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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1381

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Cooperative Landscape

Conservation Program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 3, 2001

Mr. UDALL of Colorado introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish the

Cooperative Landscape Conservation Program.

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 ‘‘Cooperative Landscape

5 Conservation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to establish a program ad8 ministered by the Secretary of the Interior to provide

9 matching grants to certain eligible entities to facilitate the

10 acquisition of permanent conservation easements on lands
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1 in order to conserve wildlife, fisheries, public recreation,

2 open space, and other important conservation values

3 where consistent with the continuation of traditional uses

4 of those lands by private landowners.

5 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COOPERATIVE LAND6 SCAPE PROTECTION PROGRAM.

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior

8 shall establish and carry out a program, to be known as

9 the Cooperative Landscape Conservation Program, under

10 which the Secretary, subject to the availability of appro11 priations, shall provide grants to eligible entities to provide

12 the Federal share of the cost of acquiring permanent con13 servation easements on private lands that provide impor14 tant wildlife, fisheries, public recreation, open space, or

15 other conservation benefits to the public, for the purpose

16 of preventing the loss of those benefits due to development

17 that is inconsistent with the traditional uses of the land.

18 (b) APPLICATION FOR EASEMENTS.—To request a

19 grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit

20 an application that—

21 (1) describes the property that will be subject

22 to the easement and the conservation benefits that

23 will result from acquiring the easement; and

24 (2) demonstrates how the traditional use of the

25 property will be maintained.
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1 (c) PRIORITY.—In providing grants under this sec2 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to grants to acquire

3 easements that—

4 (1) are in areas where rapid population growth

5 and increasing land values are creating development

6 pressures that threaten traditional use of land and

7 the ability to maintain open space; and

8 (2) in comparison to other easements for which

9 grant applications are submitted under this section

10 in the same year, will provide the greatest conserva11 tion benefit for wildlife, fish, natural resources, or

12 open space while maintaining the traditional use of

13 land.

14 (d) COST SHARING.—

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

16 the cost of acquiring a conservation easement with

17 a grant under this section may not exceed 50 per18 cent of the total cost of acquiring the easement.

19 (2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—Subject to such

20 reasonable conditions as the Secretary may estab21 lish, the Secretary shall apply to the non-Federal

22 share of the cost of such acquisition the value of any

23 land, interest in land, good, or service applied to

24 that acquisition.
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1 (e) TITLE; ENFORCEMENT.—Title to a conservation

2 easement acquired with a grant under this section may

3 be held and enforced only by an eligible entity.

4 (f) STATE CERTIFICATION.—As a condition of the re5 ceipt by an eligible entity of a grant under subsection (a),

6 the attorney general of the State in which the conservation

7 easement is to be acquired using the grant funds must

8 certify that the conservation easement to be acquired is

9 in a form that is sufficient, under the laws of the State,

10 to achieve the conservation purposes of the easement and

11 the terms and conditions of the grant.

12 (g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may

13 not use more than 10 percent of the amount that is avail14 able for any fiscal year to carry out this Act to provide

15 technical assistance to carry out this section.

16 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

17 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti18 ty’’ means—

19 (A) an agency of a State or local govern20 ment;

21 (B) a federally recognized Indian tribe; or

22 (C) any organization that is organized for,

23 and at all times since its formation has been

24 operated principally for, one or more of the con25 servation purposes specified in clause (i), (ii), or
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1 (iii) of section 170(h)(4)(A) of the Internal

2 Revenue Code of 1986 and—

3 (i) is described in section 501(c)(3) of

4 the Code;

5 (ii) is exempt from taxation under

6 section 501(a) of the Code; and

7 (iii)(I) is described in paragraph (2)

8 of section 509(a) of the Code; or

9 (II) is described in paragraph (3) of

10 such section, but is controlled by an orga11 nization described in paragraph (2) of such

12 section.

13 (2) TRADITIONAL USE.—The term ‘‘traditional

14 use’’ means the uses of land that are in practice at

15 the time of the submission of an application for a

16 grant under this section.

17 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec19 retary of the Interior to carry out this Act $100,000,000

20 for each of the fiscal years 2002 through 2007.

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