I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 489 
To provide for an assessment of the extent of the invasion of Salt Cedar 
and Russian Olive on lands in the Western United States and efforts 
to date to control such invasion on public and private lands, including 
tribal lands, to establish a demonstration program to address the invasion 
of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 1, 2005 
Mr. PEARCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 
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 provide for an assessment of the extent of the invasion 
of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive on lands in the Western 
United States and efforts to date to control such invasion 
on public and private lands, including tribal lands, to 
establish a demonstration program to address the inva-
sion of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, 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 TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Salt Cedar and Rus-
sian Olive Control Assessment and Demonstration Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 
means the Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation 
with the Secretary of the Interior. 
(2) WESTERN
UNITED
STATES.—The term 
‘‘Western United States’’ refers to the States de-
fined by the Act of June 17, 1902 (commonly known 
as the 1902 Reclamation Act; 43 U.S.C. 371 et 
seq.), which includes Arizona, California, Colorado, 
Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Okla-
homa, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, 
Washington, and Wyoming. 
SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF SALT CEDAR AND RUSSIAN OLIVE 
INFESTATION IN WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
(a) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than one year after the 
date on which funds are first made available to carry out 
this section, the Secretaries shall complete an assessment 
of the extent of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive invasion 
in the Western United States. 
(b) CONTENT.—The assessment shall include the fol-
lowing:
(1) To the extent practicable, documentation of 
the quantity of water lost due to the infestation. 
(2) Documentation of the quantity of water 
saved due to various control methods, including the 
portion of saved water that returns to surface water 
or groundwater supplies and at what rates. 
(3) Determination of the optimum control 
method for the various land types and land uses. 
(4) Determination of what conditions indicate 
the need to remove such growth and the optimal 
methods for disposal or use of such growth. 
(5) Determination of methods to prevent the re-
growth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Rus-
sian Olive and to reestablish native species. 
(c) REPORT ON ASSESSMENT.— 
(1) PREPARATION AND CONTENT.—The Secre-
taries shall prepare a report containing the results 
of the assessment. The report shall identify long- 
term management and funding strategies that could 
be implemented by Federal, State, Tribal, and pri-
vate land managers and owners on all land manage-
ment types to address the invasion of Salt Cedar 
and Russian Olive. The report shall also identify de-
ficiencies or areas for further study and where ac-
tual field demonstrations would be useful in the con-
trol effort. 
(2) SUBMISSION.—The Secretaries shall submit 
the report to the Committee on Resources and the 
Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry and the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources of the Senate. 
(d) SUPPORT FOR IDENTIFICATION OF LONG-TERM 
MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING STRATEGIES.—The Secre-
taries may make grants to institutions of higher education 
or nonprofit organizations (or both) with an established 
background and expertise in the public policy issues asso-
ciated with the control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive 
to obtain technical experience, support, and recommenda-
tions related to the identification of the long-term manage-
ment and funding strategies required to be included in the 
report under subsection (c)(1). Each grant awarded under 
this subsection may not be less than $250,000. 
SEC. 4. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM FOR CONTROL OF 
SALT CEDAR AND RUSSIAN OLIVE IN WEST-
ERN STATES. 
(a) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.— 
(1) PROJECTS REQUIRED.—Based on the re-
sults of the assessment and report in section 3, the
Secretaries shall initiate a program of not fewer 
than three demonstration projects in the Western 
United States designed to address the deficiencies 
and areas for further study to address the invasion 
of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, including the test 
of additional control methods, identified by the re-
port. 
(2) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretaries may 
enter into an agreement with a State in the Western 
United States to carry out a demonstration project. 
If the Secretaries select a demonstration project for 
implementation on National Forest System lands, 
the Secretary of Agriculture shall be responsible for 
implementation of the project. 
(b) ELEMENTS OF PROJECTS.— 
(1) DESIGN AND SCALE.—Each demonstration 
project shall be designed with integrated methods 
and adaptive management strategies and carried out 
over time frames and spatial scales large enough to 
accomplish the goals laid out in the report. 
(2) SCIENTIFIC REVIEW.—Before being carried 
out, the methods and strategies proposed for each 
demonstration project shall be subject to review by 
scientific experts, including non-Federal experts, se-
lected by the Secretaries. The Secretaries may use
existing scientific review processes to the extent they 
comply with this requirement. 
(c) PROJECT COSTS AND COST SHARING.—The total 
cost of each demonstration project may not exceed 
$7,000,000, including the costs of planning, design, imple-
mentation, revegetation, maintenance, and monitoring. In 
the case of a demonstration project conducted on lands 
under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior or 
the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretaries may accept, 
but not require, funds or in-kind contributions, including 
State agency provided services. The Federal share of the 
costs of any activity on private lands funded under the 
project shall be no more than 75 percent of the total cost 
of the activity. 
(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—During the period 
in which the demonstration projects are carried out, the 
Secretaries shall submit to the congressional committees 
specified in section 3(c)(2) an annual report describing— 
(1) the demonstration projects; 
(2) the progress made in carrying out the 
projects during the period covered by the report; and 
(3) the costs of the projects under subsection 
(c). 
(e) MONITORING.—Demonstration projects shall in-
clude the following:
(1) Documentation of the quantity of water 
saved due to various control methods, including the 
portion of water saved that returns to surface water 
or groundwater supplies and at what rates. 
(2) Optimal revegetative states to prevent the 
regrowth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Rus-
sian Olive and to reestablish native species. 
(f) COOPERATION.—The Secretaries shall use the ex-
pertise of their various agencies, as well as other Federal 
agencies, institutions of higher education, State and local 
governments and political subdivisions thereof, including 
soil and water conservation districts, and Indian tribes, 
which are actively conducting assessments on or imple-
menting Salt Cedar and Russian Olive control activities. 
SEC. 5. RELATION TO OTHER AUTHORITY. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, or 
otherwise bias, the use by the Secretaries of other statu-
tory or administrative authorities to plan or conduct Salt 
Cedar or Russian Olive control and eradication that is not 
planned or conducted under this Act. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) ASSESSMENT.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretaries $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2005 
to conduct the assessment required by section 3.
(b) GRANTS.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretaries $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2005 
to award as grants under section 3(d). 
(c) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—There are author-
ized to be appropriated to the Secretaries $18,000,000 for 
each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to carry out 
the program of demonstration projects under section 4. 
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