Sponsor
James Conley Justice
Senator · R-WV
Senator · R-WV
Official title: Amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish a program to promote upland species habitat restoration, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 14, 2026 by James Conley Justice · Last progress May 14, 2026
The bill provides substantial financial and technical support to private forest owners to speed ecological recovery and improve habitat on working lands, but increases federal spending while excluding very small parcels and limiting support for very large properties.
Private forest landowners can receive payments covering 75% of restoration costs to re-establish native vegetation for upland wildlife, lowering the out-of-pocket cost of habitat restoration.
Landowners gain technical assistance and multi-year contracts (up to 5 years) to plan and implement restoration projects, improving project success and longer-term stewardship capacity.
The program targets recently logged or disaster-affected private forests, which can speed ecological recovery and restore wildlife habitat on working lands more quickly.
Taxpayers may face increased federal spending because the bill creates program costs without specifying an authorization level or overall funding cap.
Small private owners with parcels under 10 acres are excluded from the program, leaving many small landowners unable to access payments or assistance.
Assistance is capped at 5% of an owner's eligible land or 250 acres, which may not cover large restoration needs on bigger properties and reduces per-owner support for extensive projects.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes a USDA cost-share program to pay up to 75% of eligible restoration costs for native-vegetation upland habitat on private forest land under multi-year contracts with acreage caps.
Creates a federal payment program to help private nonindustrial forest landowners restore native vegetation and habitat for upland wildlife. The Agriculture Secretary would pay up to 75% of eligible restoration costs under contracts (up to 5 years) for eligible forest parcels of at least 10 acres, with per-owner and per-contract limits and required habitat plans developed with professional biologists or foresters.