IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 767 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
OCTOBER 23, 2007 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources 
AN ACT 
To protect, conserve, and restore native fish, wildlife, and 
their natural habitats at national wildlife refuges through 
cooperative, incentive-based grants to control, mitigate, 
and eradicate harmful nonnative species, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Refuge Ecology Pro-
tection, Assistance, and Immediate Response Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The National Wildlife Refuge System is the 
premier land conservation system in the world. 
(2) Harmful nonnative species are the leading 
cause of habitat destruction in national wildlife ref-
uges. 
(3) More than 675 known harmful nonnative 
species are found in the National Wildlife Refuge 
System. 
(4) Nearly 8 million acres of the National Wild-
life Refuge System contain harmful nonnative spe-
cies. 
(5) The cost of early identification and removal 
of harmful nonnative species is dramatically lower 
than removing an established invasive population. 
(6) The cost of the backlog of harmful non-
native species control projects that need to be car-
ried out in the National Wildlife Refuge System is 
over $361,000,000, and the failure to carry out such 
projects threatens the ability of the System to fulfill 
its basic mission. 
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(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to encour-
age partnerships among the United States Fish and Wild-
life Service, other Federal agencies, States, Indian tribes, 
and other interests for the following objectives: 
(1) To protect, enhance, restore, and manage a 
diversity of habitats for native fish and wildlife re-
sources within the National Wildlife Refuge System 
through control of harmful nonnative species. 
(2) To promote the development of voluntary 
State assessments to establish priorities for control-
ling harmful nonnative species that threaten or neg-
atively impact refuge resources. 
(3) To promote greater cooperation among Fed-
eral, State, and local land and water managers, and 
owners of private land, water rights, or other inter-
ests, to implement ecologically based strategies to 
eradicate, mitigate, and control harmful nonnative 
species that threaten or negatively impact refuge re-
sources through a voluntary and incentive-based fi-
nancial assistance grant program. 
(4) To establish an immediate response capa-
bility to combat incipient harmful nonnative species 
invasions. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act: 
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(1) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Advi-
sory Committee’’ means the Invasive Species Advi-
sory Committee established by section 3 of Executive 
Order No. 13112, dated February 3, 1999. 
(2) APPROPRIATE
COMMITTEES.—The term 
‘‘appropriate Committees’’ means the Committee on 
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works of the Senate. 
(3) CONTROL.—The term ‘‘control’’ means, as 
appropriate, eradicating, suppressing, reducing, or 
managing harmful nonnative species from areas 
where they are present; taking steps to detect early 
infestations on at-risk native habitats; and restoring 
native species and habitats to reduce the effects of 
harmful nonnative species. 
(4) ENVIRONMENTAL SOUNDNESS.—The term 
‘‘environmental soundness’’ means the extent of in-
clusion of methods, efforts, actions, or programs to 
prevent or control infestations of harmful nonnative 
species, that— 
(A) minimize adverse impacts to the struc-
ture and function of an ecosystem and adverse 
effects on nontarget species and ecosystems; 
and 
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(B) emphasize integrated management 
techniques. 
(5) HARMFUL NONNATIVE SPECIES.—The term 
‘‘harmful nonnative species’’ means, with respect to 
a particular ecosystem in a particular region, any 
species, including its seeds, eggs, spores, or other bi-
ological material capable of propagating that species, 
that is not native to that ecosystem and has a de-
monstrable or potentially demonstrable negative en-
vironmental or economic impact in that region. 
(6) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 
has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
Act (25 U.S.C. 450b). 
(7) NATIONAL MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term 
‘‘National Management Plan’’ means the manage-
ment plan referred to in section 5 of Executive 
Order No. 13112 of February 3, 1999, and entitled 
‘‘Meeting the Invasive Species Challenge’’. 
(8) REFUGE
RESOURCES.—The term ‘‘refuge 
resources’’ means all lands and waters, including the 
fish and wildlife species and the ecosystems and 
habitats therein, that are owned and managed by 
the Federal Government through the United States 
Fish and Wildlife Service and located within the Na-
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tional Wildlife Refuge System administered under 
the National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act of 
1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), including any wa-
terfowl production area. 
(9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-
rector of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-
ice. 
(10) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States of the United States, the District 
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Com-
monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, any 
other territory or possession of the United States, 
and any Indian tribe. 
SEC. 4. REFUGE ECOLOGY PROTECTION, ASSISTANCE, AND 
IMMEDIATE RESPONSE (REPAIR) GRANT PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide— 
(1) a grant to any eligible applicant to carry 
out a qualified control project in accordance with 
this section; and 
(2) a grant to any State to carry out an assess-
ment project consistent with relevant State plans 
that have been developed in whole or in part for the 
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conservation of native fish, wildlife, and their habi-
tats, and in accordance with this section, to— 
(A) identify harmful nonnative species that 
occur in the State that threaten or negatively 
impact refuge resources; 
(B) assess the needs to restore, manage, or 
enhance native fish and wildlife and their nat-
ural habitats and processes in the State to com-
pliment activities to control, mitigate, or eradi-
cate harmful nonnative species negatively im-
pacting refuge resources; 
(C) identify priorities for actions to ad-
dress such needs; 
(D) identify mechanisms to increase capac-
ity building in a State or across State lines to 
conserve and protect native fish and wildlife 
and their habitats and to detect and control 
harmful nonnative species that might threaten 
or negatively impact refuge resources within the 
State; and 
(E) incorporate, where applicable, the 
guidelines of the National Management Plan. 
The grant program under this section shall be known as 
the ‘‘Refuge Ecology Protection, Assistance, and Imme-
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(2) REPORT
CONTENTS.—Each report under 
this subsection shall include the following informa-
tion with respect to each project covered by the re-
port: 
(A) In the case of a control project— 
(i) the information described in sub-
paragraphs (B), (D), and (F) of subsection 
(k)(2); 
(ii) specific information on the meth-
ods and techniques used to control harmful 
nonnative species in the project area; and 
(iii) specific information on the meth-
ods and techniques used to restore native 
fish, wildlife, or their habitats in the 
project area. 
(B) A detailed report of the funding for 
the grant and the expenditures made. 
(3) INTERIM
UPDATE.—Each grantee under 
subsection (h)(1)(A) of this section shall also submit 
annually a brief synopsis to the Secretary, either 
electronically or in writing, that includes— 
(A) a chronological list of project progress; 
and 
(B) use of awarded funds. 
(i) COST SHARING FOR PROJECTS.— 
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