[Senate Report 108-366]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 725
108th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     108-366
======================================================================


 
              NEW JERSEY COASTAL HERITAGE TRAIL ROUTE ACT

                                _______
                                

               September 28, 2004.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 2142]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 2142) to authorize appropriations for the 
New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route, and for other 
purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                         Purpose of the Measure

    The purpose of S. 2142 is to authorize appropriations for 
the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail for an additional five 
years and to increase the appropriation ceiling to $8,000,000.

                          Background and Need

    In 1988 Congress passed legislation authorizing the New 
Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route (Public Law 100-515; 16 
U.S.C. 1244 note). This legislation authorized a route that 
links nationally significant natural and cultural sites and 
internationally significant habitats for migratory birds along 
the coastal areas of New Jersey. The New Jersey Coastal 
Heritage Trail Route (Route) runs south for 300 miles from 
Perth Amboy along the Atlantic Ocean to Cape May and then west 
along the Delaware Bay to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The 
Route is currently operated as an affiliated area of the 
National Park System, with the National Park Service providing 
technical assistance to the State of New Jersey and various 
private and community-based organizations. Non-Federal funds 
provide at least fifty percent of the funding for the Route and 
no Federal funds are used for the operations, maintenance or 
repair of any road structure.
    Three of the five theme routes proposed for the Route are 
currently open. They showcase aspects of New Jersey coastal 
life such as maritime history, wildlife migration and coastal 
wildlife habitats. The two remaining trails are based on the 
themes of historic settlements and inspiration and are under 
development. Overall, sixty destinations are linked under the 
five interpretive themes.
    Several other projects are also planned to enhance the 
coastal trail. These projects include: construction of a New 
Jersey State Park facility on the trail at Double Trouble State 
Park; continuing construction on the Welcome Center at Sandy 
Hook and construction of a Welcome Center in the Absecon 
region; and the development of interpretive media, including 
brochures, videos and exhibits.
    S. 2142 would increase the current authorization for 
appropriation from $4 million to $8 million. The bill would 
also extend the deadline for the completion of the project from 
May 2004 until May 2009. Under S. 2142, the National Park 
Service would be required to complete a strategic plan for the 
long term maintenance of the coastal route. Finally the bill 
would increase the advisory role of the National Park Service 
to include the authority to award grants to the Route.

                          Legislative History

    S. 2142 was introduced by Senators Lautenberg and Corzine 
on February 27, 2004. A companion bill, H.R. 3070, was 
introduced in the House of Representatives on September 10, 
2003, by Representative LoBiondo. The Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks held a 
hearing on S. 2142 on July 15, 2004. At the business meeting on 
September 15, 2004, the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources ordered S. 2142 favorably reported without amendment.

                        Committee Recommendation

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in an 
open business session on September 15, 2004, by a unanimous 
voice vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass 
S. 2142.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

    Section 1(a) amends section 6 of Public Law 100-515 (16 
U.S.C. 1244 note) by increasing the amount of authorized 
appropriations from $4,000,000 to $8,000,000, and by extending 
the deadline for project completion from 10 to 15 years.
    Subsection (b) amends section 6 of Public Law 100-515 (16 
U.S.C. 1244 note) by granting the Department of the Interior 
the authority to make grants, subject to the availability of 
appropriations, to assist with the development of interpretive 
materials and conservation methods for the Route.
    Subsection (c) requires that the Secretary of the Interior 
prepare a strategic plan for the Route. This section also 
details the contents and administrative requirements of the 
strategic plan.

                   Cost and Budgetary Considerations

    The following estimate of the cost of this measure has been 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office.

S. 2142--A bill to authorize appropriations for the New Jersey Coastal 
        Heritage Trail Route, and for other purposes

    S. 2142 would increase the existing authorization of 
appropriations for developing the Coastal Heritage Trail Route 
in New Jersey from $4 million to $8 million and extend the 
authorization period for such activities for an additional five 
years. Assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO 
estimates that the federal government would spend $4 million 
over the 2005-2009 period to implement the bill. Enacting the 
bill would not affect direct spending or revenues.
    S. 2142 contains no intergovernmental or privates-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Lisa Cash 
Driskill. This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, 
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                      Regulatory Impact Evaluation

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 2142.
    The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of 
imposing Government-established standards or significant 
economic responsibilities on private individuals and 
businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 2142.

                        Executive Communications

    On July 6, 2004, the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources requested legislative reports from the Department of 
the Interior and the Office of Management and Budget setting 
forth Executive agency recommendations on S. 2142. These 
reports had not been received when this report was filed. The 
testimony provided by the Department of the Interior at the 
Subcommittee hearing on S. 2142 follows:

 Statement of A. Durand Jones, Deputy Director, National Park Service, 
                       Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear 
before your committee to present the views of the Department of 
the Interior on S. 2142, a bill to authorize appropriations for 
the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route and for other 
purposes. The Department supports the bill if amended to strike 
the new grant making authority and if the Secretary prepares 
the strategic plan in partnership with the State. Funding for 
the trail for fiscal year 2005 is included within the 
President's Budget, pending reauthorization of the trail.
    S. 2142 has four main objectives. First, it would extend 
the authority for National Park Service participation in the 
New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route for five years from May 
2004 to May 2009. Second, it would increase the appropriations 
authorized for the trail from $4 million to $8 million. Third, 
it would require a strategic plan to be completed within four 
years that both describes opportunities to increase 
participation by national and local private and public 
interests in the planning, development, and administration of 
the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route and that outlines 
organizational options for sustaining the trail. Finally, it 
authorizes the Secretary to provide grants, subject to the 
availability of appropriations, to partners managing designated 
trail designations.
    The Department is opposed to the grant making authority 
provision contained in S. 2142. We cannot support this new 
Federal funding commitment at a time when we are trying to 
focus our available resources on taking care of existing 
National Park Service responsibilities. In addition, projects 
within the region may qualify for current competitive grant 
programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund; Save 
America's Treasures; Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance 
program; and the newly proposed Preserve America initiative.
     The strategic plan authorized in S. 2142 could be an 
important tool to help the trail develop a long-term management 
strategy that includes creating a self-sustaining funding 
mechanism that does not depend indefinitely on operational 
funding from the National Park Service. We would recommend that 
the bill be amended to require this strategic plan to be done 
in partnership with the State.
     Reauthorization of the trail would enable the National 
Park Service to complete implementation of the trail plan, as 
supported by the public and our partners in the Implementation 
Guide, a blueprint for overall trail development. Without 
additional time and funding, the New Jersey Coastal Heritage 
Trail Route will be left incomplete. Commitments to trail 
partners would go unfulfilled, and many additional natural and 
cultural resources would not receive the partnership assistance 
leveraged by the trail that supports public awareness and 
stewardship through this program. Implementation of the plan is 
also critical in building a base of sustainable partners and 
developing a strategy for the longterm management of the trail.
    The Act of October 20, 1988, as amended in 1994 and 1999, 
authorized the Secretary to designate a vehicular tour route in 
coastal New Jersey and to prepare an inventory of sites along 
the route. An interpretive program was also mandated to provide 
for public appreciation, education, understanding and enjoyment 
of important fish and wildlife habitats, geologic and 
geographical landforms, cultural resources, and migration 
routes in coastal New Jersey. The Secretary was authorized to 
provide technical assistance, prepare and distribute 
information, and erect signs along the route. The trail links 
national wildlife refuges, national parklands, National 
Historic Landmarks, and National Register sites with important 
historic communities, state parks, natural areas, and other 
resources to tell the story of New Jersey's role in shaping 
U.S. history and in providing internationally important 
habitats for bird and other migrations.
    The trail, an affiliated area of the National Park System, 
is a partnership among the National Park Service; the State of 
New Jersey through its Department of Environmental Protection, 
Commerce and Economic Growth Commission, and Pinelands 
Commission; and many local government and private non-profit 
partners. Through interpretation of five themes (Maritime 
History, Coastal Habitats, Wildlife Migration, Relaxation & 
Inspiration, and Historic Settlements), the trail brings 
attention to important natural and cultural resources along 
coastal New Jersey. The trail demonstrates the potential of new 
public/private partnerships that allow the National Park 
Service to meet its core mission of natural and cultural 
resource preservation along with interpretation and public 
education in a cost-efficient manner through technical 
assistance while reducing operational responsibilities. No 
Federal funds are used for operations, maintenance, or repair 
of any road or related structure.
    The trail has been authorized an appropriation of not more 
than $4,000,000 to carry out its purposes during the ten years 
between 1994 and May 2004. The $3.9 million in Federal support 
between 1994 and 2004 included $1.2 million in development 
funding and $2.3 million in National Park Service operational 
support. The trail has received $1.9 million in cash grants and 
$3.6 million in selected in-kind contributions and partnership 
support, well exceeding the one-to-one matching requirement 
established by the 1994 amendments. Since the authorization 
ceiling has almost been met, the Department supports increasing 
the ceiling by an additional $4 million.
    The New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route has special 
value to the National Park Service. With over 10 years of 
experience behind it, it serves as a model for successful 
partnerships among the Federal government, state and local 
governments, and partner organizations. Instead of traditional 
Federal ownership, the Trail uses technical assistance through 
interpretation as the protection strategy for the resources 
along the 300 miles of New Jersey coastline where people 
continue to live and work. Land ownership and day-to-day 
operations remain with the partner organizations and agencies. 
It is an example of an integrated system of local, state, and 
Federal partnership cooperation with people working on a state-
wide level to promote preservation and stewardship of resources 
as well as economic development strategies. It is an excellent 
example of the ``seamless network of parks'' strategy 
encouraged by the Department. The costs are very modest when 
compared to the management expense of national park units.
    For example, the Delsea Region Welcome Center for the trail 
is located at Fort Mott State Park. The State contributed 
workspace, rehabilitated the building, assisted with exhibit 
development, and has operated and staffed the facility since it 
opened in 1993. The National Park Service assisted by 
developing exhibits for both the park and for the trail, and by 
preparing an audio-visual orientation program. Attendance at 
Fort Mott has nearly quadrupled since becoming a trail 
destination and Welcome Center.
    The trail produces brochures and a web page that provide 
national visibility to destinations and resources that might 
otherwise be overlooked. Over sixty destinations are linked 
under the five interpretive themes. All trail destinations 
provide their own management, staffing, and public programs. 
The trail supports ecotourism and heritage tourism initiatives 
in New Jersey where tourism is the second largest employer, 
creating over 400,000 jobs in 2003 and bringing in $26 billion 
in tourism-related expenditures. Last year over 50 million 
visits were made to the New Jersey shore regions--a huge 
audience for the awareness, preservation, and stewardship 
message of the trail. Millions of visitors go to the New Jersey 
Shore to enjoy the beaches in the summer. The trail not only 
provides rainy day alternatives for tourists, but it also 
extends the summer season and provides additional year-round 
opportunities for both residents and visitors who visit the 
Jersey Shore on an annual basis.
    The trail has also supported cutting edge environmental and 
migratory habitat research through two National Park Foundation 
grant projects in partnership with New Jersey Audubon using 
Doppler radar and acoustic sound recordings to track nighttime 
songbird migration through New Jersey. This is critical as New 
Jersey lies along the migratory Atlantic Flyway, and the 
Delaware Bayshore region of New Jersey is designated as a 
Ramsar Treaty Wetland of International Importance component of 
the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and a site in 
the Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places Program.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to comment. 
This concludes my prepared remarks, and I will be happy to 
answer any questions you or other committee members might have.

                        Changes in Existing Law

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
S. 2142, as ordered reported, are shown as follows (existing 
law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

                           Public Law 101-515


 AN ACT To provide for the establishment of the Coastal Heritage Trail 
        Route in the State of New Jersey, 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. DESIGNATION OF NEW JERSEY COASTAL HERITAGE TRAIL ROUTE.

    In order to provide for public appreciation, education, 
understanding, and enjoyment, through a coordinated 
interpretive program of certain nationally significant natural 
and cultural sites associated with the coastal area of the 
State of New Jersey that are accessible generally by public 
road, the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as 
the ``Secretary''), acting through the Director of the National 
Park Service, with the concurrence of the agency having 
jurisdiction over such roads, is authorized to designate, by 
publication of a map or other description thereof in the 
Federal Register, a vehicular tour route along existing public 
roads linking such natural and cultural sites in New Jersey. 
Such route shall be known as the New Jersey Coastal Heritage 
Trail Route (hereinafter referred to as the ``route'').

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 4. PUBLIC APPRECIATION.

    With respect to sites linked by segments of the route which 
are administered by other Federal, State, local nonprofit or 
private entities, the Secretary is authorized, pursuant to 
cooperative agreements with such entities, to provide technical 
assistance in and, subject to the availability of 
appropriations, grants for, the development of interpretive 
devices and materials and conservation methods regarding the 
resources enumerated in section 3 in order to contribute to 
public appreciation, understanding and conservation of the 
natural and cultural resources of the sites along the route. 
The Secretary, in cooperation with State and local governments, 
and other public and private entities, shall prepare and 
distribute informational material for the public appreciation 
of sites along the route.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) There are authorized to be appropriated to the 
Secretary not more than $250,000 to carry out the purposes of 
this Act. No funds made available under this Act shall be used 
for the operation, maintenance, or repair of any road or 
related structure.
    (b)(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), 
there are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
to carry out the purposes of this Act [$4,000,000], $8,000,000 
which is in addition to any sums appropriated for such purposes 
for use during fiscal years ending on or before September 30, 
1993.
    (2) Funds appropriated pursuant to this subsection to carry 
out the purposes of this Act shall be used solely for 
[technical assistance] and grants and the design and 
fabrication of interpretive materials, devices and signs. In 
addition to the limitation on funds contained in subsection 
(a), no funds made available under this subsection shall be 
used for operation, maintenance, repair or construction except 
for construction of interpretive exhibits.
    (3) The Federal share of any project carried out with funds 
appropriated pursuant to this subsection may not exceed 50 
percent of the total cost for that project and shall be 
provided on a matching basis. The non-Federal share of such 
cost may be in the form of cash, materials or in-kind services 
fairly valued by the Secretary.
    (c) The authorities provided to the Secretary under this 
Act shall terminate [10] 15 years after the date of enactment 
of this subsection.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 7. REVITALIZATION OF OFFICERS ROW, SANDY HOOK, NEW JERSEY:

    (a) Agreement With State.--To further the revitalization, 
rehabilitation, and utilization of the area known as ``Officers 
Row'' located within the Sandy Hook Unit of the Gateway 
National Recreation Area, the Secretary of the Interior, or his 
designee, shall enter into an agreement to permit the State of 
New Jersey to use and occupy the property depicted on the map 
numbered 646/80,003, entitled ``Marine Science Laboratory Land 
Assignment'', dated September 1988, for the express purpose of 
constructing, developing, and operating, without cost to the 
National Park Service, a marine sciences laboratory to be known 
as the ``James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory''. The 
design of the new facility, the rehabilitation of Building 74, 
the design and location of landscaping modifications thereto, 
shall be reviewed by, and subject to the approval of, the 
Director of the National Park Service or his designee using the 
standards for rehabilitation and National Park Service 
guidelines and policies approved by the Secretary of the 
Interior.
    (b) Reversion.--If the improvements described in subsection 
(a) are not used as a marine sciences laboratory by the State 
of New Jersey, all use of the property and the improvements 
thereon shall revert, without consideration, to the National 
Park Service.

SEC. 8. STRATEGIC PLAN.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 4 years after the date of 
the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall prepare a 
strategic plan for the route.
    (b) Contents.--The strategic plan prepared under subsection 
(a) shall describe--
          (1) opportunities to increase participation by 
        national and local private and public interests in the 
        planning, development, and administration of the route; 
        and
          (2) organizational options for sustaining the route.

                                  
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