Denver — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Climate, Forestry, and Natural Resources, and U.S. Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities Act to help American agriculture and communities become more resilient to drought and flooding by improving the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations program (also known as “PL-566”).
“The PL-566 program is an important tool to help state, local, and Tribal governments and local water managers restore the health of our watersheds – but we need to do more to ensure this program works for the American West,” said Bennet. “Our bill will cut red tape and help get federal assistance to watershed projects in Colorado. By investing in the health of our watersheds, we can make our communities more resilient to drought, flooding, and climate change.”
“Nebraska is home to 33 Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations projects, which are critical to providing locally-led conservation solutions to protect Nebraska’s natural resources. We’re introducing this legislation to build on the success of the program and boost efficiency. Our bill would also bring planning and oversight closer to the local level and into the hands of those who know the land best,” said Fischer.
“Climate chaos continues to make the West hotter and dryer, depleting water resources for people, farms, and wildlife. The P.L. 566 program is an effective modernization tool for irrigation systems to conserve water—keeping farms in operation during droughts while also protecting habitat for wildlife,” said Merkley, who revitalized this program when he served as Ranking Member of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. “Oregonians’ ingenuity with this program has supported projects that benefit both farmers and wildlife, and this legislation would expand this model and enable rural communities in the West to better mitigate the devastating impacts of drought.”
As the American West faces severe drought and more frequent flooding, farmers, ranchers, and communities are turning to the PL-566 program to mitigate the effects of these natural disasters through watershed improvement projects. However, as demand for this program grows, inadequate funding and burdensome red tape keeps applicants from accessing its full benefits. Western users especially face a harder time accessing the program as a result of its structure and eligibility requirements.
The bipartisan Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities Act would streamline the planning and administration processes to enable more watershed-wide projects, shift decision-making to local NRCS staff, expand program eligibility, and allow federal funding to count toward state and local match requirements. The bill also prioritizes projects with multiple conservation and public benefits and makes drought resilience an explicit purpose of the program.
“The Healthy Watershed, Healthy Communities Act is a sensible modification to the invaluable PL-566 tool. Water programs, services, and projects are more complex today than they were nearly 70 years ago when PL-566 was enacted. To succeed in the future, water managers, resource stewards, and communities must be more creative and work more collaboratively. From where I sit along St. Vrain Creek as it meets the South Platte River, I have concluded our community is craving holistic, sensible, apolitical leadership when it comes to addressing current and future challenges around water. This Act is all those things, and when approved could have a positive impact, not only in my backyard, but across the West and U.S.,” said Sean Cronin, Executive Director, St. Vrain & Left Hand Water Conservancy District.
“The NRCS Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program (PL-566) has a strong track record of helping farmers, ranchers and local water management agencies with efforts to modernize water systems across the West. The Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities Act further improves the PL-566 planning and construction process and strengthens local control, which will ensure that the program is utilized in the most efficient manner possible in each state. We thank Senator Bennet and his staff for their leadership and initiative on this bill, and we’re grateful to Senators Fischer and Merkley for stepping up as co-sponsors on this important bipartisan legislation,” said Dan Keppen, Executive Director, Family Farm Alliance.
“As our Colorado farmers, ranchers, and resource managers work hard to achieve greater drought resilience, this bill stands to improve our watershed planning process. By leveraging greater federal contribution and prioritizing irrigation system modernization, Senator Bennet’s Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities Act will address our diverse management needs in an economically viable way,” said Carlyle Currier, President of Colorado Farm Bureau and Chair of the Colorado Ag Water Alliance.
“The Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities Act of 2023 is an excellent opportunity to modernize the PL-566 program to improve watershed health while meeting the diverse demands for the program throughout the country. Its passage would improve the speed of program delivery and ensure multiple economic and watershed health benefits are prioritized, including benefits to wild and native trout and salmon habitat. Trout Unlimited thanks Senators Bennet, Fischer, and Merkley for their work and supports the passage of this bill,” said Lindsay Slater, VP of Government Affairs, Trout Unlimited.
“Across the Western United States irrigation districts have come to rely on the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program to modernize aging infrastructure and make themselves, and their patrons, more resilient to the impacts of drought. Thank you to Senator Bennet for his leadership in introducing the Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities Act (S.2636) and the support of Senator Merkley and Senator Fischer for co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation,” said Julie O’Shea, Executive Director at Farmers Conservation Alliance. “This legislation is critical to improving the Watershed and Flood Preventions Operations program, so it is better positioned to develop and implement modernization projects that provide multiple benefits to agriculture, the environment, and local communities.”
This legislation is supported by the Almond Alliance, California Agricultural Irrigation Association, California Farm Bureau, Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado Association of Conservation Districts, Environmental Defense Fund, Farmers Conservation Alliance, Family Farm Alliance, Irrigation Association, Oregon Water Resources Congress, the St. Vrain & Left Hand Water Conservancy District, the Freshwater Trust, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, Western Growers, and the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association.
The text of the bill is available HERE. A summary is available HERE.