I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 539

To designate certain National Forest System land in the Commonwealth 

of Puerto Rico as components of the National Wilderness Preservation 

System. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2005

Mr. FORTUN ̃O (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, and Mr. GUTIERREZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL

To designate certain National Forest System land in the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as components 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 
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1 (1) MAP.—The term ‘‘map’’ means the map 

2 dated April 13, 2004, and entitled ‘‘El Toro Pro3 posed Wilderness Area’’. 

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

5 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

6 SEC. 3. WILDERNESS DESIGNATION, CARIBBEAN NATIONAL 

7 FOREST, PUERTO RICO. 

8 (a) EL TORO WILDERNESS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the pur10 poses of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1113 et 

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

12 Caribbean National Forest/Luquillo Experimental 

13 Forest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico de14 scribed in the map are designated as wilderness and 

15 as a component of the National Wilderness Preser16 vation System. 

17 (2) DESIGNATION.—The land designated in 

18 paragraph (1) shall be known as the El Toro Wilder19 ness. 

20 (3) WILDERNESS BOUNDARIES.—The El Toro 

21 Wilderness shall consist of the land described in the 

22 map. 

23 (b) MAP AND BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION.—
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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 
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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.

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