(a) Objectives

Subject to valid existing rights, the Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area designated by this subchapter shall be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with the findings and purpose of this subchapter and the laws, rules, and regulations applicable to the national forests in a manner compatible with the following objectives:

(1) the continuation of existing primitive and semiprimitive recreational use in a natural environment;

(2) utilization of natural resources shall be permitted only if consistent with the findings and purposes in this subchapter;

(3) preservation and protection of forest and aquatic habitat for fish and wildlife; and

(4) protection and conservation of special areas having uncommon or outstanding wilderness, biological, geological, recreational, cultural, historical or archeological, and scientific, or other values contributing to the public benefit.

(b) Mineral leasing laws

Terms Used In 16 USC 460nn-3

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, federally-owned lands within the Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area as designated by this subchapter are hereby withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the mineral leasing laws, including all laws pertaining to geothermal leasing, and all amendments thereto.

(c) Hunting, fishing, and trapping

The Secretary shall permit hunting, fishing, and trapping on lands and waters under the Secretary’s jurisdiction within the boundaries of the national recreation area designated by this subchapter in accordance with applicable laws of the United States and the State of Vermont.

(d) Comprehensive management plan

Within eighteen months after June 19, 1984, the Secretary shall develop and submit to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture of the United States House of Representatives and to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the United States Senate a comprehensive management plan for the national recreation area designated by this subchapter.

(e) Public participation in development of management plan

In conducting the reviews and preparing the comprehensive management plan required by subsection (d), the Secretary shall provide for full public participation, shall consider the views of all interested agencies, organizations, and individuals, and shall particularly emphasize the values enumerated in section 460nn(a)(4) of this title.