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[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC1302]

 
                         TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
 
        CHAPTER 29--WATER BANK PROGRAM FOR WETLANDS PRESERVATION
 
Sec. 1302. Conservation agreements to effectuate water bank 
        program; duration and renewal; adjustment of payment rate for 
        renewal period; ``wetlands'' defined; duration of ownership or 
        control of land as determining eligibility for agreements; 
        protection of and compensation for tenants and sharecroppers; 
        participation by owner or operator in other Federal or State 
        programs
        
    In effectuating the water bank program authorized by this chapter, 
the Secretary shall have authority to enter into agreements with 
landowners and operators in important migratory waterfowl nesting and 
breeding areas for the conservation of water on specified farm, ranch, 
or other wetlands identified in a conservation plan developed in 
cooperation with the Soil and Water Conservation District in which the 
lands are located, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary may 
prescribe. These agreements shall be entered into for a period of ten 
years, with provision for renewal for additional periods of ten years 
each. The Secretary shall, beginning in 1980, reexamine the payment 
rates at the beginning of the fifth year of any such ten-year initial or 
renewal period and before the beginning of any renewal period, in the 
light of the then current land and crop values, and make needed 
adjustments in rates for any such initial or renewal period as provided 
in section 1304 of this title. In addition, the Secretary shall, 
beginning in 1980, reexamine the payment rates in any agreement that has 
been in effect for five years or more in the light of current land and 
crop values and make any needed adjustments in rates. As used in this 
chapter, the term ``wetlands'' means (1) the inland fresh areas 
described as types 1 through 7 in Circular 39, Wetlands of the United 
States, published by the United States Department of the Interior (or 
the inland fresh areas corresponding to such types in any successor 
wetland classification system developed by the Department of the 
Interior), (2) artificially developed inland fresh areas that meet the 
description of the inland fresh areas described in clause (1) of this 
sentence, and (3) such other wetland types as the Secretary may 
designate. No agreement shall be entered into under this chapter 
concerning land with respect to which the ownership or control has 
changed in the two-year period preceding the first year of the agreement 
period unless the new ownership was acquired by will or succession as a 
result of the death of the previous owner, or unless the new ownership 
was acquired prior to July 1, 1971, under other circumstances which the 
Secretary determines, and specifies by regulation, will give adequate 
assurance that such land was not acquired for the purpose of placing it 
in the program, except that this sentence shall not be construed to 
prohibit the continuation of an agreement by a new owner or operator 
after an agreement has once been entered into under this chapter. A 
person who has operated the land to be covered by an agreement under 
this chapter for as long as two years preceding the date of the 
agreement and who controls the land for the agreement period shall not 
be required to own the land as a condition of eligibility for entering 
into the agreement. Nothing in this section shall prevent an owner or 
operator from placing land in the program if the land was acquired by 
the owner or operator to replace eligible land from which he was 
displaced because of its acquisition by any Federal, State, or other 
agency having the right of eminent domain. The Secretary shall provide 
adequate safeguards to protect the interests of tenants and 
sharecroppers, including provision for sharing, on a fair and equitable 
basis, in payments or compensation under this program. No provision of 
this chapter shall prevent an owner or operator who is participating in 
the program under this chapter from participating in other Federal or 
State programs designed to conserve or protect wetlands.

(Pub. L. 91-559, Sec. 3, Dec. 19, 1970, 84 Stat. 1469; Pub. L. 96-182, 
Secs. 1, 2, Jan. 2, 1980, 93 Stat. 1317.)


                               Amendments

    1980--Pub. L. 96-182, in provisions relating to the reexamination of 
payment rates, substituted provisions requiring the Secretary to make 
such reexamination, beginning in 1980, at the beginning of the fifth 
year of any ten-year initial or renewal period and before the beginning 
of any renewal period, and make adjustments in accordance with section 
1304 of this title, and in agreements in effect for five years or more, 
requiring the Secretary to make adjustments in the light of current land 
and crop values for provisions requiring reexamination and adjustment at 
the beginning of the ten-year renewal period only, and, in definition of 
``wetlands'', designated existing provisions as cl. (1) and, among other 
changes, substituted types 1-7 for types 1-5, and added cls. (2) and 
(3).

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 1304 of this title.