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Calendar No. 367 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1519 

[Report No. 111–182] 

To provide for the eradication and control of nutria in Maryland, Louisiana, 

and other coastal States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2009 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. VITTER, Ms. LANDRIEU, Ms. MIKULSKI, and 

Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

MAY 5, 2010 

Reported by Mrs. BOXER, without amendment 

A BILL 

To provide for the eradication and control of nutria in 

Maryland, Louisiana, and other coastal States. 

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 ‘‘Nutria Eradication 

5 and Control Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

3 (1) wetland and tidal marshes in the Chesa4 peake Bay, the State of Louisiana, and other coastal 

5 States provide significant cultural, economic, and ec6 ological benefits to the United States; 

7 (2) the South American nutria (Myocastor 

8 coypus) is directly contributing to substantial marsh 

9 loss on Federal, State, and private land in the 

10 States of Maryland and Louisiana and other coastal 

11 States; 

12 (3) the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 

13 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) author14 ized the Maryland Nutria Project, which has suc15 cessfully eradicated nutria from more than 130,000 

16 acres of Chesapeake Bay wetland in the State of 

17 Maryland; 

18 (4) the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 

19 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) and the 

20 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restora21 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 3951 et seq.) authorized the 

22 Coastwide Nutria Control Program, which has re23 duced nutria-impacted wetland acres in the State of 

24 Louisiana from 80,000 acres to 23,141 acres; and 

25 (5) proven techniques developed under the Nu26 tria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public 


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1 Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) that are eradicating 

2 nutria from the State of Maryland and are reducing 

3 the acres of nutria-impacted wetland in Louisiana, 

4 should be applied to nutria eradication or control 

5 programs in other nutria-infested coastal States. 

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to author7 ize the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assist8 ance to the States of Maryland, Louisiana, Delaware, Or9 egon, Virginia, and Washington to carry out activities— 

10 (1) to eradicate or control nutria; and 

11 (2) to restore nutria damaged wetland. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) COASTAL STATE.—The term ‘‘coastal 

15 State’’ means each of the States of Delaware, Or16 egon, Virginia, and Washington. 

17 (2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

18 the nutria eradication program established by sec19 tion 4(a). 

20 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

21 the Secretary of the Interior. 

22 SEC. 4. NUTRIA ERADICATION PROGRAM. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a nutria 

24 eradication program under which the Secretary may, sub25 ject to the availability of appropriations, provide financial 


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1 assistance to the States of Maryland and Louisiana and 

2 the coastal States to implement measures— 

3 (1) to eradicate or control nutria; and 

4 (2) to restore wetland damaged by nutria. 

5 (b) GOALS.—The goals of the program shall be— 

6 (1) to eradicate nutria in the State of Mary7 land; 

8 (2) to eradicate or control nutria in the State 

9 of Louisiana and the coastal States; and 

10 (3) to restore wetland damaged by nutria. 

11 (c) ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND.—The 

12 Secretary shall require that the program carried out in 

13 the State of Maryland consist of management, research, 

14 and public education activities carried out in accordance 

15 with the document published by the United States Fish 

16 and Wildlife Service entitled ‘‘Eradication Strategies for 

17 Nutria in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Water18 sheds’’, dated March 2002, and updated March 2009. 

19 (d) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENT.— 

20 (1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 

21 the total cost of the program may not exceed 75 per22 cent. 

23 (2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—The non-Fed24 eral share of the total cost of the program may be 


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1 provided in the form of in-kind contributions of ma2 terials or services. 

3 (e) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 

4 Not more that 5 percent of the financial assistance pro5 vided by the Secretary under the program may be used 

6 for administrative expenses. 

7 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

8 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

9 of this Act, the Secretary and the National Invasive Spe10 cies Council shall— 

11 (1) for purposes of the program, give consider12 ation to— 

13 (A) the 2002 report for the Louisiana De14 partment of Wildlife and Fisheries entitled 

15 ‘‘Nutria in Louisiana’’; and 

16 (B) the March 2009 update of the docu17 ment entitled ‘‘Eradication Strategies for the 

18 Nutria in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay 

19 Watersheds’’ and dated March 2002; 

20 (2) continue, in cooperation with the State of 

21 Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and 

22 the State of Maryland Department of Natural Re23 sources, a long-term nutria control or eradication 

24 program, as appropriate, with the objective to sig25 nificantly reduce and restore the damage nutria 


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1 cause to coastal wetland in the States of Louisiana 

2 and Maryland; and 

3 (3) develop, in cooperation with the State of 

4 Delaware Department of Natural Resources and En5 vironmental Control, the State of Virginia Depart6 ment of Game and Inland Fisheries, the State of Or7 egon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the 

8 State of Washington Department of Fish and Wild9 life, long-term nutria control or eradication pro10 grams, as appropriate, with the objective to signifi11 cantly reduce and restore the damage nutria cause 

12 to coastal wetland in the coastal States. 

13 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec15 retary for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014— 

16 (1) $4,000,000 to provide financial assistance 

17 under the program to each of the States of Mary18 land and Louisiana; and 

19 (2) $1,000,000 to provide financial assistance 

20 under the program to each of the coastal States. 


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Calendar No. 367 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1519 

[Report No. 111–182] 

A BILL 

To provide for the eradication and control of nutria 

in Maryland, Louisiana, and other coastal States. 

MAY 5, 2010 

Reported without amendment 


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