[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 126 (Thursday, August 1, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5780-S5781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. PADILLA:
  S. 4953. A bill to establish the Wildlife Movement and Movement Area 
Grant Program and the State and Tribal Migration Research Program, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the Wildlife 
Movement Through Partnerships Act. This bipartisan legislation will 
improve collaboration across jurisdictions and support State, Tribal, 
and local efforts to improve wildlife habitat connectivity and 
migration corridors.
  As our country grows, both in population and development, so do the 
interactions between wildlife and humans. Every day in America, animals 
across the country cross roads and highways, hop fences and barriers, 
and navigate new human-made obstacles in order to survive. All too 
often, this means traditional wildlife corridors for migration are 
being cut off by human-made barriers, and that the biodiversity around 
us is coming under threat.
  In November 2023, I chaired a hearing in the Environment and Public 
Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife to hear testimony 
from stakeholders on the challenges and solutions to facilitating 
wildlife migration and movement corridors across public, Tribal, and 
private lands, and I am proud that the legislation I am introducing 
today is the bipartisan product of that hearing.
  The Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act would provide 
financial and technical assistance to support the movement and 
migration of wildlife.
  Specifically, the bill would formally establish several programs at 
the Department of the Interior to conserve,

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restore, or enhance habitat, migration routes, and connectivity; 
improve mapping efforts to better understand how and where wildlife 
move; and allow funds from the existing Partners for Fish and Wildlife 
Program to be used for wildlife movement. The bill would also direct 
the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Transportation to 
coordinate actions and funding for programs established by the bill and 
to improve coordination with States, Tribes, and non-governmental 
partners. Finally, the bill would ensure that the legislation is only 
applied in a voluntary manner while protecting valid existing and 
private rights, military readiness, private property, public access, 
and the authority or jurisdiction of States and Tribes.
  In 2018, the Interior Secretary signed secretarial order 3362, 
``Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big-Game Winter Range and 
Migration Corridors,'' in 11 Western States. To implement the 
secretarial order, Federal Agencies have used funding from relevant 
existing appropriations to support habitat improvement projects and 
research in areas identified by States for a limited set of big game 
species. While implementation of the secretarial order has been 
successful, Congress should create formal and dedicated programs in 
order to maintain this important work while expanding implementation to 
species beyond just big game and across the entire United States.
  This bill would also build on the success of the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law, which made an unprecedented $350 million investment 
in the Department of Transportation to implement a first-of-its-kind 
pilot program to make roads safer, prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions, 
and improve habitat connectivity. While this funding is critical, we 
must think bigger than individual wildlife crossings to boost wildlife 
connectivity at the landscape scale across the country.
  I want to thank Representative Zinke for leading this bill in the 
House, and I hope all of our colleagues will join us in supporting this 
bipartisan bill to improve habitat connectivity and maintain intact 
wildlife corridors for species--big and small.
                                 ______