(a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall acquire land by purchase, gift or devise for the purposes set forth in section 23-74. The title to any land acquired pursuant to sections 23-73 to 23-79, inclusive, shall be vested in the state. In determining whether sites shall be acquired, the department shall consider whether the site is: (1) Identified as having high priority recreation, forestry, fishery, wildlife or conservation value and as being consistent with the state comprehensive plan for outdoor recreation and the state plan of conservation and development; (2) a prime natural feature of the Connecticut landscape, such as a major river, its tributaries and watershed, mountainous territory, an inland or coastal wetland, a significant littoral or estuarine or aquatic site or any other important geologic feature; (3) habitat for native plant or animal species listed as threatened or endangered or of special concern in the data base or pursuant to the program established under section 26-305, particularly areas identified as essential habitat for such species; (4) a relatively undisturbed outstanding example of a native ecological community which is now uncommon; or (5) threatened with conversion to incompatible uses or contains sacred sites or archaeological sites of state or national importance. In acquiring a site that has been identified as having a high priority recreation value, the department shall give priority to sites near population centers.

(b) No site shall be acquired which has not been evaluated by the department, through the data base, to determine if threatened or endangered species or species of special concern inhabit or use the site or to determine if the site is of special ecologic quality or has other outstanding natural values as a community of living things.

(c) No site which is to be acquired with the assistance of a municipal cooperator shall be acquired unless the department and such cooperator enter into a written agreement which specifies the recreational activities which will not be allowed on such site. Such agreement may be modified at any time by mutual consent of the municipal cooperator and the department.

(P.A. 86-406, S. 3, 15; P.A. 87-448, S. 1, 6; P.A. 89-224, S. 14, 22; 89-368, S. 14; P.A. 91-378, S. 7; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 87-448 amended Subsecs. (a) and (b) to authorize the commissioner to consider species of special concern in decisions on acquisition and amended Subsec. (a) to require that priority be given to acquisition of sites near population centers; P.A. 89-224 added reference to the program established under Sec. 26-305 in Subsec. (a)(3); P.A. 89-368 Subsec. (a)(5) to make the presence of a sacred or archaeological site a factor that may be considered by the commissioner in acquisition of a site; P.A. 91-378 added a new Subsec. (c) concerning certain agreements between the department and municipal cooperators; (Revisor's note: In 1999 a reference to Sec. 23-80 was changed editorially by the Revisors to Sec. 23-79, since Sec. 23-80 was repealed by P.A. 98-157); pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011.