107 STAT. 1404 PUBLIC LAW 103-138—NOV. 11, 1993 Of the funds available to the Forest Service, $1,500 is available to the Chief of the Forest Service for official reception and representation expenses. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Forest Service is authorized to employ or otherwise contract with persons at regular rates of pay, as determined by the Service, to perform work occasioned by emergencies such as fires, storms, floods, earthquakes or any other unavoidable cause without regard to Simdays, Federal holidays, and the regular workweek. To the greatest extent possible, and in accordance with the Final Amendment to the Shawnee National Forest Plan, none of the funds available in this Act shall be used for preparation of timber sales using clearcutting or other forms of even aged management in hardwood stands in the Shawnee National Forest, Illinois. None of the funds made available in this Act shall be used for timber sale plsinning or scoping using clearcutting in the Ouachita and Ozark-St. Francis National Forests in Arkansas, except for sales that are necessary as a result of natural disaster or a threat to forest health, or for maintaining or enhancing wildlife habitat, or habitat for endangered and threatened species, or for research purposes. None of the funds available to the Forest Service in this Act shall be used to plan or conduct timber sales or to plan or build roads in the Rocky Face, Hidden Creek or Johns Mountain areas of the Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia. Pursuant to section 405(b), and section 410(b) of Public Law 101-593, funds up to $1,000,000 for matching funds shall be available for the National Forest Foundation. None of the funds available to the Forest Service in this Act shall be used to begin preparation of timber sales in fiscal year 1994 using the scaling method: Provided That this limitation shall not apply to timber salvage sales: Provided further, That thinning sales may be prepared using the scaling method if determined by the Regional Forester to be the most effective means of achieving a stated environmental objective: Provided further. That this limitation shall not apply to saJes prepared pursuant to existing timber contracts: Provided further. That any timber sales prepared during fiscal year 1994 which involve the use of the scaling method must be scaled by the Forest Service, or under contracts issued by the Forest Service and pedd for using deposits by the timber purchaser. _ Total outlays by the Forest Service pursuant to the cooperative work trust funds accounts (12-8028-0-7-302) shall not exceed $279,668,000 in fiscal year 1994. It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agriculture should issue rules at the earliest practicable date on the issue of below-cost timber sales. The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Forest Service, shall reimburse the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service for administrative costs incurred under the Stewardship Incentive Program for the actual cost of services provided by the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, except that the actual costs shall not exceed 10 percent of the total annual appropriation for the program. Funds appropriated to the Forest Service shall be available for interactions with and providing technical assistance to rurgd communities for sustainable rural development purposes.
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