I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 749
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Cooperative Landscape 
Conservation Program. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2003
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.
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 ‘‘Cooperative Landscape 
Conservation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to establish a program ad-
ministered by the Secretary of the Interior to provide 
matching grants to certain eligible entities to facilitate the 
acquisition of permanent conservation easements on lands
in order to conserve wildlife, fisheries, public recreation, 
open space, and other important conservation values 
where consistent with the continuation of traditional uses 
of those lands by private landowners. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COOPERATIVE LAND-
SCAPE PROTECTION PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior 
shall establish and carry out a program, to be known as 
the Cooperative Landscape Conservation Program, under 
which the Secretary, subject to the availability of appro-
priations, shall provide grants to eligible entities to provide 
the Federal share of the cost of acquiring permanent con-
servation easements on private lands that provide impor-
tant wildlife, fisheries, public recreation, open space, or 
other conservation benefits to the public, for the purpose 
of preventing the loss of those benefits due to development 
that is inconsistent with the traditional uses of the land. 
(b) APPLICATION FOR EASEMENTS.—To request a 
grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit 
an application that—
(1) describes the property that will be subject 
to the easement and the conservation benefits that 
will result from acquiring the easement; and 
(2) demonstrates how the traditional use of the 
property will be maintained.
(c) PRIORITY.—In providing grants under this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall give priority to grants to acquire 
easements that—
(1) are in areas where rapid population growth 
and increasing land values are creating development 
pressures that threaten traditional use of land and 
the ability to maintain open space; and 
(2) in comparison to other easements for which 
grant applications are submitted under this section 
in the same year, will provide the greatest conserva-
tion benefit for wildlife, fish, natural resources, or 
open space while maintaining the traditional use of 
land. 
(d) COST SHARING.—
(1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 
the cost of acquiring a conservation easement with 
a grant under this section may not exceed 50 per-
cent of the total cost of acquiring the easement. 
(2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—Subject to such 
reasonable conditions as the Secretary may estab-
lish, the Secretary shall apply to the non-Federal 
share of the cost of such acquisition the value of any 
land, interest in land, good, or service applied to 
that acquisition.