I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 605
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to reauthorize and
improve the Water Source Protection Program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY22, 2025
Mr. C
OSTA(for himself, Mr. VALADAO, Ms. PETTERSEN, Ms. STANSBURY,
and Ms. P
EREZ) introduced 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 juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
to reauthorize and improve the Water Source Protection
Program, 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 ‘‘Headwaters Protection 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. WATER SOURCE PROTECTION PROGRAM REAU-1
THORIZATION AND IMPROVEMENTS. 2
Section 303 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 3
of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6542) is amended— 4
(1) in subsection (a)— 5
(A) in paragraph (1)— 6
(i) by redesignating subparagraphs 7
(G) and (H) as subparagraphs (K) and 8
(L), respectively; and 9
(ii) by inserting after subparagraph 10
(F) the following: 11
‘‘(G) an acequia association; 12
‘‘(H) a local, regional, or other public enti-13
ty that manages stormwater or wastewater re-14
sources or other related water infrastructure; 15
‘‘(I) a land-grant mercedes; 16
‘‘(J) a local, regional, or other private enti-17
ty that has water delivery authority;’’; 18
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 19
through (7) as paragraphs (2) through (8), re-20
spectively; and 21
(C) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as 22
so redesignated) the following: 23
‘‘(1) A
DJACENT LAND.—The term ‘adjacent 24
land’ means non-Federal land, including State, local, 25
and private land, that is adjacent to, and within the 26
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same watershed as, National Forest System land on 1
which a watershed protection and restoration project 2
is carried out under this section.’’; 3
(2) in subsection (b)— 4
(A) by inserting ‘‘and adjacent land’’ be-5
fore the period at the end; 6
(B) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall’’ and 7
inserting the following: 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall’’; and 9
(C) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—A watershed protection 11
and restoration project under the Program shall— 12
‘‘(A) protect and restore watershed health, 13
water supply and quality, a municipal or agri-14
cultural water supply system, and water-related 15
infrastructure; 16
‘‘(B) protect and restore forest health from 17
insect infestation and disease or wildfire; or 18
‘‘(C) advance any combination of the pur-19
poses described in subparagraphs (A) and (B). 20
‘‘(3) P
RIORITIES.—In selecting watershed pro-21
tection and restoration projects under the Program, 22
the Secretary shall give priority to projects that 23
would— 24
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‘‘(A) provide risk management benefits as-1
sociated with drought, wildfire, post-wildfire 2
conditions, extreme weather, or flooding, includ-3
ing minimizing risks to watershed health, water 4
supply and quality, and water-related infra-5
structure, including municipal and agricultural 6
water supply systems; 7
‘‘(B) be designed to support aquatic res-8
toration and conservation efforts that com-9
plement existing or planned forest restoration 10
or wildfire risk reduction efforts; 11
‘‘(C) include— 12
‘‘(i) partners with demonstrated ca-13
pacity and success in designing and imple-14
menting ecological restoration projects, 15
wildfire risk reduction efforts, or post-wild-16
fire restoration projects; or 17
‘‘(ii) in the case of disadvantaged 18
communities that have historically lacked 19
access to adequate resources, partners with 20
a strong likelihood of success in designing 21
and implementing a watershed protection 22
and restoration project; and 23
‘‘(D)(i) include a contribution of funds or 24
in-kind support from non-Federal partners in 25
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an amount greater than the amount required 1
under subsection (g)(2); 2
‘‘(ii) provide quantifiable benefits to water 3
supply or quality and include the use of nature- 4
based solutions, such as restoring wetland and 5
riparian ecosystems; 6
‘‘(iii) be designed to improve— 7
‘‘(I) resilience to climate change; or 8
‘‘(II) watershed and fire resilience; or 9
‘‘(iv) include such other characteristics as 10
the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 11
‘‘(4) C
ONDITIONS FOR PROJECTS ON ADJACENT 12
LAND.— 13
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—No project or activity 14
may be carried out under this section on adja-15
cent land unless the owner of the adjacent land 16
provides express support for, and is a willing 17
and engaged partner in, carrying out that 18
project or activity. 19
‘‘(B) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section 20
authorizes any change in— 21
‘‘(i) the ownership of adjacent land on 22
which a project or activity is carried out 23
under this section; or 24
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‘‘(ii) the management of adjacent land 1
on which a project or activity is carried out 2
under this section, except during the car-3
rying out of that project or activity.’’; 4
(3) in subsection (c)— 5
(A) in paragraph (1)— 6
(i) by inserting ‘‘and adjacent land’’ 7
after ‘‘watersheds’’; 8
(ii) by striking the period at the end 9
and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 10
(iii) by striking ‘‘with end water 11
users’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘with— 12
‘‘(A) end water users’’; and 13
(iv) by adding at the end the fol-14
lowing: 15
‘‘(B) end waters users to protect and re-16
store the condition of National Forest water-17
sheds and adjacent land that provide water for 18
the benefit of another end water user.’’; 19
(B) in paragraph (2)— 20
(i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 21
‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; 22
(ii) by redesignating subparagraph 23
(D) as subparagraph (E); and 24
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(iii) by inserting after subparagraph 1
(C) the following: 2
‘‘(D) a good neighbor agreement entered 3
into under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act 4
of 2014 (16 U.S.C. 2113a); or’’; and 5
(C) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(3) L
EADERSHIP BY NON -FEDERAL PART -7
NERS.—The Secretary shall facilitate a leadership 8
role for non-Federal partners in carrying out assess-9
ments, planning, project design, and project imple-10
mentation under this section.’’; 11
(4) in subsection (d)— 12
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘shall be 13
conducted’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘shall 14
be— 15
‘‘(A) designed to protect and restore eco-16
logical integrity (as defined in section 219.19 of 17
title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef-18
fect on the date of enactment of this subpara-19
graph)); 20
‘‘(B) based on the best available scientific 21
information; and 22
‘‘(C) conducted’’; and 23
(B) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(4) REDUCING REDUNDANCY .—An existing 1
watershed plan, such as a watershed protection and 2
restoration action plan developed under section 3
304(a)(3), or other applicable watershed planning 4
documents may be used as the basis for a water 5
source management plan under this subsection.’’; 6
(5) in subsection (e)(1), by striking ‘‘purpose 7
of—’’ in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) and 8
all that follows through the period at the end of sub-9
paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘purpose of advancing 10
any of the purposes described in subsection (b)(2).’’; 11
and 12
(6) in subsection (g)— 13
(A) in paragraph (2)— 14
(i) by striking ‘‘at least equal to’’ and 15
inserting ‘‘not less than 20 percent of’’; 16
(ii) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and 17
inserting the following: 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-19
graph (B), the Secretary’’; and 20
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-21
lowing: 22
‘‘(B) W
AIVER.—The Secretary may waive 23
the requirement under subparagraph (A) in the 24
discretion of the Secretary.’’; and 25
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(B) in paragraph (4)— 1
(i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 2
‘‘$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 3
through 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘$30,000,000 4
for each of fiscal years 2025 through 5
2033’’; and 6
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(D) S
ET-ASIDE FOR PARTNER PARTICIPA -9
TION IN PLANNING AND CAPACITY .—Of the 10
amounts made available under subparagraph 11
(B) to carry out this section for each fiscal 12
year, the Secretary shall use not less than 10 13
percent for non-Federal partner technical as-14
sistance participation and capacity-building ef-15
forts in developing or implementing a water 16
source management plan under subsection 17
(d).’’. 18
SEC. 3. WATERSHED CONDITION FRAMEWORK IMPROVE-19
MENTS. 20
Section 304 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 21
of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6543) is amended— 22
(1) in subsection (a)— 23
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 24
the end; 25
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(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe-1
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2
(C) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(7) that ensures that management activities 4
and authorizations do not result in long-term deg-5
radation of watershed health or lower the classifica-6
tion under paragraph (1) of any watershed in a Na-7
tional Forest.’’; and 8
(2) by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘(d) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 10
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 11
$30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 12
SEC. 4. EFFECT. 13
Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this 14
Act shall be construed— 15
(1) to supersede or in any manner affect or 16
conflict with State water law, Federal water law, 17
interstate compacts, or treaty obligations; or 18
(2) to authorize any acquisition of land by the 19
Federal Government or any exertion of Federal con-20
trol over non-Federal land. 21
Æ
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