109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 272

AN ACT

To designate certain National Forest System land in the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as a component of the

National Wilderness Preservation System.

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 2005’’.
 †

2

S 272 ES

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (1) MAP.—The term ‘‘map’’ means the map

4 dated April 13, 2004, and entitled ‘‘El Toro Pro5 posed Wilderness Area’’.

6 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

7 the Secretary of Agriculture.

8 SEC. 3. WILDERNESS DESIGNATION, CARIBBEAN NATIONAL

9 FOREST, PUERTO RICO.

10 (a) EL TORO WILDERNESS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the pur12 poses of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et

13 seq.), the approximately 10,000 acres of land in the

14 Caribbean National Forest/Luquillo Experimental

15 Forest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as gen16 erally depicted on the map are designated as wilder17 ness and as a component of the National Wilderness

18 Preservation System.

19 (2) DESIGNATION.—The land designated in

20 paragraph (1) shall be known as the El Toro Wilder21 ness.

22 (3) WILDERNESS BOUNDARIES.—The El Toro

23 Wilderness shall consist of the land generally de24 picted on the map.

25 (b) MAP AND BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION.—
†

3

S 272 ES

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary

3 shall—

4 (A) prepare a boundary description of the

5 El Toro Wilderness; and

6 (B) submit the map and the boundary de7 scription to the Committee on Energy and Nat8 ural Resources of the Senate and the Com9 mittee on Resources of the House of Represent10 atives.

11 (2) PUBLIC INSPECTION AND TREATMENT.—

12 The map and the boundary description prepared

13 under paragraph (1)(A)—

14 (A) shall be on file and available for public

15 inspection in the office of the Chief of the For16 est Service; and

17 (B) shall have the same force and effect as

18 if included in this Act.

19 (3) ERRORS.—The Secretary may correct cler20 ical and typographical errors in the map and the

21 boundary description prepared under paragraph

22 (1)(A).

23 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to valid existing

25 rights, the Secretary shall administer the El Toro
†

4

S 272 ES

1 Wilderness in accordance with the Wilderness Act

2 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) and this Act.

3 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF WILDERNESS ACT.—

4 With respect to the El Toro Wilderness, any ref5 erence in the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et

6 seq.) to the effective date of that Act shall be

7 deemed to be a reference to the date of the enact8 ment of this Act.

9 (d) SPECIAL MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS.—Con10 sistent with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.),

11 nothing in this Act precludes the installation and mainte12 nance of hydrologic, meteorological, climatological, or at13 mospheric data collection and remote transmission facili14 ties, or any combination of those facilities, in any case in

15 which the Secretary determines that the facilities are es16 sential to the scientific research purposes of the Luquillo

17 Experimental Forest.

Passed the Senate July 26, 2005.

Attest:

Secretary.
109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 272

AN ACT

To designate certain National Forest System land

System.ponent of the National Wilderness Preservationin the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as a com-