109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1096

AN ACT

To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate

portions of the Musconetcong River in the State of New

Jersey as a component of the National Wild and Scenic

Rivers 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 ‘‘Musconetcong Wild

5 and Scenic Rivers Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) the Secretary of the Interior, in cooperation

4 and consultation with appropriate Federal, State, re5 gional, and local agencies, is conducting a study of

6 the eligibility and suitability of the Musconetcong

7 River in the State of New Jersey for inclusion in the

8 Wild and Scenic Rivers System;

9 (2) the Musconetcong Wild and Scenic River

10 Study Task Force, with assistance from the Na11 tional Park Service, has prepared a river manage12 ment plan for the study area entitled ‘‘Musconetcong

13 River Management Plan’’ and dated April 2003 that

14 establishes goals and actions to ensure long-term

15 protection of the outstanding values of the river and

16 compatible management of land and water resources

17 associated with the Musconetcong River; and

18 (3) 13 municipalities and 3 counties along seg19 ments of the Musconetcong River that are eligible

20 for designation have passed resolutions in which the

21 municipalities and counties—

22 (A) express support for the Musconetcong

23 River Management Plan;

24 (B) agree to take action to implement the

25 goals of the management plan; and
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1 (C) endorse designation of the

2 Musconetcong River as a component of the

3 Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

5 In this Act:

6 (1) ADDITIONAL RIVER SEGMENT.—The term

7 ‘‘additional river segment’’ means the approximately

8 4.3-mile Musconetcong River segment designated as

9 ‘‘C’’ in the management plan, from Hughesville Mill

10 to the Delaware River Confluence.

11 (2) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term ‘‘manage12 ment plan’’ means the river management plan pre13 pared by the Musconetcong River Management Com14 mittee, the National Park Service, the Heritage Con15 servancy, and the Musconetcong Watershed Associa16 tion entitled ‘‘Musconetcong River Management

17 Plan’’ and dated April 2003 that establishes goals

18 and actions to—

19 (A) ensure long-term protection of the out20 standing values of the river segments; and

21 (B) compatible management of land and

22 water resources associated with the river seg23 ments.

24 (3) RIVER SEGMENT.—The term ‘‘river seg25 ment’’ means any segment of the Musconetcong
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1 River, New Jersey, designated as a scenic river or

2 recreational river by section 3(a)(167) of the Wild

3 and Scenic Rivers Act (as added by section 4).

4 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

5 the Secretary of the Interior.

6 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF PORTIONS OF MUSCONETCONG

7 RIVER, NEW JERSEY, AS SCENIC AND REC8 REATIONAL RIVERS.

9 Section 3(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16

10 U.S.C. 1274(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing:

12 ‘‘(167) MUSCONETCONG RIVER, NEW JERSEY.—

13 ‘‘(A) DESIGNATION.—The 24.2 miles of river

14 segments in New Jersey, consisting of—

15 ‘‘(i) the approximately 3.5-mile segment

16 from Saxton Falls to the Route 46 bridge, to be

17 administered by the Secretary of the Interior as

18 a scenic river; and

19 ‘‘(ii) the approximately 20.7-mile segment

20 from the Kings Highway bridge to the railroad

21 tunnels at Musconetcong Gorge, to be adminis22 tered by the Secretary of the Interior as a rec23 reational river.

24 ‘‘(B) ADMINISTRATION.—Notwithstanding sec25 tion 10(c), the river segments designated under sub-
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1 paragraph (A) shall not be administered as part of

2 the National Park System.’’.

3 SEC. 5. MANAGEMENT.

4 (a) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall manage

6 the river segments in accordance with the manage7 ment plan.

8 (2) SATISFACTION OF REQUIREMENTS FOR

9 PLAN.—The management plan shall be considered to

10 satisfy the requirements for a comprehensive man11 agement plan for the river segments under section

12 3(d) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C.

13 1274(d)).

14 (3) RESTRICTIONS ON WATER RESOURCE

15 PROJECTS.—For purposes of determining whether a

16 proposed water resources project would have a direct

17 and adverse effect on the values for which a river

18 segment is designated as part of the Wild and Sce19 nic Rivers System under section 7(a) of the Wild

20 and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1278(a)), the Sec21 retary shall consider the extent to which the pro22 posed water resources project is consistent with the

23 management plan.

24 (4) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary may

25 provide technical assistance, staff support, and fund-
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1 ing to assist in the implementation of the manage2 ment plan.

3 (b) COOPERATION.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall manage

5 the river segments in cooperation with appropriate

6 Federal, State, regional, and local agencies,

7 including—

8 (A) the Musconetcong River Management

9 Committee;

10 (B) the Musconetcong Watershed Associa11 tion;

12 (C) the Heritage Conservancy;

13 (D) the National Park Service; and

14 (E) the New Jersey Department of Envi15 ronmental Protection.

16 (2) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—Any coopera17 tive agreement entered into under section 10(e) of

18 the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1281(e))

19 relating to a river segment—

20 (A) shall be consistent with the manage21 ment plan; and

22 (B) may include provisions for financial or

23 other assistance from the United States to fa24 cilitate the long-term protection, conservation,

25 and enhancement of the river segment.
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1 (c) LAND MANAGEMENT.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide

3 planning, financial, and technical assistance to local

4 municipalities and nonprofit organizations to assist

5 in the implementation of actions to protect the nat6 ural and historic resources of the river segments.

7 (2) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—After adoption of

8 recommendations made in section IV of the manage9 ment plan, the zoning ordinances of the municipali10 ties bordering the segments shall be considered to

11 satisfy the standards and requirements under sec12 tion 6(c) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16

13 U.S.C. 1277(c)).

14 (d) DESIGNATION OF ADDITIONAL RIVER SEG15 MENT.—

16 (1) FINDING.—Congress finds that the addi17 tional river segment is suitable for designation as a

18 recreational river if the Secretary determines that

19 there is adequate local support for the designation of

20 the additional river segment in accordance with

21 paragraph (3).

22 (2) DESIGNATION AND ADMINISTRATION.—If

23 the Secretary determines that there is adequate local

24 support for designating the additional river segment

25 as a recreational river—
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1 (A) the Secretary shall publish in the Fed2 eral Register notice of the designation of the

3 segment;

4 (B) the segment shall be designated as a

5 recreational river in accordance with the Wild

6 and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.);

7 and

8 (C) the Secretary shall administer the ad9 ditional river segment as a recreational river.

10 (3) CRITERIAFOR LOCAL SUPPORT.—In deter11 mining whether there is adequate local support for

12 the designation of the additional river segment, the

13 Secretary shall consider the preferences of local gov14 ernments expressed in resolutions concerning des15 ignation of the additional river segment.

16 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

17 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec18 essary to carry out this Act and the amendments made

19 by this Act.

Passed the Senate December 16, 2005.

Attest:

Secretary.
109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1096

AN ACT

To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to desother purposes. tional Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for State of New Jersey as a component of the Na- ignate portions of the Musconetcong River in the