# Migratory Bird Conservation Commission A statutory commission created by the Migratory Bird Conservation Act and codified at **16 U.S.C. § 715a**, which approves the acquisition — and the disposal — of National Wildlife Refuge System land. It is structurally unusual and that is why it matters: it is a body in which **members of Congress sit and vote on individual land transactions**. Composition under § 715a: - the Secretary of the Interior, as chair - the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - the Secretary of Agriculture - **two Senators**, selected by the President of the Senate - **two Representatives**, selected by the Speaker - plus, ex officio and voting only on transactions in their own state, the head of that state's game agency (or the governor where no such agency exists) Its consequence for the federal land system is that the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]] is the only one of the four major land agencies whose acreage cannot leave federal ownership without the assent of four legislators — a stronger lock than the [[Bureau of Land Management]]'s, whose 2,500-acre congressional disapproval device is a legislative veto void under [[INS v. Chadha]]. ## See also - [[Federal Land Management Crosswalk]] - [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]] - [[Department of the Interior]]