IB
Union Calendar No. 210
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2140
[Report No. 106–369]
To improve protection and management of the Chattahoochee River National
Recreation Area in the State of Georgia.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 10, 1999
Mr. DEAL of Georgia (for himself, Mr. COLLINS, and Mr. LEWIS of Georgia)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Re-
sources
OCTOBER 7, 1999
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 10, 1999]
A BILL
To improve protection and management of the Chattahoochee
River National Recreation Area in the State of Georgia.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) the Chattahoochee River National Recreation
Area in the State of Georgia is a nationally signifi-
cant resource;
(2) the Chattahoochee River National Recreation
Area has been adversely affected by land use changes
occurring inside and outside the recreation area;
(3) the population of the metropolitan Atlanta
area continues to expand northward, leaving dwin-
dling opportunities to protect the scenic, recreational,
natural, and historical values of the 2,000-foot-wide
corridor adjacent to each bank of the Chattahoochee
River and its impoundments in the 48-mile segment
known as the ‘‘area of national concern’’;
(4) the State of Georgia has enacted the Metro-
politan River Protection Act to ensure protection of
the corridor located within 2,000 feet of each bank of
the Chattahoochee River, or the corridor located with-
in the 100-year floodplain, whichever is larger;
(5) the corridor located within the 100-year
floodplain includes the area of national concern;
(6) since establishment of the Chattahoochee
River National Recreation Area, visitor use of the
recreation area has shifted dramatically from water-
borne to water-related and land-based activities;
(7) the State of Georgia and political subdivi-
sions of the State along the Chattahoochee River have
indicated willingness to join in a cooperative effort
with the United States to link existing units of the
recreation area through a series of linear corridors to
be established within the area of national concern and
elsewhere on the river; and
(8) if Congress appropriates funds in support of
the cooperative effort described in paragraph (7),
funding from the State, political subdivisions of the
State, private foundations, corporate entities, private
individuals, and other sources will be available to
fund more than half the estimated cost of the coopera-
tive effort.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to increase the level of protection of the open
spaces within the area of national concern along the
Chattahoochee River and to enhance visitor enjoyment
of the open spaces by adding land-based linear cor-
ridors to link existing units of the recreation area;
(2) to ensure that the Chattahoochee River Na-
tional Recreation Area is managed to standardize ac-
quisition, planning, design, construction, and oper-
ation of the linear corridors; and
(3) to authorize the appropriation of Federal
funds to cover a portion of the costs of the Federal,
State, local, and private cooperative effort to add ad-
ditional areas to the recreation area so as to establish
a series of linear corridors linking existing units of
the recreation area and to protect other open spaces
of the Chattahoochee River corridor.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER NA-
TIONAL RECREATION AREA ACT.
(a) BOUNDARIES.—Section 101 of the Act entitled ‘‘An
Act to authorize the establishment of the Chattahoochee
River National Recreation Area in the State of Georgia,
and for other purposes’’, approved August 15, 1978 (16
U.S.C. 460ii), is amended—
(1) in the third sentence, by inserting after
‘‘numbered CHAT–20,003, and dated September
1984,’’ the following: ‘‘and on the maps entitled
‘Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area In-
terim Boundary Map #1’, ‘Chattahoochee River Na-
tional Recreation Area Interim Boundary Map #2’,
and ‘Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
Interim Boundary Map #3’, and dated August 6,
1998,’’;
(2) by striking the fourth sentence and inserting
the following: ‘‘No sooner than 180 days after the date