Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 108 Part 5.djvu/981

 PUBLIC LAW 103-433—OCT. 31, 1994 108 STAT. 4471 Public Law 103-433 103d Congress An Act To designate certain lands in the California Desert as wilderness, to establish the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, to establish the Mojave National Preserve, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. Sections 1 and 2, and titles I through IX of this Act may be cited as the "California Desert Protection Act of 1994". SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND POLICY. (a) The Congress finds and declares that— (1) the federally owned desert lands of southern California constitute a public wildland resource of extraordinary and inestimable value for this and future generations; (2) these desert wildlands display unique scenic, historical, archeological, environmental, ecological, wildlife, cultural, scientific, educational, and recreational values used and enjoyed by milUons of Americans for hiking and camping, scientific study and scenic appreciation; (3) the public land resources of the California desert now face and are increasingly threatened by adverse pressures which would impair, dilute, and destroy their public and natural values; (4) the California desert, embracing wilderness lands, units of the National Park System, other Federal lands. State parks and other State lands, and private lands, constitutes a cohesive unit posing unique and difficult resource protection and management challenges; (5) through designation of national monuments by Presidential proclamation, through enactment of general public land statutes (including section 601 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, 90 Stat. 2743, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and through interim administrative actions, the Federal Government has begun the process of appropriately providing for protection of the significant resources of the public lands in the California desert; and (6) statutory land unit designations are needed to afford the full protection which the resources and public land values of the California desert merit. (b) In order to secure for the Americsui people of this and future generations an enduring heritage of wilderness, national Oct. 31, 1994 [S. 21] Conservation. California Desert Protection Act of 1994. 16 USC 410aaa note. Short title. Supra. 16 USC 410aaa note.

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