H.R. 5179 would direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to establish a program to designate wildlife corridors on tribal land and to provide related grants to tribes beginning no later than three years after enactment.
For this estimate, CBO assumes that the legislation will be enacted in late 2020. Under that assumption, the agency could incur some costs in 2020, but CBO expects that most of the costs would be incurred in 2021 and later.
Based on the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that USFWS would require two additional employees at an average annual cost of $125,000 each to manage the program. In 2019, USFWS awarded $2 million to states to conserve habitat corridors for several species. On that basis, CBO estimates that the agency would award similar amounts under H.R. 5179. Assuming USFWS takes three years to implement the grant program, we expect that the agency would begin to obligate funds late in 2023. H.R. 5179 also would direct the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to coordinate land use planning with tribes. CBO estimates that annual costs for that provision would be insignificant and would be incurred when those plans are updated. In total, we estimate that implementing H.R. 5179 would cost $6 million over the 2020-2025 period; any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
