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Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act established a National Wild and Scenic Rivers System for the protection of rivers with important scenic, recreational, fish and wildlife, and other values.  Rivers are divided into three categories: wild, scenic, or recreational.  The Act directs specific rivers for inclusion in the System and prescribes the methods and standards by which additional rivers shall be added.

The purpose of the Act is to institute a national wild and scenic rivers system by designating the initial components of that system and by prescribing the methods and standards applicable to adding components to the system[i].

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System consists of rivers that Congress authorizes for inclusion or that are designated as wild, scenic, or recreational rivers by the legislatures of the states through which they flow.  Rivers designated by a state should be administered permanently as wild, scenic, or recreational rivers by an agency or political subdivision of the state concerned, determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements of the Act and approved by the Secretary for inclusion in the System.

For including a wild, scenic, or recreational river area in the System, it should be a free-flowing stream and the related adjacent land area should have scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values.  Wild river areas are rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted.  Recreational river areas, which are rivers or sections of rivers readily accessible by road or railroad, shall have some shoreline development and shall also have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past[ii].

The Act designates over 130 rivers, with adjacent land, as components of the System. Administration of these rivers is assigned either to the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture.  For those rivers designated after January 1, 1986, the federal agency charged with administration has to prepare within three years a comprehensive management plan for each river segment to protect the river values.  For rivers designated before January 1, 1986, all boundaries, classifications, and plans should be reviewed for conformity with the Act within ten years through regular agency planning processes[iii].

Pursuant to the Act, the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture where national forest lands are involved, or the two Secretaries jointly, have to study and submit to the President reports on the suitability for additions to the System of rivers which are designated by the Congress as potential additions.  The President shall thereafter make recommendations and proposals to Congress[iv].

The Act designates over 130 rivers for potential additions to the System and provides deadlines for when studies for specific rivers have to be completed.  Federal agencies should give consideration to potential national wild, scenic, and recreational river areas in planning for use and development of water and related land resources.  All river basin and project plan reports that are submitted to Congress should include a discussion of System potential additions[v].

The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture are authorized to acquire lands and interests in land within the boundaries of System components they administer, but they shall not acquire fee title to an average of more than 100 acres per mile on both sides of the river, with special provisions for Alaska.

The U.S. departments or agencies shall not assist by loan, grant, license or otherwise in the construction of a water resources project that would have a direct and adverse effect on the values for which a river is designated as an actual or potential System component.  This does not preclude licensing or assistance to developments below or above an actual or potential wild, scenic, or recreational river area.

All public lands within the authorized boundaries of System components or areas designated as potential additions to the System are withdrawn from entry, sale, or other disposition under U.S. public land laws[vi].  Each System component should be administered to protect and enhance the values which caused it to be included in the System and primary emphasis should be given to protecting its aesthetic, scenic, historic, archaeologic, and scientific features.

The Secretary of the Interior shall lease federally owned land which is within the boundaries of a System component and which has been acquired by the Secretary under the Act.  Leases are subject to restrictive covenants as necessary in carrying out the purposes of the Act.

Pursuant to the Act, the Secretary of the Interior is required to assist states in considering opportunities for establishing wild, scenic, and recreational areas when formulating and carrying out comprehensive outdoor recreation plans and proposals for financing submitted according to the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965.  The Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture or the heads of other federal agencies should assist in protecting and managing river resources.  For such purposes, the federal government shall make federal facilities available to volunteers[vii].

This Act does not affect the jurisdiction or responsibilities of states regarding fish and wildlife.  Hunting and fishing should be allowed under applicable state and federal laws and regulations on lands and waters administered as parts of the System, unless, in the case of hunting, those lands are within a national park or monument.  The Act does not alter interstate compacts that contain a portion of the System[viii].

[i] 16 USCS § 1272.

[ii] 16 USCS § 1273.

[iii] 16 USCS § 1274.

[iv] 16 USCS § 1275.

[v] 16 USCS § 1276.

[vi] 16 USCS § 1279.

[vii] 16 USCS § 1282.

[viii] 16 USCS § 1284.


Inside Wild and Scenic Rivers Act