II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2394 

To require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture 

to provide certain Western States assistance in the development of statewide conservation and management plans for the protection and recovery 

of sage grouse species, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2014 

Mr. ENZI (for himself, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. HATCH, Mr. RISCH, Mr. LEE, Ms. 

MURKOWSKI, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 

Works 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 

of Agriculture to provide certain Western States assistance in the development of statewide conservation and 

management plans for the protection and recovery of 

sage grouse species, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Sage Grouse Protec5 tion and Conservation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GREATER SAGE-GROUSE PROTECTION AND CON2 SERVATION MEASURES. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) COVERED WESTERN STATE.—The term 

5 ‘‘covered western State’’ means each of the States of 

6 California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, 

7 North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wash8 ington, and Wyoming. 

9 (2) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LAND.—The 

10 term ‘‘National Forest System land’’ means the 

11 Federal land within the National Forest System, as 

12 described in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range13 land Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 

14 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 

15 (3) PUBLIC LAND.—The term ‘‘public land’’ 

16 has the meaning given the term ‘‘public lands’’ in 

17 section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Manage18 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702). 

19 (4) SAGE GROUSE SPECIES.—The term ‘‘sage 

20 grouse species’’ means the greater sage-grouse 

21 (Centrocercus urophasianus) and the Gunnison sage22 grouse (Centrocercus minimus). 

23 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

24 means— 

25 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re26 spect to National Forest System land; and 


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1 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re2 spect to public land. 

3 (6) STATEWIDE PLAN.—The term ‘‘statewide 

4 plan’’ means a statewide conservation and manage5 ment plan for the protection and recovery of sage 

6 grouse species within a covered western State. 

7 (b) SECRETARIAL PARTICIPATION IN STATE PLAN8 NING PROCESS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 

10 receipt of notice from a covered western State that 

11 the State is initiating or has initiated development 

12 of a statewide conservation and management plan 

13 for the protection and recovery of the sage grouse 

14 species within the State, the Secretary shall provide 

15 to the Governor of that covered western State— 

16 (A) a commitment of the willingness of the 

17 Secretary to participate in the development; 

18 (B) a list of designees from the Depart19 ment of the Interior or Department of Agri20 culture, as applicable, who shall represent the 

21 Secretary as a participant in the development; 

22 and 

23 (C) a list of other Federal departments 

24 that could be invited by the covered western 

25 State to participate. 


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1 (2) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—Not later than 

2 60 days after receipt of a notice described in para3 graph (1) from the covered western State, the Sec4 retary shall provide to the State all relevant sci5 entific data, research, or information regarding sage 

6 grouse species and habitat within the State to ap7 propriate State personnel to assist the State in the 

8 development. 

9 (3) AVAILABILITY OF DEPARTMENT PER10 SONNEL.—The Secretary shall make personnel from 

11 Department of the Interior agencies or Department 

12 of Agriculture agencies, respectively, available, on at 

13 least a monthly basis, to meet with officials of the 

14 State to develop or implement a statewide plan. 

15 (c) CONTENTS OF NOTICE.—A notice under sub16 section (b) shall— 

17 (1) be submitted by a Governor of any covered 

18 western State; and 

19 (2) include— 

20 (A) an invitation for the Secretary to par21 ticipate in development of the statewide plan; 

22 and 

23 (B) a commitment that, not later than 2 

24 years after the submission of a notice under 

25 this section, the State shall present to the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:07 Jun 03, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2394.IS S2394

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1 retary for review a 10-year (or longer) sage 

2 grouse species conservation and management 

3 plan for the entire State. 

4 (d) REVIEW OF STATE PLAN.—If the Secretary re5 ceives a statewide plan from a covered western State not 

6 later than 2 years after receiving a notice under subsection 

7 (b) from the State, the Secretary shall— 

8 (1) review the statewide plan using the best 

9 available science and data to determine if the state10 wide plan is likely— 

11 (A) to conserve the sage grouse species to 

12 the point at which the measures provided pur13 suant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

14 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) are no longer nec15 essary in the State; and 

16 (B) to conserve the habitat essential to 

17 conserve the sage grouse species within the 

18 State; and 

19 (2) approve or endorse, or make comments re20 garding, the statewide plan not later than 120 days 

21 after the date of submission. 

22 (e) ACTIONS AFTER STATEWIDE PLAN IS SUB23 MITTED.— 


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1 (1) HOLD ON CERTAIN ACTIONS.—Not later 

2 than 30 days after receipt of a statewide plan from 

3 a covered western State, the Secretary shall— 

4 (A) take necessary steps to place on hold— 

5 (i) for a period of not less than 10 

6 years, all actions with respect to listing 

7 any sage grouse species in that State 

8 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

9 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 

10 (ii) enforcement of any current listing 

11 of sage grouse species within that State 

12 under that Act; and 

13 (iii) designation of any critical habitat 

14 for any sage grouse species within that 

15 State under that Act; and 

16 (B) withdraw any land use planning activi17 ties related to Federal management of sage 

18 grouse on Federal land within that State and 

19 take immediate steps to amend all Federal land 

20 use plans to comply with the statewide plan 

21 with respect to that State, if— 

22 (i) the State presents to the Secretary 

23 the conservation and management plan of 

24 the State not later than 2 years after the 


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1 State submits notice to the Secretary 

2 under subsection (b); and 

3 (ii) the State is implementing the 

4 plan. 

5 (2) ACTIONS PURSUANT TO NEPA.—Any pro6 posed action pursuant to the National Environ7 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 

8 that occurs within a covered western State may not 

9 be denied or restricted solely on the basis of a sage 

10 grouse species if the action is consistent with a 

11 statewide plan that has been submitted by the State 

12 to the Secretary. 

13 (f) EXISTING STATE PLANS.—The Secretary shall— 

14 (1) except as provided in paragraph (2), give ef15 fect to a statewide plan that is submitted by a cov16 ered western State and approved or endorsed by the 

17 United States Fish and Wildlife Service before the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, in accordance 

19 with the terms of approval or endorsement of the 

20 plan by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; 

21 and 

22 (2) for purposes of subsections (b)(3) and (e), 

23 treat a statewide plan described in paragraph (1) as 

24 a plan referred to in those subsections. 

Æ 


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