II 

Calendar No. 134 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 260 

[Report No. 109–86] 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide technical and financial 

assistance to private landowners to restore, enhance, and manage private 

land to improve fish and wildlife habitats through the Partners for 

Fish and Wildlife Program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2005 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. JEFFORDS, and Mr. CHAFEE) 

introduced the following bill, which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

JUNE 22, 2005 

Reported by Mr. INHOFE, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide technical and financial assistance to private landowners to 

restore, enhance, and manage private land to improve 

fish and wildlife habitats through the Partners for Fish 

and Wildlife Program.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Partners for Fish and 

3 Wildlife Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

6 (1) approximately 60 percent of fish and wild7 life in the United States are on private land; 

8 (2) it is imperative to facilitate private land9 owner-centered and results-oriented efforts that pro10 mote efficient and innovative ways to protect and en11 hance natural resources; 

12 (3) there is no readily available source of tech13 nical biological information that the public can ac14 cess to assist with the application of state-of-the-art 

15 techniques to restore, enhance, and manage fish and 

16 wildlife habitats; 

17 (4) a voluntary cost-effective program that 

18 leverages public and private funds to assist private 

19 landowners in the conduct of state-of-the-art fish 

20 and wildlife habitat restoration, enhancement, and 

21 management projects is needed; 

22 (5) durable partnerships working collaboratively 

23 with willing private landowners to implement on-the24 ground projects has lead to the reduction of endan25 gered species listings; 
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1 (6) Executive Order No. 13352 (69 Fed. Reg. 

2 52989) directs the Departments of the Interior, Ag3 riculture, Commerce, and Defense and the Environ4 mental Protection Agency to pursue new cooperative 

5 conservation programs involving the collaboration of 

6 Federal, State, local, and tribal governments, private 

7 for-profit and non-profit institutions, non-govern8 mental entities, and individuals; 

9 (7) since 1987, the Partners for Fish and Wild10 life Program has exemplified cooperative conserva11 tion as an innovative, voluntary partnership program 

12 that helps private landowners restore wetland and 

13 other important fish and wildlife habitat; and 

14 (8) through 33,103 agreements with private 

15 landowners, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Pro16 gram has accomplished the restoration of 677,000 

17 acres of wetland, 1,253,700 acres of prairie and na18 tive grasslands, and 5,560 miles of riparian and in19 stream habitat since 1987, demonstrating much of 

20 that success since only 2001. 

21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

22 for the restoration, enhancement, and management of fish 

23 and wildlife habitats on private land through the Partners 

24 for Fish and Wildlife Program, a program that works with 

25 private landowners to conduct cost-effective habitat 
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1 projects for the benefit of fish and wildlife resources in 

2 the United States. 

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) FEDERAL TRUST SPECIES.—The term 

6 ‘‘Federal trust species’’ means migratory birds, 

7 threatened species, endangered species, interjurisdic8 tional fish, marine mammals, and other species of 

9 concern. 

10 (2) HABITAT ENHANCEMENT.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘habitat en12 hancement’’ means the manipulation of the 

13 physical, chemical, or biological characteristics 

14 of a native habitat to change a specific function 

15 or seral stage of the native habitat. 

16 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘habitat en17 hancement’’ includes— 

18 (i) an activity conducted to increase 

19 or decrease a specific function for the pur20 pose of benefitting species, including— 

21 (I) increasing the hydroperiod 

22 and water depth of a stream or wet23 land beyond what would naturally 

24 occur; 
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•S 260 RS

1 (II) improving waterfowl habitat 

2 conditions; 

3 (III) establishing water level 

4 management capabilities for native 

5 plant communities; 

6 (IV) creating mud flat conditions 

7 important for shorebirds; and 

8 (V) cross fencing or establishing 

9 a rotational grazing system on native 

10 range to improve grassland nesting 

11 bird habitat conditions; and 

12 (ii) an activity conducted to shift a 

13 native plant community successional stage, 

14 including— 

15 (I) burning an established native 

16 grass community to reduce or elimi17 nate invading brush or exotic species; 

18 (II) brush shearing to set back 

19 early successional plant communities; 

20 and 

21 (III) forest management that 

22 promotes a particular seral stage. 

23 (C) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘habitat en24 hancement’’ does not include regularly sched25 uled and routine maintenance and management 
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1 activities, such as annual mowing or spraying of 

2 unwanted vegetation. 

3 (3) HABITAT ESTABLISHMENT.—The term 

4 ‘‘habitat establishment’’ means the manipulation of 

5 physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a 

6 project site to create and maintain habitat that did 

7 not previously exist on the project site, including 

8 construction of— 

9 (A) shallow water impoundments on non10 hydric soils; and 

11 (B) side channel spawning and rearing 

12 habitat. 

13 (4) HABITAT IMPROVEMENT.—The term ‘‘habi14 tat improvement’’ means restoring or artificially pro15 viding, enhancing, or establishing physiographic, 

16 hydrological, or disturbance conditions necessary to 

17 establish or maintain native plant and animal com18 munities, including periodic manipulations to main19 tain intended habitat conditions on completed 

20 project sites. 

21 (5) HABITAT RESTORATION.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘habitat res23 toration’’ means the manipulation of the phys24 ical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a 

25 site with the goal of returning the majority of 
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1 natural functions to the lost or degraded native 

2 habitat. 

3 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘habitat res4 toration’’ includes— 

5 (i) an activity conducted to return a 

6 project site, to the maximum extent prac7 ticable, to the ecological condition that ex8 isted prior to the loss or degradation, in9 cluding— 

10 (I) removing tile drains or plug11 ging drainage ditches in former or de12 graded wetland; 

13 (II) returning meanders and sus14 tainable profiles to straightened 

15 streams; 

16 (III) burning grass communities 

17 heavily invaded by exotic species to re18 establish native grass and plant com19 munities; and 

20 (IV) planting plant communities 

21 that are native to the project site; 

22 (ii) if restoration of a project site to 

23 its original ecological condition is not prac24 ticable, an activity that repairs 1 or more 

25 of the original habitat functions and that 
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1 involve the use of native vegetation, includ2 ing— 

3 (I) the installation of a water 

4 control structure in a swale on land 

5 isolated from overbank flooding by a 

6 major levee to simulate natural 

7 hydrological processes; and 

8 (II) the placement of streambank 

9 or instream habitat diversity struc10 tures in streams that cannot be re11 stored to original conditions or profile; 

12 and 

13 (iii) removal of a disturbing or de14 grading element to enable the native habi15 tat to reestablish or become fully func16 tional. 

17 (6) PRIVATE LAND.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘private 

19 land’’ means any land that is not owned by the 

20 Federal Government, a State, or a political sub21 division of a State or a State. 

22 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘private 

23 land’’ includes tribal land and Hawaiian home24 land. 
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1 (7) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘project’’ means a 

2 project carried out under the Partners for Fish and 

3 Wildlife Program established by section 4. 

4 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of the Interior.

6 SEC. 4. PARTNERS FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE PROGRAM. 

7 The Secretary shall carry out the Partners for Fish 

8 and Wildlife Program within the United States Fish and 

9 Wildlife Service to provide technical and financial assist10 ance to private landowners for the conduct of voluntary 

11 projects to benefit Federal trust species by promoting 

12 habitat improvement, habitat restoration, habitat en13 hancement, and habitat establishment.

14 SEC. 4. PARTNERS FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE PROGRAM. 

15 The Secretary shall carry out the Partners for Fish 

16 and Wildlife Program within the United States Fish and 

17 Wildlife Service to provide— 

18 (1) technical and financial assistance to private 

19 landowners for the conduct of voluntary projects to 

20 benefit Federal trust species by promoting habitat im21 provement, habitat restoration, habitat enhancement, 

22 and habitat establishment; and 

23 (2) technical assistance to other public and pri24 vate entities regarding fish and wildlife habitat res25 toration on private land.
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1 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act not more than $75,000,000 for each of fiscal 

4 years 2006 through 2011. 

Calendar No. 134 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 260 

[Report No. 109–86] 

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to program. through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Pro- vate land to improve fish and wildlife habitats landowners to restore, enhance, and manage pri- vide technical and financial assistance to private 

JUNE 22, 2005 

Reported with amendments