Congress Still Has Time to Deliver Conservation Wins
As the 119th Congress enters its final months, bipartisan conservation proposals already moving on Capitol Hill offer an opportunity to deliver lasting benefits for birds, people, and communities.
With the close of the 119th Congress just around the corner, our elected leaders still have time to deliver significant conservation funding and policy before the term ends. At the beginning of this year, we highlighted a flight path for progress for birds and people, including opportunities to strengthen conservation on working lands, support locally led habitat projects, and restore rivers and wetlands.
Since then, new windows of opportunity have emerged that are consequential in scope, in particular the newly introduced bipartisan permitting reform bill: the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026.
The stakes for the upcoming lame-duck session extend well beyond birds. Healthy lands and waters support communities, local businesses, working lands, and outdoor recreation across the country. Comprehensive reforms are necessary to get clean energy onto a modernized grid today. And critical funding is needed to implement proven solutions on the ground to restore and maintain our nation’s natural resources and wildlife habitat.
While Congress has made important progress on several of these priorities, bipartisan proposals are still moving, giving Congress an opportunity to build on that progress and finish the work before the session ends and lawmakers leave town for the winter holidays.
FINISH what Congress has started
The Farm Bill is the nation’s largest investment in voluntary conservation on private working lands. During this Congress, Audubon worked to ensure that important elements were incorporated in both the House and Senate versions of the bill, including support for voluntary programs that help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners improve wildlife habitat while supporting soil health, water quality, and productive working lands.
In the next couple of months, as negotiations continue, Congress has an opportunity to strengthen Farm Bill programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program and provide greater support for private forest owners through permanent authorization of the Forest Landowner Support Program.
Introduced in the first half of the 119th Congress, the bipartisan Local Communities and Bird Habitat Stewardship Act was overwhelmingly passed by the House in September but now needs to pass the Senate. This legislation would provide communities with resources to restore green spaces and wetlands, reduce hazards to birds, and engage residents in conservation and community science.
Congress also has an opportunity to complete work on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), continuing a long bipartisan tradition of investing in healthy rivers, wetlands, and watersheds. WRDA authorizes projects and programs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and plays a pivotal role in improving water infrastructure and addressing shifting weather and climate patterns. The House and Senate have separate WRDA bills that will need to be reconciled. Audubon supports nature-based solutions and ecosystem restoration in key watersheds, including the Everglades, Great Lakes, Rio Grande, Mississippi River, and Great Salt Lake.
BUILD on bipartisan momentum
On public lands, bipartisan leaders in both chambers have advanced proposals to continue investments made through the Great American Outdoors Act. The America the Beautiful Act in the Senate and the House Great American Outdoors Act 250 would extend funding for maintenance backlogs and restoration projects on national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and other public lands.
There is also bipartisan momentum around America’s grasslands, with the Rebuilding America’s National Cow Herd (RANCH) Act introduced in August. The bipartisan bill, which builds on the model established by Audubon’s Conservation Forage Program in North Dakota, would provide voluntary technical and financial assistance to farmers and ranchers who convert marginal cropland into native grasses and other perennial forage. Grassland birds have experienced steeper declines than any other group of birds, and well-managed grasslands can provide both the habitat they need and productive forage for livestock.
Additionally, it is critically important for Congress to complete reauthorization of federal programs that support community-based restoration and conservation. These include the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program (DRBRP), and the Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CWMP). The programs support community-based watershed restoration across the country. Restoring and protecting watersheds matters not only for birds and other wildlife, but also for the communities, industries, and regional economies that depend on healthy water systems.
PROTECT the places birds and people depend on
From investing in sustainable land management practices to supporting communities in enhancing green space and local habitat, these efforts recognize that conservation depends on connected, healthy habitats. From rural communities to urban centers, these aren’t separate conservation challenges. Birds move across a connected network of farms, forests, grasslands, rivers, and towns. And we know that protecting those places benefits communities and economies along the way.
The recently introduced bipartisan Senate permitting reform bill is both an exciting and complicated legislative opportunity. It establishes clear rules for permitting, supports the responsible and timely deployment of transmission and grid infrastructure, advances clean energy, and increases transparency and accountability around the rapid growth of data centers. All of these are vitally important to helping get good things built faster: natural infrastructure and restoration projects, transmission lines, and utility-scale renewable energy; not to mention housing, rapid transit, and other assets communities need.
Alongside these provisions are changes to laws critical to protecting wildlife, communities, and the environment. We are committed to working with lawmakers and stakeholders to advance reforms while protecting habitat and America’s treasured natural heritage. Audubon knows that we can modernize the rules of the road for federal permitting while still protecting the future for birds, communities, the climate, and our environment.
In the remaining months of this Congress, lawmakers from both parties have an opportunity to build on the common ground we’ve already seen: finish work already underway, sustain investments that communities depend on, and turn that bipartisan momentum into lasting progress for birds and people.
