(a) Availability of funds to cooperators and grantees

The Secretary may make funds available to cooperators and grantees under this subchapter without regard to the provisions of section 3324(a) and (b) of title 31, which prohibits advances of public money.

(b) Coordination of cooperative aid and grants with other aid and grant authorities

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To avoid duplication, the Secretary shall coordinate cooperative aid and grants under this subchapter with cooperative aid and grants the Secretary makes under any other authority.

(c) Dissemination of knowledge and technology developed from research activities; cooperation with specified entities

The Secretary shall use the authorities and means available to the Secretary to disseminate the knowledge and technology developed from research activities conducted under or supported by this subchapter. In meeting this responsibility, the Secretary shall cooperate, as the Secretary deems appropriate, with the entities identified in subsection (d)(3) of this section and with others.

(d) Additional implementative authorities

In implementing this subchapter, the Secretary, as the Secretary deems appropriate and practical, shall—

(1) use, and encourage cooperators and grantees to use, the best available scientific skills from a variety of disciplines within and outside the fields of agriculture and forestry;

(2) seek, and encourage cooperators and grantees to seek, a proper mixture of short-term and long-term research and a proper mixture of basic and applied research;

(3) avoid unnecessary duplication and coordinate activities under this section among agencies of the Department of Agriculture and with other affected Federal departments and agencies, State agricultural experiment stations, State extension services, State foresters or equivalent State officials, forestry schools, and private research organizations; and

(4) encourage the development, employment, retention, and exchange of qualified scientists and other specialists through postgraduate, postdoctoral, and other training, national and international exchange of scientists, and other incentives and programs to improve the quality of forest and rangeland renewable resources research.

(e) Construction of statutory provisions

This subchapter shall be construed as supplementing all other laws relating to the Department of Agriculture and shall not be construed as limiting or repealing any existing law or authority of the Secretary except as specifically cited in this subchapter.

(f) Definitions

For the purposes of this subchapter, the terms “United States” and “State” shall include each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the territories and possessions of the United States.