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Week Ending September 15, 2006

 

H.R.5094 To require the conveyance of Mattamuskeet Lodge and surrounding property, including the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, to the State of North Carolina to permit the State to use the property as a public facility dedicated to the conservation of the natural and cultural resources of North Carolina.

 

Established in 1934, the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina provides wintering habitat for Canadian and snow geese, tundra swans and 22 species of ducks and is home to bald eagles, peregrine falcons, bobcats, black bears and hundreds of species of birds. The property is 50,000 acres of upland, marsh, timber and water in and around Lake Mattamuskeet the bill explains.

 

A lodge was built on the property in 1925 costing $205,000 and included pumps to drain the lake so to use the land for farming. The plan did not succeed, however, and the pumps were removed when the government bought the property. The lodge was a local community area and a hunting lodge for decades but fell into disrepair and was closed in 2000. $3.5 million was secured to restore the lodge but the funds went elsewhere in the Fish and Wildlife Service spending priorities.

 

This bill would convey for free to North Carolina title to 6.25 acres within the Refuge including the lodge. North Carolina must restore and maintain the lodge and utilize the property as a public facility dedicated to the States natural and cultural resources and handle any environmental remediation that comes up. Should North Carolina not use the property as agreed title reverts back to the federal government.

 

 

Sponsor: Rep. Walter B Jones, Jr. (R-NC-3rd)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote September 12, 2006

Cost to the taxpayers: CBO estimates that completing the conveyance would have no significant effect on the Federal budget. Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues.

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