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SEC. 703. AUTHORIZED USES OF TRANSFERRED AMOUNTS.
The Secretary of the Interior may use the amounts
available under section 702 for the Conservation Easement
Program established by section 704.
SEC. 704. CONSERVATION EASEMENT PROGRAM.
(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED; PURPOSE.—The Secretary
the Interior shall establish and carry out a program, to be
known as the ‘‘Conservation Easement Program’’, under
which the Secretary shall provide grants to eligible entities
described in subsection (c) to provide the Federal share of
the cost of purchasing permanent conservation easements in
land with prime, unique, or other productive uses.
(b) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost
of purchasing a conservation easement described in sub-
section (a) may not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of
purchasing the easement.
(c) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, the
term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means any of the following:
(1) An agency of a State or local government.
(2) A federally recognized Indian tribe.
(3) Any organization that is organized for, and
at all times since its formation has been operated
principally for, one or more of the conservation pur-
poses specified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of section
170(h)(4)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
and—
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(A) is described in section 501(c)(3) of the
Code;
(B) is exempt from taxation under section
501(a) of the Code; and
(C) is described in paragraph (2) of section
509(a) of the Code, or paragraph (3) of such sec-
tion, but is controlled by an organization de-
scribed in paragraph (2) of such section.
(d) TITLE; ENFORCEMENT.—Any eligible entity may
hold title to a conservation easement described in subsection
(a) and enforce the conservation requirements of the ease-
ment.
(e) STATE CERTIFICATION.—As a condition of the re-
ceipt by an eligible entity of a grant under subsection (a),
the attorney general of the State in which the conservation
easement is to be purchased using the grant funds shall cer-
tify that the conservation easement to be purchased is in
a form that is sufficient, under the laws of the State, to
achieve the conservation purpose of the Conservation Ease-
ment Program and the terms and conditions of the grant.
(f) CONSERVATION PLAN.—Any land for which a con-
servation easement is purchased under this section shall be
subject to the requirements of a conservation plan to the
extent that the plan does not negate or adversely affect the
restrictions contained in the easement.
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(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of the In-
terior may not use more than 10 percent of the amount
that is made available for any fiscal year under this pro-
gram to provide technical assistance to carry out this sec-
tion.
Subtitle B—Endangered and
Threatened Species Recovery
SEC. 711. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this subtitle are the following:
(1) To provide a dedicated source of funding to
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the
National Marine Fisheries Service for the purpose of
implementing an incentives program to promote the
recovery of endangered species and threatened species
and the habitat upon which they depend.
(2) To promote greater involvement by non-Fed-
eral entities in the recovery of the Nation’s endan-
gered species and threatened species and the habitat
upon which they depend.
SEC. 712. TREATMENT OF AMOUNTS TRANSFERRED FROM
CONSERVATION 
AND 
REINVESTMENT 
ACT
FUND.
Amounts transferred to the Secretary of the Interior
under section 5(b)(7)(B) of this Act in a fiscal year shall
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be available to the Secretary of the Interior without further
appropriation, in that fiscal year, to carry out this subtitle.
SEC. 713. ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES RECOV-
ERY ASSISTANCE.
(a) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may use
amounts made available under section 712 to provide fi-
nancial assistance to any person for development and im-
plementation of Endangered and Threatened Species Recov-
ery Agreements entered into by the Secretary under section
714.
(b) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance under this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall give priority to the development
and implementation of species recovery agreements that—
(1) implement actions identified under recovery
plans approved by the Secretary under section 4(f) of
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C.
1533(f));
(2) have the greatest potential for contributing to
the recovery of an endangered or threatened species;
and
(3) to the extent practicable, require use of the
assistance—
(A) on land owned by a small landowner;
or
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(B) on a family farm by the owner or oper-
ator of the family farm.
(c) PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE FOR REQUIRED AC-
TIVITIES.—The Secretary may not provide financial assist-
ance under this section for any action that is required by
a permit issued under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endan-
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)) or an
incidental take statement issued under section 7 of that Act
(16 U.S.C. 1536), or that is otherwise required under that
Act or any other Federal law.
(d) PAYMENTS UNDER OTHER PROGRAMS.—
(1) OTHER PAYMENTS NOT AFFECTED.—Finan-
cial assistance provided to a person under this section
shall be in addition to, and shall not affect, the total
amount of payments that the person is otherwise eli-
gible to receive under the conservation reserve pro-
gram established under subchapter B of chapter 1 of
subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831 and following), the wetlands re-
serve program established under subchapter C of that
chapter (16 U.S.C. 3837 and following), or the Wild-
life Habitat Incentives Program established under sec-
tion 387 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and
Reform Act of 1996 (16 U.S.C. 3836a).
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(2) LIMITATION.—A person may not receive fi-
nancial assistance under this section to carry out ac-
tivities under a species recovery agreement in addi-
tion to payments under the programs referred to in
paragraph (1) made for the same activities, if the
terms of the species recovery agreement do not require
financial or management obligations by the person in
addition to any such obligations of the person under
such programs.
SEC. 714. ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES RECOV-
ERY AGREEMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter into En-
dangered and Threatened Species Recovery Agreements for
purposes of this subtitle in accordance with this section.
(b) REQUIRED TERMS.—The Secretary shall include
in each species recovery agreement provisions that—
(1) require the person—
(A) to carry out on real property owned or
leased by the person activities not otherwise re-
quired by law that contribute to the recovery of
an endangered or threatened species;
(B) to refrain from carrying out on real
property owned or leased by the person otherwise
lawful activities that would inhibit the recovery
of an endangered or threatened species; or