Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Assessment and Demonstration Act

Bill: 108-hr-2707
Sponsor: Rep. Pearce, Stevan [R-NM-2]
Introduced: 2003-07-10 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Agriculture and Food
Animals
Aquatic ecology
Arizona
California
Colorado
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Cost effectiveness
Economics and Public Finance
Ecosystem management
Education
Environmental Protection
Environmental assessment
Exotic plants
Federal aid to education
Goats
Government Operations and Politics
Groundwater
Herbicides
Higher education
Idaho
Infrastructure
Insects
Integrated pest management
Intergovernmental fiscal relations
Kansas
Montana
National forests
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
Non-native species
Nonprofit organizations
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pest control
Policy sciences
Revegetation
Social Welfare
Texas
Trees
Utah
Washington State
Water Resources Development
Water conservation
Water supply
Water use
West (U.S.)
Wyoming

Summary:
action_date: 2003-07-10
text: 
Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Demonstration Act - Directs the Secretary concerned (the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to National Forest System Lands, and the Secretary of the Interior with respect to Federal lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior and Indian lands) to: (1) assess the extent of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive invasion in those States in which the Bureau of Reclamation operates, past and present assessments and management options to control these phreatophytes, the feasibility of reducing water consumption, methods and challenges in land restoration, and the estimated costs of destruction, biomass removal, and restoration and maintenance; (2) identify long-term management and funding strategies that could be implemented by Federal, State, and private land managers; and (3) initiate a program of at least three projects to demonstrate and evaluate the most effective control methods, including at least one on national forest system land created from the public domain, one primarily using air-born application of herbicides, one using mechanical removal, and one using biocontrol, such as goats or insects. Requires each project to: (1) monitor and document the water saved due to control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive infestation and what portions return to surface water or groundwater supplies and at what rates; (2) assess the optimum application approach and tools for an array of control methods; (3) assess all costs and benefits associated with the control methods, land restoration, and maintenance; (4) determine what conditions indicate the need to remove biomass and the optimal methods for its disposal or use; (5) define appropriate final vegetative states, optimal re-vegetation methods; and (6) methods to prevent regrowth and reintroduction. 

action_date: 2004-02-24
text: 
Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Assessment and Demonstration Act - (Sec. 2) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to assess the extent of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive invasion in the western United States. Requires such assessment to include: (1) documentation of the quantity of water lost due to the infestation and 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; (2) determination of the optimum control method for the various land types and land uses and of what conditions indicate the need to remove such growth and the optimal methods for disposal or use of such growth; and (3) the methods to prevent re-growth and re-introduction of these invasive species.
 
Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretaries) to prepare and submit to specified congressional committees (the congressional committees) a report containing the results of such assessment and identifying: (1) long-term management and funding strategies that could be implemented by Federal, State, tribal, and private land managers and owners on all land management types to address the invasion of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive; and (2) deficiencies or areas for further study and where actual field demonstrations would be useful in the control effort. 
 
Authorizes the Secretaries to make grants to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or both) with an established background and expertise in public policy issues associated with the control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive in order to obtain technical experience, support, and recommendations related to the identification of the long-term management and funding strategies required to be included in such report. Limits each grant awarded to $250,000.
 
(Sec. 3) Directs the Secretaries, based on the assessment and report, to initiate a program of at least three demonstration projects in the western States designed to address deficiencies and areas for further study to address the invasion of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, including the testing of additional control methods identified by such report. 
 
Allows the Secretaries to enter into an agreement with a western State to carry out a project and, if the Secretaries select a demonstration project for implementation in national Forest System lands, makes the Secretary of Agriculture responsible for implementation of such project.
 
Requires projects to 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. Provides that, before being carried out, the methods and strategies proposed for each project shall be subject to review by scientific experts, including non-Federal experts, selected by the Secretaries.
 
Limits the total cost of each project to $7 million, including planning, design, implementation, revegetation, maintenance, and monitoring costs. Allows the Secretaries, in cases of projects conducted on lands under the jurisdiction of either Secretary, to accept, but not require, funds or in-kind contributions, including State agency provided services. Limits the Federal share of the costs of any activity on private lands funded under a project to 75 percent of the activity's total cost.
 
Requires projects to include: (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; and (2) optimal re-vegetative states to prevent re-growth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive.
 
Requires the Secretaries to submit to the congressional committees annual reports on such projects.
 
(Sec. 4) Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, or otherwise bias, use by the Secretaries of other statutory or administrative authorities to plan or conduct Salt Cedar or Russian Olive control and eradication.
 
(Sec. 5) Authorizes appropriations to the Secretaries to: (1) conduct the assessment; (2) award the grants specified above; and (3) carry out the program of demonstration projects specified above.

action_date: 2004-02-24
text: 
Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Assessment and Demonstration Act - (Sec. 2) Directs the Secretary of of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretaries) to assess the extent of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive invasion in the western United States (as defined by the 1902 Reclamation Act). Requires such assessment to include: (1) documentation of the quantity of water lost due to the infestation and 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; and (2) determination of the optimum control method for the various land types and land uses, of what conditions indicate the need to remove such growth and the optimal methods for disposal or use of such growth, and of the methods to prevent the regrowth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive and to reestablish native species.
 
Directs the Secretaries to prepare and submit to specified congressional committees (the congressional committees) a report containing the results of such assessment and identifying: (1) long-term management and funding strategies that could be implemented by Federal, State, tribal, and private land managers and owners on all land management types to address the invasion of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive; and (2) deficiencies or areas for further study and where actual field demonstrations would be useful in the control effort. 
 
Authorizes the Secretaries to make grants to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or both) with an established background and expertise in public policy issues associated with the control of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive in order to obtain technical experience, support, and recommendations related to the identification of the long-term management and funding strategies required to be included in such report. Limits each grant awarded to $250,000.
 
(Sec. 3) Directs the Secretaries, based on the assessment and report, to initiate a program of at least three demonstration projects in the western States designed to address deficiencies and areas for further study to address the invasion of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive, including the testing of additional control methods identified by such report. 
 
Allows the Secretaries to enter into an agreement with a western State to carry out a project and, if the Secretaries select a demonstration project for implementation in national Forest System lands, makes the Secretary of Agriculture responsible for implementation of such project.
 
Requires projects to 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. Provides that, before being carried out, the methods and strategies proposed for each project shall be subject to review by scientific experts, including non-Federal experts, selected by the Secretaries.
 
Limits the total cost of each project to $7 million, including planning, design, implementation, revegetation, maintenance, and monitoring costs. Allows the Secretaries to accept, but not require, in cases of projects conducted on lands under the jurisdiction of either Secretary, funds or in-kind contributions, including State agency provided services. Limits the Federal share of the costs of any activity on private lands funded under a project to 75 percent of the activity's total cost.
 
Requires projects to include: (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; and (2) optimal revegetative states to prevent regrowth and reintroduction of Salt Cedar and Russian Olive and to reestablish native species.
 
Requires the Secretaries to submit to the congressional committees annual reports on such projects.
 
(Sec. 4) Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, or otherwise bias, use by the Secretaries of other statutory or administrative authorities to plan or conduct Salt Cedar or Russian Olive control and eradication.
 
(Sec. 5) Authorizes appropriations to the Secretaries to: (1) conduct the assessment; (2) award the grants specified above; and (3) carry out the program of demonstration projects specified above.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-06-25
text: Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 605.
action_date: 2004-02-25
text: Received in the Senate.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 367 - 40 (Roll no. 26). (text: CR H520)
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 367 - 40 (Roll no. 26).(text: CR H520)
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H529-530)
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause 8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings on the motion would be postponed.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 2707.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H520-523)
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Mr. Pearce moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 244.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Committee on Agriculture discharged.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Committee on Agriculture discharged.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: House Committee on Agriculture Granted an extension for further consideration ending not later than Feb. 24, 2004.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 108-424, Part I.
action_date: 2004-02-24
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 108-424, Part I.
action_date: 2003-10-29
text: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2003-10-29
text: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2003-10-29
text: Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands Discharged.
action_date: 2003-10-29
text: Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health Discharged.
action_date: 2003-07-24
text: Subcommittee Hearings Held.
action_date: 2003-07-24
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.
action_date: 2003-07-16
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands.
action_date: 2003-07-15
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry.
action_date: 2003-07-10
text: Referred to the Committee 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.
action_date: 2003-07-10
text: Referred to the Committee 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.
action_date: 2003-07-10
text: Referred to the Committee 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.
action_date: 2003-07-10
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2003-07-10
text: Introduced in House