[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2913 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2913

  To amend the administrative requirements for conservation programs 
   administered by the Department of Agriculture to ensure a greater 
 emphasis on increasing habitat for native and managed pollinators and 
establishing cropping systems, integrated pest management regimes, and 
  other practices to protect native and managed pollinators, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2007

 Mr. Blumenauer (for himself, Mr. Hastings of Florida, and Mr. Kuhl of 
  New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the administrative requirements for conservation programs 
   administered by the Department of Agriculture to ensure a greater 
 emphasis on increasing habitat for native and managed pollinators and 
establishing cropping systems, integrated pest management regimes, and 
  other practices to protect native and managed pollinators, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Pollinator Habitat Protection Act of 
2007''.

SEC. 2. GIVING POLLINATOR HABITAT AND PROTECTION A PRIORITY IN 
              CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.

    (a) Additional Administrative Requirement for Conservation 
Programs.--Section 1244 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 
3844) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Native and Managed Pollinators.--In carrying out any 
conservation program administered by the Secretary, except the farmland 
protection program, the Secretary shall establish a priority and 
provide incentives for--
            ``(1) increasing habitat for native and managed 
        pollinators, especially native habitat; and
            ``(2) establishing cropping systems, integrated pest 
        management regimes, and other practices to protect native and 
        managed pollinators.''.
    (b) Designation of Pollinator Protection as National Priority 
Resource Concern.--Since increasing awareness about the importance of 
pollinator protection to agricultural producers and ecosystem health is 
a necessary step in facilitating pollinator stewardship, protection, 
and habitat conservation, it is the sense of Congress that the 
Secretary of Agriculture should designate pollinator protection as a 
``national priority resource concern'' for conservation programs 
administered by the Department of Agriculture.
    (c) Awareness and Use of Pollinator-Friendly Native Plants.--Since 
one of the obstacles for protecting and strengthening pollinator 
habitat is a chronic shortage of native plants, including seed and 
nursery stock for native plants, it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Secretary of Agriculture should continue efforts to 
        make nurseries and land managers aware of pollinator-friendly 
        native plants; and
            (2) Plant Materials Centers of the Department of 
        Agriculture should emphasize pollinator-beneficial native 
        plantings for native and managed pollinator habitat.
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