Back to Bill Details

HR 2913 IH

To amend the administrative requirements for conservation programs administered by the Department of Agriculture to ensure a greater emphasis on increasing habitat for native and managed pollinators and establishing cropping systems, integrated pest management regimes, and other practices to protect native and managed pollinators, and for other purposes.

June 28, 2007

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, and Mr. KUHL of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

To amend the administrative requirements for conservation programs administered by the Department of Agriculture to ensure a greater emphasis on increasing habitat for native and managed pollinators and establishing cropping systems, integrated pest management regimes, and other practices to protect native and managed pollinators, 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 `Pollinator Habitat Protection Act of 2007'.

SEC. 2. GIVING POLLINATOR HABITAT AND PROTECTION A PRIORITY IN CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.

(a) Additional Administrative Requirement for Conservation Programs- Section 1244 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3844) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(c) Native and Managed Pollinators- In carrying out any conservation program administered by the Secretary, except the farmland protection program, the Secretary shall establish a priority and provide incentives for--

`(1) increasing habitat for native and managed pollinators, especially native habitat; and

`(2) establishing cropping systems, integrated pest management regimes, and other practices to protect native and managed pollinators.'.

(b) Designation of Pollinator Protection as National Priority Resource Concern- Since increasing awareness about the importance of pollinator protection to agricultural producers and ecosystem health is a necessary step in facilitating pollinator stewardship, protection, and habitat conservation, it is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Agriculture should designate pollinator protection as a `national priority resource concern' for conservation programs administered by the Department of Agriculture.

(c) Awareness and Use of Pollinator-Friendly Native Plants- Since one of the obstacles for protecting and strengthening pollinator habitat is a chronic shortage of native plants, including seed and nursery stock for native plants, it is the sense of Congress that--

(1) the Secretary of Agriculture should continue efforts to make nurseries and land managers aware of pollinator-friendly native plants; and

(2) Plant Materials Centers of the Department of Agriculture should emphasize pollinator-beneficial native plantings for native and managed pollinator habitat.