108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2707

AN ACT

To provide for an assessment of the extent of the

invasion of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive onlands in the Western United States and effortsto date to control such invasion on public andprivate lands, including tribal lands, to establisha demonstration program to address the invasionof Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, and for otherpurposes.

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2707

AN ACT

To provide for an assessment of the extent of the invasion

of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive on lands in the Western

United States and efforts to date to control such invasion

on public and private lands, including tribal lands, to

establish a demonstration program to address the invasion of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, and for other

purposes.
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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 ‘‘Salt Cedar and Rus5 sian Olive Control Assessment and Demonstration Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:

8 (1) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’

9 means the Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation

10 with the Secretary of the Interior.

11 (2) WESTERN UNITED STATES.—The term

12 ‘‘Western United States’’ refers to the States de13 fined by the Act of June 17, 1902 (commonly known

14 as the 1902 Reclamation Act; 43 U.S.C. 371 et

15 seq.), which includes Arizona, California, Colorado,

16 Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Okla17 homa, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah,

18 Washington, and Wyoming.

19 SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF SALT CEDAR AND RUSSIAN OLIVE

20 INFESTATION IN WESTERN UNITED STATES.

21 (a) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than one year after the

22 date on which funds are first made available to carry out

23 this section, the Secretaries shall complete an assessment

24 of the extent of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive invasion

25 in the Western United States.
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1 (b) CONTENT.—The assessment shall include the fol2 lowing:

3 (1) To the extent practicable, documentation of

4 the quantity of water lost due to the infestation.

5 (2) Documentation of the quantity of water

6 saved due to various control methods, including the

7 portion of saved water that returns to surface water

8 or groundwater supplies and at what rates.

9 (3) Determination of the optimum control

10 method for the various land types and land uses.

11 (4) Determination of what conditions indicate

12 the need to remove such growth and the optimal

13 methods for disposal or use of such growth.

14 (5) Determination of methods to prevent the re15 growth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Rus16 sian Olive and to reestablish native species.

17 (c) REPORT ON ASSESSMENT.—

18 (1) PREPARATION AND CONTENT.—The Secre19 taries shall prepare a report containing the results

20 of the assessment. The report shall identify long21 term management and funding strategies that could

22 be implemented by Federal, State, Tribal, and pri23 vate land managers and owners on all land manage24 ment types to address the invasion of Salt Cedar

25 and Russian Olive. The report shall also identify de-
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1 ficiencies or areas for further study and where ac2 tual field demonstrations would be useful in the con3 trol effort.

4 (2) SUBMISSION.—The Secretaries shall submit

5 the report to the Committee on Resources and the

6 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep7 resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu8 trition, and Forestry and the Committee on Energy

9 and Natural Resources of the Senate.

10 (d) SUPPORT FOR IDENTIFICATION OF LONG-TERM

11 MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING STRATEGIES.—The Secre12 taries may make grants to institutions of higher education

13 or nonprofit organizations (or both) with an established

14 background and expertise in the public policy issues asso15 ciated with the control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive

16 to obtain technical experience, support, and recommenda17 tions related to the identification of the long-term manage18 ment and funding strategies required to be included in the

19 report under subsection (c)(1). Each grant awarded under

20 this subsection may not be less than $250,000.

21 SEC. 4. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM FOR CONTROL OF

22 SALT CEDAR AND RUSSIAN OLIVE IN WEST23 ERN STATES.

24 (a) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—
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1 (1) PROJECTS REQUIRED.—Based on the re2 sults of the assessment and report in section 3, the

3 Secretaries shall initiate a program of not fewer

4 than three demonstration projects in the Western

5 United States designed to address the deficiencies

6 and areas for further study to address the invasion

7 of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, including the test

8 of additional control methods, identified by the re9 port.

10 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretaries may

11 enter into an agreement with a State in the Western

12 United States to carry out a demonstration project.

13 If the Secretaries select a demonstration project for

14 implementation on National Forest System lands,

15 the Secretary of Agriculture shall be responsible for

16 implementation of the project.

17 (b) ELEMENTS OF PROJECTS.—

18 (1) DESIGN AND SCALE.—Each demonstration

19 project shall be designed with integrated methods

20 and adaptive management strategies and carried out

21 over time frames and spatial scales large enough to

22 accomplish the goals laid out in the report.

23 (2) SCIENTIFIC REVIEW.—Before being carried

24 out, the methods and strategies proposed for each

25 demonstration project shall be subject to review by
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1 scientific experts, including non-Federal experts, se2 lected by the Secretaries. The Secretaries may use

3 existing scientific review processes to the extent they

4 comply with this requirement.

5 (c) PROJECT COSTS AND COST SHARING.—The total

6 cost of each demonstration project may not exceed

7 $7,000,000, including the costs of planning, design, imple8 mentation, revegetation, maintenance, and monitoring. In

9 the case of a demonstration project conducted on lands

10 under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior or

11 the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretaries may accept,

12 but not require, funds or in-kind contributions, including

13 State agency provided services. The Federal share of the

14 costs of any activity on private lands funded under the

15 project shall be no more than 75 percent of the total cost

16 of the activity.

17 (d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—During the period

18 in which the demonstration projects are carried out, the

19 Secretaries shall submit to the congressional committees

20 specified in section 3(c)(2) an annual report describing—

21 (1) the demonstration projects;

22 (2) the progress made in carrying out the

23 projects during the period covered by the report; and

24 (3) the costs of the projects under subsection

25 (c).
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1 (e) MONITORING.—Demonstration projects shall in2 clude the following:

3 (1) Documentation of the quantity of water

4 saved due to various control methods, including the

5 portion of water saved that returns to surface water

6 or groundwater supplies and at what rates.

7 (2) Optimal revegetative states to prevent the

8 regrowth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Rus9 sian Olive and to reestablish native species.

10 (f) COOPERATION.—The Secretaries shall use the ex11 pertise of their various agencies, as well as other Federal

12 agencies, institutions of higher education, State and local

13 governments and political subdivisions thereof, including

14 soil and water conservation districts, and Indian tribes,

15 which are actively conducting assessments on or imple16 menting Salt Cedar and Russian Olive control activities.

17 SEC. 5. RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITY.

18 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, or

19 otherwise bias, the use by the Secretaries of other statu20 tory or administrative authorities to plan or conduct Salt

21 Cedar or Russian Olive control and eradication that is not

22 planned or conducted under this Act.
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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 (a) ASSESSMENT.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated to the Secretaries $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2005

4 to conduct the assessment required by section 3.

5 (b) GRANTS.—There are authorized to be appro6 priated to the Secretaries $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2005

7 to award as grants under section 3(d).

8 (c) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—There are author9 ized to be appropriated to the Secretaries $18,000,000 for

10 each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to carry out

11 the program of demonstration projects under section 4.

Passed the House of Representatives February 24,

2004.

Attest:

Clerk.