§715a — Title 16 Conservation | U.S. Code

Summary

Creates a seven-member Migratory Bird Conservation Commission to review and approve places of land or water that the Secretary of the Interior recommends buying or renting for bird conservation. The Secretary of the Interior is the chair. The group also includes the EPA Administrator, the Secretary of Agriculture, two Senators chosen by the President of the Senate, and two Representatives chosen by the Speaker. The commission sets the price and must approve any purchase or rental before it happens. A Representative who is reelected may keep serving even if a Congress ends. Any vacancy is filled the same way as the first appointment. For questions about land in a State, the State’s chief game officer or, if there is none, the governor (or their representative) joins the commission for that State. “Purchase or rental” also covers buying or renting any interest in the land or water.

Title 16, §715a

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

A commission to be known as the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, consisting of the Secretary of the Interior, as chairman, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Agriculture and two Members of the Senate, to be selected by the President of the Senate, and two Members of the House of Representatives to be selected by the Speaker, is created and authorized to consider and pass upon any area of land, water, or land and water that may be recommended by the Secretary of the Interior for purchase or rental under this subchapter, and to fix the price or prices at which such area may be purchased or rented; and no purchase or rental shall be made of any such area until it has been duly approved for purchase or rental by said commission. Any Member of the House of Representatives who is a member of the commission, if reelected to the succeeding Congress, may serve on the commission notwithstanding the expiration of a Congress. Any vacancy on the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment. The ranking officer of the branch or department of a State to which is committed the administration of its game laws, or his authorized representative, and in a State having no such branch or department, the governor thereof, or his authorized representative, shall be a member ex officio of said commission for the purpose of considering and voting on all questions relating to the acquisition, under this subchapter, of areas in his State. For purposes of this subchapter, the purchase or rental of any area of land, water, or land and water includes the purchase or rental of any interest in any such area of land, water, or land and water.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1989—Pub. L. 101–233 substituted “Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency” for “Secretary of Transportation”. 1976—Pub. L. 94–215 inserted provision including in the purchase or rental of any area of land, water, or land and water the purchase or rental of any interest in any such area of land, water, or land and water. 1968—Pub. L. 90–261 substituted the Secretary of Transportation for the Secretary of Commerce in the membership of the Commission.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

Reorg. Plan No. II of 1939, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, transferred functions of Secretary of Agriculture relating to conservation of wildlife, game, and migratory birds to Secretary of the Interior, and provided that Secretary of the Interior should be chairman of Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and that Secretary of Agriculture should be a member thereof.

§715a Migratory Bird Conservation Commission; creation; composition; duties; approval of areas of land and water recommended for purchase or rental