[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 260 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]


        S.260

                       One Hundred Ninth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the third day of January, two thousand and six


                                 An Act


 
  To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide technical and 
  financial assistance to private landowners to restore, enhance, and 
 manage private land to improve fish and wildlife habitats through the 
                 Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Partners for Fish and Wildlife 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
        (1) approximately 60 percent of fish and wildlife in the United 
    States are on private land;
        (2) it is imperative to facilitate private landowner-centered 
    and results-oriented efforts that promote efficient and innovative 
    ways to protect and enhance natural resources;
        (3) there is no readily available source of technical 
    biological information that the public can access to assist with 
    the application of state-of-the-art techniques to restore, enhance, 
    and manage fish and wildlife habitats;
        (4) a voluntary cost-effective program that leverages public 
    and private funds to assist private landowners in the conduct of 
    state-of-the-art fish and wildlife habitat restoration, 
    enhancement, and management projects is needed;
        (5) durable partnerships working collaboratively with willing 
    private landowners to implement on-the-ground projects has lead to 
    the reduction of endangered species listings;
        (6) Executive Order No. 13352 (69 Fed. Reg. 52989) directs the 
    Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense and 
    the Environmental Protection Agency to pursue new cooperative 
    conservation programs involving the collaboration of Federal, 
    State, local, and tribal governments, private for-profit and non-
    profit institutions, non-governmental entities, and individuals;
        (7) since 1987, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program has 
    exemplified cooperative conservation as an innovative, voluntary 
    partnership program that helps private landowners restore wetland 
    and other important fish and wildlife habitat; and
        (8) through 33,103 agreements with private landowners, the 
    Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program has accomplished the 
    restoration of 677,000 acres of wetland, 1,253,700 acres of prairie 
    and native grasslands, and 5,560 miles of riparian and in-stream 
    habitat since 1987, demonstrating much of that success since only 
    2001.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide for the 
restoration, enhancement, and management of fish and wildlife habitats 
on private land through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, a 
program that works with private landowners to conduct cost-effective 
habitat projects for the benefit of fish and wildlife resources in the 
United States.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
        (1) Federal trust species.--The term ``Federal trust species'' 
    means migratory birds, threatened species, endangered species, 
    interjurisdictional fish, marine mammals, and other species of 
    concern.
        (2) Habitat enhancement.--
            (A) In general.--The term ``habitat enhancement'' means the 
        manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological 
        characteristics of a habitat to change a specific function or 
        seral stage of the habitat.
            (B) Inclusions.--The term ``habitat enhancement'' 
        includes--
                (i) an activity conducted to increase or decrease a 
            specific function for the purpose of benefitting species, 
            including--

                    (I) increasing the hydroperiod and water depth of a 
                stream or wetland beyond what would naturally occur;
                    (II) improving waterfowl habitat conditions;
                    (III) establishing water level management 
                capabilities for native plant communities;
                    (IV) creating mud flat conditions important for 
                shorebirds; and
                    (V) cross fencing or establishing a rotational 
                grazing system on native range to improve grassland 
                nesting bird habitat conditions; and

                (ii) an activity conducted to shift a native plant 
            community successional stage, including--

                    (I) burning an established native grass community 
                to reduce or eliminate invading brush or exotic 
                species;
                    (II) brush shearing to set back early successional 
                plant communities; and
                    (III) forest management that promotes a particular 
                seral stage.

            (C) Exclusions.--The term ``habitat enhancement'' does not 
        include regularly scheduled and routine maintenance and 
        management activities, such as annual mowing or spraying of 
        unwanted vegetation.
        (3) Habitat establishment.--The term ``habitat establishment'' 
    means the manipulation of physical, chemical, or biological 
    characteristics of a project site to create and maintain habitat 
    that did not previously exist on the project site, including 
    construction of--
            (A) shallow water impoundments on non-hydric soils; and
            (B) side channel spawning and rearing habitat.
        (4) Habitat improvement.--The term ``habitat improvement'' 
    means restoring, enhancing, or establishing physiographic, 
    hydrological, or disturbance conditions necessary to establish or 
    maintain native plant and animal communities, including periodic 
    manipulations to maintain intended habitat conditions on completed 
    project sites.
        (5) Habitat restoration.--
            (A) In general.--The term ``habitat restoration'' means the 
        manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological 
        characteristics of a site with the goal of returning the 
        majority of natural functions to the lost or degraded native 
        habitat.
            (B) Inclusions.--The term ``habitat restoration'' 
        includes--
                (i) an activity conducted to return a project site, to 
            the maximum extent practicable, to the ecological condition 
            that existed prior to the loss or degradation, including--

                    (I) removing tile drains or plugging drainage 
                ditches in former or degraded wetland;
                    (II) returning meanders and sustainable profiles to 
                straightened streams;
                    (III) burning grass communities heavily invaded by 
                exotic species to reestablish native grass and plant 
                communities; and
                    (IV) planting plant communities that are native to 
                the project site;

                (ii) if restoration of a project site to its original 
            ecological condition is not practicable, an activity that 
            repairs 1 or more of the original habitat functions and 
            that involve the use of native vegetation, including--

                    (I) the installation of a water control structure 
                in a swale on land isolated from overbank flooding by a 
                major levee to simulate natural hydrological processes; 
                and
                    (II) the placement of streambank or instream 
                habitat diversity structures in streams that cannot be 
                restored to original conditions or profile; and

                (iii) removal of a disturbing or degrading element to 
            enable the native habitat to reestablish or become fully 
            functional.
        (6) Private land.--
            (A) In general.--The term ``private land'' means any land 
        that is not owned by the Federal Government or a State.
            (B) Inclusions.--The term ``private land'' includes tribal 
        land and Hawaiian homeland.
        (7) Project.--The term ``project'' means a project carried out 
    under the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program established by 
    section 4.
        (8) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
    the Interior.

SEC. 4. PARTNERS FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE PROGRAM.

    The Secretary shall carry out the Partners for Fish and Wildlife 
Program within the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to provide--
        (1) technical and financial assistance to private landowners 
    for the conduct of voluntary projects to benefit Federal trust 
    species by promoting habitat improvement, habitat restoration, 
    habitat enhancement, and habitat establishment; and
        (2) technical assistance to other public and private entities 
    regarding fish and wildlife habitat restoration on private land.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act not 
more than $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2011.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.