CRS-129 



Commerce, Interior, and Transportation, to assure that, if possible, permit 

 decisions can be reached within 90 days. 



Following disposition of the section 404 issues in the 1977 Clean Water 

 Act Amendments, Congress passed two other wetland-related bills in the second 

 session of the 95th Congress. First, in October 1978, Congress enacted amend- 

 ments to 1934 Hunting Stamp Act (popularly known as the "Duck Stamp Act"). 

 Now known as the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act, it re- 

 quires persons 16 years old or older who hunt migratory waterfowl to purchase 

 "duck stamps." Receipts from the program help support Federal acquisition 

 of migratory bird refuge lands and waterfowl production areas from private 

 landowners. The 1978 amendments, P.L. 95-552, included provisions to raise 

 the price of the stamp from $5 to $7.50 In order to raise additional monies 

 for new acquisitions. 181 / 



Seventy-five percent of the receipts from "duck stamps" are to be used for 

 wetland acquisition under the Wetlands Loan Act of 1961, as amended in 1976. 

 (Beginning October 1, 1983, the "duck stamp" receipts are to be returned to the 

 Federal Treasury to repay expenditures made under the Wetlands Loan Act since 

 1961. Wetland acquisition also is supported by purchases with appropriated 

 general revenues authorized by this same statute.) Thus, the "duck stamp" pro- 

 gram constitutes one of the two major, but closely related tools for obtaining 

 and protecting wetland areas which are prime migratory bird habitats. 



As in several other enactments during the 1970s, Congress noted the decline 

 in annual acquisition of migratory bird habitat (from 159,000 acres in 1970 to 

 75,000 acres in 1977) and identified increased land costs as the prime reason 



181 / The original price of a "duck stamp" in 1934 was $1. 



