The bill would create the Lone Star Coastal National Recreation Area for parts of Texas’s upper and middle Gulf Coast. It would support conservation, outdoor recreation, heritage tourism, and local economies. The area would be established once the Secretary of the Interior finds that enough land or land interests have been acquired to form a manageable unit. Participation by landowners and site managers would be voluntary, and the federal government could not use condemnation to acquire land. A partnership would help develop a management plan.
The area could include participating sites in Jefferson, Chambers, Galveston, Brazoria, and Matagorda Counties. Private and other non-federal land would not become federally owned or managed just because it participates. The bill protects existing private property use and state and local authority. It also provides for outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, off-road vehicle use, and personal watercraft use on certain federally owned or managed lands, subject to the bill’s conditions and applicable law.
The bill authorizes Congress to provide amounts deemed necessary for planning, technical help, education, signs, and other activities. It does not specify a total amount. For certain projects under cooperative agreements, the Secretary could provide up to 25 percent of project costs, subject to available funding. For specified federal funding, the bill requires at least three non-federal dollars for each federal dollar. Some expenditures must wait until the Secretary approves the management plan.
The bill states that the recreation area is intended to protect coastal nature and heritage, expand outdoor recreation and public access, and support local economies and rural communities.
No publicly available information.