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[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 263 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.263

                     One Hundred Sixteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America

                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday,
            the third day of January, two thousand and twenty

                                 An Act

 
  To rename the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge as the Congressman 
            Lester Wolff Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
    The Congress finds the following:
        (1) The Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge was created in 
    1968. It is located on the north shore of Long Island in eastern 
    Nassau County, is the largest refuge in the Long Island National 
    Wildlife Refuge Complex, and receives the most public use of all 
    the refuges in the Complex.
        (2) The State of New York designated Oyster Bay a significant 
    coastal fish and wildlife habitat. It is especially important for 
    wintering waterfowl such as black duck, greater scaup, bufflehead, 
    canvasback and long-tailed ducks. Management activities include 
    wetland restoration and protection of the natural shoreline and 
    vegetation.
        (3) The refuge is unique in consisting solely of bay bottom and 
    adjacent shoreline up to the mean high-tide mark. Ninety percent of 
    New York's commercial oyster harvest comes from the refuge. 
    Visitors enjoy fishing, wildlife observation, photography and 
    environmental education. The refuge is truly a national treasure.
        (4) Many visitors are unaware that were it not for the tireless 
    work and advocacy of then-freshman Congressman Lester Wolff, this 
    area would today be an 8.5-mile causeway and bridge across Long 
    Island Sound between Oyster Bay and Rye, New York, connecting 
    Nassau and Westchester Counties.
        (5) The bridge was first proposed by Robert Moses, the well-
    known New York City Planner, to divert traffic from New York City. 
    Former Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed into law legislation 
    creating the bridge authorized by the New York State Legislature in 
    1967.
        (6) Congressman Wolff, elected in 1964, quickly decided the 
    bridge would be an intrusion in a pristine area, and that Long 
    Island Sound was a very precious resource that was despoiled. The 
    conservation threats in the mid-1960s were suburban development, 
    wetland filling, and industrial pollution. The fight to preserve 
    this land became an enormous political fight and is considered to 
    be a turning point in New York State's environmental legacy.
        (7) With State and local political and community leaders, and 
    especially the North Shore leaders and the Committee to Save the 
    Long Island Sound, Congressman Wolff arranged a meeting with 
    Department of the Interior representatives and local leaders where 
    the idea of creating a wildlife refuge from municipal and privately 
    owned wetlands was created.
        (8) The Town of Oyster Bay, in which one end of the bridge was 
    to be located, deeded 5,000 acres of wetlands to the United States 
    to be maintained as a Federal wildlife preserve. It was stipulated 
    that if the Department of the Interior agreed to an intrusion of 
    the property, it would revert to the town. Creating a Federal 
    wildlife preserve provided the land with Federal protection.
        (9) Because of the vision, dedication, and perseverance of 
    Congressman Lester Wolff, all of us and future generations can 
    enjoy the beauty and magnificence of this refuge.
SEC. 2. RENAMING THE OYSTER BAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE AS THE 
CONGRESSMAN LESTER WOLFF OYSTER BAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.
    (a) Renaming.--The unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System 
known as the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge and located near 
Oyster Bay, New York, shall be known as the ``Congressman Lester Wolff 
Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge''.
    (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, 
paper, or other record of the United States to the unit of the National 
Wildlife Refuge System known as the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge 
is deemed to be a reference to the ``Congressman Lester Wolff Oyster 
Bay National Wildlife Refuge''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.
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