[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[November 12, 1996]
[Pages 2111-2112]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act 
of 1996
November 12, 1996

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 4236, the ``Omnibus Parks and 
Public Lands Management Act of 1996,'' a comprehensive bill addressing 
the management of the Nation's invaluable national parks, forests, and 
other natural resources.
    I am pleased the Congress passed this legislation with bipartisan 
support in both Houses and has removed numerous provisions to which my 
Administration strongly objected.
    The Act will create or improve almost 120 national parks, trails, 
rivers, or historical sites in 41 of our States. As President Teddy 
Roosevelt said: ``[t]he nation behaves well if it treats the natural 
resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation 
increased, not impaired, in value.'' This Act will help ensure that we 
follow that advice and protect for the next generation some of our most 
valuable natural and historical resources.
    One of the most important provisions that my Administration 
supported would improve the management of the Presidio in San Francisco. 
This military post, dating from 1776, includes both beautiful open 
spaces appropriate for National Park Service management and hundreds of 
unused buildings requiring a more innovative approach. This Act 
establishes a government corporation, known as the Presidio Trust, to 
refurbish and lease these buildings quickly and efficiently, but in a 
manner consistent with overall park management requirements.
    Another laudable provision authorizes appropriations of $17.5 
million to help the New York-New Jersey Palisades Interstate Park 
Commission to acquire lands within the Sterling Forest Reserve, just 40 
miles from midtown Manhattan. This is one of the last areas of pristine 
forest in the Northeast and the area is critical for supplying safe 
drinking water to northern New Jersey.
    I am also pleased that the Act establishes the Tallgrass Prairie 
National Preserve in Kansas. The North American Continent was once 
covered by over 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie. Today, less 
than 1 percent remains. This Act will help to restore 11,000 acres of 
tallgrass prairie, an ecosystem of grass as tall as 9 feet, and includes 
trees, flowers, birds and other wildlife. This ecosystem is nationally 
significant and the Preserve is a welcome addition to the National Park 
System.
    My Administration supports many other provisions in this omnibus 
legislation, including designation of 10 separate nonfederal national 
heritage areas in Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, 
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, and New York. 
Other provisions would help to preserve the Nation's cultural heritage 
by authorizing memorials, protecting historic areas, designating the 
Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama, and authorizing 
the establishment of a Martin Luther King, Jr., memorial in the District 
of Columbia.
    This Act also includes scores of park boundary adjustments, land 
exchanges, and provisions to assist agencies in protecting national 
parks, forests, and public lands.
    At the same time, the bill deletes almost all of the provisions of 
the earlier conference agree-


[[Page 2112]]

ment that my Administration had found objectionable. These provisions 
include those that would have adversely affected the Tongass National 
Forest in Alaska, the Shenandoah National Park and Richmond Battlefields 
National Park in Virginia, the Sequoia National Park in California, and 
other national parks and Federal lands. Unfortunately, the Act still 
includes a few objectionable provisions. Among them is a provision that 
changes the status of about 70 acres of fragile land that was previously 
protected as part of the Coastal Barrier Resources System. Prior to my 
signing of the Act this land could only be developed at private expense. 
Now, this land will be eligible for Federal development subsidies in the 
form of infrastructure funding and flood insurance. The taxpayer should 
not bear the risk of development in these damage-prone areas, and my 
Administration will strongly resist any similar legislative efforts in 
the future. In addition, several provisions exempt specific land 
transactions from environmental laws. Where these provisions allow, my 
Administration will work to complete the transactions in full compliance 
with our environmental laws.
    I must also note that two sections of the Act require careful 
construction and application to avoid violating the Appointments Clause 
of the Constitution. First, to avoid an unconstitutional limitation on 
the President's power to appoint officers, I will regard the limitations 
on my ability to make appointments to the Board of Directors of the 
Presidio Trust as advisory. The second issue involves officers of the 
National Park Service (NPS). To avoid an unconstitutional congressional 
removal of an officer, I will not construe the Act to require that the 
current NPS Director be subjected to the new appointment process 
established by the bill. Further, appointments to the NPS Deputy 
Director positions created by the Act must be made in a manner 
consistent with the Appointments Clause in order for them to exercise 
significant governmental authority.
    As I said on September 29th following House passage of this 
legislation, this is not a perfect bill. But overall, the Act represents 
a significant step forward in the conservation and management of our 
national parks and other Federal lands for the benefit of this and 
future generations.
    I am pleased to sign H.R. 4236 into law.

                                                      William J. Clinton

The White House,

November 12, 1996.

Note: H.R. 4236, approved November 12, was assigned Public Law No. 104-
333.