[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 15 (Monday, April 13, 1998)]
[Pages 606-607]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13080--American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory 
Committee

April 7, 1998

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States, including the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act, 5 U.S.C. App., as amended, it is hereby ordered as follows:
    Section 1. Establishment. There is hereby established the American 
Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee (``Committee''). The 
Committee shall consist of up to 20 members appointed by the President 
from the public and private sectors. Each member of the Committee shall 
be a person who, as a result of his or her training, experience, and 
attainments, is well qualified to appraise the quality of nominations 
for selection of rivers as American Heritage Rivers submitted by 
communities across the country. The expertise of members of the 
Committee shall be in areas such as natural, cultural, and historic 
resources; water quality; public health; scenic and recreation 
interests; tourism and economic development interests; industry; and 
agriculture. The President shall designate a Chair from among the 
members of the Committee.
    Sec. 2.  (a) The Committee shall review nominations from communities 
and recommend to the President up to 20 rivers for consideration for 
designation as American Heritage Rivers. From the rivers recommended for 
consideration, the President shall designate ten as American Heritage 
Rivers.
    (b) In its review of nominations submitted by communities, the 
Committee shall provide its assessment of:
(1)         The scope of each nomination's application and the adequacy 
            of its design to achieve the community's goals;
(2)         Whether the natural, economic (including agricultural), 
            scenic, historic, cultural, and/or recreational resources 
            featured in the application are distinctive or unique;
(3)         The extent to which the community's plan of action is 
            clearly defined and the extent to which the plan addresses 
            all three American Heritage Rivers objectives--natural 
            resource and environmental protection, economic 
            revitalization, and historic and cultural preservation--
            either through planned actions or past accomplishments, as 
            well as any other characteristics of the proposals that 
            distinguish a nomination, such as:
(A)         Community vision and partnership;
(B)         Sustainability of products and projects, including project 
            maintenance;
(C)         Resources, both committed and anticipated, including means 
            of generating additional support from both private and 
            public sources;
(D)         Anticipated Federal role as defined by the applicants;
(E)         Schedule or timeline;
(F)         Citizen involvement;

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(G)         Public education relating to the designation of the river;
(H)         Logistical support, operating procedures, and policies;
(I)         Prior accomplishments, if relevant, and relationship to 
            existing plans and projects in the area; and
(J)         Measures of performance.
(4)         The strength and diversity of support for the nomination and 
            plan of action as evidenced by letters from local and State 
            governments, Indian tribes, elected officials, any and all 
            parties who participate in the life and health of the area 
            to be nominated, or who have an interest in the economic 
            life and cultural and environmental vigor of the involved 
            community.
    (c) The Committee also should seek to recommend the selection of 
rivers that as a group:
(1)         Represent the natural, historic, cultural, social, economic, 
            and agricultural diversity of American rivers;
(2)         Showcase a variety of stream sizes and an assortment of 
            urban, rural, and mixed settings from around the country, 
            including both relatively pristine and degraded rivers;
(3)         Highlight a variety of innovative programs in such areas as 
            historic preservation, sustainable development through 
            tourism, wildlife management, fisheries restoration, 
            recreation, community revitalization, agricultural 
            practices, and flood plain and watershed management;
(4)         Include community efforts in early stages of development as 
            well as those that are more well established; and
(5)         Stand to benefit from targeted Federal assistance.
    (d) The Committee shall report its recommendations for selection of 
rivers as American Heritage Rivers to the President through the Chair of 
the Council on Environmental Quality.
    Sec. 3. Administration. (a) The heads of executive departments and 
agencies shall provide the Committee, to the extent practicable and 
permitted by law, such information with respect to river revitalization 
as the Committee requires to fulfill its functions.
    (b) The Committee shall be supported both administratively and 
financially by the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Assistant 
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
    Sec. 4. General. The Committee shall terminate no later than 2 years 
from the date of this order. The Chair of the Committee, with the 
approval of the designated Federal officer, shall call meetings of the 
American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
April 7, 1998.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., April 9, 
1998]

Note: This Executive order was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on April 8, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
April 10.