I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9602 

To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to authorize 

States to approve certain organizations to acquire, hold, and manage 

conservation easements under the Forest Legacy Program, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 

Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. HUFFMAN, and 

Ms. BONAMICI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 

to authorize States to approve certain organizations to 

acquire, hold, and manage conservation easements under 

the Forest Legacy Program, 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 ‘‘Forest Legacy Man5 agement Flexibility Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY OF STATES TO ALLOW QUALIFIED OR2 GANIZATIONS TO ACQUIRE, HOLD, AND MAN3 AGE CONSERVATION EASEMENTS UNDER 

4 THE FOREST LEGACY PROGRAM. 

5 (a) STATE AUTHORIZATION.—Section 7 of the Coop6 erative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 

7 2103c) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (l)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘sub10 section (m)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (o)’’; 

11 and 

12 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

13 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

14 ‘‘the State of Vermont’’ and inserting ‘‘any 

15 State’’; and 

16 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(ii), in the 

17 matter preceding subclause (I), by striking 

18 ‘‘of Vermont’’ and inserting ‘‘involved’’; 

19 (2) by redesignating subsection (m) as sub20 section (o); and 

21 (3) by inserting after subsection (l) the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(m) THIRD-PARTY CONSERVATION EASEMENTS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the request of a State, 

25 the Secretary shall authorize the State to approve el26 igible qualified organizations to acquire, hold, and 


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1 manage conservation easements to carry out activi2 ties under the Forest Legacy Program. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to acquire, 

4 hold, and manage a conservation easement under 

5 this subsection, a qualified organization shall dem6 onstrate to the Secretary the abilities necessary to 

7 acquire, monitor, and enforce interests in 

8 forestland— 

9 ‘‘(A) consistent with the Forest Legacy 

10 Program; and 

11 ‘‘(B) in accordance with the applicable as12 sessment of need submitted to the Secretary by 

13 the State in which the conservation easement is 

14 located. 

15 ‘‘(3) REVERSION.—If the Secretary or a State 

16 determines a condition described in paragraph (4) is 

17 met with respect to a conservation easement— 

18 ‘‘(A) all right, title, and interest of the 

19 qualified organization in and to the conserva20 tion easement shall terminate; and 

21 ‘‘(B) all right, title, and interest in and to 

22 the conservation easement shall revert to the 

23 State or, if approved by the State, another 

24 qualified organization determined eligible by the 

25 Secretary under paragraph (2). 


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1 ‘‘(4) CONDITIONS FOR REVERSION.—A condi2 tion described in this paragraph is, with respect to 

3 a conservation easement acquired, held, and man4 aged by a qualified organization, any of the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(A) The qualified organization is unable 

7 to carry out the responsibilities of the qualified 

8 organization under the Forest Legacy Program 

9 with respect to the conservation easement. 

10 ‘‘(B) The conservation easement has been 

11 modified in a way that is inconsistent with the 

12 purposes of the Forest Legacy Program or the 

13 applicable assessment of need described in para14 graph (2)(B). 

15 ‘‘(C) The conservation easement has been 

16 conveyed to another person (other than a quali17 fied organization determined eligible by the Sec18 retary under paragraph (2) and approved by 

19 the State). 

20 ‘‘(n) QUALIFIED ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—In this 

21 section, the term ‘qualified organization’ means an organi22 zation that— 

23 ‘‘(1) is a qualified organization, as defined in 

24 section 170(h)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

25 1986; 


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1 ‘‘(2) is organized for, and at all times since the 

2 formation of the organization, has been operated 

3 principally for one or more of the conservation pur4 poses described in section 170(h)(4)(A) of such 

5 Code; 

6 ‘‘(3) has not been the subject of any criminal 

7 or civil enforcement action taken by the Attorney 

8 General of the United States or the Commissioner of 

9 the Internal Revenue Service pertaining to the chari10 table donation of conservation easements under such 

11 Code; and 

12 ‘‘(4) has been awarded, and at all times there13 after maintained, accredited status by the Land 

14 Trust Accreditation Commission, or if such Commis15 sion ceases to exist, a successor organization that of16 fers substantially similar accreditation and is ap17 proved by the Secretary for purposes of this sec18 tion.’’. 

19 (b) TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.—Section 7 of the Co20 operative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 

21 2103c) is further amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘subsection 

23 (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)’’; 

24 (2) in subsection (l)(3)(B)(i)(II), by inserting 

25 ‘‘and’’ after the semi-colon at the end; and 


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1 (3) in the header of subsection (o), as redesig2 nated by this section, by striking ‘‘APPROPRIATION’’ 

3 and inserting ‘‘AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA4 TIONS’’. 

Æ 


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