To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide funds to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission for acquisition of lands in the Sterling Forest area of the New York/New Jersey Highlands Region.

Summary: Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of the Interior to be transferred to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to be used to acquire an undeveloped, open space tract of land presently owned by the Sterling Forest Corporation to protect the watershed, outdoor recreational, wildlife habitat, and Appalachian Trail values in the Sterling Forest area of the New York/New Jersey Highlands Region. 
States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Government, or relieve the Commission and New York of any obligation otherwise imposed under New York State law, to pay property taxes or provide for the costs of stewardship and management of any lands located in New York that may be acquired through this authorization. 
Requires the Commission to hold and manage all property acquired with funds made available in this Act for the purposes specified in it.

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that:
            (1) By Interstate Compact (Chapter 170 of the Laws of 1937 
        of the State of New York; Chapter 148 of the Laws of 1937 of 
        the State of New Jersey) and by Resolution of the 75th Congress 
        (H.J. Resolution 445), the Palisades Interstate Park Commission 
        was formed in 1937.
            (2) The Palisades Interstate Park Commission is the only 
        interstate park management agency in the United States and is 
        responsible for the management of 23 parks and historic sites 
        in New York and New Jersey, consisting of 82,000 acres. More 
        than 8,000,000 national and international visitors per year 
        seek outdoor recreational opportunities in the Palisades Park 
        System. The management of these sites is consistent with 
        standards maintained by the National Park Service.
            (3) Sterling Forest is a biologically diverse 17,500 acre 
        corporate-owned open space property on the New York/New Jersey 
        border. The property is a highly significant watershed area for 
        northern New Jersey, and an important outdoor recreational 
        asset in the Northeastern United States. Clean drinking water 
        flows from the property into a reservoir system which serves 25 
        percent of the population of the State of New Jersey. Twenty-
        seven rare and endangered wildlife species have been identified 
        at Sterling Forest by The Nature Conservancy. The land supports 
        a mixed hardwood forest, wetlands, lakes, glaciated valleys and 
        ridge lines, and is strategically located on a north-south 
        wildlife migratory route.
            (4) The Appalachian Trail, administered by the National 
        Park Service, passes through Sterling Forest. Sterling Forest 
        shares a common boundary with the 51,680 acre Harriman/Bear 
        Mountain State Parks in which the first segment of the 
        Appalachian Trail was constructed in 1923. If protected, 
        Sterling Forest would greatly enhance the Appalachian Trail and 
        would become the largest park created in the Northeastern 
        United States since World War II.
            (5) Sterling Forest is located in the most densely 
        populated metropolitan region in the United States, and is a 
        very critical open space buffer for a large urban population. A 
        14 percent growth rate is projected for the region in the next 
        20 years.
            (6) Lands held and managed by the Palisades Interstate Park 
        Commission in the State of New York traditionally remain on the 
        tax rolls. Taxes are paid by the State.
            (7) Stewardship and management costs for lands in the 
        Palisades Park System traditionally are paid by the States of 
        New York and New Jersey.
            (8) The Palisades Interstate Park Commission is committed 
        to a willing seller--willing buyer transaction with the 
        corporate owners of Sterling Forest. Use of eminent domain 
        authority is not anticipated, nor would it be acceptable to the 
        Palisades Interstate Park Commission.
            (9) In establishing the Federal Agencies Program for the 
        Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Congress specified the 
        need to address the increasing demand for the creation of 
        recreation areas of national significance easily accessible to 
        large centers of the population, and to provide a partial basis 
        for financing the extension of Federal recreational facilities 
        in the East and Midwest.
            (10) Given the nationally significant watershed, outdoor 
        recreational, and wildlife attributes of Sterling Forest, the 
        demand for park open space in the Northeastern United States, 
        the lack of open space in the densely populated New York-New 
        Jersey-Connecticut Tri-State Region, and the presence of a 
        willing seller and a federally chartered interstate park 
        management agency, there is clear Federal interest in acquiring 
        land in Sterling Forest for permanent protection of watershed, 
        recreational, and wild flora and fauna open space.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION.

    (a) Funding.--In order to enhance protection of watershed, outdoor 
recreational, wildlife habitat, and Appalachian Trail values in the 
Sterling Forest area of the New York/New Jersey Highlands Region, there 
is hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the 
Interior for transfer to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission 
(hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ``Commission'') for fiscal 
year 1995 not more than $35,000,000 to be used by the Commission for 
purposes of acquiring an undeveloped, open space tract of land 
presently owned by the Sterling Forest Corporation. Such sums shall 
remain available for expenditure through fiscal year 1999.
    (b) Property Taxes.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 
authorize the United States Government, or relieve the Commission and 
the State of New York of any obligation otherwise imposed under New 
York State law, to pay property taxes or provide for the costs of 
stewardship and management of any lands located in the State of New 
York which may be acquired through this authorization.
    (c) Management.--The Commission shall hold and manage all property 
acquired with funds made available under this Act for the purposes 
referred to in subsection (a).