Eastern Wilderness Act of 1998

Summary: Eastern Wilderness Act of 1998 - Directs the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to:  (1) study and inventory all Federal lands of 500 acres or more which are east of the 100th meridian and which may qualify as wilderness; (2) review those areas identified as having wilderness characteristics; and (3) report to the President their recommendation as to the suitability of each area for preservation as wilderness.  Requires the President to advise the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of his recommendations with respect to such areas. Provides for the management of such areas before and after designation as wilderness, requiring such areas to be devoted to recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use and prohibiting commercial enterprise and permanent roads within such areas (with specified exceptions, including the continuation of uses established before the designation). Authorizes continued access for private landowners whose land is surrounded by wilderness area. 
Authorizes the appropriate Secretary to:  (1) acquire State or privately owned land to establish a wilderness area if the owner consents and the acquisition is specifically authorized by the Congress; and (2) accept gifts or bequests of land within wilderness areas. 
Requires, at the beginning of each congressional session, a joint report from the Secretaries to the President on the status of the wilderness system.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Eastern Wilderness Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF AREAS IN WILDERNESS SYSTEM.

    (a) Purpose and Intent.--In order to assure that an increasing 
population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing 
mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United 
States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for 
preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is necessary 
to increase and expand the existing wilderness areas in the eastern 
United States. These wilderness areas shall be administered for the use 
and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them 
unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so as to 
provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their 
wilderness character, and for the gathering and dissemination of 
information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness. As the 
bulk of wilderness lands exist in the western United States, the 
purpose and intent of this Act is to provide the means to designate 
additional qualifying lands as wilderness in the eastern United States.
    (b) Management.--The inclusion of an area of Federal lands in the 
National Wilderness Preservation System pursuant to this Act 
notwithstanding, the area shall continue to be managed by the 
department or agency having administrative jurisdiction thereover 
immediately before its inclusion in the National Wilderness 
Preservation System unless otherwise provided by Act of Congress. If 
the area was previously private or State land, the area shall be 
managed by the department or agency with the largest presence in the 
area.
    (c) Wilderness.--For purposes of this Act, a wilderness, in 
contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the 
landscape, is recognized as an area where the earth and its community 
of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does 
not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined as an area of 
undeveloped Federal, State, or private land retaining its primeval 
character and influence, without permanent improvements or human 
habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its 
natural conditions and which--
            (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by 
        the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work 
        substantially unnoticeable;
            (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a 
        primitive and unconfined type of recreation;
            (3) is east of the 100th meridian and has at least 500 
        acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable 
        its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition;
            (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other 
        features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical 
        value; and
            (5) if significantly trammeled by man, could otherwise 
        qualify as wilderness through natural reclamation.
For the purposes of this Act, the term ``natural reclamation'' means a 
process whereby, with minimal assistance or interference from man, land 
may in time, through the natural physical and biological processes of 
ecological succession, be restored to a state where man's imprint is 
substantially unnoticeable.
    (d) Scope of Act and Relationship to Other Law.--This Act shall 
apply only to lands east of the 100th meridian and nothing in this Act 
shall apply to any lands designated as components of the national 
wilderness preservation system before the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. STUDY.

    The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior are 
hereby directed to study and inventory all Federal lands of 500 acres 
or greater which are east of the 100th meridian and which qualify as 
wilderness according to the definition of wilderness in section 2(c) 
above.

SEC. 4. REVIEW.

    (a) Study.--Within 10 years after the date of approval of this Act, 
the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior shall 
review those areas identified as having wilderness characteristics 
during the inventory required in section 3 and shall from time to time 
report to the President their recommendation as to the suitability or 
nonsuitability of each such area for preservation as wilderness.
    (b) Procedure.--
            (1) The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 
        Interior shall, prior to submitting any recommendations to the 
        President with respect to the suitability of any area for 
        preservation as wilderness--
                    (A) give such public notice of the proposed action 
                as they deem appropriate, including publication in the 
                Federal Register and in a newspaper having general 
                circulation in the area or areas in the vicinity of the 
                affected land;
                    (B) hold a public hearing or hearings at a location 
                or locations convenient to the area affected. The 
                hearings shall be announced through such means as the 
                respective Secretaries involved deem appropriate, 
                including notices in the Federal Register and in 
                newspapers of general circulation in the area: 
                Provided, That if the lands involved are located in 
                more than one State, at least one hearing shall be held 
                in each State in which a portion of the land lies; and
                    (C) at least 30 days before the date of a hearing, 
                advise the Governor of each State and the governing 
                board of each county in which the lands are located, 
                and Federal departments and agencies concerned, and 
                invite such officials and Federal agencies to submit 
                their views on the proposed action at the hearing or by 
                no later than 30 days following the date of the 
                hearing.
            (2) Any views submitted to the appropriate Secretary under 
        the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection with respect 
        to any area shall be included with any recommendations to the 
        President and to Congress with respect to such area.
    (c) Recommendation.--The President shall advise the President of 
the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of his 
recommendations with respect to designation as wilderness of each such 
area, together with a map thereof and a definition of its boundaries. 
Such advice by the President shall be given within 2 years of the 
receipt of each report from the Secretaries. A recommendation of the 
President for designation as wilderness shall become effective only if 
so provided by an Act of Congress.
    (d) Management of Study Areas.--During the period of review of such 
areas and until Congress has determined otherwise, the appropriate 
Secretary shall continue to manage such public lands under his 
authority under this Act and other applicable law in a manner so as not 
to impair the suitability of such areas for preservation as wilderness: 
Provided, That, in managing the public lands the Secretary shall by 
regulation or otherwise take any action required to prevent unnecessary 
or undue degradation of the lands and their resources or to afford 
environmental protection. Such lands shall continue to be subject to 
such appropriation during the period of review unless withdrawn by the 
Secretary under the procedures of section 204 of the Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act of 1976 for reasons other than preservation 
of their wilderness character. Once an area has been designated for 
preservation as wilderness under this Act, the provisions of this Act 
shall apply with respect to the administration and use of such 
designated area.

SEC. 5. MANAGEMENT OF WILDERNESS AREAS.

    (a) In General.--Except as otherwise provided in this Act, each 
agency administering any area designated as wilderness under this Act 
shall be responsible for preserving the wilderness character of the 
area and shall so administer such area for such other purposes for 
which it may have been established as also to preserve its wilderness 
character. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, wilderness areas 
shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, 
scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.
    (b) Commercial Enterprises, Roads, Structures, Etc.--Except as 
specifically provided for in this Act, and subject to existing private 
rights, there shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road 
within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as 
necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the 
area for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in 
emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the 
area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, 
motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other 
form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within 
such area.
    (c) Special Provisions.--The following special provisions are 
hereby made:
            (1) Within wilderness areas designated by this Act, the use 
        of aircraft or motorboats, where these uses have already become 
        established, may be permitted to continue subject to such 
restrictions as the appropriate Secretary deems desirable. In addition, 
such measures may be taken as may be necessary in the control of fire, 
insects, and diseases, subject to such conditions as the Secretary 
deems desirable.
            (2) Nothing in this Act shall prevent, within wilderness 
        areas designated by this Act, any activity, including 
        prospecting, for the purpose of gathering information about 
        mineral or other resources, if such activity is carried on in a 
        manner compatible with the preservation of the wilderness 
        environment. Furthermore, in accordance with such program as 
        the Secretary of the Interior shall develop and conduct in 
        consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, such areas 
        shall be surveyed on a planned, recurring basis consistent with 
        the concept of wilderness preservation by the Geological Survey 
        to determine the mineral values, if any, that may be present; 
        and the results of such surveys shall be made available to the 
        public and submitted to the President and Congress.
            (3) Within wilderness areas designated by this Act--
                    (A) the President may, within a specific area and 
                in accordance with such regulations as he may deem 
                desirable, authorize prospecting for water resources, 
                the establishment and maintenance of reservoirs, water 
                conservation works, power projects, transmission lines, 
                and other facilities needed in the public interest, 
                including the road construction and maintenance 
                essential to development and use thereof, upon his 
                determination that such use or uses in the specific 
                area will better serve the interest of the United 
                States and the people thereof than will its denial; and
                    (B) the grazing of livestock, where established 
                prior to the effective date of this Act, shall be 
                permitted to continue subject to such reasonable 
                regulations as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of 
                Agriculture.
            (4) Commercial services may be performed within the 
        wilderness areas designated by this Act to the extent necessary 
        for activities which are proper for realizing the recreational 
        or other wilderness purposes of the areas.
            (5) Nothing in this Act shall constitute an express or 
        implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government 
        as to exemption from State water laws.
            (6) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the 
        jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with 
        respect to wildlife and fish on public lands.

SEC. 6. PRIVATE PROPERTY.

    (a) Private Property.--In any case where State owned or privately 
owned land is completely surrounded by public lands within areas 
designated by this Act as wilderness, such State or private owner shall 
be given such rights as may be necessary to assure adequate access to 
such State owned or privately owned land by such State or private owner 
and their successors in interest, or the State owned or privately owned 
land shall be exchanged for federally owned land in the same State of 
approximately equal value under authorities available to the 
appropriate Secretary: Provided, however, That the United States shall 
not transfer to a State or private owner any mineral interests unless 
the State or private owner relinquishes or causes to be relinquished to 
the United States the mineral interest in the surrounded land.
    (b) Access to Valid Occupancies.--In any case where valid mining 
claims or other valid occupancies are wholly within a designated 
wilderness area, the appropriate Secretary shall, by reasonable 
regulations consistent with the preservation of the area as wilderness, 
permit ingress and egress to such surrounded areas by means which have 
been or are being customarily enjoyed with respect to other such areas 
similarly situated.
    (c) Acquisition.--Subject to the appropriation of funds by 
Congress, the appropriate Secretary is authorized to acquire State 
owned or privately owned land in order to establish the wilderness area 
or lands within the boundaries of any area designated by this Act as 
wilderness if--
            (1) the owner consents to such acquisition; and
            (2) the acquisition is specifically authorized by Congress.
    (d) Compensation.--Any private or State land taken by an Act of 
Congress pursuant to this Act will constitute a ``taking'' under the 
fifth amendment and the owner of the land shall be compensated at fair 
market value.

SEC. 7. ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS.

    (a) Land.--The appropriate Secretary may accept gifts or bequests 
of land within wilderness areas designated by this Act for preservation 
as wilderness. The Secretary may also accept gifts or bequests of land 
adjacent to wilderness areas designated by the Act for preservation as 
wilderness if he has given 60 days advance notice thereof to the 
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives. Land accepted by the Secretary under this section 
shall become part of the wilderness area involved. Regulations with 
regard to any such land may be in accordance with such agreements, 
consistent with the policy of this Act, as are made at the time of such 
gift, or such conditions, consistent with such policy, as may be 
included in, and accepted with, such bequest.
    (b) Private Contributions.--The Secretary of Agriculture or the 
Secretary of the Interior is authorized to accept private contributions 
and gifts to be used to further the purposes of this Act.

SEC. 8. REPORT.

    At the opening of each session of Congress, the Secretaries of 
Agriculture and the Interior shall jointly report to the President for 
transmission to Congress on the status of the wilderness system, 
including a list and descriptions of the areas in the system, 
regulations in effect, and other pertinent information, together with 
any recommendations they may care to make.