§1302 — Title 16 Conservation | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary may make agreements with landowners and operators in important migratory waterfowl nesting and breeding areas to conserve water on chosen farms, ranches, or other wetlands. These agreements come from a conservation plan made with the local Soil and Water Conservation District and follow rules the Secretary sets. Each agreement lasts 10 years and can be renewed for more 10-year terms. Starting in 1980, the Secretary must review and, if needed, adjust payment rates at the start of the fifth year of any 10-year period and before any renewal, and must also recheck rates for agreements already in place for five years or more (adjustments are made as provided in section 1304). “Wetlands” means inland fresh types 1–7 from Circular 39, similar manmade inland fresh areas, and any other types the Secretary names. No new agreement can cover land whose ownership or control changed in the two years before the agreement starts, except for transfers by will or inheritance, or transfers before July 1, 1971 that the Secretary allows. A person who has run the land for at least two years and controls it during the agreement can qualify without owning it. Land taken by eminent domain can be replaced and enrolled. The Secretary must protect tenants and sharecroppers and make sure they get a fair share of payments. Participating in this program does not stop someone from joining other Federal or State wetland programs.

Title 16, §1302

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In effectuating the water bank program authorized by this chapter, the Secretary shall have authority to enter into agreements with landowners and operators in important migratory waterfowl nesting and breeding areas for the conservation of water on specified farm, ranch, or other wetlands identified in a conservation plan developed in cooperation with the Soil and Water Conservation District in which the lands are located, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary may prescribe. These agreements shall be entered into for a period of ten years, with provision for renewal for additional periods of ten years each. The Secretary shall, beginning in 1980, reexamine the payment rates at the beginning of the fifth year of any such ten-year initial or renewal period and before the beginning of any renewal period, in the light of the then current land and crop values, and make needed adjustments in rates for any such initial or renewal period as provided in section 1304 of this title. In addition, the Secretary shall, beginning in 1980, reexamine the payment rates in any agreement that has been in effect for five years or more in the light of current land and crop values and make any needed adjustments in rates. As used in this chapter, the term “wetlands” means (1) the inland fresh areas described as types 1 through 7 in Circular 39, Wetlands of the United States, published by the United States Department of the Interior (or the inland fresh areas corresponding to such types in any successor wetland classification system developed by the Department of the Interior), (2) artificially developed inland fresh areas that meet the description of the inland fresh areas described in clause (1) of this sentence, and (3) such other wetland types as the Secretary may designate. No agreement shall be entered into under this chapter concerning land with respect to which the ownership or control has changed in the two-year period preceding the first year of the agreement period unless the new ownership was acquired by will or succession as a result of the death of the previous owner, or unless the new ownership was acquired prior to July 1, 1971, under other circumstances which the Secretary determines, and specifies by regulation, will give adequate assurance that such land was not acquired for the purpose of placing it in the program, except that this sentence shall not be construed to prohibit the continuation of an agreement by a new owner or operator after an agreement has once been entered into under this chapter. A person who has operated the land to be covered by an agreement under this chapter for as long as two years preceding the date of the agreement and who controls the land for the agreement period shall not be required to own the land as a condition of eligibility for entering into the agreement. Nothing in this section shall prevent an owner or operator from placing land in the program if the land was acquired by the owner or operator to replace eligible land from which he was displaced because of its acquisition by any Federal, State, or other agency having the right of eminent domain. The Secretary shall provide adequate safeguards to protect the interests of tenants and sharecroppers, including provision for sharing, on a fair and equitable basis, in payments or compensation under this program. No provision of this chapter shall prevent an owner or operator who is participating in the program under this chapter from participating in other Federal or State programs designed to conserve or protect wetlands.

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Editorial Notes

Amendments

1980—Pub. L. 96–182, in provisions relating to the reexamination of payment rates, substituted provisions requiring the Secretary to make such reexamination, beginning in 1980, at the beginning of the fifth year of any ten-year initial or renewal period and before the beginning of any renewal period, and make adjustments in accordance with section 1304 of this title, and in agreements in effect for five years or more, requiring the Secretary to make adjustments in the light of current land and crop values for provisions requiring reexamination and adjustment at the beginning of the ten-year renewal period only, and, in definition of “wetlands”, designated existing provisions as cl. (1) and, among other changes, substituted types 1–7 for types 1–5, and added cls. (2) and (3).

Summary

Title 16, §1302

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

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