(No. 314) (Approved December 31, 1998) AN ACT

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1 (S.B. 854) (No. 314) (Approved December 31, 1998) AN ACT To declare the public policy on wetlands in Puerto Rico; and to such ends, direct the designation of the land belonging to the Land Authority, including Tiburones Channel or Marsh, as a natural preserve. STATEMENT OF MOTIVES Wetlands are an essential part of the coastal ecosystems and their acceptance as a natural resource of a high ecological value is relatively recent. Wetlands are highly productive systems for the organisms that live in them. They are lands adapted to saturation, flooding or bogging. The most important characteristic of wetlands is their large volume of water. They are transitional areas between water and land systems that are frequently flooded or saturated by artesian and subterranean waters for a period of time that is sufficient to cause changes in the soil that enable the growth of certain types of vegetation specially adapted to thrive under these conditions. They also serve as flood controls; as a reduction of sediments and toxic substances; as habitats for certain species of flora and fauna; including endangered species; replenishing of aquifers, scenic sites, and others.

2 2 Until the middle of this century, it was common to identify them as areas with no value whatsoever, to the extent that incentives were offered to rescue these lands for various uses. The wetlands, bogs, marshes and mangrove swamps were known as habitats of vectors that propagated diseases. The only option perceived to reduce or control said diseases was to drain the mangrove swamps. Around the beginning of the sixties, this attitude towards the wetlands began to change; they were gradually recognized for their importance as vital areas for fish and wildlife habitats, flood control areas, buffer zones, pollution control systems, valuable passive recreation and educational areas, as well as tourist attractions. On March 4, 1994, Governor Pedro Rosselló initiated the drafting of a new public policy on wetlands by charging the Planning Board, the Environmental Quality Board, and the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources to draft a public policy for the protection, conservation and management of the wetlands of Puerto Rico. On March 30, 1994, the heads of these three agencies signed a commitment for the protection of wetlands and agreed to develop and implement a Commonwealth public policy for the protection, restoring and management of wetlands. The order expressly provided that the public policy on wetlands was to be in harmony with the Commonwealth public policy regarding the conservation, development and use of the natural resources established in the Constitution of Puerto Rico of 1952, the document on the Objectives and Public Policy of the Land Use Plan for Puerto Rico of the Planning Board, which states in Section 18, the need to protect our natural resources, as well as President Clinton s public policy for the protection of wetlands.

3 3 Pursuant to this communication dated March 30, 1994, it is necessary to approve new legislation to establish the public policy on this valuable natural resource, in harmony with the Hon. Pedro Rosselló s communication. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO: Section 1. Wetlands are an important natural resource in Puerto Rico of great ecological value, unmatched beauty and of a significant recreational, educational, scientific and economic worth. This resource has several functions, such as improving the quality of water and the environment, the replenishing of aquifers, or ground waters, provide food and habitats for wild life, propitiate the establishment of food chains, help to mitigate floods, produce oxygen, retain and stabilize the sediments from the highlands, so that they do not go into the sea, and provide scenic tourist attractions. The protection of our wetlands, swamps and marshes, is hereby established as the public policy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. To such ends, the preservation, conservation restoring and management of this valuable natural resource is promoted. Section 2. The Planning Board is hereby directed to declare the Tiburones Channel or Marsh as a natural preserve, subject to the other provisions established in this Act. Section 3. The Land Authority and the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources shall establish an agreement for the designation of wetlands and lands that are kept dry by pumping or dikes, or other drainage methods that belong to the Land Authority, including the Tiburones Channel or Marsh, as natural preserves. The Department of Natural and Environmental Resources shall identify and delimit the flooded areas or those that are flood prone, but that are not so through the actions of humans,

4 4 to be designated as natural preserves, pursuant to the definition in this Act, and shall submit it to the Planning Board for its corresponding designation within a term of not more than two (2) years. These natural preserves shall be administrated and managed by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and shall prepare a management plan for each of them. Section 4. This Act shall not be understood to limit the rights and powers of the Land Authority to carry out the purposes mentioned in the Puerto Rico Land Act, Act No. 26 of April 12, 1941, as amended, nor shall it be understood as a prohibition to perform the work needed to reclaim arid land through irrigation; or to carry out agricultural activities on lands that do not require the draining or destruction of these valuable natural systems. Section 5. For the effects of this Act, the term wetland shall mean a natural area saturated by surface or ground water, at an interval or duration sufficient to sustain, and under normal circumstances, does sustain or would sustain vegetation typically adapted to saturated, flooded, or marshy soil conditions, which includes areas such as swamps, marshes, coastal plains (salt flats and mud flats), open bodies of water, salt marshes or similar areas. Section 6. This Act shall take effect thirty (30) days after its approval.

5 5 March 1, 2001 Dynorah R. Requena-Gallego, Esq., Acting Director of the Office of Legislative Services of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, hereby certifies to the Secretary of State that she has duly compared the English and Spanish texts of Act No. 314 (S.B. 854) of the 4th Session of the 13th Legislature of Puerto Rico, entitled: AN ACT to declare the public policy on wetlands in Puerto Rico; and to such ends, direct the designation of the land belonging to the Land Authority, including Tiburones Channel or Marsh, as a natural preserve, and finds the same are complete, true and correct versions of each other. Dynorah R. Requena-Gallego