§1273 National wild and scenic rivers system

Summary

Creates a national list of rivers that are protected as wild, scenic, or recreational. Rivers can join this system if Congress approves them, or if a State’s legislature names them and the State asks the Secretary of the Interior to add them. The Secretary must find they meet the chapter’s standards (and any extra rules the Secretary sets) and then approve them. The law specifically allows the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in Maine, a segment of the Wolf River in Langlade County, Wisconsin, and the New River segment in North Carolina from Dog Creek downstream about 26.5 miles to the Virginia line to be included when the Governor applies. When a State applies, the Secretary must tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and announce the request in the Federal Register. If a State runs a designated river, the State must pay the costs except the United States still pays to manage any federal land there; amounts given under chapter 2003 of title 54 or other laws are not counted as a U.S. expense. Federal lands inside a river’s boundaries do not transfer to the State. A river area eligible for the system is a naturally flowing stream plus nearby land that has one or more values listed in section 1271. Any river that flows naturally now, or could be restored to natural flow, may qualify. There are three types: Wild — flowing with no dams, mostly unreachable except by trail, and with primitive shorelines and clean water; Scenic — flowing with no dams, shorelines mostly natural but reachable in places by road; Recreational — easy to reach by road or rail, may have shoreline development, and may have had dams or diversions in the past.