H.R. 3329 — Wildlife Corridors and USDA Conservation Programs Act of 2025

This section establishes definitions for terms including "American wildlife corridor," "habitat connectivity," "habitat connectivity area," and "Directors" (i.e., the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, acting through the Secretary of the Interior). This section requires the Secretary of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Directors, to (1) identify habitat connectivity areas—including adjacent lands that may improve connectivity—not later than 1 year after enactment and periodically thereafter; (2) develop maps of such areas, subject to privacy protections under section 1244(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3844(b)), as amended by section 3 of this Act; and (3) submit reports to Congress not later than 1 year after each identification (and periodically thereafter), describing the areas, reviewing related data, including aggregate maps, and identifying information gaps (e.g., usage as wildlife corridors). This section further directs the Secretary to (1) issue regulations within 1 year of enactment establishing designation criteria based on consistency with existing land management plans and best-available science showing benefits to fish and wildlife persistence, resilience, multiple species, or threatened/endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and (2) designate qualifying identified areas (including adjacent lands) as American wildlife corridors not later than 3 years after issuing such criteria to encourage long-term conservation. This section requires the Secretary, in collaboration with the Directors, to develop technical standards and provide technical assistance, outreach, and education for conserving American wildlife corridors, including encouraging producers to promote sustainable production with habitat maintenance, wildlife monitoring, and adaptability strategies. The Secretary may also prioritize enrollment or reenrollment in conservation programs administered by the Secretary and, with producer agreement, terminate or modify existing contracts to enroll land in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program under subtitle H of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985.

This section amends administrative provisions applicable to natural resources conservation programs administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service or Farm Service Agency. (1) Privacy protections.—It specifies that privacy protections for proprietary information provided for technical or financial assistance extend to such programs, including the Wildlife Corridors and USDA Conservation Programs Act of 2025. (2) Regulatory certainty.—It expands the scope of regulatory certainty for conservation activities (i.e., exemption from additional regulatory requirements) to include American wildlife corridors (as defined in section 2(a) of the Wildlife Corridors and USDA Conservation Programs Act of 2025), in addition to wildlife resource concerns.