United States Fish and Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife Service Resource Management For necessary expenses of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, as authorized by law, and for scientific and economic studies, maintenance of the herd of long-horned cattle on the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, general administration, and for the performance of other authorized functions related to such resources by direct expenditure, contracts, grants, cooperative agreements and reimbursable agreements with public and private entities, $977,205,000, to remain available until September 30, 2006, except as otherwise provided herein: Provided, That not less than $1,000,000 shall be provided to local governments in southern California for planning associated with the Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) program and shall remain available until expended: Provided further, That $2,000,000 is for high priority projects, which shall be carried out by the Youth Conservation Corps: Provided further, That, not to exceed $16,175,000, shall be used for implementing subsections (a), (b), (c), and (e) of section 118 STAT. 3044 4 of the Endangered Species Act, as amended, for species that are indigenous to the United States (except for processing petitions, developing and issuing proposed and final regulations, and taking any other steps to implement actions described in subsection (c)(2)(A), (c)(2)(B)(i), or (c)(2)(B)(ii)), of which not to exceed $11,400,000 shall be used for any activity regarding the designation of critical habitat, pursuant to subsection (a)(3), excluding litigation support, for species listed pursuant to subsection (a)(1) prior to October 1, 2004: Provided further, That of the amount available for law enforcement, up to $400,000, to remain available until expended, may at the discretion of the Secretary be used for payment for information, rewards, or evidence concerning violations of laws administered by the Service, and miscellaneous and emergency expenses of enforcement activity, authorized or approved by the Secretary and to be accounted for solely on her certificate: Provided further, That of the amount provided for environmental contaminants, up to $1,000,000 may remain available until expended for contaminant sample analyses. Construction For construction, improvement, acquisition, or removal of buildings and other facilities required in the conservation, management, investigation, protection, and utilization of fishery and wildlife resources, and the acquisition of lands and interests therein; $53,400,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, That, notwithstanding any other provision of law, a single procurement for the construction project at the Clark R. Bavin Forensics Laboratory in Oregon may be issued which includes the full scope of the project: Provided further, That the solicitation and the contract shall contain the clause “availability of funds” found at 48 CFR 52.232.18. Land Acquisition For expenses necessary to carry out the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l–4 through 11), including administrative expenses, and for acquisition of land or waters, or interest therein, in accordance with statutory authority applicable to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, $37,526,000, to be derived from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and to remain available until expended, of which $750,000 is for support of acquisition of lands for waterfowl habitat in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, and the related conveyance of Federal lands and interests in lands to Doyon, Limited, an Alaska Native Corporation organized pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act: Provided, That the Secretary is authorized to, and shall, execute all necessary acquisitions and exchange agreement documents in furtherance of this acquisition and exchange as soon as possible: Provided further, That, notwithstanding any other law, all revenues, fees and royalties received by the Federal Government from oil and/or gas production from the lands, and interests in land, acquired by Doyon, Limited, pursuant to the exchange of lands located within Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge shall be deposited in a special account in the Treasury of the United States to be called the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge Land Acquisition and Facility Account (“Acquisition Account”): Provided further, That all amounts deposited in the 118 STAT. 3045 acquisition account shall be available until expended without further act of appropriation to the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for only the following purposes: (1) to acquire lands from Doyon, Limited, located within Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in accordance with the Exchange Agreement; (2) to acquire lands from other willing sellers in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, or from other willing sellers in other units of the National Wildlife Refuge System located within the State of Alaska; and (3) to construct facilities and infrastructure for Alaska refuges: Provided further, That none of the funds appropriated for specific land acquisition projects, other than the appropriations for the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge exchange and acquisition provided for under this heading, can be used to pay for any administrative overhead, planning or other management costs: Provided further, That none of the funds in this or any other Act may be used for the acquisition of land for inclusion in the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge. Landowner Incentive Program For expenses necessary to carry out the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l–4 through 11), including administrative expenses, and for private conservation efforts to be carried out on private lands, $22,000,000, to be derived from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and to remain available until expended: Provided, That the amount provided herein is for a Landowner Incentive Program established by the Secretary that provides matching, competitively awarded grants to States, the District of Columbia, federally recognized Indian tribes, Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, to establish or supplement existing landowner incentive programs that provide technical and financial assistance, including habitat protection and restoration, to private landowners for the protection and management of habitat to benefit federally listed, proposed, candidate, or other at-risk species on private lands. private stewardship grants For expenses necessary to carry out the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l–4 through 11), including administrative expenses, and for private conservation efforts to be carried out on private lands, $7,000,000, to be derived from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and to remain available until expended: Provided, That the amount provided herein is for the Private Stewardship Grants Program established by the Secretary to provide grants and other assistance to individuals and groups engaged in private conservation efforts that benefit federally listed, proposed, candidate, or other at-risk species: Provided further, That balances from amounts previously appropriated under the heading “Stewardship Grants” shall be transferred to and merged with this appropriation and shall remain available until expended. Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund For expenses necessary to carry out section 6 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), as amended, 118 STAT. 3046 $81,596,000, of which $32,212,000 is to be derived from the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund and $49,384,000 is to be derived from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and to remain available until expended. National Wildlife Refuge Fund For expenses necessary to implement the Act of October 17, 1978 (16 U.S.C. 715s), $14,414,000. North American Wetlands Conservation Fund For expenses necessary to carry out the provisions of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Public Law 101–233, as amended, $38,000,000, to remain available until expended. Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation For financial assistance for projects to promote the conservation of neotropical migratory birds in accordance with the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, Public Law 106–247 (16 U.S.C. 6101–6109), $4,000,000, to remain available until expended. Multinational Species Conservation Fund For expenses necessary to carry out the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4201–4203, 4211–4213, 4221–4225, 4241–4245, and 1538), the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–96; 16 U.S.C. 4261–4266), the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 (16 U.S.C. 5301–5306), the Great Ape Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6301), and the Marine Turtle Conservation Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–266; 16 U.S.C. 6601), $5,800,000, to remain available until expended. State and Tribal Wildlife Grants For wildlife conservation grants to States and to the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and federally recognized Indian tribes under the provisions of the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, for the development and implementation of programs for the benefit of wildlife and their habitat, including species that are not hunted or fished, $70,000,000, to be derived from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and to remain available until expended: Provided, That of the amount provided herein, $6,000,000 is for a competitive grant program for Indian tribes not subject to the remaining provisions of this appropriation: Provided further, That the Secretary shall, after deducting said $6,000,000 and administrative expenses, apportion the amount provided herein in the following manner: (1) to the District of Columbia and to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, each a sum equal to not more than one-half of 1 percent thereof; and (2) to Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, each a sum equal to not more than one-fourth of 1 percent thereof: Provided further, That the Secretary shall apportion the remaining amount in the following manner: (1) one-third of which is based on the ratio to which the land area of such State bears to the total land area of all such States; and 118 STAT. 3047 (2) two-thirds of which is based on the ratio to which the population of such State bears to the total population of all such States: Provided further, That the amounts apportioned under this paragraph shall be adjusted equitably so that no State shall be apportioned a sum which is less than 1 percent of the amount available for apportionment under this paragraph for any fiscal year or more than 5 percent of such amount: Provided further, That the Federal share of planning grants shall not exceed 75 percent of the total costs of such projects and the Federal share of implementation grants shall not exceed 50 percent of the total costs of such projects: Provided further, That the non-Federal share of such projects may not be derived from Federal grant programs: Provided further, That no State, territory, or other jurisdiction shall receive a grant unless it has developed, or committed to develop by October 1, 2005, a comprehensive wildlife conservation plan, consistent with criteria established by the Secretary of the Interior, that considers the broad range of the State, territory, or other jurisdiction’s wildlife and associated habitats, with appropriate priority placed on those species with the greatest conservation need and taking into consideration the relative level of funding available for the conservation of those species: Provided further, That any amount apportioned in 2005 to any State, territory, or other jurisdiction that remains unobligated as of September 30, 2006, shall be reapportioned, together with funds appropriated in 2007, in the manner provided herein: Provided further, That balances from amounts previously appropriated under the heading “State Wildlife Grants” shall be transferred to and merged with this appropriation and shall remain available until expended. Administrative Provisions Appropriations and funds available to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service shall be available for purchase of not to exceed 179 passenger motor vehicles, of which 161 are for replacement only (including 44 for police-type use); repair of damage to public roads within and adjacent to reservation areas caused by operations of the Service; options for the purchase of land at not to exceed $1 for each option; facilities incident to such public recreational uses on conservation areas as are consistent with their primary purpose; and the maintenance and improvement of aquaria, buildings, and other facilities under the jurisdiction of the Service and to which the United States has title, and which are used pursuant to law in connection with management, and investigation of fish and wildlife resources: Provided, That notwithstanding 44 U.S.C. 501, the Service may, under cooperative cost sharing and partnership arrangements authorized by law, procure printing services from cooperators in connection with jointly produced publications for which the cooperators share at least one-half the cost of printing either in cash or services and the Service determines the cooperator is capable of meeting accepted quality standards: Provided further, That, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Service may use up to $2,000,000 from funds provided for contracts for employment-related legal services: Provided further, That the Service may accept donated aircraft as replacements for existing aircraft: Provided further, That, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Interior may not spend any of the funds appropriated in this Act for the purchase of lands or interests in lands to be used in the establishment of any new 118 STAT. 3048 unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System unless the purchase is approved in advance by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations in compliance with the reprogramming procedures contained in House Report 108–330.