109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 539

AN ACT

To designate certain National Forest System land 

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

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 539

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Forest Act of 2005’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

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

7 dated April 13, 2004, and entitled ‘‘El Toro Pro8 posed Wilderness Area’’. 

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

10 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

11 SEC. 3. WILDERNESS DESIGNATION, CARIBBEAN NATIONAL 

12 FOREST, PUERTO RICO. 

13 (a) EL TORO WILDERNESS.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the pur15 poses of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et 

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

17 Caribbean National Forest/Luquillo Experimental 

18 Forest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as gen19 erally depicted on the map are designated as wilder20 ness and as a component of the National Wilderness 

21 Preservation System. 

22 (2) DESIGNATION.—The land designated in 

23 paragraph (1) shall be known as the El Toro Wilder24 ness. 
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1 (3) WILDERNESS BOUNDARIES.—The El Toro 

2 Wilderness shall consist of the land generally de3 picted on the map. 

4 (b) MAP AND BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION.—

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

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

7 shall—

8 (A) prepare a boundary description of the 

9 El Toro Wilderness; and 

10 (B) submit the map and the boundary de11 scription to the Committee on Energy and Nat12 ural Resources of the Senate and the Com13 mittee on Resources of the House of Represent14 atives. 

15 (2) PUBLIC INSPECTION AND TREATMENT.—

16 The map and the boundary description prepared 

17 under paragraph (1)(A)—

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

19 inspection in the office of the Chief of the For20 est Service; and 

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

22 if included in this Act. 

23 (3) ERRORS.—The Secretary may correct cler24 ical and typographical errors in the map and the 
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1 boundary description prepared under paragraph 

2 (1)(A). 

3 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—

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

5 rights, the Secretary shall administer the El Toro 

6 Wilderness in accordance with the Wilderness Act 

7 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) and this Act. 

8 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF WILDERNESS ACT.—

9 With respect to the El Toro Wilderness, any ref10 erence in the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et 

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

12 deemed to be a reference to the date of the enact13 ment of this Act. 

14 (d) SPECIAL MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS.—Con15 sistent with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), 

16 nothing in this Act precludes the installation and mainte17 nance of hydrologic, meteorological, climatological, or at18 mospheric data collection and remote transmission facili19 ties, or any combination of those facilities, in any case in 

20 which the Secretary determines that the facilities are es-
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1 sential to the scientific research purposes of the Luquillo 

2 Experimental Forest.

Passed the House of Representatives September 13, 

2005. 

Attest:

Clerk.