Fish Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4723 To require the identification of salmon conservation areas, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 17, 2019 Mr. HUFFMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agri- culture, and Foreign Affairs, 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 require the identification of salmon conservation areas, 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 ‘‘Salmon Focused In- 4 vestments in Sustainable Habitats Act of 2019’’ or the 5 ‘‘Fish Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4723 IH (1) Pacific and Atlantic salmon are important 1 for food, culture, ecology, and the economy. 2 (2) Salmon are especially important to Indian 3 Tribes, many of which consider salmon to be sacred 4 and central to their culture, ceremonies, and subsist- 5 ence. 6 (3) Such Indian Tribes have significant leader- 7 ship and expertise with respect to salmon. 8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 9 In this Act: 10 (1) SALMON CONSERVATION AREA.—The term 11 ‘‘salmon conservation area’’ means a watershed, a 12 portion of a watershed, multiple watersheds, or other 13 defined spatial units that— 14 (A) is identified under section 4(b); 15 (B) meets the biological criteria (as identi- 16 fied by the Administrator of the National Oce- 17 anic and Atmospheric Administration and the 18 Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in co- 19 ordination with the relevant Federal agency 20 with jurisdiction over such salmon conservation 21 area) for abundance, productivity, diversity (ge- 22 netic and life history), habitat quality, or other 23 biological attributes important to sustaining 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4723 IH viable populations of salmon throughout their 1 range; or 2 (C) a watershed that is regionally signifi- 3 cant for the conservation of salmon. 4 (2) SALMON STRONGHOLD.—The term ‘‘salmon 5 stronghold’’ means a salmon conservation area that 6 has relatively high anadromous salmonid abundance, 7 productivity, and diversity (life history and run tim- 8 ing), as well as habitat quality or other biological at- 9 tributes important to sustaining viable populations 10 of wild salmon throughout their range. The term 11 stronghold can be applied to a watershed, multiple 12 watersheds, or other defined spatial units where pop- 13 ulations are strong and diverse, and habitats have a 14 high intrinsic potential to support a particular spe- 15 cies or suite of species. 16 (3) RELEVANT FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term 17 ‘‘relevant Federal agency’’ means— 18 (A) the Forest Service; 19 (B) the Bureau of Land Management; 20 (C) the National Park Service; 21 (D) the National Oceanic Atmospheric Ad- 22 ministration; and 23 (E) the Fish and Wildlife Service. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4723 IH SEC. 4. IDENTIFICATION OF SALMON CONSERVATION 1 AREAS. 2 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 60 days after the 3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 4 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 5 and the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service shall 6 jointly issue guidance on the process and biological criteria 7 required to identify salmon conservation areas. 8 (b) PUBLICATION.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad- 11 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos- 12 pheric Administration and the Director of the Fish 13 and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with relevant 14 Federal agencies shall publish a list of salmon con- 15 servation areas. 16 (2) REVISION.—The Administrator of the Na- 17 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 18 the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, in co- 19 operation with each relevant Federal agency shall re- 20 vise the list under paragraph (1) in accordance with 21 subsection (d). 22 (c) CONSULTATION.—In identifying salmon conserva- 23 tion areas under subsection (b), the Administrator of the 24 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4723 IH the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, in coopera- 1 tion with each relevant Federal agency— 2 (1) shall consult with— 3 (A) the State in which such a salmon con- 4 servation area is located; and 5 (B) Indian Tribes that have land, fishing 6 rights, or cultural ties to the area in which the 7 salmon conservation area is located; and 8 (2) may consult with— 9 (A) nongovernmental organizations; 10 (B) non-Federal scientists; and 11 (C) members of the public. 12 (d) OTHER IDENTIFICATION.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 14 the date described in subsection (b), an entity de- 15 scribed in subsection (c) may nominate to the Ad- 16 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos- 17 pheric Administration and the Director of the Fish 18 and Wildlife Service a salmon conservation area for 19 identification under subsection (b). 20 (2) REVIEW.—In the case of a nomination de- 21 scribed in paragraph (1), not later than 180 days 22 after receiving such nomination, the Administrator 23 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 24 tration and the Director of the Fish and Wildlife 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4723 IH Service shall jointly determine if the watershed nom- 1 inated is a salmon conservation area. 2 (e) WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION 3 IDENTIFICATION.—The Administrator of the National 4 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Director 5 of the Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the 6 Secretary of Agriculture shall use watershed evaluations 7 conducted under the Watershed Condition Framework 8 under section 304 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 9 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6543) and analyses associated with 10 the identification of Conservation Watersheds to support 11 an identification of a salmon conservation area under this 12 section. 13 (f) ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT.—The Administrator 14 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 15 and the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service shall 16 use the analyses conducted by the Administrator under 17 section 305(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con- 18 servation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1855(b)) to 19 identify, map, and designate essential fish habitat to sup- 20 port the identification of salmon conservation areas under 21 this section. 22 SEC. 5. EFFECT OF IDENTIFICATION. 23 (a) PRIORITY FOR FOREST ROAD DECOMMIS- 24 SIONING.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall give priority 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4723 IH to forest road decommissioning (as defined in section 1 212.1 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations) and fish 2 passage projects within a salmon conservation area. 3 (b) LEAST ADVERSE IMPACT.—Notwithstanding any 4 other provision of law, to satisfy the requirements of sec- 5 tion 102(C)(iii) of the National Environmental Policy Act 6 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(C)(iii)), any Federal action car- 7 ried out with respect to a salmon conservation area identi- 8 fied under section 4 shall be the action that has the least 9 adverse impact on such salmon conservation areas. 10 (c) TRANSBOUNDARY POLLUTION.— 11 (1) NOTIFICATION OF SECRETARY OF STATE.— 12 If any salmon conservation area is determined by a 13 Federal agency to be negatively impacted by trans- 14 boundary pollution or other international actions 15 originating in Canada, the head of the Federal agen- 16 cy shall notify the Secretary of State. 17 (2) ACTION REQUIRED.—Not later than 30 18 days after receiving a notification under paragraph 19 (1), the Secretary of State shall consult with rep- 20 resentatives from Canada to resolve the issue for 21 which the Secretary was notified under such para- 22 graph. 23 (3) REFERRAL TO IJC.—If the issue for which 24 the Secretary of State was notified under paragraph 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4723 IH (1) is not resolved on a date that is 6 months after 1 the date of notification under such paragraph— 2 (A) the Secretary shall request to submit a 3 joint referral to the International Joint Com- 4 mission with Canada to research and provide 5 recommendations to resolve such issue; and 6 (B) if a joint referral under subparagraph 7 (A) is not submitted, the Secretary shall refer 8 such issue to the International Joint Commis- 9 sion. 10 SEC. 6. WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION 11 PROGRAM. 12 Section 304 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 13 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6543) is amended by adding at the 14 end the following: 15 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 17 appropriated to carry out this section and the pur- 18 pose described in paragraph (2), $40,000,000 for 19 fiscal year 2020 and each of the 4 fiscal years there- 20 after. 21 ‘‘(2) CONSERVATION WATERSHEDS PROGRAM.— 22 The Secretary shall use a portion of the funds ap- 23 propriated pursuant to paragraph (1) to carry out 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4723 IH the conservation watersheds program of the Depart- 1 ment of Agriculture. 2 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL WATERSHED PERMISSIBLE.— 3 Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, 4 the Secretary may use funds appropriated under this 5 subsection to identify additional priority watersheds 6 in each National Forest if such watersheds, or por- 7 tions of, are determined by the Secretary to be salm- 8 on conservation areas (as defined in section 3 of the 9 Fish Act of 2019).’’. 10 SEC. 7. GRANT PROGRAM. 11 (a) AUTHORIZATION.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Fish and 13 Wildlife Foundation shall carry out a grant pro- 14 gram, to be known as the ‘‘Salmon Conservation 15 Area Grant Program’’, to make grants to carry out 16 the purposes described in subsection (b). 17 (2) DURATION.—A grant under this section 18 shall have a duration of not more than 5 years. 19 (3) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this 20 section, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation 21 shall give priority to an eligible entity that dem- 22 onstrates that the eligible entity— 23 (A) will carry out a project under this sec- 24 tion on a salmon stronghold; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 4723 IH (B) has considered the durability of the 1 project and how the project contributes to the 2 long-term conservation of salmon; 3 (C) has coordinated with other stake- 4 holders to carry out the project; and 5 (D) has considered how the project will 6 work with other salmon restoration projects. 7 (4) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Except in the 8 case of an eligible entity that is an Indian Tribe, 9 each eligible entity that receives a grant under this 10 section shall provide, in cash or through in-kind con- 11 tributions from non-Federal sources, matching funds 12 to carry out the activities funded by the grant in an 13 amount equal to not less than 25 percent of the cost 14 of the activities. 15 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the grants under 16 this section are— 17 (1) to protect or maintain salmon conservation 18 area features and projects that are focused on con- 19 servation and restoration within conservation areas; 20 and 21 (2) to carry out at least one of the following: 22 (A) To address factors threatening to limit 23 abundance, productivity, diversity, habitat qual- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 4723 IH ity, or other biological attributes important to 1 sustaining viable salmon populations. 2 (B) To restore or maintain ecological func- 3 tions and processes related to salmon produc- 4 tivity and diversity at watershed or subwater- 5 shed scales. 6 (C) To improve the resilience of salmon 7 populations in response to acute events such as 8 fires, landslides, and earthquakes. 9 (D) To improve the resilience of salmon 10 populations to climate change and prepare pop- 11 ulations for other future changes. 12 (E) To provide co-benefits to fish and wild- 13 life, in particular where salmon can be used as 14 indicator species for habitat quality. 15 (F) To implement focused, prioritized pro- 16 tection and restoration in watersheds. 17 (G) To improve conservation area resil- 18 ience both downstream and upstream. 19 (c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 20 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli- 21 cation to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation at 22 such time, in such manner, and containing such informa- 23 tion as the Foundation may require. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:16 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4723.IH H4723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 4723 IH (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, 1 the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means an Indian Tribe, non- 2 governmental organization, State or local agency, or insti- 3 tution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of 4 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that 5 has approval to carry out a project with respect to a salm- 6 on conservation area under this section from the relevant 7 Federal agency that has jurisdiction over such salmon con- 8 servation area. 9 (e) USE OF FUNDS.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re- 11 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant 12 funds to carry out activities consisten [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]