H.R. 7273

This bill establishes the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program.

Specifically, under the program, the Forest Service shall

• carry out critical deferred maintenance, urgent repairs, road and trail relocation, and associated activities on National Forest System roads, trails, and bridges;
• restore passages of fish and other aquatic species by removing or replacing unnatural barriers from such passages; and
• decommission any roads and trails as unneeded as soon as practicable after identifying them as unneeded.

In implementing the program, the Forest Service shall give priority to projects that protect or restore

• water quality and watershed function;
• a watershed that supplies a public drinking water system;
• the habitat of a threatened, endangered, or sensitive fish or wildlife species, or a species of conservation concern; or
• a watershed for which the Forest Service has completed a watershed protection and restoration action plan.

The Forest Service shall identify the minimum road system needed for each unit of the National Forest System.

The Forest Service shall develop a national strategy to carry out the program.