Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73
§1221 Congressional declaration of policy
Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 26— - ESTUARINE AREAS › § 1221
Summary
Protect and restore U.S. estuaries while balancing national conservation goals with the need for development. Estuaries are full of natural resources, have commercial value, and are beautiful, so they matter to people now and in the future. The policy also says states must play a key role in protecting, conserving, and restoring their estuaries, and those state responsibilities should be respected.
Full Legal Text
Title 16, §1221
Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Congress finds and declares that many estuaries in the United States are rich in a variety of natural, commercial, and other resources, including environmental natural beauty, and are of immediate and potential value to the present and future generations of Americans. It is therefore the purpose of this chapter to provide a means for considering the need to protect, conserve, and restore these estuaries in a manner that adequately and reasonably maintains a balance between the national need for such protection in the interest of conserving the natural resources and natural beauty of the Nation and the need to develop these estuaries to further the growth and development of the Nation. In connection with the exercise of jurisdiction over the estuaries of the Nation and in consequence of the benefits resulting to the public, it is declared to be the policy of Congress to recognize, preserve, and protect the responsibilities of the States in protecting, conserving, and restoring the estuaries in the United States.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 1221
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73