[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 40 (Monday, October 7, 1996)]
[Pages 1932-1933]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on House of Representatives Action on Omnibus Parks 
Legislation

September 29, 1996

    I am pleased that the House voted last night to approve legislation 
that would improve our management of the national parks and other 
Federal lands. The bill represents a victory for all Americans who 
treasure and want to preserve our natural resources.
    This bill includes my top priorities for parks legislation. That is, 
it includes provisions to improve the management of the Presidio in San 
Francisco, help acquire the Sterling Forest in the New York/New Jersey 
Highlands Region, and establish the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve 
in Kansas.
    At the same time, the bill deletes almost all of the provisions of 
the earlier conference agreement that the administration had found 
objectionable. These provisions include those that would have adversely 
affected the Shenandoah National Park and Richmond Battlefield National 
Park in Virginia, the Sequoia National Park in California, the Tongass 
National Forest, and other national parks and Federal lands.
    To be sure, this is not a perfect bill. I continue to have concerns 
about certain provisions. But on the whole, it represents a vast and 
good-faith improvement over the earlier conference agreement. Again, I 
applaud the House for approving this legislation last

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night, and I hope the Senate will do the same before it adjourns for the 
year.