Home > 106th Congressional Bills > H.R. 74 (ih) To provide that outlays and revenues totals of the old-age, survivors, [Introduced in House] ...H.R. 74 (ih) To provide that outlays and revenues totals of the old-age, survivors, [Introduced in House] ...
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
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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 Representatives 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 administered 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 LANDSCAPE 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 appropriations, shall provide grants to eligible
entities to provide the Federal share of the cost of acquiring
permanent conservation easements on private lands that provide
important 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 section, 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 conservation 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 percent of the total cost of
acquiring the easement.
(2) In-kind contributions.--Subject to such reasonable
conditions as the Secretary may establish, 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.
(e) Title; Enforcement.--Title to a conservation easement acquired
with a grant under this section may be held and enforced only by an
eligible entity.
(f) State Certification.--As a condition of the receipt by an
eligible entity of a grant under subsection (a), the attorney general
of the State in which the conservation easement is to be acquired using
the grant funds must certify that the conservation easement to be
acquired is in a form that is sufficient, under the laws of the State,
to achieve the conservation purposes of the easement and the terms and
conditions of the grant.
(g) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary may not use more than 10
percent of the amount that is available for any fiscal year to carry
out this Act to provide technical assistance to carry out this section.
(h) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
(A) an agency of a State or local government;
(B) a federally recognized Indian tribe; or
(C) any organization that is organized for, and at
all times since its formation has been operated
principally for, one or more of the conservation
purposes specified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of
section 170(h)(4)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 and--
(i) is described in section 501(c)(3) of
the Code;
(ii) is exempt from taxation under section
501(a) of the Code; and
(iii)(I) is described in paragraph (2) of
section 509(a) of the Code; or
(II) is described in paragraph (3) of such
section, but is controlled by an organization
described in paragraph (2) of such section.
(2) Traditional use.--The term ``traditional use'' means
the uses of land that are in practice at the time of the
submission of an application for a grant under this section.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the
Interior to carry out this Act $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal
years 2004 through 2009.
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