Bill No.:                     SF0007                                   Drafter:  MDO

LSO No.:                   13LSO-0087                         Effective Date:  Immediate

Enrolled Act No.:    SEA0040

Chapter No.:            CH0125

Prime Sponsor:       Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Interim Committee

Catch Title:              Conservation districts-special expertise (Sub. 1).

Subject:                     Granting conservation districts special expertise to cooperate and coordinate in Federal land management planning actions.

Summary/Major Elements:

· The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the federal statue which creates the procedure for the development and implementation of federal regulatory actions which impact federal natural resource management, allows for state and local governments to act as “cooperating agencies” when a federal agency is developing or implementing natural resource regulations.

· This act specifies that supervisors of a conservation district shall be considered to have special expertise on all matters which they have statutory responsibility when acting as a cooperating agency in matters related to NEPA in federal land planning, implementation and management actions.

· Conservation districts are generally given statutory responsibility to improve the conservation of soil and water resources within the district.

· Other federal natural resource management statutes may allow for coordination between a state or local government land management plan and a federal land management plan.

· This act allows conservation districts which have adopted a comprehensive plan to coordinate that plan with federal natural resource management plans.

· Specifies that supervisors of a conservation district shall consider the customs and culture of residents of the district as those customs relate to the land and resource.