[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4141 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4141

  To amend the Act authorizing the establishment of the Chattahoochee 
 River National Recreation Area to modify the boundaries of the Area, 
   and to provide for the protection of lands, waters, and natural, 
cultural, and scenic resources within the national recreation area, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 1998

   Mr. Gingrich (for himself, Mr. Collins, and Mr. Deal of Georgia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Act authorizing the establishment of the Chattahoochee 
 River National Recreation Area to modify the boundaries of the Area, 
   and to provide for the protection of lands, waters, and natural, 
cultural, and scenic resources within the national recreation area, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that:
            (1) The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area is a 
        nationally significant resource and the national recreation 
        area has been adversely affected by land use changes occurring 
        within and outside its boundaries.
            (2) The population of the metropolitan Atlanta area 
        continues to expand northward, leaving dwindling opportunities 
        to protect the scenic, recreation, natural, and historic values 
        of the 2,000-foot wide corridor adjacent to each bank of the 
        Chattahoochee River and its impoundments in the 48-mile segment 
        known as the area of national concern.
            (3) The State of Georgia has enacted the Metropolitan River 
        Protection Act in order to ensure the protection of the 
        corridor located within 2,000 feet of each bank of the 
        Chattahoochee River, or the 100-year flood plain, whichever is 
        greater, and such corridor includes the area of national 
        concern.
            (4) Visitor use of the Chattahoochee River National 
        Recreation Area has shifted dramatically since the 
        establishment of the national recreation area from waterborne 
        to water-related and land-based activities.
            (5) The State of Georgia and its political subdivisions 
        along the Chattahoochee River have indicated their willingness 
        to join in cooperative efforts with the United States of 
        America to link existing units of the national recreation area 
        with a series of linear corridors to be established within the 
        area of national concern and elsewhere on the river and 
        provided Congress appropriates certain funds in support of such 
        effort, funding from the State, its political subdivisions, 
        private foundations, corporate entities, private individuals, 
        and other sources will be available to fund more than half of 
        the estimated cost of such cooperative effort.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) increase the level of protection of the remaining open 
        spaces within the area of national concern along the 
        Chattahoochee River and to enhance visitor enjoyment of such 
        areas by adding land-based links between existing units of the 
        national recreation area;
            (2) assure that the national recreation area is managed to 
        standardize acquisition, planning, design, construction, and 
        operation of the linear corridors; and
            (3) authorize the appropriation of Federal funds to cover a 
        portion of the costs of the Federal, State, local, and private 
        cooperative effort to add additional areas to the Chattahoochee 
        River National Recreation Area in order to establish a series 
        of linear corridors linking existing units of the national 
        recreation area and to protect other undeveloped portions of 
        the Chattahoochee River corridor.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS OF CHATTAHOOCHEE NRA ACT.

    The Act of August 15, 1978, entitled ``An Act to authorize the 
establishment of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in 
the State of Georgia, and for other purposes'' (Public Law 95-344; 16 
U.S.C. 460ii-2(b)) is amended as follows:
            (1) Section 101 is amended as follows:
                    (A) By inserting after ``map entitled `Boundary 
                Map, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area', 
                numbered Chat-20,003 and dated September 1984'' the 
                following: ``and on the map entitled `Boundary Map, 
                Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area Addition', 
                numbered ______ and dated ______, both of which''.
                    (B) By amending the fourth sentence to read as 
                follows: ``After July 1, 1999, the Secretary of the 
                Interior (in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') 
                may modify the boundaries of the recreation area to 
                include other lands within 2,000 feet of each bank of 
                the Chattahoochee River by submitting a revised map or 
                other boundary description to the Congress. Such 
revised boundaries shall take effect on the date 6 months after the 
date of such submission unless, within such 6-month period, the 
Congress adopts a Joint Resolution disapproving such revised 
boundaries. Such revised map or other boundary description shall be 
prepared by the Secretary after consultation with affected landowners 
and with the State of Georgia and affected political subdivisions. 
Before July 1, 1999, the owner of any parcel of land, all or any 
portion of which is within 2,000 feet of each bank of the Chattahoochee 
River, may notify the Secretary that such parcel is not to be included 
within the revised boundaries of the area. Upon receipt of a legal 
description of such parcel, the Secretary shall modify the boundaries 
to exclude such parcel.''.
                    (C) By striking out ``may not exceed approximately 
                6,800 acres.'' and inserting ``may not exceed 10,000 
                acres.''.
            (2) Section 102(f) is repealed.
            (3) Section 103(b) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Cooperative Agreements.--The Secretary is authorized to enter 
into cooperative agreements with the State, its political subdivisions, 
and other entities to assure standardized acquisition, planning, 
design, construction, and operation of the national recreation area.''.
            (4) Section 105(a) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) Authorization of Appropriations; Acceptance of Donations.--In 
addition to funding and the donation of lands and interests in lands 
provided by the State of Georgia, local government authorities, private 
foundations, corporate entities, and individuals, and funding that may 
be available pursuant to the settlement of litigation, there is hereby 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act not more than 
$25,000,000 for fiscal years after fiscal year 1998. The Secretary is 
authorized to accept the donation of funds and lands or interests in 
lands to carry out this Act.''.
            (5) Section 105(c) (16 U.S.C. 460ii-4(c)) is amended by 
        adding the following at the end thereof: ``The Secretary shall 
        submit a revision of such plan within 3 years after the 
        enactment of this sentence to provide for the protection, 
        enhancement, enjoyment, development, and use of areas added to 
        the national recreation area. During the preparation of the 
        revised plan the Secretary shall seek and encourage the 
        participation of the State of Georgia and its affected 
        political subdivisions, private landowners, interested 
        citizens, public officials, groups, agencies, educational 
        institutions, and others.''.
            (6) Section 102(a) (16 U.S.C. 460ii-1(a)) is amended by 
        inserting the following before the period at the end of the 
        first sentence: ``, except that lands and interests in lands 
        within the Addition Area depicted on the map referred to in 
        section 101 may not be acquired without the consent of the 
        owner thereof''.
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