II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1114
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary
of Agriculture to carry out emergency watershed protection measures
on National Forest System land, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH25, 2025
Mr. B
ENNET(for himself and Mr. CURTIS) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize
the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out emergency wa-
tershed protection measures on National Forest System
land, 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 ‘‘Watershed Protection 4
and Forest Recovery Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. 6
(a) F
UNDING AND ADMINISTRATION.—Section 7
404(b) of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 8
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•S 1114 IS
2204(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘to carry out section 1
401’’ after ‘‘for a fiscal year’’. 2
(b) E
MERGENCYFORESTWATERSHEDPROGRAM.— 3
Title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 4
2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘SEC. 408. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. 7
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
‘‘(1) E
MERGENCY WATERSHED PROTECTION 9
MEASURES.—The term ‘emergency watershed pro-10
tection measures’ means measures that— 11
‘‘(A) are necessary to address runoff retar-12
dation, soil-erosion prevention, and flood miti-13
gation caused by a natural disaster or any other 14
natural occurrence that has caused a sudden 15
impairment to natural resources on National 16
Forest System land, and the damage, if not 17
treated— 18
‘‘(i) would significantly impair or en-19
danger the natural resources on the Na-20
tional Forest System land; and 21
‘‘(ii) would pose an immediate risk to 22
water resources or loss of life or property 23
downstream of the National Forest System 24
land; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•S 1114 IS
‘‘(B) would maintain or restore forest 1
health and forest-related resources on the Na-2
tional Forest System land. 3
‘‘(2) N
ATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 4
disaster’ has the meaning given the term in section 5
407(a). 6
‘‘(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 7
the Secretary, acting through the Chief of the For-8
est Service. 9
‘‘(4) S
PONSOR.—The term ‘sponsor’ means— 10
‘‘(A) a State or local government; 11
‘‘(B) an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 12
4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-13
cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)); and 14
‘‘(C) a water district, water conservation 15
district, water utility, or special district. 16
‘‘(b) A
UTHORIZATION.—The Secretary, acting 17
through a sponsor, is authorized to undertake emergency 18
watershed protection measures on National Forest System 19
land. 20
‘‘(c) A
GREEMENTS; PAYMENTS.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 22
into an agreement with a sponsor and make pay-23
ments to the sponsor, on request of the sponsor, to 24
carry out emergency watershed protection measures. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•S 1114 IS
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.— 1
‘‘(A) P
ROJECT TIMELINES.— 2
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Following a nat-3
ural disaster or natural occurrence that ne-4
cessitates the carrying out of emergency 5
watershed protection measures, the Sec-6
retary shall execute agreements under 7
paragraph (1) as expeditiously as possible. 8
‘‘(ii) T
IMELINE.—A sponsor that has 9
entered into an agreement under para-10
graph (1) shall complete all emergency wa-11
tershed protection measures not later than 12
2 years after the conclusion of the applica-13
ble natural disaster or natural occurrence, 14
as determined by the Secretary, that neces-15
sitated the carrying out of those measures. 16
‘‘(iii) C
ONTINUED MONITORING .—A 17
sponsor that has entered into an agree-18
ment under paragraph (1) may monitor, 19
maintain, repair, or replace emergency wa-20
tershed protection measures for a period of 21
not more than 3 years following the con-22
clusion of the natural disaster or natural 23
occurrence, as determined by the Sec-24
retary, that necessitated the carrying out 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•S 1114 IS
of those measures when failure to do so 1
would result in unacceptable risk to Na-2
tional Forest System land or downstream 3
water users. 4
‘‘(B) P
AYMENTS.—The Secretary, in ac-5
cordance with an agreement entered into under 6
paragraph (1)— 7
‘‘(i) may make partial payments prior 8
to completion of the applicable project; and 9
‘‘(ii) shall make final payment for the 10
project not later than 30 days after the 11
date on which the project is completed. 12
‘‘(d) W
AIVEDMATCHINGREQUIREMENTS.—The Sec-13
retary shall waive any matching requirements for pay-14
ments made under subsection (c)(1). 15
‘‘(e) L
IABILITY.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A sponsor that carries out 17
emergency watershed protection measures pursuant 18
to an agreement under subsection (c)(1) shall not— 19
‘‘(A) be required to indemnify the United 20
States for any liability resulting from carrying 21
out emergency watershed protection measures 22
pursuant to that agreement; or 23
‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (2), 24
be liable for injury, loss, or damage resulting 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•S 1114 IS
from carrying out emergency watershed protec-1
tion measures pursuant to that agreement. 2
‘‘(2) S
AVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this sub-3
section precludes liability for damages or costs relat-4
ing to the carrying out of emergency watershed pro-5
tection measures by a sponsor pursuant to an agree-6
ment entered into under subsection (c)(1) if the 7
sponsor acted with willful or wanton negligence or 8
reckless conduct in carrying out those measures. 9
‘‘(f) A
SSUMPTION OFRISK.—A sponsor that carries 10
out emergency watershed protection measures prior to en-11
tering into an agreement under subsection (c)(1) shall as-12
sume the risk of incurring any cost or liability resulting 13
from carrying out those measures. 14
‘‘(g) C
OORDINATION.—The Chief of the Natural Re-15
sources Conservation Service shall coordinate with respect 16
to the use of funds distributed under this section and sec-17
tion 406. 18
‘‘(h) NEPA C
OMPLIANCE.—Emergency watershed 19
protection measures carried out pursuant to this section 20
shall be deemed to be emergency response actions for pur-21
poses of section 220.4(b)(1) of title 36, Code of Federal 22
Regulations (or a successor regulation).’’. 23
(c) C
LERICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•S 1114 IS
(1) Section 402 of the Agricultural Credit Act 1
of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2202) is amended— 2
(A) by striking the section designation and 3
all that follows through ‘‘authorized’’ and in-4
serting the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 402. WATER CONSERVATION AND WATER ENHANCING 6
MEASURES DURING SEVERE DROUGHT. 7
‘‘The Secretary is authorized’’; and 8
(B) by striking ‘‘during’’ and all that fol-9
lows through ‘‘of’’ and inserting ‘‘during a pe-10
riod of’’. 11
(2) Section 405 of the Agricultural Credit Act 12
of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2205) is amended by striking 13
the section designation and all that follows through 14
‘‘authorized’’ and inserting the following: 15
‘‘SEC. 405. REGULATIONS. 16
‘‘The Secretary is authorized’’. 17
(3) Section 406 of the Agricultural Credit Act 18
of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201 note; Public Law 95–334) 19
is repealed. 20
(4) Section 403 of the Agricultural Credit Act 21
of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2203) is amended— 22
(A) by moving the section so as to appear 23
after section 405 (16 U.S.C. 2205) (as amend-24
ed by paragraph (2)); and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•S 1114 IS
(B) by striking the section designation and 1
all that follows through ‘‘authorized’’ in sub-2
section (a) and inserting the following: 3
‘‘SEC. 406. EMERGENCY WATERSHED PROGRAM. 4
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized’’. 5
(5) Title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of 6
1978 is amended— 7
(A) in section 402B (16 U.S.C. 2202b), by 8
striking the section designation and heading 9
and all that follows through ‘‘maximum’’ and 10
inserting the following: 11
‘‘(d) M
AXIMUMPAYMENT.—The maximum’’; and 12
(B) by moving that subsection (as so re-13
designated) so as to appear after subsection (c) 14
of section 402A (16 U.S.C. 2202a). 15
(6) Section 402A of the Agricultural Credit Act 16
of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2202a) (as amended by para-17
graph (5)(B)) is amended— 18
(A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘2279)’’ 19
and inserting ‘‘2279))’’; 20
(B) in subsection (c), in the subsection 21
heading, by striking ‘‘L
IMITATION’’ and insert-22
ing ‘‘T
OTALPAYMENT FOR SINGLEEVENT’’; 23
and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•S 1114 IS
(C) by striking the section designation and 1
heading and inserting the following: 2
‘‘SEC. 403. COST-SHARE REQUIREMENT; MAXIMUM PAY-3
MENT.’’. 4
(7) Section 1241(f)(9)(B) of the Food Security 5
Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(f)(9)(B)) is amended 6
by striking ‘‘403’’ and inserting ‘‘406’’. 7
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Mar 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1114.IS S1114
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS