I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1459
To establish an Outdoor Restoration Fund for restoration and resilience
projects, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY21, 2025
Mr. C
ROWintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources,
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
A BILL
To establish an Outdoor Restoration Fund for restoration
and resilience projects, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect the West Act 4
of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Council’’ means the 1
Restoration Fund Advisory Council established by 2
section 4(a). 3
(2) C
OVERED AUTHORITY .—The term ‘‘covered 4
authority’’ means— 5
(A) the good neighbor authority estab-6
lished by section 8206 of the Agricultural Act 7
of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); 8
(B) the Water Source Protection Program 9
under section 303 of the Healthy Forests Res-10
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6542); 11
(C) the Watershed Condition Framework 12
established under section 304 of the Healthy 13
Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 14
6543); 15
(D) the stewardship end result contracting 16
program under section 604 of the Healthy For-17
ests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 18
6591c); 19
(E) the Cooperative Forestry Assistance 20
Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.); 21
(F) the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restora-22
tion Partnership program; 23
(G) the Watershed Protection and Flood 24
Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.); 25
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(H) the emergency watershed protection 1
program established under section 403 of the 2
Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 3
2203); 4
(I) the Collaborative Forest Landscape 5
Restoration Program established under section 6
4003 of Public Law 111–11 (16 U.S.C. 7303); 7
(J) the legacy roads and trails program of 8
the Department of Agriculture; 9
(K) the working lands for wildlife program 10
of the Department of Agriculture; and 11
(L) a conservation program under title XII 12
of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 13
3801 et seq.), including the Regional Conserva-14
tion Partnership program under subtitle I of 15
that title (16 U.S.C. 3871 et seq.). 16
(3) E
COLOGICAL INTEGRITY.—The term ‘‘eco-17
logical integrity’’ has the meaning given the term in 18
section 219.19 of title 36, Code of Federal Regula-19
tions (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 20
Act). 21
(4) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-22
ty’’ means— 23
(A) a State agency; 24
(B) a unit of local government; 25
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(C) a Tribal government; 1
(D) a regional government or quasi-govern-2
mental organization; 3
(E) a special district; or 4
(F) a nonprofit organization. 5
(5) F
UND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Out-6
door and Watershed Restoration Fund established 7
by section 3(a). 8
(6) G
RANT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘grant pro-9
gram’’ means the restoration and resilience grant 10
program established by section 5(b). 11
(7) R
ESTORATION.—The term ‘‘restoration’’ 12
has the meaning given the term in section 219.19 of 13
title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 14
the date of enactment of this Act). 15
(8) R
ESTORATION AND RESILIENCE 16
PROJECT.—The term ‘‘restoration and resilience 17
project’’ means a project carried out on Federal 18
land, non-Federal land, or both, that is designed in 19
accordance with the best available science to conduct 20
restoration that measurably improves— 21
(A) forest conditions; 22
(B) rangeland and native grassland health; 23
(C) watershed function; or 24
(D) wildlife habitat. 25
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(9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1
the Secretary of Agriculture. 2
(10) W
ILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE.—The term 3
‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ has the meaning given 4
the term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res-5
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 6
SEC. 3. OUTDOOR AND WATERSHED RESTORATION FUND. 7
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 8
Treasury an Outdoor and Watershed Restoration Fund. 9
(b) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of the Fund is to pro-10
vide funding for the grant program and the Restoration 11
and Resilience Partnership Program under section 6. 12
(c) U
SE.—Amounts in the Fund shall be used by the 13
Secretary through a transparent process— 14
(1) in coordination with the Council, to carry 15
out the grant program; and 16
(2) to carry out the Restoration and Resilience 17
Partnership Program under section 6. 18
(d) S
AVINGSPROVISIONS.— 19
(1) C
OMPLEMENTARY PROGRAMS .—Activities 20
carried out under this Act shall complement, not du-21
plicate or replace, existing Federal conservation, res-22
toration, and resilience programs. 23
(2) A
PPLICABLE LAW.—A restoration and resil-24
ience project on Federal land or non-Federal land 25
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developed or implemented using amounts provided 1
under this Act shall be carried out in accordance 2
with applicable law and available authorities. 3
(e) S
UPPLEMENT, NOTSUPPLANT.—Amounts pro-4
vided under this Act shall supplement, not supplant, any 5
Federal, State, or other funds otherwise made available 6
to an eligible entity for activities described in this Act. 7
(f) I
NTERAGENCYFLEXIBILITY ANDLEVERAGE.—To 8
facilitate interagency cooperation and enhance the speed 9
and scale of results of activities carried out using amounts 10
in the Fund— 11
(1) matching funds or cost-sharing require-12
ments of a covered authority may be satisfied 13
through the contribution of funding from— 14
(A) 1 or more other covered authorities; or 15
(B) funds appropriated under section 8; 16
and 17
(2) the Secretary shall modify, expand, or 18
streamline eligibility and verification criteria for cov-19
ered authorities to maximize flexibility, speed, and 20
use of Federal funds in the most effective manner 21
to achieve outcomes of activities using amounts in 22
the Fund. 23
(g) P
AY-FOR-PERFORMANCE CONTRACTAUTHOR-24
ITY.—In using amounts in the Fund, the Secretary may 25
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use a contract, grant agreement, or fixed amount award 1
to purchase successfully implemented restoration and re-2
silience project outcomes from qualifying projects, as de-3
termined by the Secretary, at a negotiated per-unit price. 4
(h) A
CCEPTANCE ANDUSE OFCONTRIBUTIONS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas-6
ury, or a designee, may establish in the Treasury an 7
account to accept contributions of non-Federal funds 8
for the Fund. 9
(2) D
EPOSIT AND USE OF CONTRIBUTIONS .— 10
Contributions of non-Federal funds received for the 11
Fund shall be— 12
(A) deposited into the account established 13
under paragraph (1); and 14
(B) available to the Secretary, without fur-15
ther appropriation and until expended, to carry 16
out activities described in subsection (c). 17
(i) O
VERSIGHT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 18
of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the In-19
spector General of the Department of Agriculture shall 20
prepare and submit to the Committees on Agriculture, 21
Nutrition, and Forestry and Appropriations of the Senate 22
and the Committees on Agriculture, Natural Resources, 23
and Appropriations of the House of Representatives a re-24
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port describing the use, and any abuse or misuse, as appli-1
cable, of the Fund by the Secretary with respect to— 2
(1) the grant program; and 3
(2) the Restoration and Resilience Partnership 4
Program established by section 6. 5
SEC. 4. RESTORATION FUND ADVISORY COUNCIL. 6
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established a Res-7
toration Fund Advisory Council to provide recommenda-8
tions to the Secretary with respect to— 9
(1) the disbursement of amounts from the 10
Fund for the grant program; 11
(2) priority-setting for landscapes; and 12
(3) evaluation and monitoring for restoration 13
and resilience project success. 14
(b) M
EMBERSHIP.—The Council shall be composed 15
of— 16
(1) the Secretary; 17
(2) 12 members, to be appointed by the Sec-18
retary, of whom— 19
(A) 3 shall be representatives from re-20
source-dependent industries, including the agri-21
culture, oil and gas, outdoor recreation, or for-22
est products industries; 23
(B) 3 shall be national experts from each 24
of the fields of natural resource restoration, 25
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economic development, and community and cli-1
mate resilience; 2
(C) 3 shall be representatives of conserva-3
tion, wildlife, or watershed organizations; 4
(D) 1 shall be a representative of State 5
government; 6
(E) 1 shall be a representative of a unit of 7
local government; and 8
(F) 1 shall be a representative of a Tribal 9
government; and 10
(3) as determined to be necessary by the Sec-11
retary, not more than 3 representatives from other 12
Federal agencies. 13
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 14
of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Sec-15
retary, in consultation with the Council, shall submit to 16
the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 17
and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and 18
the Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Natural 19
Resources, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 20
House of Representatives a report describing— 21
(1) the status of any restoration and resilience 22
projects that received amounts from the Fund, in-23
cluding— 24
(A) environmental and climate benefits; 25
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(B) restoration achievements; 1
(C) attainment of restoration and habitat 2
improvement objectives; 3
(D) jobs created and retained; 4
(E) the growth in outdoor industries that 5
provide capacity to carry out restoration and re-6
silience projects; and 7
(F) progress towards State-, Tribal-, and 8
community-level resilience goals; and 9
(2) recommendations to improve coordination, 10
align Federal, State, or Tribal resources or existing 11
authorities, and expand workforce capacity in out-12
door industries that provide capacity to carry out 13
restoration and resilience projects through legislative 14
and administrative changes. 15
SEC. 5. RESTORATION AND RESILIENCE GRANT PROGRAM. 16
(a) P
URPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 17
(1) to increase the capacity for— 18
(A) planning, coordinating, and monitoring 19
restoration and resilience projects on non-Fed-20
eral land; and 21
(B) providing support for collaboration and 22
monitoring on Federal land; and 23
(2) to support, on non-Federal land— 24
(A) restoration and resilience projects; 25
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(B) efforts to improve wildfire resistive 1
construction and reduce risks within the home 2
ignition zone; and 3
(C) projects to expand equitable outdoor 4
access. 5
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established a res-6
toration and resilience grant program, to be administered 7
by the Secretary, with the guidance of the Council, to pro-8
vide grants or pay-for-performance contracts from the 9
Fund to eligible entities for the purposes described in sub-10
section (a). 11
(c) R
EGIONALCOORDINATION.—The Secretary and 12
the Council shall, to the maximum extent practicable— 13
(1) seek input from and coordinate with State 14
or regional efforts, initiatives, and partnerships to 15
restore ecological integrity on Federal land and non- 16
Federal land; and 17
(2) complement or support existing State or re-18
gional efforts, initiatives, and partnerships to restore 19
ecological integrity on Federal land and non-Federal 20
land. 21
(d) U
SE OFFUNDS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use 23
amounts in the Fund to provide capacity grants or 24
pay-for-performance contracts under paragraph (2) 25
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and implementation grants or pay-for-performance 1
contracts under paragraph (3). 2
(2) C
APACITY GRANTS.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Capacity grants or pay- 4
for-performance contracts shall be made avail-5
able to eligible entities for the purpose de-6
scribed in subsection (a)(1). 7
(B) A
PPLICATION.— 8
(i) I
N GENERAL.—A grant or pay-for- 9
performance contract under this paragraph 10
may only be made to an eligible entity that 11
submits to the Secretary an application at 12
such time, in such manner, and containing 13
or accompanied by such additional infor-14
mation as the Secretary, in consultation 15
with the Council, may require, including 16
the information required under clause (ii). 17
(ii) C
ONTENTS.—An application sub-18
mitted under clause (i) shall contain— 19
(I) a clear and concise expression 20
of interest; 21
(II) an explanation for how funds 22
would complement existing Federal 23
funds; 24
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(III) a description of how the 1
proposed planning, coordinating, or 2
monitoring of restoration and resil-3
ience projects would be carried out in 4
accordance with the best available eco-5
logical restoration science; and 6
(IV) an estimate of the number 7
and duration of jobs that provide ca-8
pacity to carry out restoration and re-9
silience projects that would be cre-10
ated, or sustained, with the funds. 11
(C) C
ONDITION.—To the maximum extent 12
practicable, the Secretary shall provide grant- 13
writing training and mentoring opportunities 14
for lower-capacity, less collaborative experience, 15
or underserved communities and organizations 16
to help lower the barriers to participation in, 17
and create more inclusion in and opportunities 18
under, the grant program. 19
(3) I
MPLEMENTATION GRANTS .— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Implementation grants 21
or pay-for-performance contracts shall be made 22
available to eligible entities for the purpose de-23
scribed in subsection (a)(2). 24
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(B) APPLICATION.—A grant or pay-for- 1
performance contract under this paragraph may 2
be made only to an eligible entity that submits 3
to the Secretary an application at such time, in 4
such manner, and containing or accompanied 5
by such information as the Secretary, in con-6
sultation with the Council, may require. 7
(C) W
AIVER.—The Secretary may waive 8
matching requirements under covered authori-9
ties for applicants for grants or pay-for-per-10
formance contracts under this paragraph rep-11
resenting lower-capacity, less collaborative expe-12
rience, or underserved communities and organi-13
zations and rural communities. 14
(e) P
RIORITY.—In carrying out the grant program, 15
the Secretary, in consultation with the Council, shall give 16
priority to projects that would— 17
(1) create or sustain jobs, employ local or re-18
gional labor, or expand the outdoor workforce to 19
provide capacity to carry out restoration and resil-20
ience projects or equitable outdoor access through 21
training and education programs; 22
(2) be developed through a collaborative proc-23
ess, relying on the best available social ecological 24
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restoration science, with multiple stakeholders rep-1
resenting diverse interests; 2
(3) address shared priorities for Federal and 3
non-Federal partners; 4
(4) advance State, local, and Tribal plans relat-5
ing to forests, water, wildlife, or equitable outdoor 6
access; 7
(5) utilize watershed data analytics to quantify, 8
prioritize, and measure expected outcomes from pro-9
posed restoration activities; 10
(6) be carried out by or in lower-capacity, less 11
collaborative experience, or underserved communities 12
and organizations; or 13
(7) improve long-term economic security in the 14
geographic region through restoration and resilience 15
projects, equitable outdoor access, and the indirect 16
benefits of those projects and access, particularly in 17
geographic regions transitioning from fossil-fuel ex-18
traction. 19
(f) A
UTHORITIES.—Eligible entities may use existing 20
authorities when carrying out a restoration and resilience 21
project, including a covered authority. 22
SEC. 6. RESTORATION AND RESILIENCE PARTNERSHIP 23
PROGRAM. 24
(a) P
URPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 25
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(1) to restore and improve the ecological integ-1
rity of forest, grassland, and rangeland ecosystems 2
across the United States in partnership with State, 3
local, and Tribal governments; 4
(2) to create or sustain outdoor jobs by reduc-5
ing the backlog of restoration and resilience projects 6
on Federal land and non-Federal land; 7
(3) to improve the resilience and carrying ca-8
pacity of rangelands in the United States by pre-9
venting or mitigating invasive species, such as cheat-10
grass, that contribute to rangeland fire; and 11
(4) to reduce uncharacteristic wildfires in the 12
highest risk areas of the United States by carrying 13
out, in accordance with applicable law, restoration 14
and resilience projects. 15
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established a Res-16
toration and Resilience Partnership Program, under which 17
the Secretary shall carry out restoration and resilience 18
projects in partnership areas designated under subsection 19
(c)(1). 20
(c) D
ESIGNATION OFPARTNERSHIPAREAS.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 22
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 23
shall designate, for the purposes of carrying out res-24
toration and resilience projects under subsection (e), 25
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any areas of Federal land and non-Federal land that 1
the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 2
(2) S
UBMISSION OF PARTNERSHIP AREAS BY 3
STATES AND TRIBES.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Governor of a 5
State or an authorized representative of an In-6
dian Tribe may submit to the Secretary, in 7
writing, a request to designate certain Federal 8
land or non-Federal land in the State or Indian 9
Country, respectively, for restoration and resil-10
ience projects under subsection (e). 11
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—A written request sub-12
mitted under subparagraph (A) may include 1 13
or more maps or recommendations. 14
(d) R
EQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible for designation 15
under subsection (c), an area shall— 16
(1) have a high or very high wildfire potential 17
as determined by— 18
(A) the map of the Forest Service entitled 19
‘‘Wildfire Hazard Potential Version 2020’’; 20
(B) any other mapping resource or data 21
source approved by the Secretary that depicts 22
the risk of wildfires; or 23
(C) fire-risk assessment resources or map-24
ping tools maintained by the applicable State; 25
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(2) have high-priority wildlife habitat urgently 1
in need of restoration, as determined by the Sec-2
retary, in consultation with eligible entities and the 3
applicable Governor or representative of an Indian 4
Tribe; or 5
(3) in the case of Federal land, be in the 6
wildland-urban interface. 7
(e) R
ESTORATION ANDRESILIENCEPROJECTS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 9
and (3), the Secretary shall carry out restoration 10
and resilience projects on land designated under sub-11
section (c). 12
(2) P
RIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri-13
ority to restoration and resilience projects that 14
would— 15
(A) focus on the reintroduction of char-16
acteristic, low-intensity fire in frequent fire re-17
gime ecosystems; 18
(B) reduce hazardous fuels by focusing on 19
small-diameter trees, thinning, and strategic 20
fuel breaks; 21
(C) maximize the retention of old and 22
large trees, as appropriate for the forest type; 23
(D) measurably improve habitat conditions 24
for at-risk wildlife; 25
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(E) measurably improve water quality or 1
water quantity outcomes in waterways that flow 2
through and out of priority areas; 3
(F) establish plans for measuring project 4
success and environmental outcomes; 5
(G) promote community and homeowner 6
involvement in planning and implementing ac-7
tions to mitigate the risk posed by wildfire in 8
the wildland-urban interface; 9
(H) emphasize proactive wildfire risk miti-10
gation actions in the wildland-urban interface; 11
and 12
(I) increase fire adaption in communities 13
located within the wildland-urban interface. 14
(3) C
OORDINATION.—The Secretary shall carry 15
out restoration and resilience projects under this 16
subsection— 17
(A) on Federal land, in coordination with 18
the Secretary of the Interior, as applicable; and 19
(B) on non-Federal land, in coordination 20
with eligible entities and other relevant stake-21
holders, as determined by the Secretary. 22
(4) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 23
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(A) IN GENERAL.—A restoration and resil-1
ience project shall be carried out in accordance 2
with— 3
(i) in the case of a restoration and re-4
silience project carried out on Federal 5
land, the management objectives of an ap-6
plicable land or resource management plan; 7
and 8
(ii) applicable law. 9
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The Secretary may use 10
existing authorities when carrying out a res-11
toration and resilience project on land des-12
ignated under subsection (c), including any cov-13
ered authority. 14
(C) E
XCLUSIONS.—A restoration and resil-15
ience project may not be carried out— 16
(i) in a wilderness area or designated 17
wilderness study area; 18
(ii) to construct a permanent road or 19
trail; 20
(iii) on any Federal land on which, by 21
an Act of Congress or Presidential procla-22
mation, the removal of vegetation is re-23
stricted or prohibited; 24
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(iv) in an inventoried roadless area or 1
comparable roadless area defined by a 2
State-specific rule; or 3
(v) to remove old growth stands (as 4
defined in section 102(e)(1) of the Healthy 5
Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 6
U.S.C. 6512(e)(1))). 7
SEC. 7. OVERSIGHT. 8
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 9
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re-10
port that, with respect to funding made available by the 11
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117– 12
58; 135 Stat. 429) or Public Law 117–169 (commonly 13
known as the ‘‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’’) for pur-14
poses of forestry— 15
(1) explains the methodology for priority land-16
scapes set by the Secretary; 17
(2) describes the metrics the Secretary is using 18
for measuring performance and outcomes; and 19
(3) describes the allocation of funds to States, 20
forests, and Indian Tribes. 21
SEC. 8. FUNDING. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is appropriated, out of any 23
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 24
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$60,000,000,000 for the Fund, to remain available until 1
expended, of which— 2
(1) $20,000,000,000 shall be for the grant pro-3
gram; and 4
(2) $40,000,000,000 shall be for the Restora-5
tion and Resilience Partnership Program under sec-6
tion 6, of which not less than $20,000,000,000 shall 7
be for the conduct of restoration and resilience 8
projects on Federal land under that section. 9
(b) W
ORKFORCENEEDS ANDEXPENSES.—Funds 10
made available under subsection (a)(2) shall be available 11
for staffing, salary, and other workforce needs and ex-12
penses relating to the administration of the Restoration 13
and Resilience Partnership Program under section 6. 14
Æ
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kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB