

(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

“(4) the potential for increased utilization of forest and wood products and byproducts that are sustainable (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act), including recommendations to Congress for actions relating to those products and byproducts that would lead to increased net carbon sequestration (as defined in that section).”.

(b) Lifecycle analysis.—

(1) LIFECYCLE STORAGE MODEL.—As a part of the assessment required under section 3 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1601), the Secretary shall develop, using the best available science, including data collected through the Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the Forest Service, computational models to analyze the lifecycle forest and grassland carbon sequestration potential associated with the National Forest System.

(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the model under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider—

(A) the net carbon stock in forests, grasslands, and wetlands, including in wood and forest soils;

(B) the rate of carbon sequestration in new trees and young forests;

(C) the rate of carbon sequestration in old trees and older forests;

(D) the carbon impacts from tree mortality;

(E) the carbon impacts from logging, milling, and other forest management activities;

(F) the carbon impacts from wildfire, pests, and other natural disturbances;

(G) the full lifecycle of carbon impacts from the manufacture of wood-based products, including storage benefits and substitution benefits from the use of wood-based products as compared to the use of more greenhouse-gas-intensive materials, including impacts on forest ecosystem net carbon stocks;

(H) the net carbon impact of a cycle of—

(i) harvest and regeneration; or

(ii) harvest and replanting;

(I) the carbon impacts from ecologically sound active forest management;

(J) the carbon impacts from retention, forest conservation, improved management, and restoration of other landscapes, including grasslands, sagebrush, steppe, wetlands, abandoned mine land, brownfields, and other degraded lands that were historically forested; and

(K) other factors, as determined by the Secretary.

(3) VALIDATION PROGRAM.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a program for validation and independent testing of the lifecycle models developed under paragraph (1).

(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the validation program under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall—

(i) regularly perform retrospective assessments comparing model predictions to field data on the carbon stored on the National Forest System; and

(ii) require third-party evaluation and comparison of lifecycle models developed under paragraph (1) against existing models, including enabling empirical testing of hypotheses regarding the net effects on land and atmospheric carbon stocks and other greenhouse gas impacts.

(4) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report on the findings of the analysis conducted using the lifecycle models developed under paragraph (1).

(a) In general.—Section 2 of the Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the “Knutson-Vandenberg Act”) (16 U.S.C. 576a), is amended—

(1) by striking the section designation and all that follows through “the Secretary of Agriculture” and inserting the following:

(2) by adding at the end the following:

“(b) Authorization of appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out subsection (a) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2030.”.

(b) Report.—Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives a report describing the shortcomings of, and barriers to, reforestation activities under section 2 of the Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the “Knutson-Vandenberg Act”) (16 U.S.C. 576a).

(a) In general.—The Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary and the heads of other relevant agencies, are encouraged to identify and pursue opportunities for the restoration or conservation of grasslands, wetlands, and coastal blue carbon habitats of the United States that are owned or managed by the Federal Government, State or local governments, Indian Tribes, or private persons that will—

(1) increase the net carbon stock of the United States, allowing the United States to reach the objectives established under section 101(a); and

(2) provide other environmental, cultural, and economic benefits to the region in which the restoration or conservation is carried out.

(b) Blue carbon monitoring.—In carrying out subsection (a), the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in collaboration with the Secretary of the Interior and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall monitor the net carbon stock in blue carbon habitats.

(c) Grassland carbon monitoring.—In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary, and the heads of other relevant agencies shall collaborate to monitor the net carbon stock in grassland.

(a) Establishment.—Section 501(a) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6571(a)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (3), by striking “and” at the end;

(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

“(5) to promote, in pursuit of the objectives for increasing net carbon stock established under section 101(a) of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act—

“(A) first in priority, the conservation and management of existing forests; and

“(B) second in priority, the planting or regeneration of additional trees in an ecologically appropriate manner.”.

(b) Enrollment priority.—Section 502(f) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6572) is amended by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:

“(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall give priority to the enrollment in the healthy forests reserve program of land that—

“(A) provides the greatest conservation benefit to—

“(i) species listed as endangered or threatened under section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533); and

“(ii) species that—

“(I) are not listed as endangered or threatened under section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533); but

“(II) (aa) are candidates for such listing, State-listed species, or special concern species; or

“(bb) are deemed a species of greatest conservation need under a State wildlife action plan;

“(B) promotes the restoration of marginal farmland or degraded forestland into healthy forest ecosystems; or

“(C) promotes the continuation of an ecologically appropriate ecosystem.”.

(c) Restoration plans.—Section 503(b) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6573(b)) is amended by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following:

“(4) Practices, including reforestation and other forestry practices, to increase net carbon stock (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act).”.

(a) Purposes of Foundation.—Section 402(b) of the National Forest Foundation Act (16 U.S.C. 583j(b)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (2), by striking “and” at the end;

(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

“(4) encourage, accept, and administer private gifts of money and of real and personal property for the benefit of, or in connection with, the objectives for optimizing total domestic carbon stocks established under section 101(a) of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act; and

“(5) carry out the Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Prize for Forest Restoration under section 410.”.

(b) Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Prize for Forest Restoration.—The National Forest Foundation Act (16 U.S.C. 583j et seq.) is amended—

(1) in section 405, by striking “410” both places it appears and inserting “411”;

(2) by redesignating section 410 as section 411; and

(3) by inserting after section 409 the following:

(a) Adding net carbon stock as a purpose.—Section 2(b) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2101(b)) is amended—

(1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through (10) as paragraphs (7) through (11), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:

“(6) the encouragement of reforestation, conservation, and related optimization of net carbon stock (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act and taking into consideration the requirements described in section 101(b) of that Act);”.

(b) Support for State Assessments and Strategies for Forest Resources when considering carbon emissions.—Section 2A(a)(1) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2101a(a)(1)) is amended—

(1) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:

“(C) (i) the net carbon stock (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act and taking into consideration the requirements described in section 101(b) of that Act) on State land and private land in the State; and

“(ii) opportunities to increase that net carbon stock, taking into consideration the requirements described in section 101(b) of that Act;”.

(c) Carbon storage through the forest stewardship program.—Section 5(d)(1) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2103a(d)(1)) is amended by inserting “carbon sequestration (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act),” before “and the aesthetic”.

(d) Carbon storage through the community forest and open space conservation program.—Section 7A(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2103d(c)(1)(B)(ii)) is amended by inserting “, net carbon stock (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act and taking into consideration the requirements described in section 101(b) of that Act),” before “and wildlife”.

(e) Carbon storage through the promotion of forest health.—Section 8(a) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2104(a)) is amended—

(1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (6) as paragraphs (5) through (7), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:

“(4) protect or enhance net carbon stock (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act and taking into consideration the requirements described in section 101(b) of that Act) on healthy forestland;”.

(f) Carbon storage through urban and community forestry.—Section 9(d)(3) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2105(d)(3)) is amended—

(1) in subparagraph (C), by striking “and” at the end;

(2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting “and” at the end; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

“(E) identifying opportunities to increase carbon stored through tree planting and scientific urban forestry management;”.

(g) Carbon storage through the State and private forest landscape-Scale restoration.—Section 13A of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2109a) is amended—

(1) in subsection (e)—

(A) in paragraph (6), by striking “and” at the end;

(B) by redesignating paragraph (7) as paragraph (8); and

(C) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following:

“(7) to improve the potential to increase the net carbon stock (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act and taking into consideration the requirements described in section 101(b) of that Act) of forest ecosystems through methods that result in real, measurable, and verifiable changes in that net carbon stock; and”; and

(2) in subsection (l), by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:

“(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Fund $25,000,000 for the first full fiscal year after the date of enactment of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act and each fiscal year thereafter through fiscal year 2025, to remain available until expended.”.

(a) In general.—Section 3 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 1642) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)—

(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), in the second sentence, by striking “include,” and all that follows through “subsection.” and inserting “include the following 6 major areas of renewable resource research:”;

(B) in paragraph (1), by inserting “further expanding the understanding of wood product carbon sequestration (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act), including by developing and improving carbon accounting strategies for specific, ecologically sound forest management practices;” before “and developing”; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

“(6) Renewable resource assessment research shall include, as appropriate, research activities relating to the sequestration of carbon, including—

“(A) accounting strategies for specific, ecologically sound forest management practices in specific forest types;

“(B) increased carbon storage through reforestation, natural regeneration (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act) or conservation, and forest and rangeland management; and

“(C) the utilization of wood and other materials derived from forest and rangeland renewable resources to store carbon in building materials and industrial or consumer products.”;

(2) in subsection (c)—

(A) in paragraph (1)—

(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “United States” and all that follows through “referred to” and inserting “Chief of the Forest Service, shall carry out a program (referred to in this subsection”;

(ii) in subparagraph (G), by striking “and” at the end;

(iii) in subparagraph (H), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

(iv) by adding at the end the following:

“(I) accelerate and expand existing research efforts to improve forest carbon measurement and monitoring technologies—

“(i) to better predict changes in forest carbon due to a changing climate; and

“(ii) to reduce costs of participation, and increase participation, by private forest landowners in carbon markets; and

“(J) conduct a study to monitor impacts from carbon-enhancing activities.”; and

(B) in paragraph (4)—

(i) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (C);

(ii) by striking “the following reports:” and all that follows through “shall submit” in the matter preceding clause (i) of subparagraph (B) and inserting “, not later than January 15 of each year,”; and

(iii) by redesignating clauses (i) through (iv) as subparagraphs (A) through (D), respectively, and indenting appropriately; and

(3) in subsection (d)(2), by adding at the end the following:

“(F) Carbon sequestration (as defined in section 3 of the Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act).”.

(b) Technical amendment.—Section 2(c) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 1641(c)) is amended by inserting “of Agriculture (referred to in this Act as the ‘Secretary’)” after “Secretary”.

(a) Definitions.—In this section:

(1) CELLULOSIC BIOCHEMICAL PRODUCT.—The term “cellulosic biochemical product” means any biochemical, including bioethanol and its derivatives, that is derived from wood or plant cellulose fiber.

(2) CELLULOSIC BIOPLASTICS PRODUCT.—The term “cellulosic bioplastics product” means any bioplastic that is derived from wood or plant cellulose fiber.

(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term “institution of higher education” has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).

(4) SECRETARY.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary, acting through the Research and Development deputy area and the State and Private Forestry deputy area of the Forest Service.

(b) Authorization.—The Secretary shall conduct performance-driven research and development and provide for education and technical assistance for the purpose of facilitating the use of cellulosic biochemical and bioplastics products in the United States.