A bill to amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish a program to promote upland species habitat restoration, and for other purposes.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4548 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4548 To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish a program to promote upland species habitat restoration, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 14, 2026 Mr. Justice introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish a program to promote upland species habitat restoration, 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 ``Growing and Restoring Operational Upland Species Ecosystems Act of 2026'' or the ``GROUSE Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. UPLAND SPECIES HABITAT RESTORATION PROGRAM. Chapter 5 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 is amended by inserting after section 1240M (16 U.S.C. 3839bb) the following: ``SEC. 1240N. UPLAND SPECIES HABITAT RESTORATION PROGRAM. ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish a program to provide payments to landowners that enter into contracts with the Secretary under this section for restoration of eligible forest land. ``(b) Eligible Forest Land.-- ``(1) In general.--Forest land for which a landowner is eligible to receive a payment under this section is an area of not less than 10 acres of nonindustrial private forest land that-- ``(A) was commercially logged within the previous 180-day period; ``(B) is currently being commercially logged, but has not been cut and cleared into open land for the purpose of development; ``(C) is currently being commercially logged and will be cut and cleared for the purpose of forest manageme