I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1917 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service, to conduct a Joint Venture Program to protect, 
restore, enhance, and manage migratory bird populations, their habitats, 
and the ecosystems they rely on, through voluntary actions on public 
and private lands, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 13, 2011 
Mr. KIND (for himself and Mr. WITTMAN) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, to conduct a 
Joint Venture Program to protect, restore, enhance, and 
manage migratory bird populations, their habitats, and 
the ecosystems they rely on, through voluntary actions 
on public and private lands, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Joint Ventures for 
Bird Habitat Conservation Act of 2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 
(1) migratory birds are of great ecological and 
economic value to the Nation, contributing to bio-
logical diversity, advancing the well-being of human 
communities through pollination, seed dispersal, and 
other ecosystem services, and bringing tremendous 
enjoyment to the tens of millions of Americans who 
study, watch, feed, or hunt these birds; 
(2) sustainable populations of migratory birds 
depend on the conservation, protection, restoration, 
and enhancement of terrestrial, wetland, marine, 
and other aquatic habitats throughout their ranges 
in the United States, as well as the rest of North 
America, the Caribbean, and Central and South 
America; 
(3) birds are good indicators of environmental 
health and provide early warning of the impacts of 
environmental change, helping to yield the most out 
of every dollar invested in conservation; 
(4) human and environmental stressors are 
causing the decline of populations of many migra-
tory bird species, many of them once common, and 
climate change will exacerbate the impacts of these 
stressors on migratory bird populations; 
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(5) the coordination of Federal, State, tribal, 
and local government natural resource conservation 
efforts and the formation of partnerships that in-
clude a diversity of nongovernmental conservation 
organizations, private landowners, and other relevant 
stakeholders is necessary to accomplish the conserva-
tion of migratory bird populations, their habitats, 
and the ecosystem functions they rely on; 
(6) hunters, through their purchase of Federal 
migratory bird hunting stamps and State hunting li-
censes, have long supported the conservation of mi-
gratory birds and their habitats in the United States 
through the various State and Federal programs 
that are supported by the fees charged for such pur-
chases; 
(7) the Department of the Interior, through the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, is author-
ized under a number of broad statutes to undertake 
many activities with partners to conserve natural re-
sources, including migratory birds and their habitat; 
(8) through these authorities, the Service has 
created and supported a number of joint ventures 
with diverse partners to help protect, manage, en-
hance, and restore migratory bird habitat through-
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