Sponsors (18)
The bill directs meaningful new federal funding to expand forest conservation easements and protect water, wildlife, and rural jobs, but it costs about $500M over five years, can restrict land-use and local revenues, and risks uneven or strained implementation without clear oversight and funding priorities.
Rural landowners, forest owners, and local communities will receive $100 million per year (FY2026–2030) to fund forest conservation easements, increasing protected forestland, supporting conservation and forest‑management jobs, and helping protect water quality and reduce wildfire risk.
Landowners with existing Healthy Forests Reserve Program agreements will keep their contracts and scheduled payments intact, and remaining CCC or subtitle funds can be used to complete already-signed restoration easements so ongoing projects are not abruptly left unfunded.
Farmers, applicants, and program administrators benefit from creation of a Forest Conservation Easement Program subtitle and clarified statutory cross-references, which reduce legal confusion and create a clearer administrative framework for easements under Title XII.
Taxpayers will fund roughly $500 million over five years for the easement program, increasing federal spending and adding to budgetary pressures.
If implementation and oversight are weak, state and local governments and intended beneficiaries could see uneven fund distribution, poor prioritization (e.g., not targeting high‑risk wildfire or key ecological areas), or strained budgets if funds are redirected to cover prior obligations.
Landowners and localities subject to new easements may face limits on development or other revenue-generating uses of conserved land, which can reduce income or local tax bases.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a Forest Conservation Easement Program inside Title XII of the Food Security Act and directs $100 million per year for fiscal years 2026–2030 to that program. It reorganizes statutory subtitles and updates cross‑references to make room for the new program. Repeals the Healthy Forests Reserve Program statute while preserving and continuing to fund any existing contracts, easements, or agreements entered under that program; allows previously available Commodity Credit Corporation funds and the new program funds to finish those obligations but prohibits increasing payment amounts. Includes a nonbinding sense of Congress that implementation costs should be offset.
Introduced May 17, 2025 by Trent Kelly · Last progress May 17, 2025