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National Wild and Scenic River is a designation for certain protected area
Protected area

Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their environmental, cultural or similar value. The term protected area includes marine protected area, which refers to protected areas whose boundaries include some area of ocean....
s in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was an outgrowth of the recommendations of a Presidential commission, the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC). Among other things, the commission recommended that the nation protect wild rivers and scenic rivers from development that would substantially change their wild or scenic nature.






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National Wild and Scenic River is a designation for certain protected area
Protected area

Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their environmental, cultural or similar value. The term protected area includes marine protected area, which refers to protected areas whose boundaries include some area of ocean....
s in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was an outgrowth of the recommendations of a Presidential commission, the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC). Among other things, the commission recommended that the nation protect wild rivers and scenic rivers from development that would substantially change their wild or scenic nature. The act was sponsored by Sen. Frank Church
Frank Church

Frank Forrester Church III was a United States Senate from Idaho, serving four terms from 1957 to 1981. Church was a member of the Idaho Democratic Party....
 (D-Idaho
Idaho

The State of Idaho is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and Capital is Boise, Idaho....
) and signed into law by President
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
 Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States ....
 on October 2, 1968. A river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
 or river section may be designated by the U.S. Congress or the Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior

The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Interior Ministry as used in other countries....
. , a total of 156 rivers have wild and scenic status.

Selected rivers in the United States are preserved for possessing outstandingly, remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values. Rivers, or sections of rivers, so designated are preserved in their free-flowing condition and are not dammed or otherwise impeded.

Designation as a wild and scenic river is not the same as designation as a national park
National park

A national park is a reserve of land, usually declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution....
, and does not generally does not confer the same level of protection as a Wilderness Area designation. Instead of enacting mandatory conservation measures, the goal is often to preserve the character of a river.

National Wild and Scenic rivers are each managed by one or more agencies of the federal or state government. Of the 156 National Wild and Scenic Rivers, 38 are managed under the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately 264 million acres or one-eighth of the landmass of the country....
's National Landscape Conservation System
National Landscape Conservation System

The National Landscape Conservation System is a collection of the lands considered to be the ?crown jewels? of the American west. These lands represent 10% of the managed by the Bureau of Land Management ....
.

See also

  • List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers
    List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers

    This is a list of the designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers in the United States. Some rivers may be listed more than once if they have designated sections in different states....


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