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Moccasin Bend Bill Passes House
By Toye E. Heape
(Nashville -10-24-2001) Legislation that would create a National Park at Moccasin Bend in Chattanooga unanimously passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday.
The bill excludes the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute from the park boundaries until "the facility is no longer used to provide health care services" but does allow the state to donate "any such State-owned land or interests in land that the State determines is excess to the needs of the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute." It also allows the Department of the Interior to "work with the State through a cost sharing arrangement for the purpose of demolishing the structures located on that land" that the Department of the Interior determines should be demolished.
The Moccasin Bend Golf Course and the property containing the WDEF transmitting towers are also excluded from the park boundaries until those locations are no longer used for their current purposes.
The bill requires the Department of the Interior to develop a general management plan for the site within three years after funding is made available. The plan will "describe the appropriate protection and preservation of natural, cultural, and scenic resources, visitor use, and facility development within the historic area consistent with the purposes of this Act, while ensuring continued access to private landowners to their property."
It is expected that Tennessee's senators will sponsor a similar measure in the U.S. Senate.
Moccasin Bend Bill
Proceedings In The House of Representatives 10-23-2001
(Includes the text of HR 980)
