I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1723

To designate certain National Forest System lands in the Commonwealth 

of Puerto Rico as components of the National Wilderness Preservation 

System, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 10, 2003

Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA ́ (for himself, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. PALLONE, 

Mr. CASE, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. REYES, Mr. RANGEL, 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. BECERRA, and Mrs. NAPOLITANO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL

To designate certain National Forest System lands in the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as components of the 

National Wilderness Preservation System, and for other 

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Caribbean National 

5 Forest Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. WILDERNESS DESIGNATION, CARIBBEAN NATIONAL 

2 FOREST, PUERTO RICO. 

3 (a) EL TORO WILDERNESS.—In furtherance of the 

4 purposes of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 113 et seq.), 

5 the approximately 10,000 acres of land in the Caribbean 

6 National Forest/Luquillo Experimental Forest in the 

7 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that were proposed for wil8 derness classification in the revised land and resource 

9 management plan for the Caribbean National Forest/

10 Luquillo Experimental Forest, approved April 17, 1997, 

11 are hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as a 

12 component of the National Wilderness Preservation Sys13 tem. The designated lands shall be known as the El Toro 

14 Wilderness. 

15 (b) WILDERNESS BOUNDARIES.—The El Toro Wil16 derness shall consist of those lands that were proposed for 

17 wilderness classification in the management plan referred 

18 to in subsection (a), except that the Secretary of Agri19 culture shall locate the boundaries of the wilderness area 

20 so that existing municipal water intakes will not be within 

21 the wilderness boundaries and the boundaries shall be lo22 cated at least 600 feet west of Highway PR 191 from Kil23 ometer 6.5 to Kilometer 12.0. 

24 (c) MAP AND DESCRIPTION.—

25 (1) PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION.—As soon 

26 as practicable after the date of the enactment of this 
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1 Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall prepare a 

2 map and a boundary description of the El Toro Wil3 derness and submit the map and boundary descrip4 tion to the Committee on Resources of the House of 

5 Representatives and the Committee on Energy and 

6 Natural Resources of the Senate. The map and 

7 boundary description shall be on file and available 

8 for public inspection in the office of the Chief of the 

9 Forest Service. 

10 (2) TREATMENT.—The map and boundary de11 scription prepared under paragraph (1) shall have 

12 the same force and effect as if included in this Act. 

13 The Secretary may correct clerical and typographical 

14 errors in the map and description. 

15 (d) ADMINISTRATION.—Subject to valid existing 

16 rights, the Secretary of Agriculture shall administer the 

17 El Toro Wilderness in accordance with the Wilderness Act 

18 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) and this Act. With respect to 

19 the El Toro Wilderness, any reference in the Wilderness 

20 Act to the effective date of the Wilderness Act shall be 

21 deemed to be a reference to the date of the enactment 

22 of this Act. 

23 (e) SPECIAL MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS.—Des24 ignation of the El Toro Wilderness, and the applicability 

25 of the Wilderness Act to the wilderness area, shall not be 
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1 construed to prevent any of the following activities, subject 

2 to such conditions as the Secretary of Agriculture con3 siders desirable, within the boundaries of the wilderness 

4 area: 

5 (1) Installation and maintenance of hydrologic, 

6 meteorological, climatological, or atmospheric data 

7 collection and transmission facilities, or any com8 bination of such facilities, when the Secretary deter9 mines that such facilities are essential to the sci10 entific research purposes of the Luquillo Experi11 mental Forest. 

12 (2) Construction and maintenance of nesting 

13 structures, observation blinds, and population moni14 toring platforms for threatened and endangered spe15 cies. 

16 (3) Construction and maintenance of trails to 

17 such facilities as necessary for research purposes 

18 and for the recovery of threatened and endangered 

19 species.

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