33 U.S.C. § 2

FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

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“(a)Findings.—Congress finds that—“(1) Long Island Sound is a national treasure of great cultural, environmental, and ecological importance;“(2) 8,000,000 people live within the Long Island Sound watershed and 28,000,000 people (approximately 10 percent of the population of the United States) live within 50 miles of Long Island Sound;“(3) activities that depend on the environmental health of Long Island Sound contribute more than $5,000,000,000 each year to the regional economy;“(4) the portion of the shoreline of Long Island Sound that is accessible to the general public (estimated at less than 20 percent of the total shoreline) is not adequate to serve the needs of the people living in the area;“(5) existing shoreline facilities are in many cases overburdened and underfunded;“(6) large parcels of open space already in public ownership are strained by the effort to balance the demand for recreation with the needs of sensitive natural resources;“(7) approximately 1/3 of the tidal marshes of Long Island Sound have been filled, and much of the remaining marshes have been ditched, diked, or impounded, reducing the ecological value of the marshes; and“(8) much of the remaining exemplary natural landscape is vulnerable to further development.“(b)Purpose.—The purpose of this Act is to establish the Long Island Sound Stewardship Initiative to identify, protect, and enhance upland sites within the Long Island Sound ecosystem with significant ecological, educational, open space, public access, or recreational value through a bi-State network of sites best exemplifying these values.