I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 642
To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate the portion of the
Myakka River lying within Sarasota County, Florida as a component
of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Mr. S
TEUBE(for himself and Mr. BUCHANAN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate
the portion of the Myakka River lying within Sarasota
County, Florida as a component of the National Wild
and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Myakka Wild and Sce-4
nic River Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
The Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) Public Law 95–625 amended section 5 of 1
the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1276) to 2
require the study of the Myakka River for potential 3
inclusion in the national wild and scenic rivers sys-4
tem. 5
(2) The study determined the Myakka River, 6
was eligible for inclusion in the National Wild and 7
Scenic Rivers System. 8
(3) The State of Florida has demonstrated its 9
commitment to protecting this river by the enact-10
ment of the Myakka River Wild and Scenic Designa-11
tion and Protection Act (Florida Statute Chapter 12
258.501). 13
(4) The Florida county of Sarasota and the cit-14
ies of Venice and North Port have demonstrated 15
their commitment to protect this river in their com-16
prehensive land use plans, local ordinances, and land 17
development regulations. 18
(5) The desire for designation of this river as 19
a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers 20
System has been demonstrated through strong pub-21
lic support, State and local agency support, and the 22
endorsement of designation by the Myakka River 23
Management Coordinating Council, which represents 24
a broad cross section of State and local agencies, ag-25
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ricultural interests, landowners, environmental, and 1
nonprofit organizations. 2
(6) A 12-mile segment of the Myakka River is 3
within the Myakka River State Park with an addi-4
tional 22-mile segment containing conservation lands 5
held in public ownership or conservation easements 6
within the Myakka River Watershed. 7
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF MYAKKA RIVER, FLORIDA, AS A 8
COMPONENT OF THE NATIONAL WILD AND 9
SCENIC RIVERS SYSTEM. 10
(a) Section 3(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act 11
(16 U.S.C. 1274(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 12
following new paragraph: 13
‘‘(lll) M
YAKKA RIVER, FLORIDA.—The 34- 14
mile segments, within Sarasota County referred to in 15
this paragraph, to be administered by the Secretary 16
of the Interior, in partnership with the Myakka 17
River Management Coordinating Council.’’. 18
(b) I
NGENERAL.—The following segments of the 19
Myakka River, within Sarasota County, to be administered 20
in the following classifications: 21
‘‘(A) The approximately 8.0-mile segment 22
from the Manatee County/Sarasota County line 23
to S.R. 72, as a scenic river. 24
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‘‘(B) The approximately 11.2-mile seg-1
ment, from S.R. 72 to Laurel Road, as a wild 2
river. 3
‘‘(C) The approximately 1.9-mile segment, 4
from Laurel Road to Border Road, as a scenic 5
river. 6
‘‘(D) The approximately 1.5-mile segment, 7
from Border Road to just south of the I-75 8
Bridge, as a recreational river. 9
‘‘(E) The approximately 1.5-mile segment, 10
from south of the I-75 Bridge to Snook Haven, 11
as a scenic river. 12
‘‘(F) The approximately 3.2-mile segment, 13
from Snook Haven to Ramblers Rest, as a wild 14
river. 15
‘‘(G) The approximately 2.7-mile segment, 16
from Ramblers Rest to U.S. 41, as a scenic 17
river. 18
‘‘(H) The approximately 4.0-mile segment, 19
from U.S. 41 to the Charlotte County Line, as 20
a scenic river.’’. 21
SEC. 4. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO MYAKKA 22
RIVER. 23
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section and section 5: 24
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(1) MYAKKA RIVER.—The term ‘‘Myakka 1
River’’ means the segments of the Myakka River in 2
the State of Florida designated as components of the 3
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System by para-4
graph (l) of section 3(a) of the Wild and Scenic 5
Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)), as added by this 6
Act. 7
(2) C
OUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Council’’ means the 8
Myakka River Management Coordinating Council es-9
tablished pursuant to Florida Statute Chapter 10
258.501. 11
(3) C
OMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN .— 12
The terms ‘‘comprehensive management plan’’ and 13
‘‘plan’’ mean the Myakka River Wild and Scenic 14
Management Plan developed by the Council shall be 15
considered to satisfy the requirements for the com-16
prehensive management plan under section 3(d) of 17
the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(d)). 18
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 19
the Secretary of the Interior. 20
(b) C
OOPERATIVEAGREEMENTS.— 21
(1) U
SE AUTHORIZED.—In order to provide for 22
the long-term protection, preservation, and enhance-23
ment of the Myakka River, the Secretary shall co-24
ordinate administration responsibilities under this 25
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section, and may enter into cooperative agreements 1
pursuant to sections 10(e) and 11(b)(1) of the Wild 2
and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1281(e), 3
1282(b)(1)) with the State of Florida Department of 4
Environmental Protection, Division of Recreation 5
and Parks, appropriate local political jurisdictions of 6
the State, the county of Sarasota, City of North 7
Port, City of Venice and appropriate local planning 8
and non-profit organizations. 9
(2) E
FFECT OF AGREEMENT .—Administration 10
of the Myakka River by the Secretary of the Interior 11
through the use of cooperative agreements shall 12
not— 13
(A) constitute National Park Service ad-14
ministration of the Myakka River for purposes 15
of section 10(c) of such Act ( U.S.C. 1281(c)); 16
or 17
(B) cause the Myakka River to be consid-18
ered a unit of the National Park System. 19
(3) P
UBLICLY OWNED LANDS .—Nothing in this 20
Act or an agreement under this Act shall affect the 21
management of publicly or privately owned lands 22
within the boundaries of the Myakka River water-23
shed by the agencies having jurisdiction over the 24
lands, in accordance with the statutory authority of 25
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Florida Statute 258.501 and the mission of such 1
agencies. 2
(4) T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND OTHER SUP -3
PORT.—The Secretary may provide technical assist-4
ance, staff support, and funding to assist in the up-5
dating and implementation of the comprehensive 6
management plan. 7
(5) A
CQUISITION OF LAND .—the authority of 8
the Secretary to acquire land for the Myakka River 9
segments shall be limited to acquisition by donation 10
or acquisition with the consent of the owner thereof. 11
(6) N
O CONDEMNATION .—No land or interest 12
in land may be acquired for the Myakka River seg-13
ments by condemnation. 14
SEC. 5. MYAKKA RIVER MANAGEMENT COUNCIL. 15
(a) E
XISTINGSTRUCTURE.—the Secretary shall co-16
ordinate the management responsibilities of the Secretary 17
with the Council in the updating and implementation of 18
the comprehensive management plan for the Myakka 19
River. 20
(b) R
EPRESENTATIVE FROMDOI.—The Secretary 21
shall select a representative who shall be added to the 22
Council to represent the National Park Service. 23
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(c) ADDITIONALMEMBERS.—Other interested par-1
ties may be added to the Council, in accordance with the 2
statutory authority under Florida Statute 258.501. 3
(d) C
OORDINATIONWITHCOUNCIL.—The Secretary 4
shall coordinate the management responsibilities with the 5
Council in the updating and implementation of the Man-6
agement plan for the Myakka River, to assist the Sec-7
retary in carrying out the management responsibilities of 8
the Secretary under this Act. 9
Æ
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