Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1985

Summary

Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1985 - Title I: Revenues for Migratory Bird Conservation Fund - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to charge fees for admission permits to designated units of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Requires deposit of such fees into the migratory bird conservation fund. Authorizes the Secretary to sell, at designated units, Golden Eagle Passports. Directs the Secretary to treat the revenues accruing from such sales in the same manner as fees collected for admission permits. Describes the kinds of admission permits which may be purchased, including individual, group, and special free permits for the blind or disabled and those over age 62. Prohibits the Secretary from requiring an admission permit, or charging a fee, with respect to entry to any designated unit by any individual: (1) with a valid Golden Eagle Passport, Golden Age Passport, or any other lifetime admission permit issued under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965; (2) who has a valid duck stamp; (3) who is related to an individual described in clause (1) or (2); or (4) who has been issued a special free permit as described in the preceding sentence. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations necessary to carry out this paragraph. Requires the Secretary to submit annual reports to specified congressional committees. Increases the price of the migratory bird hunting and conservation stamp. Title II: Federal and State Wetlands Conservation - Directs the Secretary to establish, and periodically review and revise, a national wetlands priority conservation plan specifying, on a region-by-region or other appropriate basis, the types of wetlands to which priority should be given for wetlands acquisition and the implementation of preservation and enhancement projects. Prescribes formulae for the allocation and apportionment of appropriations among the States and the Secretary for wetlands acquisitions. Sets forth eligibility requirements and conditions relating to such apportionment. Declares that no property acquired or developed with assistance under this title shall, without the approval of the Secretary, be converted to other than wetland conservation uses. Directs the Secretary to approve such conversion only if he or she finds it to be in accord with the existing comprehensive wetlands conservation plan and only upon such conditions as he or she deems necessary to assure the substitution of other property of at least equal fair market value or a reasonably equivalent usefulness and location. States that no enhancement project or preservation project shall be approved unless the State holds an interest in perpetuity on the wetlands being conserved. Sets forth the treatment of unobligated funds. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations to carry out this title. Establishes the Wetlands Conservation Fund, consisting of amounts to be transferred annually from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for expenditures to carry out this title. Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to conform with this Act. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1985 through 1995. Title III: Wetlands Inventory and Trend Analysis and Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Secretary, acting through the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to continue the National Wetlands Inventory Project and to: (1) produce final National Wetlands Inventory maps for the entire United States (specifies dates at which different maps are to be completed); and (2) produce, by March 31, 1987, and at ten year intervals thereafter, reports to update and improve the information contained in the report dated September 1982 and entitled "Status and Trends of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitat in the Coterminous United States, 1950's to 1970's." Authorizes appropriations for the above maps and reports. Directs the Secretary, by March 31, 1987, to prepare and submit to specified committees a report regarding wetlands losses in the United States. Authorizes appropriations for such report. Amends the Wetlands Loan Act to repeal the requirement that after expiration of an advance of appropriations to the migratory bird conservation fund, repayment must be made each year in the amount of three-quarters of the annual Duck Stamp receipts until the debt is paid off. Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to allow the use of Fund monies to acquire migratory waterfowl areas even if acquisition of such areas is also authorized by the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929.

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1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 21 February 1985

  Open at official source

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