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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release September 29, 1996

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I am pleased that the House voted last night to approve legislation that would improve our management of the national parks and other Federal lands. The bill represents a victory for all Americans who treasure, and want to preserve, our natural resources.

This bill includes my top priorities for parks legislation. That is, it includes provisions to improve the management of the Presidio in San Francisco, help acquire the Sterling Forest in the New York/New Jersey Highlands Region, and establish the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas.

At the same time, the bill deletes almost all of the provisions of the earlier conference agreement that the Administration had found objectionable. These provisions include those that would have adversely affected the Shenandoah National Park and Richmond Battlefield National Park in Virginia, the Sequoia National Park in California, the Tongass National Forest, and other national parks and federal lands.

To be sure, this is not a perfect bill. I continue to have concerns about certain provisions. But on the whole, it represents a vast, and good-faith, improvement over the earlier conference agreement. Again, I applaud the House for approving this legislation last night, and I hope the Senate will do the same before it adjourns for the year.

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