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 2031 and enhance funding accessibility to maximise watershed impacts.
The CWMP, part of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program, helps communities in forming watershed teams to determine, plan, design, and implement initiatives that deal with native water wants. Initially licensed in 2009, this system is effectively utilized in rural communities to assist watershed restoration efforts with initiatives positioned in 15 western states, Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A few of the CWMP funding was awarded to watershed teams and initiatives that embrace 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 determine and implement initiatives by a phased method. Section I funds are awarded with no non-federal value share to assist watershed group growth 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 be used to assist communities scale back dangers of drought and wildfire, deal with water high quality and reliability, in addition to enhance native economies by water administration options that profit agriculture, out of doors recreation, and different industries.
The newly launched invoice extends the CWMP and consists of a number of provisions targeted on addressing obstacles 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 embrace native Tribes;
- Permitting for longer timelines to succeed in shovel prepared venture 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 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 neighborhood 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 going through the West. Nonetheless, applications like CWMP might help communities adapt to the intensifying drought. Audubon and partners acknowledge that sustained federal funding within the WaterSMART program and CWMP is critical 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 vital laws.
