I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4723 

To require the identification of salmon conservation areas, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 17, 2019 

Mr. HUFFMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the identification of salmon conservation areas, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Salmon Focused In5 vestments in Sustainable Habitats Act of 2019’’ or the 

6 ‘‘Fish Act of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Pacific and Atlantic salmon are important 

2 for food, culture, ecology, and the economy. 

3 (2) Salmon are especially important to Indian 

4 Tribes, many of which consider salmon to be sacred 

5 and central to their culture, ceremonies, and subsist6 ence. 

7 (3) Such Indian Tribes have significant leader8 ship and expertise with respect to salmon. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) SALMON CONSERVATION AREA.—The term 

12 ‘‘salmon conservation area’’ means a watershed, a 

13 portion of a watershed, multiple watersheds, or other 

14 defined spatial units that— 

15 (A) is identified under section 4(b); 

16 (B) meets the biological criteria (as identi17 fied by the Administrator of the National Oce18 anic and Atmospheric Administration and the 

19 Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in co20 ordination with the relevant Federal agency 

21 with jurisdiction over such salmon conservation 

22 area) for abundance, productivity, diversity (ge23 netic and life history), habitat quality, or other 

24 biological attributes important to sustaining 


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1 viable populations of salmon throughout their 

2 range; or 

3 (C) a watershed that is regionally signifi4 cant for the conservation of salmon. 

5 (2) SALMON STRONGHOLD.—The term ‘‘salmon 

6 stronghold’’ means a salmon conservation area that 

7 has relatively high anadromous salmonid abundance, 

8 productivity, and diversity (life history and run tim9 ing), as well as habitat quality or other biological at10 tributes important to sustaining viable populations 

11 of wild salmon throughout their range. The term 

12 stronghold can be applied to a watershed, multiple 

13 watersheds, or other defined spatial units where pop14 ulations are strong and diverse, and habitats have a 

15 high intrinsic potential to support a particular spe16 cies or suite of species. 

17 (3) RELEVANT FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term 

18 ‘‘relevant Federal agency’’ means— 

19 (A) the Forest Service; 

20 (B) the Bureau of Land Management; 

21 (C) the National Park Service; 

22 (D) the National Oceanic Atmospheric Ad23 ministration; and 

24 (E) the Fish and Wildlife Service. 


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1 SEC. 4. IDENTIFICATION OF SALMON CONSERVATION 

2 AREAS. 

3 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 60 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

5 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

6 and the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service shall 

7 jointly issue guidance on the process and biological criteria 

8 required to identify salmon conservation areas. 

9 (b) PUBLICATION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad12 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos13 pheric Administration and the Director of the Fish 

14 and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with relevant 

15 Federal agencies shall publish a list of salmon con16 servation areas. 

17 (2) REVISION.—The Administrator of the Na18 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 

19 the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, in co20 operation with each relevant Federal agency shall re21 vise the list under paragraph (1) in accordance with 

22 subsection (d). 

23 (c) CONSULTATION.—In identifying salmon conserva24 tion areas under subsection (b), the Administrator of the 

25 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 


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1 the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, in coopera2 tion with each relevant Federal agency— 

3 (1) shall consult with— 

4 (A) the State in which such a salmon con5 servation area is located; and 

6 (B) Indian Tribes that have land, fishing 

7 rights, or cultural ties to the area in which the 

8 salmon conservation area is located; and 

9 (2) may consult with— 

10 (A) nongovernmental organizations; 

11 (B) non-Federal scientists; and 

12 (C) members of the public. 

13 (d) OTHER IDENTIFICATION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

15 the date described in subsection (b), an entity de16 scribed in subsection (c) may nominate to the Ad17 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos18 pheric Administration and the Director of the Fish 

19 and Wildlife Service a salmon conservation area for 

20 identification under subsection (b). 

21 (2) REVIEW.—In the case of a nomination de22 scribed in paragraph (1), not later than 180 days 

23 after receiving such nomination, the Administrator 

24 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis25 tration and the Director of the Fish and Wildlife 


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1 Service shall jointly determine if the watershed nom2 inated is a salmon conservation area. 

3 (e) WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION

4 IDENTIFICATION.—The Administrator of the National 

5 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Director 

6 of the Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the 

7 Secretary of Agriculture shall use watershed evaluations 

8 conducted under the Watershed Condition Framework 

9 under section 304 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 

10 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6543) and analyses associated with 

11 the identification of Conservation Watersheds to support 

12 an identification of a salmon conservation area under this 

13 section. 

14 (f) ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT.—The Administrator 

15 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

16 and the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service shall 

17 use the analyses conducted by the Administrator under 

18 section 305(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con19 servation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1855(b)) to 

20 identify, map, and designate essential fish habitat to sup21 port the identification of salmon conservation areas under 

22 this section. 

23 SEC. 5. EFFECT OF IDENTIFICATION. 

24 (a) PRIORITY FOR FOREST ROAD DECOMMIS25 SIONING.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall give priority 


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1 to forest road decommissioning (as defined in section 

2 212.1 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations) and fish 

3 passage projects within a salmon conservation area. 

4 (b) LEAST ADVERSE IMPACT.—Notwithstanding any 

5 other provision of law, to satisfy the requirements of sec6 tion 102(C)(iii) of the National Environmental Policy Act 

7 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(C)(iii)), any Federal action car8 ried out with respect to a salmon conservation area identi9 fied under section 4 shall be the action that has the least 

10 adverse impact on such salmon conservation areas. 

11 (c) TRANSBOUNDARY POLLUTION.— 

12 (1) NOTIFICATION OF SECRETARY OF STATE.— 

13 If any salmon conservation area is determined by a 

14 Federal agency to be negatively impacted by trans15 boundary pollution or other international actions 

16 originating in Canada, the head of the Federal agen17 cy shall notify the Secretary of State. 

18 (2) ACTION REQUIRED.—Not later than 30 

19 days after receiving a notification under paragraph 

20 (1), the Secretary of State shall consult with rep21 resentatives from Canada to resolve the issue for 

22 which the Secretary was notified under such para23 graph. 

24 (3) REFERRAL TO IJC.—If the issue for which 

25 the Secretary of State was notified under paragraph 


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1 (1) is not resolved on a date that is 6 months after 

2 the date of notification under such paragraph— 

3 (A) the Secretary shall request to submit a 

4 joint referral to the International Joint Com5 mission with Canada to research and provide 

6 recommendations to resolve such issue; and 

7 (B) if a joint referral under subparagraph 

8 (A) is not submitted, the Secretary shall refer 

9 such issue to the International Joint Commis10 sion. 

11 SEC. 6. WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION 

12 PROGRAM. 

13 Section 304 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 

14 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6543) is amended by adding at the 

15 end the following: 

16 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

18 appropriated to carry out this section and the pur19 pose described in paragraph (2), $40,000,000 for 

20 fiscal year 2020 and each of the 4 fiscal years there21 after. 

22 ‘‘(2) CONSERVATION WATERSHEDS PROGRAM.— 

23 The Secretary shall use a portion of the funds ap24 propriated pursuant to paragraph (1) to carry out 


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1 the conservation watersheds program of the Depart2 ment of Agriculture. 

3 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL WATERSHED PERMISSIBLE.— 

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, 

5 the Secretary may use funds appropriated under this 

6 subsection to identify additional priority watersheds 

7 in each National Forest if such watersheds, or por8 tions of, are determined by the Secretary to be salm9 on conservation areas (as defined in section 3 of the 

10 Fish Act of 2019).’’. 

11 SEC. 7. GRANT PROGRAM. 

12 (a) AUTHORIZATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Fish and 

14 Wildlife Foundation shall carry out a grant pro15 gram, to be known as the ‘‘Salmon Conservation 

16 Area Grant Program’’, to make grants to carry out 

17 the purposes described in subsection (b). 

18 (2) DURATION.—A grant under this section 

19 shall have a duration of not more than 5 years. 

20 (3) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this 

21 section, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation 

22 shall give priority to an eligible entity that dem23 onstrates that the eligible entity— 

24 (A) will carry out a project under this sec25 tion on a salmon stronghold; 


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1 (B) has considered the durability of the 

2 project and how the project contributes to the 

3 long-term conservation of salmon; 

4 (C) has coordinated with other stake5 holders to carry out the project; and 

6 (D) has considered how the project will 

7 work with other salmon restoration projects. 

8 (4) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Except in the 

9 case of an eligible entity that is an Indian Tribe, 

10 each eligible entity that receives a grant under this 

11 section shall provide, in cash or through in-kind con12 tributions from non-Federal sources, matching funds 

13 to carry out the activities funded by the grant in an 

14 amount equal to not less than 25 percent of the cost 

15 of the activities. 

16 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the grants under 

17 this section are— 

18 (1) to protect or maintain salmon conservation 

19 area features and projects that are focused on con20 servation and restoration within conservation areas; 

21 and 

22 (2) to carry out at least one of the following: 

23 (A) To address factors threatening to limit 

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1 ity, or other biological attributes important to 

2 sustaining viable salmon populations. 

3 (B) To restore or maintain ecological func4 tions and processes related to salmon produc5 tivity and diversity at watershed or subwater6 shed scales. 

7 (C) To improve the resilience of salmon 

8 populations in response to acute events such as 

9 fires, landslides, and earthquakes. 

10 (D) To improve the resilience of salmon 

11 populations to climate change and prepare pop12 ulations for other future changes. 

13 (E) To provide co-benefits to fish and wild14 life, in particular where salmon can be used as 

15 indicator species for habitat quality. 

16 (F) To implement focused, prioritized pro17 tection and restoration in watersheds. 

18 (G) To improve conservation area resil19 ience both downstream and upstream. 

20 (c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

21 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli22 cation to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation at 

23 such time, in such manner, and containing such informa24 tion as the Foundation may require. 


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1 (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, 

2 the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means an Indian Tribe, non3 governmental organization, State or local agency, or insti4 tution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of 

5 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that 

6 has approval to carry out a project with respect to a salm7 on conservation area under this section from the relevant 

8 Federal agency that has jurisdiction over such salmon con9 servation area. 

10 (e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re12 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant 

13 funds to carry out activities consistent with the pur14 poses described in subsection (b), which include— 

15 (A) subject to subsection (f), land acquisi16 tion, conservation easements, and land ex17 changes; 

18 (B) purchasing mining rights; 

19 (C) the improvement of fish passages and 

20 removal of fish passage barriers and dams; 

21 (D) habitat restoration and rehabilitation; 

22 (E) outreach and local engagement; 

23 (F) purchasing water rights related to 

24 leasing, consumption, and use; 


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1 (G) groundwater recharge projects (includ2 ing ponds and forbearance); 

3 (H) water efficiency projects; 

4 (I) regional planning or development of a 

5 focused, prioritized protection and restoration 

6 action plan for the watershed; or 

7 (J) monitoring and research, including 

8 monitoring the status of salmon populations in 

9 watersheds within conservation areas before and 

10 after the removal of a dam. 

11 (2) PROHIBITION.—None of the funds made 

12 available under this section may be used to carry out 

13 litigation. 

14 (f) ACQUISITION AND TRANSFER OF REAL PROP15 ERTY INTERESTS.— 

16 (1) USE OF REAL PROPERTY.—No project that 

17 will result in the acquisition by a relevant Federal 

18 agency or eligible entity of interest in land, in whole 

19 or in part, may receive funds under this section un20 less the project is consistent with the purposes of 

21 this section. 

22 (2) PRIVATE PROPERTY PROTECTION.—No 

23 Federal funds made available to carry out this sec24 tion may be used to acquire any real property or any 

25 interest in any real property without the written 


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1 consent of each owner of the property or interest in 

2 property. 

3 (3) TRANSFER OF REAL PROPERTY.—No land 

4 or interest in land, acquired in whole or in part by 

5 a relevant Federal agency or eligible entity with 

6 funds made available under this section to carry out 

7 a salmon conservation area conservation project may 

8 be transferred to a State, other public agency, or 

9 other entity unless— 

10 (A) the Administrator of the National Oce11 anic and Atmospheric Administration, the Na12 tional Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the 

13 relevant Federal agency with jurisdiction over 

14 such land determines that the State, agency, or 

15 entity is committed to manage, in accordance 

16 with this section and the purposes of this sec17 tion, the property being transferred; and 

18 (B) the deed or other instrument of trans19 fer contains provisions for the reversion of the 

20 title to the property to the United States if the 

21 State, agency, or entity fails to manage the 

22 property as a salmon conservation area in ac23 cordance with this section and the purposes of 

24 this section. 


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1 (4) REQUIREMENT.—Any real property interest 

2 conveyed under paragraph (3) shall be subject to 

3 such terms and conditions as will ensure, to the 

4 maximum extent practicable, that the interest will be 

5 administered in accordance with this section and the 

6 purposes of this section. 

7 (g) REPORTS.—Not later than 5 years after the on 

8 which the first grant is made under this section, the Na9 tional Fish and Wildlife Foundation shall submit a report 

10 to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor11 tation of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Re12 sources of the House of Representatives that includes— 

13 (1) an evaluation of the results of each projects 

14 with recommendation on strategies and approaches 

15 focusing on salmon conservation actions projected to 

16 have the greatest positive impacts on abundance, 

17 productivity, or diversity in salmon conservation 

18 areas; 

19 (2) conclusions and recommendations on appro20 priate metrics to measure and evaluate the efficacy 

21 of salmon conservation efforts, including key indica22 tors for habitat and aquatic health and recommenda23 tions on quantifying such benefits; 


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1 (3) status and trends for wild salmon abun2 dance, diversity, and productivity in each salmon 

3 conservation area; and 

4 (4) social and economic effects resulting from 

5 salmon conservation area conservation; assessment 

6 of threats imposed by changing ocean conditions on 

7 marine survival. 

8 (h) APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be ap9 propriated to carry out this section $30,000,000 for fiscal 

10 year 2020 and each of the 4 fiscal years thereafter. 

11 SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS. 

12 Nothing in this Act, and no action to implement this 

13 Act, may be construed— 

14 (1) to create a reserved water right, express or 

15 implied, in the United States for any purpose, or af16 fect the management or priority of water rights 

17 under State law; 

18 (2) to affect existing water rights under Federal 

19 or State law; 

20 (3) to affect any Federal or State law in exist21 ence on the date of enactment of this Act regarding 

22 water quality or water quantity; 

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1 ognized Indian Tribe under any applicable treaty, or 

2 Federal or tribal law or regulation; or 

3 (5) to diminish or affect the ability of the head 

4 of a relevant Federal agency to join the adjudication 

5 of rights to the use of water pursuant to subsection 

6 (a), (b), or (c) of section 208 of the Department of 

7 Justice Appropriation Act, 1953 (43 U.S.C. 666). 

Æ 


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