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90_HJ0012ham001
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1 AMENDMENT TO HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 12
2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend House Joint Resolution 12 on
3 page 1, line 5, by changing "; and" to "and create the
4 Calumet Ecological Park; and"; and
5 on page 1, line 7, by changing "area" to "areas"; and
6 on page 1, line 19, by changing "therefore, be it" to the
7 following:
8 "and
9 WHEREAS, In 1992 the Lake Calumet Study Committee offered
10 the concept of a Calumet Ecological Park, a series of
11 greenway corridors connecting the Indiana Dunes National
12 Lakeshore with the Illinois and Michigan Canal National
13 Heritage Corridor in Illinois; and in 1993 the Calumet
14 Ecological Park Association was created to involve citizens
15 and organizations in an effort to create such an entity; and
16 WHEREAS, On May 8, 1996 the Honorable Jerry Weller,
17 United States Representative from Illinois (11th District)
18 introduced the concept into the U.S. House of Representatives
19 requesting the Secretary of the Interior to study such a
20 possibility; and after a tortuous journey through committees
21 and subcommittees the final version was incorporated in a
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1 much larger bill, which passed both houses of Congress and,
2 on November 12, 1996 President Bill Clinton signed the
3 Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 into
4 law (Public Law 104-333); and
5 WHEREAS, The Omnibus Parks law has two sections dealing
6 with Illinois riverways: the Calumet Ecological Park
7 (Section 816) and the Illinois and Michigan Canal National
8 Heritage Corridor (Section 902); and both request the
9 Secretary of the Interior to be the final authority; and
10 WHEREAS, The Secretary shall conduct a study of the
11 possibility of the creation of the Calumet Ecological Park,
12 and the law directs the Illinois and Michigan Canal National
13 Heritage Corridor Commission (appointed by the Illinois
14 Governor) to conduct a study of the possibility of expanding
15 the Corridor into Chicago and report to the Secretary; and
16 WHEREAS, Although the two sections of the law dealing
17 with Illinois are quite compatible, the success of one of
18 the provisions does not necessarily lead to the success of
19 the other; and even if the Illinois and Michigan Canal
20 Corridor expansion were to be implemented, there is no
21 guarantee that the Calumet Ecological Park would be created;
22 and
23 WHEREAS, As a result the efforts to create the Park must
24 be continued; at the present time staff of the National Park
25 Service will be conducting the study of the Calumet
26 Ecological Park to be submitted to the Secretary of the
27 Interior; therefore, be it".
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