[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 124 (Friday, October 6, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10088-S10089]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. LINCOLN (for herself and Mr. Cleland):
  S. 3179. A bill to promote recreation on Federal lakes, to require 
Federal agencies responsible for managing Federal lakes to pursue 
strategies for enhancing recreational experiences of the public, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


                      Recreation Lakes Act of 2000

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Recreation 
Lakes Act of 2000--a bill that will recognize the benefits and value of 
recreation at federal lakes and give recreation a seat at the table in 
the management decisions of all our federal lakes. I am proud to be 
joined in this effort today by Senator Cleland.
  Recreation on our federal lakes has become a powerful tourist magnet, 
attracting some 900 million visitors annually and generating an 
estimated $44 billion in economic activity--mostly spent on privately-
provided goods and services. And by the middle of this century, our 
federal lakes are expected to host nearly two billion visitors per 
year.
  Yet, even with the millions of visitors each year to our lakes and 
reservoirs, recreation has suffered from a lack of unifying policy 
direction and leadership, as well as insufficient interagency and 
intergovernmental planning and coordination. Most federal agencies are 
focused on the traditional functions of man-made lakes and reservoirs; 
flood control, hydroelectric power, water supply, irrigation, and 
navigation. And often recreation is left out of the decision process.
  Mr. President, this legislation will reaffirm that recreation is also 
an authorized purpose at almost all federal lakes and direct the 
agencies managing these projects to take action to reemphasize 
recreation programs in their management plans. This legislation will 
emphasis partnerships between the federal government, local 
governments, and private groups to promote responsible recreation on 
all our federal lakes.
  It will establish a National Recreational Lakes Demonstration 
Program, comprised of up to 20 lakes across the nation. At each of 
these federal lakes, the managing agency will be empowered to develop 
creative agreements with private sector recreation providers as well as 
state land agencies to enhance recreation opportunities. Rather than 
just building new federal campgrounds with tax dollars, we need to 
create new partnerships to provide support for building recreation 
infrastructure that is in line with visitor and tourist desires for 
recreation. The National Recreation Lakes Demonstration Program will be 
a pilot project to test these creative agreements and management 
techniques on a small scale to demonstrate their effectiveness at 
promoting recreation on federal lakes.
  Second, this legislation will establish a Federal Recreation Lakes 
Leadership Council to coordinate the National Recreation Lakes 
Demonstration Program and coordinate efforts among federal agencies to 
promote recreation on federal lakes.
  It also will include the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers in the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. The Fee 
Demo Program has had wide successes in Arkansas and across the country 
in allowing individual parks and recreation areas to keep more of their 
fee revenues on-site to reduce the often overwhelming maintenance 
backlog.

  The legislation will also provide for periodic review of the 
management of recreation at federal water projects--something long 
overdue. A great deal has changed since many of the water projects were 
authorized, yet the initial legislative direction from over 70 years 
ago continues to be the basis for the management practices now in the 
year 2000--and that is not right.
  Finally, the legislation will provide new opportunities to link the 
national recreation lakes initiative with other federal recreation 
assistance efforts, including the Wallop-Breaux program for boating and 
fishing.
  Mr. President, let me give you a little background on how this 
legislation was developed. In 1996, the U.S. Senate recognized that 
recreation was becoming more important on federal lakes and conceived 
the National Recreation Lakes Study Commission to review the current 
and anticipated demand for recreational opportunities on federally 
managed lakes and reservoirs. The National Recreation Lakes Study 
Commission was charged to ``review the current and anticipated demand 
for recreational opportunities at federally-managed man-made lakes and 
reservoirs'' and ``to develop alternatives for enhanced recreational 
use of such facilities.''
  The Commission released its long-awaited report confirming the impact 
of recreation on federally-managed, man-made lakes in June of last 
year. The Commission also recognized that we are far from realizing 
their full potential. The study documented that these lakes are 
powerful tourist magnets, attracting some 900 million visitors annually 
and generating an estimated $44 billion in economic activity--mostly 
spent on privately-provided goods and services.
  During the Energy and Natural Resources Committee's hearing last year

[[Page S10089]]

on the Recreation Lakes Study, the Chairman and I spent some time 
discussing how children today do not take full advantage of the outdoor 
opportunities that are available to them. It is so important that we 
encourage our children to enjoy the great outdoors that often times is 
less than an hour's drive away.
  As the mother of twin 4-year-old boys, I feel we need to encourage 
our children to be children, not to become adults too quickly, to learn 
how to enjoy the outdoors. The only way we can do that is by exposing 
them to it early and often.
  In this nation we have nearly 1,800 federally-managed lakes and 
reservoirs. There are 38 in my home state of Arkansas. With so many 
federal lakes spread throughout the country, there's no reason why we 
shouldn't do all we can to promote recreation on our federal lakes. I 
know that in Arkansas, we don't think twice about getting away to the 
lake for the weekend to go boating or fishing, or to just get away from 
the day-to-day grind. And that doesn't even begin to get into the 
tremendous economic impact from recreation on our federal lakes.
  Mr. President, this bill is not an attempt to completely rewrite how 
federal lakes in this country are managed or to put recreation in front 
of all other authorized purposes at federal lakes.
  The Recreation Lakes Act of 2000 will work with all current laws and 
regulations to ensure that recreation is merely given a seat at the 
table when the management decisions are made for our federal lakes.
  Mr. President, this is a good bill. In everything from the creation 
of jobs to the money that tourists like myself spend at the marinas and 
local stores surrounding the lake--our Federal lakes and reservoirs 
have an immense recreational value that can and does bring revenues 
into our local economies. The best way to encourage and expand this 
aspect is to ensure that recreation is given a higher priority in the 
management of our federal lakes.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation and look 
forward to the debate on how we can promote recreation on our federal 
lakes.
                                 ______