16 U.S.C. § 1011 — Watershed restoration and enhancement agreements

(a) In general. For fiscal year 1997 and every later fiscal year, funds appropriated for the Bureau of Land Management, including Wildland Fire Management funds allocated to the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs, may be used by the Interior Secretary for cooperative agreements. The partners may be heads of other Federal agencies; Tribal, State, or local governments; private or nonprofit entities; and landowners. The agreements may protect, restore, or improve fish and wildlife habitat and other resources on public or private land, and reduce natural-disaster risk where public safety is threatened, when those actions benefit resources on public land within the watershed. (b) Direct and indirect watershed agreements. The Secretary may make an agreement (1) directly with a willing private landowner, or (2) indirectly through a State, local, or Tribal government, another public entity, an educational institution, or a private nonprofit organization. (c) Terms and conditions. The agreement must (1) include terms mutually agreed to by the Secretary and landowner; (2) improve the viability of and otherwise benefit fish, wildlife, and other living resources on public land in the watershed; (3) authorize the Secretary to provide technical help in planning management activities that further the agreement; (4) provide for costs to be shared by the Federal Government, landowner, and other entities as the affected parties agree; and (5) ensure that the Secretary determines each expenditure under the agreement to be in the public interest. The Secretary may require other terms needed to protect the public investment on private land, but the Secretary and landowner must mutually agree to them.