II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1050
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Secretary of Agri-
culture to establish a Forest Conservation Easement Program, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH13, 2025
Mrs. G
ILLIBRAND(for herself and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the
Secretary of Agriculture to establish a Forest Conserva-
tion Easement 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 ‘‘Forest Conservation 4
Easement Program Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FOREST CONSERVATION EASEMENT PROGRAM. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Title XII of the Food Security 7
Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3801 et seq.) is amended— 8
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(1) by redesignating subtitle I (16 U.S.C. 3871 1
et seq.) as subtitle J; and 2
(2) by inserting after subtitle H (16 U.S.C. 3
3865 et seq.) the following: 4
‘‘Subtitle I—Forest Conservation 5
Easement Program 6
‘‘SEC. 1267. DEFINITIONS. 7
‘‘In this subtitle: 8
‘‘(1) A
CREAGE OWNED BY AN INDIAN TRIBE .— 9
The term ‘acreage owned by an Indian Tribe’ 10
means— 11
‘‘(A) land that is held in trust by the 12
United States for an Indian Tribe or individual 13
Indian; 14
‘‘(B) land the title to which is held by an 15
Indian Tribe or individual Indian, subject to a 16
Federal restriction against alienation or encum-17
brance; 18
‘‘(C) land that is subject to rights of use, 19
occupancy, and benefit of 1 or more Indian 20
Tribes; 21
‘‘(D) land that is held in fee title by an In-22
dian Tribe; 23
‘‘(E) land that is owned by a Native cor-24
poration established under— 25
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‘‘(i) section 17 of the Act of June 18, 1
1934 (commonly known as the ‘Indian Re-2
organization Act’) (25 U.S.C. 5124); or 3
‘‘(ii) section 8 of the Alaska Native 4
Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1607); 5
and 6
‘‘(F) any combination of 1 or more types 7
of land described in subparagraphs (A) through 8
(E). 9
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-10
tity’ means— 11
‘‘(A) an agency of State or local govern-12
ment or an Indian Tribe (including a land re-13
source council established under State law); and 14
‘‘(B) an organization that is— 15
‘‘(i) organized for, and at all times 16
since the formation of the organization has 17
been operated principally for, 1 or more of 18
the conservation purposes specified in 19
clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) of section 20
170(h)(4)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code 21
of 1986; 22
‘‘(ii) an organization described in sec-23
tion 501(c)(3) of that Code that is exempt 24
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from taxation under section 501(a) of that 1
Code; or 2
‘‘(iii) described in— 3
‘‘(I) paragraph (1) or (2) of sec-4
tion 509(a) of that Code; or 5
‘‘(II) section 509(a)(3) of that 6
Code, and is controlled by an organi-7
zation described in section 509(a)(2) 8
of that Code. 9
‘‘(3) E
LIGIBLE LAND.—The term ‘eligible land’ 10
means private land or acreage owned by an Indian 11
Tribe— 12
‘‘(A) that is— 13
‘‘(i) forest land; or 14
‘‘(ii) being restored to forest land; 15
‘‘(B) in the case of a forest land ease-16
ment— 17
‘‘(i) the enrollment of which would 18
protect working forests and related con-19
servation values by conserving land; or 20
‘‘(ii) the protection of which will fur-21
ther a State or local policy in accordance 22
with the purposes of the Program; and 23
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‘‘(C) in the case of a forest reserve ease-1
ment, the enrollment of which will maintain, re-2
store, enhance, or otherwise measurably— 3
‘‘(i) increase the likelihood of recovery 4
of a species that is listed as endangered or 5
threatened under section 4 of the Endan-6
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 7
1533); or 8
‘‘(ii) improve the well-being of a spe-9
cies that— 10
‘‘(I) is not listed as endangered 11
or threatened under that section; but 12
‘‘(II)(aa) is a candidate for that 13
listing or listing as a State-listed spe-14
cies or a species of special concern; or 15
‘‘(bb) is designated by a State 16
wildlife action plan as a species of 17
greatest conservation need. 18
‘‘(4) F
OREST LAND EASEMENT .—The term ‘for-19
est land easement’ means an easement or other in-20
terest in eligible land that— 21
‘‘(A) is conveyed to an eligible entity for 22
the purpose of protecting the natural resources 23
and forest nature of the eligible land; and 24
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‘‘(B) permits the landowner the right to 1
continue working forest production and related 2
uses, in accordance with an applicable forest 3
management plan. 4
‘‘(5) F
OREST MANAGEMENT PLAN .—The term 5
‘forest management plan’ means— 6
‘‘(A) a forest stewardship plan described in 7
section 5(f) of the Cooperative Forestry Assist-8
ance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2103a(f)); 9
‘‘(B) a forest plan approved by the applica-10
ble State forester or State forestry agency; 11
‘‘(C) a forest plan developed under a third- 12
party certification system determined appro-13
priate by the Secretary; and 14
‘‘(D) any other plan determined appro-15
priate by the Secretary. 16
‘‘(6) F
OREST RESERVE EASEMENT .—The term 17
‘forest reserve easement’ means an easement or 18
other interest in eligible land that— 19
‘‘(A) is conveyed by the landowner to the 20
Secretary for the purpose of protecting the nat-21
ural resources and forest nature of the eligible 22
land; and 23
‘‘(B) permits the landowner the right to 24
continue working forest production and related 25
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uses, in accordance with the applicable forest 1
reserve easement plan developed under section 2
1267C(e)(1). 3
‘‘(7) P
ROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ means 4
the Forest Conservation Easement Program estab-5
lished under section 1267A(a). 6
‘‘(8) S
OCIALLY DISADVANTAGED FOREST LAND -7
OWNER.—The term ‘socially disadvantaged forest 8
landowner’ means a forest landowner who is a mem-9
ber of a socially disadvantaged group (as defined in 10
section 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conserva-11
tion, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))). 12
‘‘SEC. 1267A. ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSES. 13
‘‘(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab-14
lish a program, to be known as the ‘Forest Conservation 15
Easement Program’, for the conservation and restoration 16
of eligible land and natural resources through the acquisi-17
tion of forest land easements or forest reserve easements. 18
‘‘(b) P
URPOSES.—The purposes of the Program 19
are— 20
‘‘(1) to protect the viability and sustainability 21
of working forests and related conservation values of 22
eligible land by limiting the negative effects of non-23
forest uses; 24
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‘‘(2) to protect and enhance forest ecosystem 1
and landscape functions and values; 2
‘‘(3) to promote the restoration, protection, and 3
improvement of habitats of species that are threat-4
ened, endangered, or otherwise at-risk; and 5
‘‘(4) to carry out the purposes and functions of 6
the healthy forests reserve program established 7
under title V of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 8
of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6571 et seq.) (as in effect on the 9
day before the date of enactment of this section). 10
‘‘SEC. 1267B. FOREST LAND EASEMENTS. 11
‘‘(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—As part of the Program, the 12
Secretary shall facilitate and provide funding in accord-13
ance with this section for— 14
‘‘(1) the purchase by eligible entities of forest 15
land easements on eligible land; 16
‘‘(2) the development of forest management 17
plans; and 18
‘‘(3) technical assistance to implement this sec-19
tion. 20
‘‘(b) A
PPLICATIONS.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive as-22
sistance under this section, an eligible entity shall 23
submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 24
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in such manner, and containing such information as 1
the Secretary may require. 2
‘‘(2) C
RITERIA.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 4
establish evaluation and ranking criteria with 5
respect to applications submitted under this 6
subsection to maximize the benefit of Federal 7
investments under the Program. 8
‘‘(B) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing 9
the criteria under subparagraph (A), the Sec-10
retary shall emphasize support for— 11
‘‘(i) protecting working forests and re-12
lated conservation values of eligible land; 13
‘‘(ii) reducing fragmentation of forest 14
land; and 15
‘‘(iii) maximizing the areas protected 16
from conversion to nonforest uses. 17
‘‘(3) P
RIORITY.—In evaluating applications 18
under this subsection, the Secretary shall give pri-19
ority to an application for the purchase of a forest 20
land easement— 21
‘‘(A) that maintains the viability of a 22
working forest, as determined by the Secretary; 23
and 24
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‘‘(B) on eligible land for which a forest 1
management plan has been developed at the 2
time of application. 3
‘‘(4) F
OREST MANAGEMENT PLAN .— 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If eligible land pro-5
posed to be subject to a forest land easement 6
under the Program does not have in effect a 7
forest management plan on the date on which 8
an application relating to the eligible land is 9
submitted under this subsection, the landowner, 10
in partnership with the applicable eligible enti-11
ty, shall develop a forest management plan for 12
that eligible land as a condition of acquisition 13
of the forest land easement. 14
‘‘(B) R
EIMBURSEMENT.—The Secretary 15
may reimburse a landowner for the cost of de-16
velopment of a forest management plan under 17
subparagraph (A). 18
‘‘(5) T
REATMENT.—The Secretary may evalu-19
ate and rank applications submitted under this sub-20
section by eligible entities for the purchase of forest 21
land easements from landowners who are socially 22
disadvantaged forest landowners separately from ap-23
plications submitted for the purchase of forest land 24
easements from other landowners. 25
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‘‘(c) COST-SHAREASSISTANCE.— 1
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—On approval of an applica-2
tion of an eligible entity under subsection (b), the 3
Secretary shall provide to the eligible entity cost- 4
share assistance for purchasing 1 or more forest 5
land easements on the eligible land that is the sub-6
ject of the application. 7
‘‘(2) A
GREEMENTS.— 8
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—As a condition of re-9
ceipt of cost-share assistance under the Pro-10
gram, an eligible entity shall enter into an 11
agreement with the Secretary to stipulate the 12
terms and conditions under which the eligible 13
entity is permitted to use the cost-share assist-14
ance. 15
‘‘(B) D
URATION.—An agreement under 16
subparagraph (A) shall be for a term of not less 17
than 3, but not more than 5, years, unless the 18
Secretary determines that a longer term is jus-19
tified. 20
‘‘(C) M
INIMUM TERMS AND CONDITIONS .— 21
An eligible entity shall be authorized to use 22
such terms and conditions as the eligible entity 23
determines to be appropriate for a forest land 24
easement purchased using assistance under this 25
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section, subject to the condition that the Sec-1
retary shall determine that those terms and 2
conditions— 3
‘‘(i) are consistent with— 4
‘‘(I) the purposes of the Pro-5
gram; and 6
‘‘(II) the forestry activities to be 7
conducted on the eligible land; 8
‘‘(ii) permit effective enforcement of 9
the conservation purposes of the forest 10
land easement; 11
‘‘(iii) include a requirement to imple-12
ment a forest management plan on eligible 13
land subject to the forest land easement, 14
subject to the condition that the forest 15
management plan shall not be incorporated 16
in, or attached to, the deed for the forest 17
land easement; 18
‘‘(iv) include a limit on the impervious 19
surfaces to be allowed that is consistent 20
with the forestry activities to be conducted; 21
and 22
‘‘(v) include a right of enforcement for 23
the Secretary that— 24
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‘‘(I) may be used only if the 1
terms and conditions of the forest 2
land easement are not enforced by the 3
eligible entity; and 4
‘‘(II) does not extend to a right 5
of inspection unless— 6
‘‘(aa)(AA) the holder of the 7
forest land easement fails to pro-8
vide monitoring reports in a 9
timely manner; or 10
‘‘(BB) the Secretary has a 11
reasonable and articulable belief 12
that the terms and conditions of 13
the forest land easement have 14
been violated; and 15
‘‘(bb) prior to the inspection, 16
the Secretary notifies the eligible 17
entity and the landowner of the 18
inspection and provides a reason-19
able opportunity for the eligible 20
entity and the landowner to par-21
ticipate in the inspection. 22
‘‘(D) A
DDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDI -23
TIONS.—An eligible entity may include any ad-24
ditional terms and conditions for a forest land 25
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easement purchased using assistance under this 1
section that— 2
‘‘(i) are intended to keep the eligible 3
land subject to the forest land easement in 4
active forest management, as determined 5
by the Secretary; 6
‘‘(ii) allow subsurface mineral develop-7
ment on the eligible land subject to the 8
forest land easement, in accordance with 9
applicable State law, if the Secretary deter-10
mines that— 11
‘‘(I) the subsurface mineral de-12
velopment— 13
‘‘(aa) has a limited and lo-14
calized impact; 15
‘‘(bb) does not harm the for-16
est use and conservation values 17
of the eligible land; 18
‘‘(cc) does not materially 19
alter or affect the existing topog-20
raphy; 21
‘‘(dd) complies with a sub-22
surface mineral development plan 23
that— 24
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‘‘(AA) includes a plan 1
for the remediation of im-2
pacts to the forest use and 3
conservation values of the el-4
igible land; and 5
‘‘(BB) is approved by 6
the Secretary prior to the 7
initiation of mineral develop-8
ment activity; 9
‘‘(ee) is not accomplished by 10
any surface mining method; 11
‘‘(ff) is within the imper-12
vious surface limits of the forest 13
land easement under subpara-14
graph (C)(iv); and 15
‘‘(gg) uses practices and 16
technologies that minimize the 17
duration and intensity of impacts 18
to the forest use and conserva-19
tion values of the eligible land; 20
and 21
‘‘(II) each area impacted by the 22
subsurface mineral development is re-23
claimed and restored by the holder of 24
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the mineral rights at cessation of op-1
eration; and 2
‘‘(iii) include other relevant activities 3
relating to the forest land easement, as de-4
termined by the Secretary. 5
‘‘(E) S
UBSTITUTION OF QUALIFIED 6
PROJECTS.—An agreement under subparagraph 7
(A) shall allow, on mutual agreement of the 8
parties, substitution of qualified projects that 9
are identified at the time of the proposed sub-10
stitution. 11
‘‘(F) E
FFECT OF VIOLATION .—If a viola-12
tion of a term or condition of an agreement 13
under subparagraph (A) occurs, the Secretary 14
may— 15
‘‘(i) terminate the agreement; and 16
‘‘(ii) require the eligible entity to re-17
fund all, or any part of, the payments re-18
ceived by the eligible entity under the Pro-19
gram, with interest on the payments as de-20
termined to be appropriate by the Sec-21
retary. 22
‘‘(3) S
COPE.— 23
‘‘(A) F
EDERAL SHARE.— 24
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‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro-1
vided in clause (ii), an agreement under 2
paragraph (2) shall provide for a Federal 3
share of 50 percent of the fair market 4
value of the forest land easement, as deter-5
mined by the Secretary. 6
‘‘(ii) E
XCEPTION.—An agreement 7
under paragraph (2) may provide for a 8
Federal share of not more than 75 percent 9
of the fair market value of a forest land 10
easement in the case of eligible land that 11
is— 12
‘‘(I) a forest of special environ-13
mental significance, as determined by 14
the Secretary; or 15
‘‘(II) owned by a socially dis-16
advantaged forest landowner. 17
‘‘(B) N
ON-FEDERAL SHARE.— 18
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Under an agree-19
ment under paragraph (2), the eligible en-20
tity shall provide a non-Federal share that 21
is equivalent to the remainder of the fair 22
market value of the forest land easement 23
not provided by the Secretary under sub-24
paragraph (A). 25
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‘‘(ii) PERMISSIBLE FORMS.—The non- 1
Federal share provided by an eligible entity 2
under this subparagraph may comprise— 3
‘‘(I) cash resources; 4
‘‘(II) a charitable donation or 5
qualified conservation contribution (as 6
defined in section 170(h) of the Inter-7
nal Revenue Code of 1986) from the 8
private forest landowner from whom 9
the forest land easement will be pur-10
chased; 11
‘‘(III) costs associated with se-12
curing a deed to the forest land ease-13
ment, including the costs of appraisal, 14
survey, inspection, and title; and 15
‘‘(IV) other costs, as determined 16
by the Secretary. 17
‘‘(C) D
ETERMINATION OF FAIR MARKET 18
VALUE.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 19
Secretary shall determine the fair market value 20
of a forest land easement using— 21
‘‘(i) the Uniform Standards of Profes-22
sional Appraisal Practice; 23
‘‘(ii) an areawide market analysis or 24
survey; or 25
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‘‘(iii) another industry-approved meth-1
od. 2
‘‘(d) M
ETHODS OFENROLLMENT.—On acquisition of 3
a forest land easement by an eligible entity using assist-4
ance provided under this section, the Secretary shall enroll 5
the eligible land subject to the forest land easement in the 6
Program through the use of— 7
‘‘(1) a permanent easement; or 8
‘‘(2) an easement for the maximum duration al-9
lowed under applicable State law. 10
‘‘(e) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 11
provide technical assistance, on request, to assist in com-12
pliance with the terms and conditions of a forest land 13
easement under this section. 14
‘‘SEC. 1267C. FOREST RESERVE EASEMENTS. 15
‘‘(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—As part of the Program, the 16
Secretary shall provide to landowners of eligible land as-17
sistance to restore, protect, and enhance the eligible land 18
through— 19
‘‘(1) acquisition by the Secretary of forest re-20
serve easements on eligible land; 21
‘‘(2) assistance in developing forest reserve 22
easement plans under subsection (e); and 23
‘‘(3) technical assistance to implement this sec-24
tion. 25
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‘‘(b) OFFERS.— 1
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—To be eligible to grant to 2
the Secretary a forest reserve easement under this 3
section, a landowner of eligible land shall submit to 4
the Secretary an offer at such time, in such manner, 5
and containing such information as the Secretary 6
may require. 7
‘‘(2) C
RITERIA.—The Secretary shall establish 8
evaluation and ranking criteria with respect to offers 9
submitted under this subsection. 10
‘‘(3) P
RIORITY.—In evaluating offers under this 11
subsection, the Secretary shall give priority to an 12
offer for a forest reserve easement that provides the 13
greatest conservation benefit— 14
‘‘(A) primarily, to a species listed as en-15
dangered or threatened under section 4 of the 16
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 17
1533); and 18
‘‘(B) secondarily, to any species that— 19
‘‘(i) is not listed as endangered or 20
threatened under that section; but 21
‘‘(ii)(I) is a candidate for that listing 22
or listing as a State-listed species or spe-23
cies of special concern; or 24
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‘‘(II) is designated by a State wildlife 1
action plan as a species of greatest con-2
servation need. 3
‘‘(4) O
THER CONSIDERATIONS .—The Secretary 4
may give additional consideration to eligible land the 5
enrollment under this section of which will— 6
‘‘(A) improve biological diversity; 7
‘‘(B) restore a native forest ecosystem; 8
‘‘(C) conserve forest land that provides a 9
habitat for any species described in paragraph 10
(3); 11
‘‘(D) reduce fragmentation of forest land; 12
or 13
‘‘(E) increase carbon sequestration. 14
‘‘(5) T
REATMENT.—The Secretary may evalu-15
ate and rank offers submitted under this subsection 16
by landowners who are socially disadvantaged forest 17
landowners separately from offers submitted by 18
other landowners. 19
‘‘(c) M
ETHODS OFENROLLMENT.— 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—On approval of an offer 21
under subsection (b), the Secretary shall enroll the 22
eligible land that is the subject of that offer in a for-23
est reserve easement under the Program through the 24
use of— 25
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‘‘(A) a permanent easement; 1
‘‘(B) a 30-year easement; 2
‘‘(C) an easement for the maximum dura-3
tion allowed under applicable State law; or 4
‘‘(D) in the case of acreage owned by an 5
Indian Tribe— 6
‘‘(i) a 30-year contract, the compensa-7
tion for which shall be equivalent to the 8
compensation for a 30-year easement; or 9
‘‘(ii) a permanent easement. 10
‘‘(2) L
IMITATION.—Not more than 10 percent 11
of amounts made available to carry out this section 12
for a fiscal year may be used for 30-year easements 13
under this subsection. 14
‘‘(d) E
ASEMENTS.— 15
‘‘(1) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A forest reserve ease-17
ment shall include terms and conditions that— 18
‘‘(i) are consistent with the purposes 19
of the Program and the forestry activities 20
to be conducted on the eligible land; 21
‘‘(ii) are consistent with— 22
‘‘(I) the management objectives 23
of the landowner of the eligible land; 24
and 25
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‘‘(II) the implementation of the 1
relevant forest reserve easement plan 2
developed under subsection (e)(1); 3
‘‘(iii) permit effective enforcement of 4
the conservation purposes of forest reserve 5
easements; 6
‘‘(iv) provide for the efficient and ef-7
fective establishment or enhancement of 8
forest ecosystem functions and values; and 9
‘‘(v) include such additional provisions 10
as the Secretary determines to be appro-11
priate— 12
‘‘(I) to carry out the Program; or 13
‘‘(II) to facilitate the practical 14
administration of the Program. 15
‘‘(B) R
EQUESTED TERMS AND CONDI -16
TIONS.—A landowner of eligible land may re-17
quest that a term or condition be included in a 18
forest reserve easement, and the Secretary may 19
include the term or condition, if the Secretary 20
determines that the term or condition— 21
‘‘(i) is consistent with— 22
‘‘(I) the management objectives 23
of the landowner; and 24
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‘‘(II) the implementation of the 1
relevant forest reserve easement plan; 2
and 3
‘‘(ii) does not conflict with any term 4
or condition included under subparagraph 5
(A). 6
‘‘(2) C
OMPENSATION.— 7
‘‘(A) P
ERMANENT EASEMENTS .—In the 8
case of eligible land enrolled in a permanent 9
easement under this section, the Secretary shall 10
pay to the landowner of the eligible land an 11
amount equal to the difference between, as de-12
termined by the Secretary— 13
‘‘(i) the fair market value of the eligi-14
ble land before enrollment in the perma-15
nent easement; and 16
‘‘(ii) the fair market value of the eligi-17
ble land as encumbered by the permanent 18
easement. 19
‘‘(B) O
THER.—The Secretary shall pay to 20
the landowner of eligible land enrolled under 21
this section in a 30-year contract, a 30-year 22
easement, or an easement for the maximum du-23
ration allowed under applicable State law not 24
less than 50 percent, and not more than 75 25
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percent, of the compensation that would be paid 1
under subparagraph (A) if the land were en-2
rolled in a permanent easement under this sec-3
tion. 4
‘‘(C) D
ETERMINATION OF FAIR MARKET 5
VALUE.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 6
Secretary shall determine the fair market value 7
of eligible land using— 8
‘‘(i) the Uniform Standards of Profes-9
sional Appraisal Practice; or 10
‘‘(ii) another industry-approved meth-11
od. 12
‘‘(e) F
ORESTRESERVEEASEMENTPLANS.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Eligible land enrolled in a 14
forest reserve easement under this section shall be 15
subject to a forest reserve easement plan, to be de-16
veloped jointly by the landowner and the Secretary, 17
that describes such activities to be carried out on the 18
eligible land as are necessary to restore, maintain, 19
and enhance habitat for species described in sub-20
section (b)(3). 21
‘‘(2) P
RACTICES AND MEASURES .—A forest re-22
serve easement plan under paragraph (1) may in-23
clude, with respect to the eligible land subject to the 24
plan— 25
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‘‘(A) vegetative management and 1
silviculture practices; 2
‘‘(B) structural practices and measures; 3
‘‘(C) practices to increase carbon seques-4
tration; 5
‘‘(D) practices to improve biological diver-6
sity; and 7
‘‘(E) other practices and measures, as de-8
termined by the Secretary. 9
‘‘(3) F
INANCIAL ASSISTANCE.— 10
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 11
provide to landowners of eligible land enrolled 12
in a forest reserve easement under this section 13
financial assistance to carry out the activities, 14
practices, and measures described in the forest 15
reserve easement plan developed for the eligible 16
land under paragraph (1). 17
‘‘(B) P
AYMENTS.—With respect to finan-18
cial assistance under subparagraph (A), the 19
Secretary shall pay— 20
‘‘(i) in the case of a forest reserve 21
easement plan for eligible land enrolled in 22
a permanent easement, an amount equal to 23
not more than 100 percent of the eligible 24
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costs described in subparagraph (C), as de-1
termined by the Secretary; and 2
‘‘(ii) in the case of a forest reserve 3
easement plan for eligible land enrolled in 4
a 30-year contract, a 30-year easement, or 5
an easement for the maximum duration al-6
lowed under applicable State law, an 7
amount equal to not less than 50 percent, 8
and not more than 75 percent, of the eligi-9
ble costs described in subparagraph (C), as 10
determined by the Secretary. 11
‘‘(C) E
LIGIBLE COSTS.—The costs eligible 12
for payments under this paragraph are the 13
costs of activities, practices, and measures de-14
scribed in the applicable forest reserve easement 15
plan that are associated with restoration or en-16
hancement of the habitat conditions specified 17
for the applicable species described in the forest 18
reserve easement plan. 19
‘‘(D) T
IMING.— 20
‘‘(i) D
ETERMINATION.—As soon as 21
practicable after the commencement on eli-22
gible land enrolled in a forest reserve ease-23
ment of an activity, practice, or measure 24
described in subparagraph (C), the Sec-25
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retary shall determine whether the activity, 1
practice, or measure is established in ac-2
cordance with appropriate standards and 3
specifications. 4
‘‘(ii) P
AYMENT.—A payment under 5
this paragraph shall be made for an activ-6
ity, practice, or measure only, and as soon 7
as practicable, after the Secretary makes a 8
positive determination under clause (i) 9
with respect to that activity, practice, or 10
measure. 11
‘‘(E) L
IMITATIONS.—A payment provided 12
by the Secretary to a landowner of eligible land 13
under this paragraph may not exceed $500,000 14
per easement or contract of the landowner, as 15
applicable. 16
‘‘(f) P
ROTECTIONS ANDMEASURES.— 17
‘‘(1) P
ROTECTIONS.—In the case of a land-18
owner who enrolls eligible land in a forest reserve 19
easement, and whose conservation activities under 20
the forest reserve easement plan developed for that 21
eligible land result in a net conservation benefit for 22
a species described in subsection (b)(3), the Sec-23
retary shall make available to the landowner safe 24
harbor or similar assurances and protection under— 25
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‘‘(A) section 7(b)(4) of the Endangered 1
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(b)(4)); or 2
‘‘(B) section 10(a)(1) of that Act (16 3
U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)). 4
‘‘(2) M
EASURES.—If protection under para-5
graph (1) requires the taking of measures that are 6
in addition to the measures covered by the forest re-7
serve easement plan developed for the applicable eli-8
gible land, the cost of the additional measures, and 9
the cost of any related permit, shall be considered to 10
be costs eligible for payments under subsection 11
(e)(2). 12
‘‘(g) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 14
to landowners of eligible land technical assistance to 15
assist the landowners in— 16
‘‘(A) developing a forest reserve easement 17
plan under subsection (e); and 18
‘‘(B) complying with the terms and condi-19
tions of a forest reserve easement, including the 20
implementation of a forest reserve easement 21
plan. 22
‘‘(2) C
ONTRACTS OR AGREEMENTS .—The Sec-23
retary may enter into 1 or more contracts with pri-24
vate entities or agreements with a State, nongovern-25
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mental organization, or Indian Tribe to provide tech-1
nical assistance described in paragraph (1), if the 2
Secretary determines that the contract or agreement 3
will advance the purposes of the Program. 4
‘‘(h) A
DMINISTRATIVEPROVISIONS.— 5
‘‘(1) D
ELEGATION.— 6
‘‘(A) F
EDERAL AND STATE AGENCIES .— 7
The Secretary may delegate any of the manage-8
ment, monitoring, or enforcement responsibil-9
ities of the Secretary under this section to an-10
other Federal agency or a State agency that 11
has the appropriate authority, expertise, and re-12
sources necessary to carry out the delegated re-13
sponsibilities. 14
‘‘(B) C
ONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS .— 15
The Secretary may delegate any of the manage-16
ment responsibilities of the Secretary under this 17
section to a nonprofit conservation organization, 18
if the Secretary determines that the organiza-19
tion has the appropriate expertise and resources 20
necessary to carry out the delegated responsibil-21
ities. 22
‘‘(2) I
NVOLVEMENT BY OTHER AGENCIES AND 23
ORGANIZATIONS.—In carrying out this section, the 24
Secretary may consult with— 25
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‘‘(A) private forest landowners; 1
‘‘(B) other Federal agencies; 2
‘‘(C) State forestry agencies; 3
‘‘(D) State fish and wildlife agencies; 4
‘‘(E) State environmental quality agencies; 5
‘‘(F) other State conservation agencies; 6
and 7
‘‘(G) nonprofit conservation organizations. 8
‘‘SEC. 1267D. ADMINISTRATION. 9
‘‘(a) I
NELIGIBLELAND.— 10
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not use 11
amounts made available to carry out the Program 12
for purposes of acquiring any easement on— 13
‘‘(A) land owned by a Federal agency, 14
other than land that is acreage owned by an In-15
dian Tribe; 16
‘‘(B) land owned in fee title by a State, in-17
cluding an agency or a subdivision of a State, 18
or a unit of local government; 19
‘‘(C) land subject to an easement or deed 20
restriction that, as determined by the Secretary, 21
provides similar protection as would be provided 22
by enrollment in the Program; or 23
‘‘(D) land the enrollment in the Program 24
of which would undermine the purposes of the 25
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Program due to onsite or offsite conditions, 1
such as risk of hazardous substances, permitted 2
or existing rights-of-way, infrastructure devel-3
opment, or adjacent land uses. 4
‘‘(2) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary shall not 5
limit the eligibility of land for purposes of the Pro-6
gram based on— 7
‘‘(A) acreage size; 8
‘‘(B) the type of private forest landowner 9
or the size of their ownership; or 10
‘‘(C) the presence of severed mineral 11
rights. 12
‘‘(b) S
UBORDINATION, EXCHANGE, MODIFICATION, 13
ANDTERMINATION.— 14
‘‘(1) S
UBORDINATION.—The Secretary may 15
subordinate any interest in eligible land, or a portion 16
of such an interest, administered by the Secretary 17
(including for the purposes of utilities and energy 18
transmission services) directly or on behalf of the 19
Commodity Credit Corporation under the Program if 20
the Secretary determines that the subordination— 21
‘‘(A) increases conservation values or has a 22
limited negative effect on conservation values; 23
‘‘(B) minimally affects the acreage subject 24
to the interest in eligible land; and 25
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‘‘(C) is in the public interest or furthers 1
the practical administration of the Program. 2
‘‘(2) M
ODIFICATION AND EXCHANGE .— 3
‘‘(A) M
ODIFICATION.— 4
‘‘(i) A
UTHORITY.—The Secretary may 5
approve a modification of any interest in 6
land, or a portion of such an interest, ad-7
ministered by the Secretary, directly or on 8
behalf of the Commodity Credit Corpora-9
tion, under the Program if the Secretary 10
determines that the modification— 11
‘‘(I) will support the viability and 12
sustainability of working forests and 13
the conservation values of the applica-14
ble easement; 15
‘‘(II) will result in equal or in-16
creased conservation values; 17
‘‘(III) is consistent with the origi-18
nal intent of the easement; 19
‘‘(IV) is consistent with the pur-20
poses of the Program; and 21
‘‘(V) is in the public interest or 22
furthers the practical administration 23
of the Program, including correcting 24
errors and exercising reserved rights. 25
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‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—In modifying an 1
interest in land, or a portion of such an in-2
terest, pursuant to this subparagraph, the 3
Secretary may not increase any payment to 4
an eligible entity, except in the case of a 5
modification that includes a change to an 6
easement to add acreage. 7
‘‘(B) E
XCHANGE.— 8
‘‘(i) A
UTHORITY.—The Secretary may 9
approve an exchange of any interest in 10
land, or a portion of such an interest, ad-11
ministered by the Secretary, directly or on 12
behalf of the Commodity Credit Corpora-13
tion, under the Program if the Secretary 14
determines that— 15
‘‘(I) no reasonable alternative to 16
the exchange exists; 17
‘‘(II) the effect of the exchange 18
on the interest in land is avoided or 19
minimized to the maximum extent 20
practicable; and 21
‘‘(III) the exchange— 22
‘‘(aa) results in equal or in-23
creased conservation values; 24
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‘‘(bb) results in equal or in-1
creased economic value to the 2
United States; 3
‘‘(cc) is consistent with the 4
original intent of the easement; 5
‘‘(dd) is consistent with the 6
purposes of the Program; and 7
‘‘(ee) is in the public inter-8
est or furthers the practical ad-9
ministration of the Program. 10
‘‘(ii) L
IMITATION.—In exchanging an 11
interest in land, or a portion of such an in-12
terest, pursuant to this subparagraph, the 13
Secretary may not increase any payment to 14
an eligible entity. 15
‘‘(3) T
ERMINATION.—The Secretary may ap-16
prove a termination of any interest in eligible land, 17
or a portion of such an interest, administered by the 18
Secretary, directly or on behalf of the Commodity 19
Credit Corporation, under the Program if the Sec-20
retary determines that— 21
‘‘(A) termination is in the interest of the 22
Federal Government; 23
‘‘(B) the United States will be fully com-24
pensated for— 25
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‘‘(i) the value of the interest in the 1
land, as determined by the Secretary; 2
‘‘(ii) any costs relating to the termi-3
nation; and 4
‘‘(iii) any damages determined appro-5
priate by the Secretary; and 6
‘‘(C) the termination will— 7
‘‘(i) address a compelling public need 8
for which there is no practicable alter-9
native even with avoidance and minimiza-10
tion; and 11
‘‘(ii) further the practical administra-12
tion of the Program. 13
‘‘(4) C
ONSENT.—The Secretary shall obtain 14
consent from the landowner and eligible entity, if ap-15
plicable, for any subordination, exchange, modifica-16
tion, or termination of an interest in eligible land, or 17
portion of such an interest, under this subsection. 18
‘‘(5) N
OTICE.—Not less than 90 days before 19
taking any termination action described in para-20
graph (3), the Secretary shall provide written notice 21
of that action to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-22
trition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Com-23
mittee on Agriculture of the House of Representa-24
tives. 25
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‘‘(c) LANDENROLLED INOTHERPROGRAMS.—In 1
accordance with section 3(b) of the Forest Conservation 2
Easement Program Act of 2025, land enrolled in the 3
healthy forests reserve program established under title V 4
of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 5
U.S.C. 6571 et seq.) on the day before the date of enact-6
ment of this section shall be considered to be enrolled in 7
the Program. 8
‘‘(d) P
AYMENTLIMITATIONSEXCEPTIONS.—The at-9
tribution of payments limitation described in section 10
1001(e) and the adjusted gross income limitation de-11
scribed in section 1001D(b)(1) shall not apply to any pay-12
ment or other assistance under the Program. 13
‘‘(e) E
NVIRONMENTAL SERVICESMARKET.—The 14
Secretary may not prohibit through a contract, easement, 15
or agreement under the Program a participant in the Pro-16
gram from participating in, and receiving compensation 17
from, an environmental services market if 1 of the pur-18
poses of the environmental services market is the facilita-19
tion of additional conservation benefits that are consistent 20
with the purposes of the Program. 21
‘‘SEC. 1267E. FUNDING. 22
‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 23
this subtitle $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 24
through 2029.’’. 25
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(b) TECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 1
(1) Section 1201(a) of the Food Security Act of 2
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3801(a)) is amended— 3
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 4
by striking ‘‘subtitles A through I:’’ and insert-5
ing ‘‘subtitles A through J:’’; and 6
(B) by striking paragraph (14) and insert-7
ing the following: 8
‘‘(14) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 9
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 10
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 11
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).’’. 12
(2) Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 13
(16 U.S.C. 3801 et seq.) is amended— 14
(A) by striking ‘‘Indian tribes’’ each place 15
it appears and inserting ‘‘Indian Tribes’’; and 16
(B) by striking ‘‘Indian tribe’’ each place 17
it appears and inserting ‘‘Indian Tribe’’. 18
(3) Section 1231A(a)(3)(C) of the Food Secu-19
rity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831a(a)(3)(C)) is 20
amended by striking ‘‘(as defined in section 4 of the 21
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 22
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304))’’. 23
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(4) Section 1241(e)(1) of the Food Security Act 1
of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(e)(1)) is amended by strik-2
ing ‘‘subtitle I’’ and inserting ‘‘subtitle J’’. 3
(5) Section 1244 of the Food Security Act of 4
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3844) is amended— 5
(A) in subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii), by striking 6
‘‘(as defined by the Secretary)’’; and 7
(B) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘I.’’ and 8
inserting ‘‘J.’’. 9
SEC. 3. HEALTHY FORESTS RESERVE PROGRAM. 10
(a) R
EPEAL.—Title V of the Healthy Forests Res-11
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6571 et seq.) is repealed. 12
(b) T
RANSITIONALPROVISIONS.— 13
(1) E
FFECT ON EXISTING CONTRACTS , AGREE-14
MENTS, AND EASEMENTS.—The repeal made by sub-15
section (a) shall not affect— 16
(A) the validity or terms of any contract, 17
agreement, or easement entered into by the 18
Secretary of Agriculture under title V of the 19
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 20
U.S.C. 6571 et seq.) before the date of enact-21
ment of this Act; or 22
(B) any payment or technical assistance 23
required to be made in connection with a con-24
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tract, agreement, or easement described in sub-1
paragraph (A). 2
(2) F
UNDING.— 3
(A) U
SE OF PRIOR YEAR FUNDS .—Not 4
withstanding the repeal made by subsection (a), 5
any funds made available from the Commodity 6
Credit Corporation to carry out the healthy for-7
ests reserve program established under title V 8
of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 9
(16 U.S.C. 6571 et seq.) (as in effect on the 10
day before the date of enactment of this Act) 11
for any of fiscal years 2019 through 2024 shall 12
be made available to carry out contracts, agree-13
ments, or easements referred to in paragraph 14
(1)(A), subject to the condition that no such 15
contract, agreement, or easement may be modi-16
fied so as to increase the amount of any pay-17
ment received. 18
(B) O
THER.—The Secretary of Agriculture 19
may use funds made available to carry out the 20
Forest Conservation Easement Program estab-21
lished under subtitle I of the Food Security Act 22
of 1985 (as amended by section 2) to continue 23
to carry out contracts, agreements, or ease-24
ments referred to in paragraph (1)(A) using the 25
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provisions of law (including regulations) in ef-1
fect on the day before the date of enactment of 2
this Act that are applicable to those contracts, 3
agreements, and easements. 4
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 5
(1) The table of contents in section 1(b) of the 6
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (Public 7
Law 108–148; 117 Stat. 1887) is amended by strik-8
ing the items relating to title V. 9
(2) Section 1271A(1) of the Food Security Act 10
of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3871a(1)) is amended by strik-11
ing subparagraph (D) and inserting the following: 12
‘‘(D) The Forest Conservation Easement 13
Program established under subtitle I.’’. 14
Æ
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