16 U.S.C. § 3865c — Wetland reserve easements

(a) The Secretary must provide owners of eligible land^* with assistance to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands through wetland reserve easements and related plans, and through technical assistance. (b)(1) The Secretary must enroll eligible land using 30-year easements, permanent easements, easements lasting the maximum period allowed by applicable State law, or, only as an option for Indian tribes, 30-year contracts. (b)(2)(A) The Secretary may not acquire an easement on land planted with trees under the conservation reserve program^*, except when the Secretary determines that acquiring it would further this section’s purposes. The Secretary also may not acquire an easement on a farmed or converted wetland if the conversion did not begin before December 23, 1985. (b)(2)(B) An easement generally may not be created on land whose ownership changed during the previous 24 months. This restriction does not apply when the new ownership came through a will or succession after the former owner’s death; when the change resulted from foreclosure and, immediately before foreclosure, the owner exercised a State-law right to redeem the mortgage; or when the Secretary determines that circumstances give adequate assurance that the land was not acquired to place it in the program. (b)(3)(A) The Secretary must establish criteria for evaluating and ranking landowners’ offers to maximize the benefit of Federal investment. (b)(3)(B) The Secretary may consider the easement’s conservation benefits, including possible environmental benefits of removing the land from agricultural production; cost effectiveness; financial contributions by the landowner or another person; and other factors needed to carry out the program. (b)(3)(C) The Secretary must prioritize easements based on their value for protecting and enhancing migratory-bird and other wildlife habitat or improving water quality. (b)(4) To enroll land, the owner must agree to grant the easement; authorize its plan; create and record a State-law deed restriction; obtain written consent from security-interest holders; follow the easement and related agreements; and permanently retire existing base history for the land. (b)(5)(A) The easement terms must permit necessary repairs, improvements, and inspections to maintain existing public drainage systems and permit owners to control public access while identifying routes for restoration, management, and monitoring. They must prohibit unauthorized alteration of wildlife habitat or natural features; spraying chemicals or mowing except when authorized or needed to comply with noxious-weed laws, an emergency pest-treatment program, or wildlife habitat needs; activities on immediately adjacent, functionally related land that would diminish the eligible land’s functional value; and other practices the Secretary determines would defeat the program. The terms must provide for efficient and effective establishment of wetland functions and values and include other provisions the Secretary finds useful for carrying out or administering the program. (b)(5)(B) A violation does not end the easement. The Secretary may require the owner to repay all or part of program payments, with interest as the Secretary considers appropriate. (b)(5)(C)(i) Land subject to an easement may be used for compatible economic activities, including hunting, fishing, managed timber harvest, water management, periodic haying, or grazing, only if the easement plan specifically permits the use and it is consistent with long-term protection and enhancement of the wetland resources. (b)(5)(C)(ii) Before authorizing a compatible use, the Secretary must request and consider the applicable State technical committee’s advice about the types, frequency, timing, and intensity of uses; consider whether the use would help administer and manage the land; and ensure that it furthers the functions and values for which the easement was established. (b)(5)(D) The Secretary may allow the owner to reserve grazing rights if the Secretary determines that reserving and using them is compatible with the easement, consistent with historical natural uses and long-term protection and enhancement goals, and consistent with the easement plan or a grazing-management plan reviewed and changed as needed at least every five years. The agreement must reduce the easement payment to account for grazing value as determined by the Secretary. (b)(6)(A)(i) For a permanent easement, the Secretary must pay the amount needed to encourage enrollment, based on the lowest of the land’s fair market value, a geographic cap set in regulations, or the landowner’s offer. Fair market value must be determined using professional appraisal standards or an area-wide market analysis or survey. (b)(6)(A)(ii) Compensation for a 30-year contract or easement must be at least 50 percent and no more than 75 percent of the compensation for a permanent easement. (b)(6)(B) Compensation must be paid in cash. (b)(6)(C) For an easement valued at $500,000 or less, the Secretary may make no more than 10 annual payments. For an easement valued above $500,000, the Secretary may make at least 5 and no more than 10 annual payments, but may make a lump-sum payment if the Secretary determines that it would further the program. (c)(1) The Secretary must provide financial assistance for conservation measures and practices, including necessary maintenance, in the easement plan to establish and protect wetland functions and values. (c)(2) For a permanent easement, the Secretary must pay at least 75 percent and no more than 100 percent of eligible costs. For a 30-year contract or easement, the Secretary must pay at least 50 percent and no more than 75 percent. (d)(1) The Secretary must help owners comply with easement terms and conditions. (d)(2) The Secretary may contract with private entities or make agreements with a State, nongovernmental organization, or Indian tribe for necessary restoration, enhancement, or maintenance if the Secretary determines that the arrangement advances the program. (e) The Secretary may make an agreement with a State, its political subdivision or agency, a nongovernmental organization, or an Indian tribe for a special wetland reserve enhancement option that the Secretary determines would advance the program’s purposes. (f)(1) The Secretary must develop a plan for every eligible parcel subject to an easement. The plan must restore, protect, enhance, manage, maintain, and monitor the land. It must include practices and activities, including repair or replacement, needed to restore and maintain the land and the wetland’s functions and values. (f)(2) Working with State technical committees and using State-specific criteria and guidelines, the Secretary may authorize a hydrologically appropriate native community or alternative naturalized vegetative community if it substantially supports or benefits migratory waterfowl or other wetland wildlife, or meets local resource concerns or needs, including as part of a regional, State, or local wildlife initiative or plan. (f)(3)(A) The Secretary may delegate management, monitoring, and enforcement responsibilities to Federal or State agencies with the authority, expertise, and resources to perform them, or to conservation organizations with similar expertise and resources if the Secretary makes that determination. (f)(3)(B) The Secretary may not delegate monitoring or enforcement responsibilities to conservation organizations. (f)(4)(A) The Secretary must pay restoration obligations as soon as possible after incurring them and annual easement payment obligations as soon as possible after October 1 of each calendar year. (f)(4)(B) If an owner entitled to payment dies, becomes incompetent, cannot receive the payment, or is succeeded by a person or entity that performs or completes the required work, the Secretary must make the payment under the Secretary’s regulations and without regard to other law, in a way the Secretary considers fair and reasonable in the circumstances. (g) The relevant provisions of this section also apply to a 30-year contract.