ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 3
(By Senators Anderson and Dittmar)
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[Introduced January 14, 1998;
referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article five, chapter
twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the state parks
and recreation section of the division of natural resources;
and requiring the state parks and recreation areas to be
managed in a businesslike manner.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article five, chapter twenty of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PARKS AND RECREATION.
§20-5-3. Section of parks and recreation; purpose; powers and
duties generally.
The purposes of the section of parks and recreation shall:
be (1) Manage the state parks in a businesslike manner so as to
continuously strive to maximize the net income or to minimize the
net loss of each state park and recreation area; (2) provide
documentation of such management through the preparation of land
management plans and business plans for all lands within the
jurisdiction and supervision of the section of parks and
recreation; (3) to promote conservation by preserving and
protecting natural areas of unique or exceptional scenic,
scientific, cultural, archaeological or historic significance;
and (4) provide outdoor recreational opportunities for the
citizens of this state and its visitors. It shall be is the duty
of the section of parks and recreation to have within its
jurisdiction and supervision:
(a) All state parks and recreation areas, including all
lodges, cabins, swimming pools, motorboating and all other
recreational facilities therein in the state parks and recreation
areas, except the roads heretofore previously transferred
pursuant to section one, article four, chapter seventeen of this
code to the state road system and to the responsibility of the
commissioner of highways with respect to the construction,
reconstruction and maintenance of the roads or any future roads
for public usage on publicly owned lands for future state parks,
state forests and public hunting and fishing areas;
(b) The authority and responsibility to do the necessary
cutting and planting of vegetation along road rights-of-way in
state parks and recreational areas;
(c) The administration of all laws and regulations rules
relating to the establishment, development, protection, use and
enjoyment of all state parks and state recreational facilities
consistent with the provisions of this article;
(d) The continued operation and maintenance of the Berkeley
Springs historical state park, in Morgan County, as a state
recreational facility, designated the Berkeley Springs sanitarium
under prior enactment of this code;
(e) The continued operation and maintenance of that portion
of Washington Carver camp in Fayette County formerly incorporated
within the boundaries of Babcock state park;
(f) The continued operation and maintenance of Camp Creek
state park as a state recreational facility, formerly delineated
according to section three, article one-a, chapter nineteen of
this code;
(g) The continued operation and maintenance of Moncove Lake
state park as a state recreational facility, formerly delineated
pursuant to the enactment of section thirteen, article one,
chapter five-b of this code in the year one thousand nine hundred
ninety;
(h) The continued protection, operation and maintenance of approximately seventy-five miles of right-of-way along the former
Greenbrier subdivision of the Chessie railroad system between
Caldwell in Greenbrier County and Cass in Pocahontas County,
designated the Greenbrier river trail, including the protection
of the trail from motorized vehicular traffic and operation of
the trail for the protection of adjacent public and private
property; and
(i) The continued protection, operation and maintenance of
approximately sixty and fifty-seven one-hundredths miles of
right-of-way of the CSX railway system between Walker in Wood
County and Wilsonburg in Harrison County, designated the North
Bend rail trail, including the protection of the trail from
motorized vehicular traffic and operation of the trail for the
protection of adjacent public and private property.