IB 

Union Calendar No. 244

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2707

[Report No. 108–424, Part I] 

To direct the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, acting through 

the U.S. Forest Service, to carry out a demonstration program to assess 

potential water savings through control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive 

on forests and public lands administered by the Department of the 

Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 10, 2003

Mr. PEARCE (for himself, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. MCINNIS, Mrs. WILSON of 

New Mexico, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. RENZI, Mr. CANNON, Mr. 

MATHESON, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, 

and Mr. OSBORNE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 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 

FEBRUARY 24, 2004 

Reported from the Committee on Resources with amendments 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Additional sponsors: Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. 

CARDOZA, Mr. FILNER, Mr. BEAUPREZ, and Mrs. CUBIN

FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Referral to the Committee on Agriculture extended for period ending not later 

than February 29, 2004

FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the 

Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
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[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 10, 2003] 

A BILL

To direct the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, 

acting through the U.S. Forest Service, to carry out 

a demonstration program to assess potential water savings through control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive 

on forests and public lands administered by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service.

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 Russian 

5 Olive Control Assessment and Demonstration Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ASSESSMENT OF SALT CEDAR AND RUSSIAN OLIVE 

7 INFESTATION IN WESTERN UNITED STATES. 

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

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

10 this section, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation 

11 with the Secretary of Agriculture (in this Act referred to 

12 as the ‘‘Secretaries’’), shall complete an assessment of the 

13 extent of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive invasion in the 

14 Western United States. 

15 (b) CONTENT.—The assessment shall include the fol16 lowing: 

17 (1) To the extent practicable, documentation of 

18 the quantity of water lost due to the infestation. 
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1 (2) Documentation of the quantity of water 

2 saved due to various control methods, including the 

3 portion of saved water that returns to surface water 

4 or groundwater supplies and at what rates. 

5 (3) Determination of the optimum control 

6 method for the various land types and land uses. 

7 (4) Determination of what conditions indicate 

8 the need to remove such growth and the optimal 

9 methods for disposal or use of such growth. 

10 (5) The methods to prevent re-growth and re-in11 troduction of these invasive species. 

12 (c) REPORT ON ASSESSMENT.—

13 (1) PREPARATION AND CONTENT.—The Secre14 taries shall prepare a report containing the results of 

15 the assessment. The report shall identify long-term 

16 management and funding strategies that could be im17 plemented by Federal, State, Tribal, and private land 

18 managers and owners on all land management types 

19 to address the invasion of Salt Cedar and Russian 

20 Olive. The report shall also identify deficiencies or 

21 areas for further study and where actual field dem22 onstrations would be useful in the control effort. 

23 (2) SUBMISSION.—The Secretaries shall submit 

24 the report to the Committee on Resources and the 

25 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa-
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1 tives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 

2 and Forestry and the Committee on Energy and Nat3 ural Resources of the Senate. 

4 (d) SUPPORT FOR IDENTIFICATION OF LONG-TERM

5 MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING STRATEGIES.—The Secre6 taries may make grants to institutions of higher education 

7 or nonprofit organizations (or both) with an established 

8 background and expertise in the public policy issues associ9 ated with the control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive to 

10 obtain technical experience, support, and recommendations 

11 related to the identification of the long-term management 

12 and funding strategies required to be included in the report 

13 under subsection (c)(1). Each grant awarded under this 

14 subsection may not be less than $250,000. 

15 (e) WESTERN UNITED STATES DEFINED.—In this sec16 tion and section 3, the term ‘‘Western United States’’ refers 

17 to the States defined by the 1902 Reclamation Act (43 

18 U.S.C. Chapter 12), which includes Arizona, California, 

19 Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, 

20 Oklahoma, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, 

21 Washington, and Wyoming. 

22 SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM FOR CONTROL OF SALT 

23 CEDAR AND RUSSIAN OLIVE IN WESTERN 

24 STATES. 

25 (a) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—
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1 (1) PROJECTS REQUIRED.—Based on the results 

2 of the assessment and report in section 2, the Secre3 taries shall initiate a program of not fewer than three 

4 demonstration projects in the Western United States 

5 designed to address the deficiencies and areas for fur6 ther study to address the invasion of Salt Cedar and

7 Russian Olive, including the test of additional control 

8 methods, identified by the report. 

9 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretaries may 

10 enter into an agreement with a State in the Western 

11 United States to carry out a demonstration project. 

12 If the Secretaries select a demonstration project for 

13 implementation on National Forest System lands, the 

14 Secretary of Agriculture shall be responsible for im15 plementation of the project. 

16 (b) ELEMENTS OF PROJECTS.—

17 (1) DESIGN AND SCALE.—Each demonstration 

18 project shall be designed with integrated methods and 

19 adaptive management strategies and carried out over 

20 time frames and spatial scales large enough to accom21 plish the goals laid out in the report. 

22 (2) SCIENTIFIC REVIEW.—Before being carried 

23 out, the methods and strategies proposed for each 

24 demonstration project shall be subject to review by 

25 scientific experts, including non-Federal experts, se-
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1 lected by the Secretaries. The Secretaries may use ex2 isting scientific review processes to the extent they 

3 comply with this requirement. 

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

5 cost of each demonstration project may not exceed 

6 $7,000,000, including the costs of planning, design, imple7 mentation, revegetation, maintenance, and monitoring. In 

8 the case of a demonstration project conducted on lands 

9 under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior or 

10 the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretaries may accept, but 

11 not require, funds or in-kind contributions, including State 

12 agency provided services. The Federal share of the costs of 

13 any activity on private lands funded under the project shall 

14 be no more than 75 percent of the total cost of the activity. 

15 (d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—During the period in 

16 which the demonstration projects are carried out, the Secre17 taries shall submit to the congressional committees specified 

18 in section 2(c)(2) an annual report describing—

19 (1) the demonstration projects; 

20 (2) the progress made in carrying out the 

21 projects during the period covered by the report; and 

22 (3) the costs of the projects under subsection (c). 

23 (e) MONITORING.—Demonstration projects shall in24 clude the following: 
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1 (1) Documentation of the quantity of water 

2 saved due to various control methods, including the 

3 portion of water saved that returns to surface water 

4 or groundwater supplies and at what rates. 

5 (2) Optimal re-vegetative states to prevent re6 growth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Russian 

7 Olive. 

8 (f) COOPERATION.—The Secretaries shall use the ex9 pertise of their various agencies, as well as other Federal 

10 agencies, institutions of higher education, State and local 

11 governments and political subdivisions thereof, including 

12 soil and water conservation districts, and Indian tribes, 

13 which are actively conducting assessments on or imple14 menting Salt Cedar and Russian Olive control activities. 

15 SEC. 4. RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITY. 

16 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, or oth17 erwise bias, the use by the Secretaries of other statutory or 

18 administrative authorities to plan or conduct Salt Cedar 

19 or Russian Olive control and eradication that is not 

20 planned or conducted under this Act. 

21 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 (a) ASSESSMENT.—There are authorized to be appro23 priated to the Secretaries $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 

24 to conduct the assessment required by section 2. 
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1 (b) GRANTS.—There are authorized to be appropriated 

2 to the Secretaries $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 to award 

3 as grants under section 2(d). 

4 (c) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—There are author5 ized to be appropriated to the Secretaries $25,000,000 for 

6 each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2010 to carry out the 

7 program of demonstration projects under section 3.

Amend the title to read as follows: ‘‘A bill 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, and to direct the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with 

the Secretary of Agriculture, to carry out a demonstration program to address any shortcomings in current control efforts, and for other purposes.’’.

Union Calendar No. 244

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2707

[Report No. 108–424, Part I] 

A BILL

To direct the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, acting through the U.S. Forest Service, 

to carry out a demonstration program to assess potential water savings through control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive on forests and public lands administered by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. 

FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Reported from the Committee on Resources with 

amendments 

FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Referral to the Committee on Agriculture extended for a 

period ending not later than February 24, 2004

FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the 

Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed