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Cooperative Watershed Management Program Reauthorization Act of 2026
To reauthorize the Cooperative Watershed Management Program, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill reauthorizes the Cooperative Watershed Management Program with increased funding and expanded eligibility. First-phase grants are increased from $100,000 to $150,000 annually for a minimum of three years, and recipients can receive up to two additional years of continuation funding at the same rate if they demonstrate satisfactory performance. The program expands to include Indian tribes and organizations with ancestral lands in watersheds as eligible participants, and adds drought, wildfire, and natural disaster response as eligible activities. Eligible uses for funding now include grant writing, project management, and technical assistance, and the bill enables continuous enrollment with applications accepted and evaluated multiple times per calendar year and authorizes $40 million annually for fiscal years 2027 through 2031.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
2 cosponsors
- Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-18] (D-CA)
- Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Juan Ciscomani’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Juan Ciscomani → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Mar 18, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. · house
- Mar 18, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 18, 2026
Mr. Ciscomani (for himself and Mr. Neguse) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To reauthorize the Cooperative Watershed Management Program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Cooperative Watershed Management Program Reauthorization Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. COOPERATIVE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
(a) Definitions.—Section 6001 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 1015) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (7) as paragraphs (5) through (8), respectively;
(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
“(4) Indian tribe.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).”; and
(3) in paragraph (7) (as so redesignated), in subparagraph
(B)(v)—
(A) in subclause (I), by striking “or” at the end;
(B) in subclause (II), by inserting “or” after the semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
“(III) has ancestral lands within the watershed;”.
(b) Program.—Section 6002 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 1015a) is amended—
(1) in subsection (c)—
(A) in paragraph (1)(B)—
(i) in clause (i), by striking “interests; or” and inserting “interests, including Indian tribes;”;
(ii) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause
(iii); and
(iii) by inserting after clause (i) the following:
“(ii) demonstrate significant need due to drought, wildfire, or other natural disaster; or”;
(B) in paragraph (2)—
(i) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking “$100,000” and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting “$150,000 each year for a period of not less than 3 years, subject to the sufficiency of applications submitted and the availability of appropriations.”;
(ii) by striking clause (iii);
(iii) by redesignating clauses (iv) and (v) as clauses (iii) and (iv), respectively; and
(iv) by adding at the end the following:
“(v) Continuation and extension.—
“(I) In general.—The Secretary may, at the discretion of the Secretary, issue a continuation of the first-phase grant for not more than 2 additional years if the recipient of the first-phase grant has demonstrated satisfactory performance with implementation of the proposal under the initial grant, as determined by the Secretary.
“(II) Amounts.—A grant continued pursuant to subclause (I) shall be in an amount not greater than $150,000 each year, as determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.”;
(C) in paragraph (3)(B)(ii), by striking “quantity.” and inserting the following: “quantity, including—
“(I) grant writing;
“(II) project management; and
“(III) technical assistance, such as feasibility, design, preliminary environmental review, and engineering.”; and
(D) by adding at the end the following:
“(4) Continuous enrollment.—The Secretary shall—
“(A) make funding opportunities for the program available on a regular basis; and
“(B) allow applications for grants under the program to be submitted and evaluated multiple times during a calendar year.”;
(2) in subsection (f), in the matter preceding paragraph
(1), by inserting “, and make available to the public,” after “House of Representatives”; and
(3) by striking subsection (g) and inserting the following:
“(g) Authorization of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031.”. <all>
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