16 U.S.C. § 2203 — Emergency watershed program

(a) In general. The Secretary may take emergency watershed-protection measures, including buying “floodplain easements,” to slow runoff and prevent soil erosion. The Secretary may do this with landowners and land users when the Secretary considers it necessary to protect lives and property from floods, drought, and erosion products on a watershed. This authority applies whenever a fire, flood, or another natural event is causing or has caused a sudden impairment of the watershed. This section does not define “floodplain easement.” (b) Floodplain easements. (1) Modification and termination. The Secretary may modify or end a floodplain easement that the Secretary administers under this section only if (A) the current owner agrees to the modification or ending; and (B) the Secretary decides that the modification or ending (i) will address an urgent public need for which there is no practical alternative and (ii) is in the public interest. (2) Consideration. (A) Termination. As consideration for ending an easement and related agreements under paragraph (1), the Secretary must enter into compensatory arrangements that the Secretary considers appropriate. (B) Modification. When an easement is modified under paragraph (1), (i) as a condition of the modification, the current owner must enter into a compensatory arrangement that the Secretary considers appropriate to incur the costs of the modification; and (ii) the Secretary must ensure that (I) the modification will not harm the floodplain functions and values for which the easement was acquired; (II) any harmful effects will be addressed by enrolling and restoring other land that provides greater floodplain functions and values, at no additional cost to the Federal Government; and (III) the modification will produce environmental and economic values for the United States that are equal to or greater than the values before the modification.