Senate Bill No. 492
(By Senators White and Laird)
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[Introduced February 5, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §20-5-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to transferring operation of Big
Ditch Lake from the Division of Natural Resources Wildlife
Resources Section to the Parks and Recreation Section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-5-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PARKS AND RECREATION.
N.
§20-5-3. Section of parks and recreation; purpose; powers and
duties generally.
The purposes of the section of parks and recreation shall be
to promote conservation by preserving and protecting natural areas
of unique or exceptional scenic, scientific, cultural,
archaeological or historic significance and to provide outdoor recreational opportunities for the citizens of this state and its
visitors. It shall be 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, except the roads heretofore
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 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 enactment of section thirteen, article one, chapter
five-b of this code in the year 1990;
(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 for the
protection of adjacent public and private property;
(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 for the protection of adjacent public and
private property;
and
(j) The continued development, operation and maintenance of
Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park, including all the
property, powers and authority previously held by the Blennerhassett
Island Historical State Park Commission formerly delineated pursuant
to article eight, chapter twenty-nine of this
code;
and
(k) The continued development, operation and maintenance of Big
Ditch Lake as a state recreational facility formerly operated by the
Wildlife Resources Section under the provisions of this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to transfer operation of Big
Ditch Lake from the DNR's Wildlife Resources Section to the Parks
and Recreation Section.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.