United States S 3760: Watershed Protection and Forest Recovery Act of 2024

Bill Text

II
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION S. 3760
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary
of Agriculture to carry out emergency watershed protection measures
on National Forest System land, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 7, 2024
Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. ROMNEY) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize
the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out emergency wa-
tershed protection measures on National Forest System
land, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Watershed Protection 4
and Forest Recovery Act of 2024’’. 5
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. 6
(a) FUNDING AND ADMINISTRATION.—Section 7
404(b) of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 8
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2204(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘to carry out section 1
401’’ after ‘‘for a fiscal year’’. 2
(b) EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM.— 3
Title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 4
2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘SEC. 408. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. 7
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
‘‘(1) EMERGENCY WATERSHED PROTECTION 9
MEASURES.—The term ‘emergency watershed pro-10
tection measures’ means measures that— 11
‘‘(A) are necessary to address runoff retar-12
dation, soil-erosion prevention, and flood miti-13
gation caused by a natural disaster or any other 14
natural occurrence that has caused a sudden 15
impairment to natural resources on National 16
Forest System land, and the damage, if not 17
treated— 18
‘‘(i) would significantly impair or en-19
danger the natural resources on the Na-20
tional Forest System land; and 21
‘‘(ii) would pose an immediate risk to 22
water resources or loss of life or property 23
downstream of the National Forest System 24
land; and 25
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‘‘(B) would maintain or restore forest 1
health and forest-related resources on the Na-2
tional Forest System land. 3
‘‘(2) NATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 4
disaster’ has the meaning given the term in section 5
407(a). 6
‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 7
the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the For-8
est Service. 9
‘‘(4) SPONSOR.—The term ‘sponsor’ means— 10
‘‘(A) a State or local government; 11
‘‘(B) an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 12
4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-13
cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)); and 14
‘‘(C) a water district, water conservation 15
district, water utility, or special district. 16
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary, acting 17
through a sponsor, is authorized to undertake emergency 18
watershed protection measures on National Forest System 19
land. 20
‘‘(c) AGREEMENTS; PAYMENTS.— 21
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 22
into an agreement with a sponsor and make pay-23
ments to the sponsor, on request of the sponsor, to 24
carry out emergency watershed protection measures. 25
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‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.— 1
‘‘(A) PROJECT TIMELINES.— 2
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Following a nat-3
ural disaster or natural occurrence that ne-4
cessitates the carrying out of emergency 5
watershed protection measures, the Sec-6
retary shall execute agreements under 7
paragraph (1) as expeditiously as possible. 8
‘‘(ii) TIMELINE.—A sponsor that has 9
entered into an agreement under para-10
graph (1) shall complete all emergency wa-11
tershed protection measures not later than 12
2 years after the conclusion of the applica-13
ble natural disaster or natural occurrence, 14
as determined by the Secretary, that neces-15
sitated the carrying out of those measures. 16
‘‘(iii) CONTINUED MONITORING.—A 17
sponsor that has entered into an agree-18
ment under paragraph (1) may monitor, 19
maintain, repair, or replace emergency wa-20
tershed protection measures for a period of 21
not more than 3 years following the con-22
clusion of the natural disaster or natural 23
occurrence, as determined by the Sec-24
retary, that necessitated the carrying out 25
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of those measures when failure to do so 1
would result in unacceptable risk to Na-2
tional Forest System land or downstream 3
water users. 4
‘‘(B) PAYMENTS.—Th