S. 2891 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 early in fiscal year 2021.
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 S. 2891. Assuming USFWS takes three years to implement the grant program, we expect that the agency would begin to obligate funds in 2024. The bill 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 S. 2891 would cost $6 million over the 2020-2025 period, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
On May 29, 2020, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 5179, the Tribal Wildlife Corridors Act of 2019, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on January 29, 2020. The two bills are similar and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects through 2025 are the same.
