69–006 

1https://www.nps.gov/fosc/learn/historyculture/pif.htm 

2 Ibid. 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 115–207 

TO AUTHORIZE THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO ACQUIRE CERTAIN 

PROPERTY RELATED TO THE FORT SCOTT NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE IN 

FORT SCOTT, KANSAS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 

JULY 11, 2017.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 

the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. BISHOP of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 1541] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 1541) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 

certain property related to the Fort Scott National Historic Site in 

Fort Scott, Kansas, and for other purposes, having considered the 

same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 1541 is to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire certain property related to the Fort Scott National 

Historic Site in Fort Scott, Kansas. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Established in 1842, Fort Scott initially served in a line of forts 

created to establish a ‘‘Permanent Indian Frontier.’’ 1 After an influx of white settlements forced several tribes to relocate west of 

the Mississippi, the government guaranteed certain lands to tribes 

as off-limits to white settlement. The Army created a line of forts 

stretching from Minnesota to Louisiana to maintain peace between 

the newly relocated tribes and the white settlers in Missouri and 

Arkansas, as well as prevent conflicts between the tribes themselves.2 In the 1850s, a variety of factors including the Gold Rush 

resulted in the continued Western expansion, and a desire to estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:16 Jul 13, 2017 Jkt 069006 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR207.XXX HR207

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3 Ibid. 

4Schofield, Arnold W. ‘‘Battlefield Dispatches No. 345: Lunettes and Fortifications.’’ 11/30/12 

http://www.fstribune.com/story/1918152.html 5https://www.nps.gov/fosc/learn/historyculture/index.htm 

lish a transcontinental railroad caused the concept of the Permanent Indian Frontier to fall apart. The Army closed Fort Scott.3

During the Civil War, the Union Army returned to Fort Scott 

and erected four blockhouses, including Lunette Blair, to protect 

the Southern portion of the town from Confederate invasion.4 Fort 

Scott served as a strategic point to protect Kansas from Confederate control as well as ‘‘a major supply depot for Union armies in 

the West, a general hospital for soldiers in the region and a haven 

for people fleeing the war—displaced Indians, escaped slaves, and 

white farmers.’’ 5 Following the Civil War, the Army auctioned off 

the Lunette Blair blockhouse to a private citizen who used the site 

as a carpentry shop for 40 years. Despite relocating six times and 

various transfers in ownership over the next 150 years, Lunette 

Blair remains the only intact blockhouse from the Civil War in Fort 

Scott today. 

H.R. 1541 removes a statutory prohibition preventing the Secretary of the Interior from acquiring the Lunette Blair blockhouse 

and includes the structure in the boundary of the Fort Scott National Historic Site (NHS). Congress initially deemed the Lunette 

Blair blockhouse anachronistic and excluded the structure from the 

boundaries of Fort Scott NHS. The National Park Service (NPS) 

now wants to add the blockhouse to expand the interpretation of 

Fort Scott and demonstrate its different roles throughout American 

history. The current private citizens maintaining the blockhouse 

asked NPS to acquire the structure due to their aging and challenges raising the necessary funds for renovations. Both the City 

of Fort Scott and the Historic Preservation Association, the owners 

of the property, support NPS acquiring the site. NPS believes the 

16-square foot site requires very little repair and that its maintenance can fit within the existing park budget. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 1541 was introduced on March 15, 2017, by Congresswoman 

Lynn Jenkins (R–KS). The bill was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 

on Federal Lands. On June 22, 2017, the Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee was discharged 

by unanimous consent. No amendments were offered, and the bill 

was ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by 

unanimous consent on June 27, 2017. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII 

of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

Natural Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report. 


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COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET

ACT

1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act. With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of rule XIII of 

the Rules of the House of Representatives and sections 308(a) and 

402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has 

received the following estimate for the bill from the Director of the 

Congressional Budget Office: 

U.S. CONGRESS, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, Washington, DC, July 10, 2017. 

Hon. ROB BISHOP, Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, 

House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1541, a bill to authorize 

the Secretary of the Interior to acquire certain property related to 

the Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, Kansas, and for 

other purposes. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO Staff contact is Janani Shankaran. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL. 

Enclosure. 

H.R. 1541—A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire certain property related to the Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, Kansas, and for other purposes 

H.R. 1541 would authorize the National Park Service (NPS) to 

acquire, by donation only, the Civil War-era structure known as 

the ‘‘Lunette Blair’’ blockhouse and to incorporate the structure 

into the Fort Scott National Historic Site in Bourbon County, Kansas. The bill also would modify the boundary of the site to include 

this property. 

Based on analysis of information provided by the NPS, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1541 would have no significant effect on the federal budget. Under the legislation, the blockhouse 

could only be acquired through donation. CBO estimates that costs 

to operate and maintain the new property over the next five years 

would be less than $500,000 because the NPS does not anticipate 

the need for significant additional resources to manage the property once it is acquired. 

Enacting H.R. 1541 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates 

that enacting H.R. 1541 would not increase net direct spending or 

on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028. 

H.R. 1541 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would 

impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

On April 7, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 189, the 

Fort Scott National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and National 

Resources on March 30, 2017. S. 189 would authorize the NPS to 


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acquire 4 acres of private land and facilities adjacent to the blockhouse historic site using appropriated funds or through a land exchange. CBO’s estimated cost for S. 189 is greater than for H.R. 

1541 because of that difference. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Janani Shankaran. 

The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 

clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or objective 

of this bill is to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 

certain property related to the Fort Scott National Historic Site in 

Fort Scott, Kansas. 

EARMARK STATEMENT

This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined under clause 9(e), 

9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4 

This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 

COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5 

Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any directed 

rule makings. 

Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not establish or 

reauthorize a program of the federal government known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was not included in 

any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 

pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111–139 or identified in the 

most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program Information Act (Public Law 95–220, 

as amended by Public Law 98–169) as relating to other programs. 

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, 

as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, 

and existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in 

roman): 

PUBLIC LAW 95–484 

AN ACT An Act to authorize establishment of the Fort Scott National Historic Site, 

Kansas, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in order to 

commemorate the significant role played by Fort Scott in the opening of the West, as well as the Civil War and the strife in the State 


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of Kansas that preceded it, the Secretary of the Interior may acquire by donation only the land and interests in land, together with 

buildings and improvements thereon, known as Fort Scott, located 

in the city of Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kansasø: Provided, that 

the buildings so acquired shall not include the structure known as 

‘‘Lunette Blair’’¿. SEC. 2. (a) When the site of Fort Scott has been acquired by the 

United States as provided in section 1 of this Act, the Secretary of 

the Interior shall establish such area as the Fort Scott National 

Historic Site, by publication of notice and boundary map thereof in 

the Federal Register. 

(b) The boundary of the Fort Scott National Historic Site established under subsection (a) is modified as generally depicted on the 

map referred to as ‘‘Fort Scott National Historic Site Proposed 

Boundary Modification’’, numbered 471/80,057C, and dated February 2017. 

* * * * * * * 

Æ 


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