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119-s-4548119th CongressWALLET

GROUSE Act of 2026

Sponsored By: Senator Justice, James C. [R-WV]

Introduced

Summary

Payments to private landowners for restoring upland wildlife habitat. The GROUSE Act would create a new Upland Species Habitat Restoration Program to support planting and other early‑successional restoration on nonindustrial private forest land.

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  • Landowners: Owners of qualifying nonindustrial private forest land could receive payments covering 75 percent of approved restoration costs. Contracts may run up to 5 years.
  • Habitat and conservation: Payments would cover activities like planting native soft‑mast trees, shrubs, and other early successional vegetation. The program requires habitat plans developed with biologists or foresters and allows USDA to offer technical assistance through third parties.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

1 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

Payments for private forest landowners

If enacted, this bill would create a program to pay private forest landowners to restore upland wildlife habitat. You would be able to apply if you own at least 10 acres of nonindustrial private forest land that meets one of four conditions: logged within the past 180 days; currently being commercially logged but not cleared for development; currently being logged and planned for cutting/clearing for forest management; or affected by a major natural disaster (for example, tornado, hurricane, wildfire, or insect infestation). The program would pay 75% of eligible restoration costs, such as labor, planting, fertilizer, and seedlings. Payments per owner would be limited to the smaller of 5% of your eligible forest acres or 250 acres. Contracts could run up to 5 years, must include a habitat plan developed with a wildlife biologist or forester, and the Secretary would set which costs qualify and could provide technical help, including via third-party providers.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Justice, James C. [R-WV]

WV • R

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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