1.This Act may be cited as
the Nutria Eradication and Control Act
of 2011
.
2.Section 2 of the
Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621)
is amended—
(1)in subsection (a)—
(A)in paragraph (1), by striking and in
Louisiana
and inserting , the State of Louisiana, and other
coastal States
;
(B)in paragraph (2), by striking in
Maryland and Louisiana on Federal, State, and private land
and
inserting on Federal, State, and private land in the States of Maryland
and Louisiana and in other coastal States
; and
(C)by striking paragraphs (3) and (4) and
inserting the following:
(3)This Act authorizes the Maryland Nutria
Project, which has successfully eradicated nutria from more than 130,000 acres
of Chesapeake Bay wetlands in the State of Maryland and facilitated the
creation of voluntary, public-private partnerships and more than 406
cooperative landowner agreements.
(4)This Act and the Coastal Wetlands Planning,
Protection, and Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 3951 et seq.) authorize the
Coastwide Nutria Control Program, which has reduced nutria-impacted wetland
acres in the State of Louisiana from 80,000 acres to 23,141 acres.
(5)The proven techniques developed under this
Act that are eradicating nutria in the State of Maryland and reducing the acres
of nutria-impacted wetlands in the State of Louisiana should be applied to
nutria eradication or control programs in other nutria-infested coastal
States
;
and
(2)by striking subsection (b) and inserting
the following:
(b)The purpose of this Act is to authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to the States of
Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington
to carry out activities—
(1)to eradicate or control nutria; and
(2)to restore nutria damaged
wetlands.
.
3.The Nutria Eradication and Control Act of
2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) is amended—
(1)by redesignating sections 3 and 4 as
sections 4 and 5, respectively; and
(2)by inserting after section 2 the
following:
3.In this Act:
(1)The term coastal
State means each of the States of Delaware, Oregon, North Carolina,
Virginia, and Washington.
(2)The term program means the
nutria eradication program established by section 4(a).
(3)Public-private
partnershipThe term public-private partnership
means a voluntary, cooperative project undertaken by governmental entities or
public officials and affected communities, local citizens, nongovernmental
organizations, or other entities or persons in the private sector.
(4)The term Secretary means the
Secretary of the
Interior.
.
4.Nutria
eradication programSection 4
of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat.
621) (as redesignated by section 3) is amended—
(1)by striking subsection (a) and inserting
the following:
(a)The Secretary may,
subject to the availability of appropriations, provide financial assistance to
the States of Maryland and Louisiana and the coastal States to implement
measures—
(1)to eradicate or control nutria; and
(2)to restore wetlands damaged by
nutria.
;
(2)in subsection (b)—
(A)in paragraph (1), by inserting the
State of
before Maryland
;
(B)in paragraph (2), by striking other
States
and inserting the coastal States
; and
(C)in paragraph (3), by striking
marshland
and inserting wetlands
;
(3)in subsection (c)—
(A)by striking (c)
Activities
and inserting (c)
Activities in the State of
Maryland
; and
(B)by inserting , and updated in March
2009
before the period at the end;
(4)in subsection (e), by striking
financial assistance provided by the Secretary under this
section
and inserting the amounts made available under
subsection (f) to carry out the program
; and
(5)by striking subsection (f) and inserting
the following:
(f)Authorization of
appropriationsSubject to
subsection (e), for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2016, there are
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program such
sums as are necessary.
(f)Authorization of
appropriationsSubject to subsection (e), there is authorized to
be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program $6,000,000 for each
of fiscal years 2012 through 2016, of which—
(1)$2,000,000 shall be used
to provide financial assistance to the State of Maryland;
(2)$2,000,000 shall be used
to provide financial assistance to the State of Louisiana; and
(3)$2,000,000 shall be used
to provide financial assistance, on a competitive basis, to other coastal
States.
.
5.Section 5 of the Nutria Eradication and
Control Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) (as redesignated by
section 3) is amended—
(1)in paragraph (1), by striking 2002
document entitled Eradication Strategies for Nutria in the Chesapeake
and Delaware Bay Watersheds
; and
and inserting March
2009 update of the document entitled Eradication Strategies for Nutria
in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds
and originally dated
March 2002;
;
(2)in paragraph (2)—
(A)by striking develop
and
inserting continue
; and
(B)by striking the
period at the end and inserting ; and
; and
(3)by adding after paragraph (2) the
following:
(3)develop, in cooperation with the State of
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the State
of Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the State of Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife, the State of North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, and the State of Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife, long-term nutria control or eradication programs, as
appropriate, with the objective of—
(A)significantly reducing and restoring the
damage nutria cause to coastal wetlands in the coastal States; and
(B)promoting voluntary, public-private
partnerships to eradicate or control nutria and restoring nutria-damaged
wetlands in the coastal
States.
.
November 15, 2011
Reported with an amendment