[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.