Watershed Protection and Forest Recovery Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 5823 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5823 To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out emergency watershed protection measures on National Forest System land, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 24, 2025 Mr. Neguse (for himself and Ms. Maloy) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out emergency watershed protection measures on National Forest System land, 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 ``Watershed Protection and Forest Recovery Act of 2025''. SEC. 2. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. (a) Funding and Administration.--Section 404(b) of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2204(b)) is amended by inserting ``to carry out section 401'' after ``for a fiscal year''. (b) Emergency Forest Watershed Program.--Title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``SEC. 408. EMERGENCY FOREST WATERSHED PROGRAM. ``(a) Definitions.--In this section: ``(1) Emergency watershed protection measures.--The term `emergency watershed protection measures' means measures that-- ``(A) are necessary to address runoff retardation, soil-erosion prevention, and flood mitigation caused by a natural disaster or any other natural occurrence that has caused a sudden impairment to natural resources on National Forest System land, and the damage, if not treated-- ``(i) would significa