Bill > HR4018

This bill, the Headwaters Protection Act of 2023, aims to reauthorize and improve the Water Source Protection Program under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. The key provisions include expanding eligible partners to manage watershed protection projects, prioritizing projects that provide risk management benefits, allowing projects on adjacent non-federal land with landowner consent, and increasing funding for the program and set-asides for partner participation in planning and capacity-building efforts. The bill also includes improvements to the Watershed Condition Framework to ensure management activities do not degrade watershed health. Importantly, the bill specifies that it does not supersede or affect state water laws, federal water laws, interstate compacts, or treaty obligations, nor does it authorize any federal acquisition of land or exertion of federal control over non-federal land.