16 U.S.C. § 460cc–2 — Administration

(a) Provisions applicable; conservation and management of wildlife and natural resources; Jamaica Bay Unit The Secretary must run the recreation area following the Act of August 25, 1916 (the law creating the National Park Service), as later changed and added to. The Secretary may use any legal authority available for managing wildlife and natural resources that helps carry out this subchapter's purposes. But in the Jamaica Bay Unit, the Secretary's main goal must be conserving the islands' and waters' natural resources, fish, and wildlife — and no development or use that conflicts with that goal is allowed. (b) William Fitts Ryan Visitor Center; designation (1) The Secretary must name the main visitor center the "William Fitts Ryan Visitor Center," honoring Representative Ryan's role in creating the recreation area. The Secretary must provide signs, markers, maps, interpretive materials, literature, and programs to tell the public about Ryan's contributions. By December 31, 1980, the Secretary had to take further steps to recognize and commemorate him. (2) The part of the Staten Island Unit known as Miller Field is renamed "World War Veterans Park at Miller Field." Any reference to "Miller Field" in any U.S. law, regulation, map, document, or record now means "World War Veterans Park at Miller Field." (c) Federal-State cooperative agreements for police and fire protection The Secretary may make cooperative agreements with New York and New Jersey, or their political subdivisions, for rescue, firefighting, and law enforcement help from nearby agencies. The recreation area pays back the cost of these services. (d) Water resource developments The Secretary of the Army can build water resource projects — like shore erosion control, beach protection, and navigation improvements, including deepening the shipping channel from the Atlantic Ocean into New York Harbor — on land or water in the recreation area. This must follow plans that both the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army agree on, and that fit both this subchapter's purpose and existing water and land development laws. (e) Airway facilities The Secretary of Transportation can maintain, operate, and install airway facilities in the recreation area. This must follow plans that both the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Transportation agree on, and that fit both this subchapter's purpose and existing airway facility laws. But nothing here allows expanding airport runways into Jamaica Bay or expanding air facilities at Floyd Bennett Field. (f) Hunting, fishing, and trapping The Secretary must allow hunting, fishing, shellfishing, trapping, and specimen collecting on the land and water under Park Service jurisdiction in Gateway, following applicable U.S. law and the laws of New York, New Jersey, and their political subdivisions. But the Secretary may set zones and time periods where these activities are not allowed, for public safety, administration, fish or wildlife management, or public enjoyment. (g) Sandy Hook and Staten Island Units; historic sites In the Sandy Hook and Staten Island Units, the Secretary must list and evaluate every site or structure with historical, cultural, or architectural significance, and set up appropriate programs to preserve, restore, interpret, and use them. (h) Donations for services and facilities Despite any other law, the Secretary may accept donated funds from individuals, foundations, or corporations, to pay for services and facilities the Secretary considers consistent with this subchapter's purposes. (i) Fountain Avenue Landfill methane rights Despite subsection (a), the United States gives New York City all rights to the methane gas and other byproducts made by solid waste decomposing at the Fountain Avenue Landfill site, in the Jamaica Bay Unit. In exchange, the city must pay the United States 50 percent of any revenue it earns from developing those rights. The Secretary must give the city (or its lessee or assignee) whatever rights-of-way and Interior Department permits are needed to extract and transport the gas. Those rights-of-way and permits must require the site to be reasonably restored afterward — including removing any processing or storage equipment used — must let the Secretary access the site for safety and other recreation-area purposes, and may include other conditions the Secretary considers necessary. All payments the United States receives go to the National Park Service's budget for developing and improving Gateway National Recreation Area. (j) Authority to grant easements and rights-of-way The statute contains two separate provisions both labeled "(j)": - One provision lets the Secretary grant a state or local government an easement or right-of-way over federal land within Gateway National Recreation Area, for building, running, and maintaining flood-control and shoreline-erosion projects. The Secretary may grant this at no charge for the value of the right itself, but may charge to recover the government's costs of processing the application and managing the right. Any money collected goes to the relevant government account. - The other provision does the same thing for Golden Gate National Recreation Area: the Secretary may grant a state or local government an easement or right-of-way permit over federal land there, for running and maintaining flood-control and shoreline-erosion projects and related structures that keep public access open. Again, it is free except for reimbursing the government's processing and management costs, credited to the relevant account.