Summary and Talking Points

The overall purpose of the Highland Stewardship Act is to promote conservation of critical natural resources and priority conservation lands as identified in the U.S. Forest Service’s update of the NY-NJ Highlands Regional Study and state open space plans. The bill would authorize $25 million annually over ten years from the federal Land & Water Conservation Fund for land conservation partnership projects, and $7 million a year over seven years for technical assistance to private landowners and local communities. An office of Highlands Stewardship in the US Forest Service and a multi-stakeholder advisory group would be established to coordinate these efforts.

Key Points:

• The Highlands region has been recognized as nationally significant by the USDA Forest Service in their 1992 and 2002 studies of the region.

• The Highlands region provides and protects the drinking water supplies for over 15 million residents of the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas.

• The Highlands region hosts more than 14 million recreational visits annually, more than Yellowstone and many of our national treasures in the West.

• The USDA Forest Service found that over 5,000 acres of land are being developed a year in the NY-NJ Highlands alone, threatening the quantity and quality of water supplies, and other critical resources in the Highlands.

• 77% (294,000 acres) of high-value watershed lands in the Highlands are unprotected. 100,000 acres of high-value lands are immediately threatened.

• State and local governments in the Highlands have made significant commitments to land protection but cannot meet the needs alone.

• The preservation of Sterling Forest in the NY Highlands provides a precedent and model for the land conservation partnership projects under this Act.

• This is a non-regulatory approach. Lands and interests in lands would be purchased by non-federal entities from willing sellers only.

Section 1. The Act is known as the Highlands Stewardship Act of 2002.

Section 2. Findings. The four-state Highlands region encompasses nearly 2 million acres of critical land and water resources of national significance in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut that forms a greenbelt adjacent to the Philadelphia-New York City-Hartford urban corridor. These resources, described in detail in the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Highlands Regional Study conducted in the early 1990’s, and the USFS New York-New Jersey Highlands Regional Assessment Update (USFS Update) in 2001-2002, include critical watersheds, wildlife habitat, recreation and other values that lie within two hours travel of 20 million Americans. Highlands watershed lands contain reservoirs and aquifers that provide and protect high quality drinking water for over 15 million Americans.

Section 3. Definitions. This includes definitions of "Highlands Stewardship Area" as designated under Section 5 and the Office of Highlands Stewardship established by the Secretary of Agriculture under Section 6.

Section 4. Purposes. The purposes of the Act are to recognize the national significance of the Highlands region, to authorize the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to provide financial and technical assistance for the protection of Highlands resources and to support the Highlands States and local units of government in planning and implementing conservation and education programs.

Section 5. Designation of Highlands Stewardship Area. After consulting with the Governors and other Highlands federal, state and local officials and on the basis of the USFS and other state studies, the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior are to designate the Highlands Stewardship Area ("Area") and prepare a map depicting this Area.

Section 6. Secretary of Agriculture Implementation of Study and Update. In consultation with other officials in the Dept. of Agriculture, the Secretary of Agriculture is to establish an Office of Highlands Stewardship. This Office shall implement the strategies of the USFS Study & Update in the Area in consultation with the Highlands States. The Secretary shall establish an advisory committee to be known as the Highlands Stewardship Area Work Group to assist the Office. The Work Group shall consist of representatives of various public and private interests in the Stewardship Area. The Secretary of Agriculture shall make appointments to the Work Group in consultation with the Governors of the Highlands States. The Office may provide assistance to farmers, regional and local governments, public and private entities and private landowners that seek to carry out projects to preserve and protect the natural, agricultural, cultural, historic, recreational and economic resources of the Area. Federal financial assistance may not exceed 50 percent of the cost of such projects. $7 million annually is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out this section for each of the fiscal years 2004 through 2010.

Section 7. Secretary of Interior Support for Projects and Activities in the Highlands Stewardship Area. Annually, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Governors and the Office, the Secretary of Interior is to designate land conservation partnership projects eligible to receive financial assistance. These projects are to preserve, conserve or protect the natural, forest, agricultural, recreational, historical and cultural resources of the Highlands Stewardship Area through acquisition of lands or interests in lands from a willing seller by a non-federal entity. Federal financial assistance may not exceed 50 percent of the cost of these land conservation partnership projects. Use of such financial assistance is to be consistent with the pertinent open space plans of the Highlands States and the USFS Study & Update. $25 million is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the Interior for each of the fiscal years 2004 through 2013. Appropriations available for Federal purposes under section 5 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act may be used as the source of such federal funds.