THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Chicago, Illinois)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release April 8, 1998
EXECUTIVE ORDER 13080
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AMERICAN HERITAGE RIVERS INITIATIVE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, including the Federal Advisory Committee
Act, 5 U.S.C. App., as amended, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Establishment. There is hereby established the
American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee ("Committee").
The Committee shall consist of up to 20 members appointed by the
President from the public and private sectors. Each member of the
Committee shall be a person who, as a result of his or her training,
experience, and attainments, is well qualified to appraise the quality
of nominations for selection of rivers as American Heritage Rivers
submitted by communities across the country. The expertise of members
of the Committee shall be in areas such as natural, cultural, and
historic resources; water quality; public health; scenic and recreation
interests; tourism and economic development interests; industry; and
agriculture. The President shall designate a Chair from among the
members of the Committee.
Sec. 2. (a) The Committee shall review nominations from
communities and recommend to the President up to 20 rivers for
consideration for designation as American Heritage Rivers. From the
rivers recommended for consideration, the President shall designate ten
as American Heritage Rivers.
(b) In its review of nominations submitted by communities, the
Committee shall provide its assessment of:
(1) The scope of each nomination's application and the adequacy
of its design to achieve the community's goals;
(2) Whether the natural, economic (including
agricultural), scenic, historic, cultural, and/or
recreational resources featured in the application are
distinctive or unique;
(3) The extent to which the community's plan of action
is clearly defined and the extent to which the plan
addresses all three American Heritage Rivers objectives --
natural resource and environmental protection, economic
revitalization, and historic and cultural preservation --
either through planned actions or past accomplishments, as
well as any other characteristics of the proposals that
distinguish a nomination, such as:
(A) Community vision and partnership;
(B) Sustainability of products and projects,
including project maintenance;
(C) Resources, both committed and anticipated,
including means of generating additional support from
both private and public sources;
(D) Anticipated Federal role as defined by the
applicants;
(E) Schedule or timeline;
(F) Citizen involvement;
(G) Public education relating to the designation
of the river;
(H) Logistical support, operating procedures, and
policies;
(I) Prior accomplishments, if relevant, and
relationship to existing plans and projects in the
area; and
(J) Measures of performance.
(4) The strength and diversity of support for the
nomination and plan of action as evidenced by letters from
local and State governments, Indian tribes, elected
officials, any and all parties who participate in the life
and health of the area to be nominated, or who have an
interest in the economic life and cultural and
environmental vigor of the involved community.
(c) The Committee also should seek to recommend the selection of
rivers that as a group:
(1) Represent the natural, historic, cultural, social,
economic, and agricultural diversity of American rivers;
(2) Showcase a variety of stream sizes and an assortment of
urban, rural, and mixed settings from around the country,
including both relatively pristine and degraded rivers;
(3) Highlight a variety of innovative programs in such areas as
historic preservation, sustainable development through
tourism, wildlife management, fisheries restoration,
recreation, community revitalization, agricultural
practices, and flood plain and watershed management;
(4) Include community efforts in early stages of development as
well as those that are more well established; and
(5) Stand to benefit from targeted Federal assistance.
(d) The Committee shall report its recommendations for selection
of rivers as American Heritage Rivers to the President through the
Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.
Sec. 3. Administration. (a) The heads of executive departments
and agencies shall provide the Committee, to the extent practicable and
permitted by law, such information with respect to river revitalization
as the Committee requires to fulfill its functions.
(b) The Committee shall be supported both administratively and
financially by the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Assistant
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
Sec. 4. General. The Committee shall terminate no later than 2
years from the date of this order. The Chair of the Committee, with
the approval of the designated Federal officer, shall call meetings of
the American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 7, 1998.
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