I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1800

To establish the Upper Mississippi River Stewardship Initiative to monitor

and reduce sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 10, 2001

Mr. KIND (for himself, Mr. LEACH, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. EVANS, Mr.

NUSSLE, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. BLUMENAUER,

Mr. KILDEE, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. PALLONE,

Mr. LUTHER, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Ms.

MCCOLLUM, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. TANNER, Mr. PETRI,

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

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

A BILL

To establish the Upper Mississippi River Stewardship Initiative to monitor and reduce sediment and nutrient loss

in the Upper Mississippi River.

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Basin Conservation Act of

6 2001’’.
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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of

2 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings, purposes, and reliance on sound science.

Sec. 3. Definitions.

TITLE I—SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT MONITORING NETWORK

Sec. 101. Establishment of monitoring network.

Sec. 102. Data collection and storage responsibilities.

Sec. 103. Relationship to existing sediment and nutrient monitoring.

Sec. 104. Collaboration with other public and private monitoring efforts.

Sec. 105. Cost share requirements.

Sec. 106. Reporting requirements.

Sec. 107. Assessment of water resource and water quality management.

TITLE II—INITIATIVE GRANT, DEMONSTRATION, AND OUTREACH

PROGRAMS

Sec. 201. Computer modeling of sediment and nutrient sources.

Sec. 202. Research regarding best management practices and sediment and nutrient loss.

Sec. 203. Demonstration projects regarding new best management practices to

reduce sediment and nutrient loss.

Sec. 204. Use of electronic means to distribute information.

Sec. 205. Reporting requirements.

TITLE III—PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA

Sec. 301. Privacy of personal data received by Department of Agriculture and

data gathering locations.

TITLE IV—ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI

RIVER STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE

Sec. 401. Establishment of Advisory Council.

Sec. 402. Responsibilities of Advisory Council.

Sec. 403. Advisory nature of Council.

TITLE V—FEDERAL INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP

Sec. 501. Establishment of Interagency Working Group.

TITLE VI—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

Sec. 601. Authorization of appropriations.

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS, PURPOSES, AND RELIANCE ON SOUND

4 SCIENCE.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) The Upper Mississippi River and its tribu2 taries are an important source of municipal and in3 dustrial water supplies for many of the region’s

4 more than 24,000,000 residents.

5 (2) The Upper Mississippi River Basin supports

6 many economic activities of regional and national

7 importance and is an important element of the na8 tional transportation infrastructure, enabling ship9 ment of agricultural, petroleum, coal, and many

10 other products.

11 (3) Millions of tourists annually visit the Upper

12 Mississippi River Basin to fish, hunt, swim, boat,

13 and camp, as well as to visit the region’s many his14 toric towns and archaeological sites.

15 (4) The sediments and nutrients that inadvert16 ently enter streams, and ultimately the Mississippi

17 River, result in—

18 (A) a reduction in the quality and quantity

19 of farm crops and thereby a reduction in farm

20 income;

21 (B) an increase in channel maintenance

22 costs;

23 (C) a threat to drinking water supplies;

24 and
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1 (D) the filling of side channels used by

2 river wildlife.

3 (5) The public and private costs associated with

4 sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi

5 River Basin are significant:

6 (A) Farmers lose more than $300,000,000

7 worth of applied nitrogen annually.

8 (B) Dredging costs exceed $100,000,000

9 annually.

10 (C) The cost of habitat restoration efforts

11 along the main stem of the Upper Mississippi

12 River will soon reach $33,000,000 annually.

13 (6) Although there are more than 75 local,

14 State, tribal, and Federal public and private pro15 grams designed to address sediment and nutrient

16 loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, there is

17 a lack of collaboration by resource managers to iden18 tify and address significant sources of sediment and

19 nutrient loss, monitor results, share information, or

20 set priorities. Consequently, programs often overlap,

21 gaps are left unfilled, and scarce resources are not

22 used efficiently.

23 (7) Results of research conducted in the Mis24 sissippi River Basin by the Mississippi River Basin/

25 Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force call
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1 for a cooperative, interagency, adaptive management

2 approach to natural resource management at the

3 basin level.

4 (8) Congress and the executive branch recog5 nize the need to focus Federal investment in natural

6 resources management and stewardship in the

7 Upper Mississippi River Basin in a manner that is

8 coordinated, efficient, and effective to meet local,

9 State, tribal, Basin-wide, and national goals for agri10 culture and environmental health and sustainability.

11 (9) An approach to natural resource manage12 ment at the basin level, which is region-specific and

13 coordinates existing Federal, State and local pro14 grams, is essential to attain common water quality

15 goals while reducing duplication. Involving advisory

16 groups of local, State, and tribal residents, in con17 cert with Federal agencies with appropriate natural

18 resource authorities, is the most effective means to

19 ensure that Federal investments accomplish desired

20 results at the local, State, tribal, and Basin-wide lev21 els. This would ensure that conservation activities

22 would contribute to similar national goals.

23 (10) A public-private approach to natural re24 source management in the Upper Mississippi River

25 Basin would ensure that all voices would be heard
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1 and all interested persons would be able to con2 tribute to a process of meeting complimentary and

3 overlapping resource management and environmental

4 goals.

5 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

6 (1) to adopt a coordinated public-private ap7 proach in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to take

8 action to control nutrient and sediment loss, to mon9 itor the results of such actions, share information,

10 and make adjustments to further reduce nutrient

11 and sediment loss;

12 (2) to identify major sources of sediment and

13 nutrients that wash into rivers and streams of the

14 Upper Mississippi River Basin;

15 (3) to use computer models in conjunction with

16 monitoring data to track, over the short- and long17 term, the quantity, transport, and fate of sediments

18 and nutrients that enter the Upper Mississippi River

19 Basin;

20 (4) to increase and target technical and finan21 cial assistance to reduce nutrient and sediment loss

22 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin;

23 (5) to develop innovative ways to reduce sedi24 ment and nutrient loss;

25 (6) to expand efforts to share information; and
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1 (7) to coordinate public and private programs

2 to collaboratively set and meet priorities.

3 (c) RELIANCE ON SOUND SCIENCE AND ADAPTIVE

4 MANAGEMENT.—It is the policy of Congress that Federal

5 investments in the Upper Mississippi River Basin must

6 be guided by sound science and management actions

7 should be guided by an adaptive management framework.

8 (d) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE USE OF COL9 LECTED DATA.—The Secretary of Agriculture may use

10 the scientific data collected from the monitoring and mod11 eling network established pursuant to section 101 to tar12 get conservation programs, including, but not limited to,

13 the following:

14 (1) The Environmental Quality Incentives Pro15 gram.

16 (2) The Wetland Reserve Program.

17 (3) The Conservation Reserve Program.

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

19 In this Act:

20 (1) The term ‘‘Advisory Council’’ means the

21 Advisory Council on the Upper Mississippi River

22 Stewardship Initiative established by title IV.

23 (2) The terms ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Basin’’

24 and ‘‘Basin’’ mean the watershed portion of the

25 Upper Mississippi River and Illinois River basins,
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1 from Cairo, Illinois to the headwaters of the Mis2 sissippi River. The designation includes the

3 Kaskaskia watershed along the Illinois River, and

4 the Meramec watershed along the Missouri River.

5 (3) The terms ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Stew6 ardship Initiative’’ and ‘‘Initiative’’ mean the activi7 ties authorized or required by this Act to monitor

8 and reduce nutrient and sediment loss in the Upper

9 Mississippi River Basin.

10 (4) The term ‘‘sound science’’ means a sci11 entific method that uses the best available technical

12 and scientific information and techniques to identify

13 and understand natural resource management needs

14 and appropriate treatments, to implement conserva15 tion measures, and to assess the results of treat16 ments on natural resource health and sustainability

17 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

18 (5) The term ‘‘adaptive management frame19 work’’ refers to a comprehensive management pro20 gram that combines planning, monitoring, modeling,

21 and research to improve scientific knowledge, make

22 adjustments in management practices based upon

23 new information, and target actions within water24 sheds where the actions will be most effective.
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1 TITLE I—SEDIMENT AND NUTRI2 ENT MONITORING NETWORK

3 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF MONITORING NETWORK.

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—As part of the Upper Mis5 sissippi River Stewardship Initiative, the Secretary of the

6 Interior shall establish a sediment and nutrient moni7 toring network for the Upper Mississippi River Basin for

8 the purpose of—

9 (1) monitoring sediment and nutrient loss into

10 Upper Mississippi River Basin;

11 (2) recording changes to sediment and nutrient

12 loss over time;

13 (3) providing coordinated data to be used in

14 computer modeling of the Basin, pursuant to section

15 201; and

16 (4) identifying major sources of sediment and

17 nutrients within the Basin for the purpose of tar18 geting resources to reduce sediment and nutrient

19 loss.

20 (b) ROLE OF UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUR21 VEY.—The Secretary of the Interior shall carry out this

22 title acting through the office of the Director of the United

23 States Geological Survey.

24 (c) HEADQUARTERS.—Sediment and nutrient moni25 toring information shall be headquartered at the Upper
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1 Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse,

2 Wisconsin.

3 SEC. 102. DATA COLLECTION AND STORAGE RESPONSIBIL4 ITIES.

5 (a) GUIDELINES FOR DATA COLLECTION AND STOR6 AGE.—The Secretary of the Interior shall establish guide7 lines for the effective design of data collection activities

8 regarding sediment and nutrient monitoring, for the use

9 of suitable and consistent methods for data collection, and

10 for consistent reporting, data storage, and archiving prac11 tices.

12 (b) RELEASE OF DATA.—Data resulting from sedi13 ment and nutrient monitoring in the Upper Mississippi

14 River Basin shall be released to the public using generic

15 station identifiers and location coordinates. In the case of

16 a monitoring station located on private lands, information

17 regarding the location of the station shall not be dissemi18 nated without the landowner’s permission.

19 (c) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of the Interior

20 shall establish the guidelines under subsection (a) in con21 sultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and all entities

22 known to be conducting sediment and nutrient monitoring

23 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
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1 SEC. 103. RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING SEDIMENT AND NU2 TRIENT MONITORING.

3 (a) INVENTORY.—To the maximum extent prac4 ticable, the Secretary of the Interior shall inventory the

5 sediment and nutrient monitoring efforts, in existence as

6 of the date of the enactment of this Act, of Federal, State,

7 local, and nongovernmental entities for the purpose of cre8 ating a baseline understanding of overlap, data gaps and

9 redundancies.

10 (b) INTEGRATION.—On the basis of the inventory,

11 the Secretary of the Interior shall integrate the existing

12 sediment and nutrient monitoring efforts, to the maximum

13 extent practicable, into the sediment and nutrient moni14 toring network required by section 101.

15 (c) CONSULTATION AND USE OF EXISTING DATA.—

16 In carrying out this section, the Secretary of the Interior

17 shall make maximum use of data in existence as of the

18 date of the enactment of this Act and of ongoing programs

19 and efforts of Federal, State, tribal, local, and nongovern20 mental entities in developing the sediment and nutrient

21 monitoring network required by section 101.

22 SEC. 104. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER PUBLIC AND PRI23 VATE MONITORING EFFORTS.

24 To establish the sediment and nutrient monitoring

25 network, the Secretary of the Interior shall collaborate,

26 to the maximum extent practicable, with other Federal,
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1 State, tribal, local and private sediment and nutrient mon2 itoring programs that meet guidelines prescribed under

3 section 102(a), as determined by the Secretary of the Inte4 rior.

5 SEC. 105. COST SHARE REQUIREMENTS.

6 (a) REQUIRED COST SHARING.—The non-Federal

7 sponsors of the sediment and nutrient monitoring network

8 shall be responsible for not less than 25 percent of the

9 costs of maintaining the network.

10 (b) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—Up to 80 percent of

11 the non-Federal share may be provided through in-kind

12 contributions.

13 (c) TREATMENT OF EXISTING EFFORTS.—A State or

14 local monitoring effort, in existence as of the date of the

15 enactment of this Act, that the Secretary of the Interior

16 finds adheres to the guidelines prescribed under section

17 102(a) shall be deemed to satisfy the cost share require18 ments of this section.

19 SEC. 106. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

20 The Secretary of the Interior shall report to Congress

21 not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment

22 of this Act on the development of the sediment and nutri23 ent monitoring network.
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1 SEC. 107. ASSESSMENT OF WATER RESOURCE AND WATER

2 QUALITY MANAGEMENT.

3 The National Research Council of the National Acad4 emy of Sciences shall conduct a comprehensive assessment

5 of the water resource and water quality management with6 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin for the purpose of

7 reviewing nonpoint source water quality issues and pro8 viding scientific and policy advice for addressing water

9 quality and associated watershed problems.

10 TITLE II—INITIATIVE GRANT,

11 DEMONSTRATION, AND OUT12 REACH PROGRAMS

13 SEC. 201. COMPUTER MODELING OF SEDIMENT AND NUTRI14 ENT SOURCES.

15 (a) MODELING PROGRAM REQUIRED.—As part of the

16 Upper Mississippi River Stewardship Initiative, the Direc17 tor of the United States Geological Survey, in collabora18 tion with the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation

19 Service, shall establish a modeling program to identify sig20 nificant sources of sediment and nutrients in the Upper

21 Mississippi River Basin.

22 (b) ROLE.—Computer modeling shall be used to iden23 tify subwatersheds which are significant sources of sedi24 ment and nutrient loss and shall be made available for

25 the purposes of targeting public and private sediment and

26 nutrient reduction efforts.
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1 (c) COMPONENTS.—Sediment and nutrient models

2 for the Upper Mississippi River Basin shall include the

3 following:

4 (1) Models of processes affecting field sediment

5 and nutrient losses.

6 (2) Models of watersheds.

7 (3) Models of main river channels.

8 (4) Models that relate sediment and nutrient

9 yields from large basins to sources, land uses, and

10 management practices.

11 (d) COLLECTION OF ANCILLARY INFORMATION.—

12 Ancillary information shall be collected in a GIS format

13 to support modeling and management use of modeling re14 sults, including the following:

15 (1) Land use data.

16 (2) Soils data.

17 (3) Elevation data.

18 (4) Information on sediment and nutrient re19 duction improvement actions.

20 (5) Remotely sense data.

21 (e) HEADQUARTERS.—Information developed by

22 computer modeling shall be headquartered at the Upper

23 Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse,

24 Wisconsin.
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1 SEC. 202. RESEARCH REGARDING BEST MANAGEMENT

2 PRACTICES AND SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT

3 LOSS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall

5 evaluate the benefits and costs of best management prac6 tices designed to reduce sediment and nutrient loss.

7 (b) EVALUATION PRACTICES.—The Secretary of Ag8 riculture shall work with other partnering agencies, wheth9 er Federal, State, tribal, and local, and with other public

10 and nonpublic agencies to evaluate the benefits of best

11 management practices designed to reduce nutrient and

12 sediment loss.

13 (c) ECONOMIC RISK ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of

14 Agriculture shall assess the economic risks associated with

15 new best management practices designed to reduce sedi16 ment and nutrient loss.

17 SEC. 203. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS REGARDING NEW

18 BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO REDUCE

19 SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT LOSS.

20 The Secretary of Agriculture shall administer a grant

21 program to supplement non-Federal funds being used by

22 State, tribal, local, and private projects to demonstrate

23 new best management practices designed to reduce sedi24 ment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River

25 Basin.
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1 SEC. 204. USE OF ELECTRONIC MEANS TO DISTRIBUTE IN2 FORMATION.

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF SYSTEM.—Not later than 90

4 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Direc5 tor of the United States Geological Survey shall establish

6 a system that uses the telecommunications medium known

7 as the Internet to provide information regarding the fol8 lowing:

9 (1) Public and private programs designed to re10 duce sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mis11 sissippi River Basin.

12 (2) Information on sediment and nutrient levels

13 in the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries.

14 (3) Successful sediment and nutrient reduction

15 projects.

16 (b) COOPERATION.—The Director of the United

17 States Geological Survey shall establish the system in co18 operation with the Natural Resources Conservation Serv19 ice.

20 SEC. 205. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

21 (a) MONITORING ACTIVITIES.—Commencing one

22 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Direc23 tor of the United States Geological Survey shall provide

24 to Congress and make available to the public an annual

25 report regarding monitoring activities conducted in the

26 Upper Mississippi River Basin.
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1 (b) MODELING ACTIVITIES.—Every three years, the

2 Director of the United States Geological Survey shall pro3 vide to Congress and make available to the public a

4 progress report regarding modeling activities.

5 TITLE III—PROTECTION OF

6 PERSONAL DATA

7 SEC. 301. PRIVACY OF PERSONAL DATA RECEIVED BY DE8 PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND DATA

9 GATHERING LOCATIONS.

10 The Food Security Act of 1985 is amended by insert11 ing after section 1243 (16 U.S.C. 3843) the following new

12 section:

13 ‘‘SEC. 1244. PRIVACY OF PERSONAL DATA RELATING TO

14 NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION PRO15 GRAMS.

16 ‘‘(a) INFORMATION AND DATA RECEIVED FOR TECH17 NICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—Notwithstanding

18 any other provision of law and except as provided in sub19 section (c), information and data provided to, or developed

20 by, the Secretary of Agriculture (including a contractor

21 of the Secretary) for the purpose of providing technical

22 or financial assistance to a landowner or operator with re23 spect to any natural resources conservation program ad24 ministered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service

25 or the Farm Service Agency shall not be released or dis-
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1 closed (including release or disclosure pursuant to section

2 552 of title 5, United States Code) to any agency or per3 son outside the Department of Agriculture.

4 ‘‘(b) INVENTORY, MONITORING, AND SITE SPECIFIC

5 DATA.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law and

6 except as provided in subsection (c), in order to maintain

7 the personal privacy, confidentiality, and cooperation of

8 landowners and operators, and to maintain the integrity

9 of sample sites, the specific geographic locations of the

10 National Resources Inventory of the Department of Agri11 culture data gathering sites and the information and data

12 generated by such sites are not public information and

13 shall not be subject to the mandatory disclosure provisions

14 of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, or released

15 to any local, tribal, State, or Federal agency outside the

16 Department of Agriculture.

17 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTIONS.—

18 ‘‘(1) RELEASE AND DISCLOSURE FOR ENFORCE19 MENT.—The Secretary of Agriculture may release or

20 disclose information or data covered by subsection

21 (a) or (b) to the extent necessary to enforce the nat22 ural resources conservation programs referred to in

23 subsection (a).

24 ‘‘(2) LIMITED DISCLOSURE TO COOPERATING

25 PERSONS AND AGENCIES.—The Secretary may re-
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1 lease or disclose information or data covered by sub2 section (a) or (b) to a person or a local, tribal,

3 State, or Federal agency working in cooperation

4 with the Secretary of Agriculture in providing tech5 nical and financial assistance described in subsection

6 (a) or collecting information and data from National

7 Resources Inventory data gathering sites. However,

8 the person or local, tribal, State, or Federal agency

9 that receives the information or data may release the

10 information or data only for the purpose of assisting

11 the Secretary in providing the requested technical or

12 financial assistance or in collecting information and

13 data from National Resources Inventory data gath14 ering sites.

15 ‘‘(3) LIMITED EXCEPTION FOR STATISTICAL

16 AND AGGREGATE DATA.—The Secretary may release

17 information or data covered by subsection (b), if the

18 information or data has been transformed into a sta19 tistical or aggregate form that does not allow identi20 fication of the individual landowner, operator, or

21 specific data gathering site.

22 ‘‘(d) VIOLATIONS.—Section 1770(c) of the Food Se23 curity Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 2276) shall apply to any

24 person who releases or causes to be released information

25 or data in violation of this section.’’.
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1 TITLE IV—ADVISORY COUNCIL

2 ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI

3 RIVER STEWARDSHIP INITIA4 TIVE

5 SEC. 401. ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVISORY COUNCIL.

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Agriculture,

7 in consultation with the governors specified in subsection

8 (c), shall establish an advisory body, to be known as the

9 Advisory Council on the Upper Mississippi River Steward10 ship Initiative, to provide guidance regarding the Initia11 tive.

12 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—

13 (1) VOTING MEMBERS.—The Advisory Council

14 shall consist of a total of 15 voting members.

15 (2) CHAIRPERSON.—Voting members shall elect

16 one member appointed under subparagraph (c) to

17 serve as chairperson for the Advisory Council. The

18 chairperson shall serve for a term lasting no more

19 than one year.

20 (c) APPOINTMENT.—The governors of the States of

21 Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri shall

22 each appoint two voting members of the Advisory Council,

23 to be selected from nongovernmental agriculture, natural

24 resources, recreational, and environmental groups and

25 other persons with interests in the sustainability and
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1 health of the natural resources of the Upper Mississippi

2 River Basin.

3 (d) STATE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTA4 TION.—The five remaining voting members of the Advi5 sory Council shall be drawn from the State Technical

6 Committees established by the Secretary of Agriculture

7 under section 1261 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16

8 U.S.C. 3861) for the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illi9 nois, Iowa, and Missouri. The Secretary of Agriculture

10 shall select one member from each of these State Tech11 nical Committees.

12 (e) NONVOTING MEMBERS.—The governors referred

13 to in subsection (c) shall also each appoint one nonvoting

14 member for the Advisory Council who will serve as rep15 resentatives of the governors.

16 (f) PER DIEM.—Members of the Advisory Council,

17 including members appointed pursuant to subsection (e),

18 shall receive the Federal per diem for transportation and

19 lodging associated with meetings and other activities of

20 the Advisory Council.

21 SEC. 402. RESPONSIBILITIES OF ADVISORY COUNCIL.

22 (a) COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATION.—The Ad23 visory Council shall serve as a means for coordination,

24 communication, and information sharing regarding such

25 issues in the Upper Mississippi River Basin as follows:
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1 (1) Science and technology concerning conserva2 tion practices.

3 (2) Monitoring and modeling needs.

4 (3) Strategies for implementing conservation

5 assistance and programs.

6 (4) Performance assessment.

7 (5) Evaluation and reporting.

8 (b) ANNUAL REPORT ON REDUCTION EFFORTS.—

9 (1) PREPARATION.—The Advisory Council shall

10 prepare an annual report regarding publicly-financed

11 efforts to reduce sediment and nutrient loss in the

12 Upper Mississippi River Basin. In the case of any

13 such report, output data shall conform to the stand14 ards established pursuant to section 1244 of the

15 Food Security Act of 1985, as added by section 301.

16 (2) SUBMISSION.—The annual report shall be

17 submitted—

18 (A) to the State legislatures of the States

19 of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Mis20 souri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Lou21 isiana, and Mississippi;

22 (B) to the Upper Mississippi River Basin

23 Association; and

24 (C) to the Congress.
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1 (c) SPECIAL TASK FORCES.—For the purpose of

2 maximizing and diversifying the involvement of people in

3 the activities of the Advisory Council and addressing spe4 cific issues referred to in subsection (a), the Advisory

5 Council shall create issue specific task forces as necessary

6 to effectively carry out the responsibilities of the Advisory

7 Council. The Advisory Council shall consult with the Inter8 agency Working Group and appropriate State agencies in

9 establishing any such task force and before dissolving any

10 such task force when it becomes obsolete.

11 (d) PUBLIC MEETINGS.—As part of its responsibil12 ities under this section, the Advisory Council shall hold

13 annual public meetings in each of the States of Wisconsin,

14 Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri to formulate rec15 ommendations and seek public input regarding methods

16 and priorities to reduce sediment and nutrient loss in the

17 Upper Mississippi River Basin. To qualify as the annual

18 meeting in a State, at least two of the three members of

19 the Advisory Council from that State must be present at

20 the meeting.

21 (e) STAFF DIRECTOR.—The Secretary of Agriculture

22 shall appoint an employee of the Natural Resources Con23 servation Service of the Department of Agriculture to act

24 as staff director for the Advisory Council. The staff direc25 tor shall work in conjunction with the chairperson of the
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1 Advisory Council to assist in coordinating the activities of

2 the Advisory Council.

3 SEC. 403. ADVISORY NATURE OF COUNCIL.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Council is purely

5 advisory and shall have no implementation or enforcement

6 authority. However, the Secretary of Agriculture and the

7 heads of the other Federal agencies in the Interagency

8 Working Group established under section 501 shall give

9 strong consideration to the recommendations of the Advi10 sory Council in administering natural resources programs

11 of the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

12 (b) PUBLIC OUTREACH.—The Secretary of Agri13 culture shall work with the Advisory Council to coordinate

14 outreach activities in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

15 related to technologies and other methods to reduce sedi16 ment and nutrient loss.

17 TITLE V—FEDERAL

18 INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP

19 SEC. 501. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY WORKING

20 GROUP.

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Agriculture

22 and the Secretary of the Department of the Interior shall

23 establish an Interagency Working Group to coordinate

24 Federal nutrient and sediment reduction efforts in the

25 Upper Mississippi River Basin under the Initiative.
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1 (b) PARTICIPATION.—The Interagency Working

2 Group shall include the following:

3 (1) The Secretary of Agriculture, or the des4 ignee of the Secretary.

5 (2) The Secretary of the Interior, or the des6 ignee of the Secretary.

7 (c) CHAIRPERSON; ADDITIONAL INPUT AND PARTICI8 PATION.—The Secretary of Agriculture (or the designee

9 of the Secretary) shall serve as chairperson of the Inter10 agency Working Group and may solicit input and partici11 pation by other Federal agencies engaged in sediment and

12 nutrient reduction efforts in the Upper Mississippi River

13 Basin.

14 (d) ANNUAL WORK PLAN AND BUDGET.—The Inter15 agency Working Group shall annually develop a coordi16 nated work plan and budget for the Federal agencies par17 ticipating in the Initiative—

18 (1) to better coordinate Federal efforts to ad19 dress sediment and nutrient reduction in the Upper

20 Mississippi River Basin;

21 (2) to encourage Federal agencies responsible

22 for sediment and nutrient reduction efforts to lever23 age local, State, and Federal resources;

24 (3) to identify gaps and overlapping programs;

25 and
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1 (4) to better prioritize existing Federal spend2 ing to address major sources of sediment and nutri3 ent loss.

4 (e) COORDINATION.—The Interagency Working

5 Group shall coordinate its recommendations to be included

6 in the work plan and budget with those of individual agen7 cies.

8 (f) SUBMISSION OF WORK PLAN AND BUDGET.—Not

9 later than September 15 of each year, the Interagency

10 Working Group shall submit to the Office of Management

11 and Budget the work plan and budget required by sub12 section (d).

13 TITLE VI—AUTHORIZATION OF

14 APPROPRIATIONS

15 SEC. 601. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro17 priated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this

18 Act.

19 (b) WATER RESOURCE AND WATER QUALITY MAN20 AGEMENT ASSESSMENT.—There is authorized to be ap21 propriated $650,000 to allow the National Research Coun22 cil to perform the assessment of water resource and water

23 quality management within the Upper Mississippi River

24 Basin required by section 107.

Æ