Audubon Welcomes Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen Cooperative Watershed Management

Each chambers of Congress launched the Cooperative Watershed Administration Program Reauthorization Act of 2026 in March. The bipartisan invoice—sponsored by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.)—would prolong the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Cooperative Watershed Administration Program (CWMP) by way of 2031 and enhance funding accessibility to maximise watershed impacts. 

The CWMP, part of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program, helps communities in forming watershed teams to establish, plan, design, and implement initiatives that tackle native water wants. Initially licensed in 2009, this system is properly utilized in rural communities to assist watershed restoration efforts with initiatives situated in 15 western states, Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Among the CWMP funding was awarded to watershed teams and initiatives that embody restoration efforts to enhance fowl habitats, benefitting tons of of fowl species just like the Yellow Warbler, Bell’s Vireo, and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher.

The CWMP invests in constructing native capability to establish and implement initiatives by way of a phased strategy. Section I funds are awarded with no non-federal value share to assist watershed group improvement and planning, with a precedence for awarding funds to teams that incorporate the views of a various array of companions. Section II funds assist the implementation of on-the-ground initiatives developed collaboratively by the watershed group. CWMP funding can also be used to assist communities cut back dangers of drought and wildfire, tackle water high quality and reliability, in addition to enhance native economies by way of water administration options that profit agriculture, outside recreation, and different industries. 

The newly launched invoice extends the CWMP and contains a number of provisions targeted on addressing limitations to accessing federal funding, together with: 

• Adjusting the cap on Section I funding for inflation;
• Streamlining the reporting course of and lowering administrative burdens;
• Prioritizing funding for watershed teams that embody native Tribes;
• Permitting for longer timelines to succeed in shovel prepared challenge phases; and
• Growing annual licensed funding for this system.

In our work to guard individuals and birds within the arid West, Audubon has led and supported a number of efforts to set up watershed teams by way of the CWMP. Alongside the Decrease Gila River west of Phoenix, Audubon Southwest, in partnership with the Lower Gila River Collaborative, was awarded CWMP funding to enhance ecosystem well being and water administration. The funding builds upon many years of labor with native companions to advance coordinated restoration. Tucson Bird Alliance in Arizona is working within the Sonoita Creek Watershed southeast of Tucson, Ariz., to construct on present private and non-private initiatives to create sustainable options for the watershed. In New Mexico, CWMP was instrumental in establishing the Isleta Reach Stewardship Association, an company and group group targeted on enhancing the watershed well being and habitat throughout the Isleta attain, a 48-mile span of the Rio Grande River in north central New Mexico. 

Abysmal snowpack this winter has exacerbated the prolonged dry situations dealing with the West. Nonetheless, packages like CWMP may also help communities adapt to the intensifying drought. Audubon and partners acknowledge that sustained federal funding within the WaterSMART program and CWMP is important to assist resilient communities, thriving ecosystems, and a sustainable water future. 

Audubon thanks the invoice sponsors for introducing the Cooperative Watershed Administration Program Reauthorization Act of 2026 and appears ahead to working with Congress to advance this essential laws.