12 2 STA T . 1 7 71 PUBLIC LA W 11 0– 2 46—J U NE 1 8, 2008 thes te ward sh ip thresh ol d f or at least o n e reso u r c e concern
and ‘ ‘ (2) would , ata m inimum, meet or e x ceed the stewardship threshold for at least 1 priorit y resource concern b y the end of the stewardship contract by — ‘‘( A ) installin g and adopting additional conser v ation activities; and ‘‘( B ) improving, maintaining, and managing conserva - tion activities in place at the operation of the producer at the time the contract offer is accepted by the S ecretary . ‘‘(b) EVALU A TION O FC ONT R A C T O FF E R S .— ‘‘(1) R AN K IN G OFA P PLICATIONS.— I n evaluating contract offers made by producers to enter into contracts under the program, the Secretary shall ran k applications based on— ‘‘(A) the level of conservation treatment on all applicable priority resource concerns at the time of applica- tion, based to the maximum extent practicable on conserva- tion measurement tools; ‘‘(B) the degree to which the proposed conservation treatment on applicable priority resource concerns effec- tively increases conservation performance, based to the maximum extent possible on conservation measurement tools; ‘‘(C) the number of applicable priority resource concerns proposed to be treated to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract; ‘‘( D ) the extent to which other resource concerns, in addition to priority resource concerns, will be addressed to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract period; and ‘‘(E) the extent to which the actual and anticipated environmental benefits from the contract are provided at the least cost relative to other similarly beneficial contract offers. ‘‘(2) P RO H I B ITION.— T he Secretary may not assign a higher priority to any application because the applicant is willing to accept a lower payment than the applicant would otherwise be eligible to receive. ‘‘( 3 )A D DITIONAL CRITERIA.—The Secretary may develop and use such additional criteria for evaluating applications to enroll in the program that the Secretary determines are necessary to ensure that national, State, and local conservation priorities are effectively addressed. ‘‘(c) ENTERING INTO CONTRACTS.—After a determination that a producer is eligible for the program under subsection (a), and a determination that the contract offer ranks sufficiently high under the evaluation criteria under subsection (b), the Secretary shall enter into a conservation stewardship contract with the producer to enroll the land to be covered by the contract. ‘‘(d) CONTRACT PROVISIONS.— ‘‘(1) TER M .—A conservation stewardship contract shall be for a term of 5 years. ‘‘(2) PROVISIONS.—The conservation stewardship contract of a producer shall— ‘‘(A) state the amount of the payment the Secretary agrees to make to the producer for each year of the con- servation stewardship contract under section 123 8G (e);
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