Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

• Description: Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
• State: CO
• Date: 8/29/2007
• Title: Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Legislation

Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
Page 30 of 50
subsequent amendments to such boundaries, shall be available for public inspection in the offices of the
administering agency in the District of Columbia and in locations convenient to the designated river.
Review requirements for early designations and management plans.
(d)(1) For rivers designated on or after January 1, 1986, the Federal agency charged with the
administration of each component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System shall prepare a
comprehensive management plan for such river segment to provide for the protection of the river values.
The plan shall address resource protection, development of lands and facilities, user capacities, and other
management practices necessary or desirable to achieve the purposes of this Act. The plan shall be
coordinated with and may be incorporated into resource management planning for affected adjacent
Federal lands. The plan shall be prepared, after consultation with State and local governments and the
interested public within 3 full fiscal years after the date of designation. Notice of the completion and
availability of such plans shall be published in the Federal Register.
(2) For rivers designated before January 1, 1986, all boundaries, classifications, and plans shall be
reviewed for conformity within the requirements of this subsection within 10 years through regular
agency planning processes.
Requirements for study reports.
SECTION 4. (a) The Secretary of the Interior or, where national forest lands are involved, the
Secretary of Agriculture or, in appropriate cases, the two Secretaries jointly shall study and submit to the
President reports on the suitability or nonsuitability for addition to the national wild and scenic rivers
system of rivers which are designated herein or hereafter by the Congress as potential additions to such
system. The President shall report to the Congress his recommendations and proposals with respect to
the designation of each such river or section thereof under this Act. Such studies shall be completed and
such reports shall be made to the Congress with respect to all rivers named in subparagraphs 5(a) (1)
through (27) of this Act no later than October 2, 1978. In conducting these studies the Secretary of the
Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall give priority to those rivers (i) with respect to which there
is the greatest likelihood of developments which, if undertaken, would render the rivers unsuitable for
inclusion in the national wild and scenic rivers system, and (ii) which possess the greatest proportion of
private lands within their areas. Every such study and plan shall be coordinated with any water resources
planning involving the same river which is being conducted pursuant to the Water Resources Planning
Act (79 Stat. 244; 42 U.S.C. 1962 et seq.). Each report, including maps and illustrations, shall show
among other things the area included within the report; the characteristics which do or do not make the
area a worthy addition to the system; the current status of land ownership and use in the area; the
reasonably foreseeable potential uses of the land and water which would be enhanced, foreclosed, or
curtailed if the area were included in the national wild and scenic rivers system; the Federal agency
(which in the case of a river which is wholly or substantially within a national forest, shall be the
Department of Agriculture) by which it is proposed the area, should it be added to the system, be
administered; the extent to which it is proposed that such administration, including the costs thereof, be
shared by State and local agencies; and the estimated cost to the United States of acquiring necessary
lands and interests in land and of administering the area, should it be added to the system. Each such
report shall be printed as a Senate or House document.
(b) Before submitting any such report to the President and the Congress, copies of the proposed
report shall, unless it was prepared jointly by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture, be submitted by the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Agriculture or by the
Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior, as the case may be, and to the Secretary of the
Army, the Secretary of Energy, the head of any other affected Federal department or agency and, unless
the lands proposed to be included in the area are already owned by the United States or have already
been authorized for acquisition by Act of Congress, the Governor of the State or States in which they are
http: / /www.biologicaldiversity.org /swcbd/ Programs /watersheds /wildlwsract.html 8/29/2007