II 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1964
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
NOVEMBER 22, 2003
Received 
DECEMBER 9. 2003
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
AN ACT 
To assist the States of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, 
and Pennsylvania in conserving priority lands and nat-
ural resources in the Highlands region, and for other 
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
HR 1964 RFS 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Highlands Conserva-
tion Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following—
(1) The Highlands region is a physiographic 
province that encompasses more than 2,000,000 
acres extending from eastern Pennsylvania through 
the States of New Jersey and New York to north-
western Connecticut. 
(2) The Highlands region is an environmentally 
unique area that—
(A) provides clean drinking water to over 
15,000,000 people in metropolitan areas in the 
States of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, 
and Pennsylvania; 
(B) provides critical wildlife habitat, in-
cluding habitat for 247 threatened and endan-
gered species; 
(C) maintains an important historic con-
nection to early Native American culture, colo-
nial settlement, the American Revolution, and 
the Civil War; 
(D) contains recreational resources for 14 
million visitors annually;
HR 1964 RFS 
(E) provides other significant ecological, 
natural, tourism, recreational, educational, and 
economic benefits; and 
(F) provides homeownership opportunities 
and access to affordable housing that is safe, 
clean, and healthy. 
(3) An estimated 1 in 12 citizens of the United 
States live within a 2-hour drive of the Highlands 
region. 
(4) More than 1,400,000 residents live in the 
Highlands region. 
(5) The Highlands region forms a greenbelt ad-
jacent to the Philadelphia-New York City-Hartford 
urban corridor that offers the opportunity to pre-
serve water, forest and agricultural resources, wild-
life habitat, recreational areas, and historic sites, 
while encouraging sustainable economic growth and 
development in a fiscally and environmentally sound 
manner. 
(6) Continued population growth and land use 
patterns in the Highlands region—
(A) reduce the availability and quality of 
water; 
(B) reduce air quality; 
(C) fragment the forests;
HR 1964 RFS 
(D) destroy critical migration corridors 
and forest habitat; and 
(E) result in the loss of recreational oppor-
tunities and scenic, historic, and cultural re-
sources. 
(7) The water, forest, wildlife, recreational, ag-
ricultural, and cultural resources of the Highlands 
region, in combination with the proximity of the 
Highlands region to the largest metropolitan areas 
in the United States, make the Highlands region na-
tionally significant. 
(8) The national significance of the Highlands 
region has been documented in—
(A) the New York-New Jersey Highlands 
Regional Study conducted by the Forest Service 
in 1990; 
(B) the New York-New Jersey Highlands 
Regional Study: 2002 Update conducted by the 
Forest Service; 
(C) the bi-State Skylands Greenway Task 
Force Report; 
(D) the New Jersey State Development 
and Redevelopment Plan; 
(E) the New York State Open Space Con-
servation Plan;
HR 1964 RFS 
(F) the Connecticut Green Plan: Open 
Space Acquisition FY 2001–2006; 
(G) the open space plans of the State of 
Pennsylvania; and 
(H) other open space conservation plans 
for States in the Highlands region. 
(9) The Highlands region includes or is adja-
cent to numerous parcels of land owned by the Fed-
eral Government or federally designated areas that 
protect, conserve, or restore resources of the High-
lands region, including—
(A) the Wallkill River National Wildlife 
Refuge; 
(B) the Shawanagunk Grasslands Wildlife 
Refuge; 
(C) the Morristown National Historical 
Park; 
(D) the Delaware and Lehigh Canal Cor-
ridors; 
(E) the Hudson River Valley National 
Heritage Area; 
(F) the Delaware River Basin; 
(G) the Delaware Water Gap National 
Recreation Area;
HR 1964 RFS 
(H) the Upper Delaware Scenic and Rec-
reational River; 
(I) the Appalachian National Scenic Trail; 
(J) the United States Military Academy at 
West Point, New York; 
(K) the Highlands National Millenium 
Trail; 
(L) the Great Swamp National Wildlife 
Refuge; 
(M) the proposed Crossroads of the Revo-
lution National Heritage Area; 
(N) the proposed Musconetcong National 
Scenic and Recreational River in New Jersey; 
and 
(O) the Farmington River Wild and Scenic 
Area in Connecticut. 
(10) It is in the interest of the United States 
to protect, conserve, and restore the resources of the 
Highlands region for the residents of, and visitors 
to, the Highlands region. 
(11) The States of Connecticut, New Jersey, 
New York, and Pennsylvania, and units of local gov-
ernment in the Highlands region have the primary 
responsibility for protecting, conserving, preserving,