II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4693 

To amend the National Trails System Act to include national discovery 

trails and designate the American Discovery Trail, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2022 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. YOUNG, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the National Trails System Act to include national 

discovery trails and designate the American Discovery 

Trail, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Discovery 

5 Trails Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAILS.—Section 3(a) of 

8 the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1242(a)) is 

9 amended by inserting after paragraph (4) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(5) National discovery trails, established under 

2 section 5, which— 

3 ‘‘(A) shall be extended, continuous, inter4 state trails so located as to provide for out5 standing outdoor recreation and travel and to 

6 connect representative examples of America’s 

7 trails and communities; 

8 ‘‘(B) should provide for the conservation 

9 and enjoyment of significant natural, cultural, 

10 and historic resources associated with each trail 

11 and should be so located as to represent metro12 politan, urban, rural, and back country regions 

13 of the Nation; 

14 ‘‘(C) may be designated on Federal lands 

15 and, with the consent of the owner thereof, on 

16 any non-Federal lands; and 

17 ‘‘(D) shall not be construed to modify, en18 large, or diminish any authority of the Federal, 

19 State, or local governments to regulate any use 

20 of land as provided for by law or regulation.’’. 

21 (b) DESIGNATION OF THE AMERICAN DISCOVERY

22 TRAIL AS A NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL.—Section 5(a) 

23 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended by adding 

24 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(ll) The American Discovery Trail, a trail 

2 of approximately 6,000 miles extending from Cape 

3 Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes 

4 National Seashore in California, extending westward 

5 through Delaware, Maryland, the District of Colum6 bia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, where near 

7 Cincinnati it splits into two routes. The Northern 

8 Midwest route traverses Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 

9 Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado, and the Southern 

10 Midwest route traverses Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 

11 Kansas, and Colorado. After the two routes rejoin in 

12 Denver, Colorado, the route continues through Colo13 rado, Utah, Nevada, and California. The trail is gen14 erally described in Volume 2 of the National Park 

15 Service feasibility study dated June 1995 which 

16 shall be on file and available for public inspection in 

17 the office of the Director of the National Park Serv18 ice, Department of the Interior, the District of Co19 lumbia. The American Discovery Trail shall be ad20 ministered by the Secretary of the Interior in co21 operation with at least one competent trailwide vol22 unteer-based organization and other affected Federal 

23 land managing agencies, and State and local govern24 ments, as appropriate. No lands or interests outside 

25 the exterior boundaries of federally administered 


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1 areas may be acquired by the Federal Government 

2 solely for the American Discovery Trail. The provi3 sions of sections 7(e), 7(f), and 7(g) shall not apply 

4 to the American Discovery Trail.’’. 

5 (c) COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL

6 PLAN.—Section 7 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1246) is amend7 ed by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(l)(1) For purposes of subsection (5)(b), a trail shall 

9 not be considered feasible and desirable for designation 

10 as a national discovery trail unless it meets all of the fol11 lowing criteria: 

12 ‘‘(A) The trail must link one or more areas 

13 within the boundaries of a metropolitan area (as 

14 those boundaries are determined under section 

15 134(c) of title 23, United States Code). It should 

16 also join with other trails, connecting the National 

17 Trails System to significant recreation and resources 

18 areas. 

19 ‘‘(B) The trail must be supported by at least 

20 one competent trailwide volunteer-based organiza21 tion. Each trail should have extensive local and 

22 trailwide support by the public, by user groups, and 

23 by affected State and local governments. 


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1 ‘‘(C) The trail must be extended and pass 

2 through more than one State. At a minimum, it 

3 should be a continuous, walkable route. 

4 ‘‘(2) The appropriate Secretary for each national dis5 covery trail shall administer the trail in cooperation with 

6 at least one competent trailwide volunteer-based organiza7 tion. Where the designation of discovery trail is aligned 

8 with other units of the National Trails System, or State 

9 or local trails, the designation of a discovery trail shall 

10 not affect the protections or authorities provided for the 

11 other trail or trails, nor shall the designation of a dis12 covery trail diminish the values and significance for which 

13 those trails were established. Not later than three com14 plete fiscal years after the date of the enactment of any 

15 law designating a national discovery trail, the appropriate 

16 Secretary shall submit a comprehensive plan for the pro17 tection, management, development, and use of the trail, 

18 to the Committee on Natural Resources of the United 

19 States House of Representatives and the Committee on 

20 Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Sen21 ate. The responsible Secretary shall ensure that the com22 prehensive plan for the entire trail does not conflict with 

23 existing agency direction and shall consult with the af24 fected land managing agencies, the Governors of the af25 fected States, affected county and local political jurisdicVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:25 Aug 05, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4693.IS S4693

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1 tions, and local organizations maintaining components of 

2 the trail. Components of the comprehensive plan include— 

3 ‘‘(A) policies and practices to be observed in the 

4 administration and management of the trail, includ5 ing the identification of all significant natural, his6 torical, and cultural resources to be preserved, model 

7 agreements necessary for joint trail administration 

8 among and between interested parties, and an iden9 tified carrying capacity for critical segments of the 

10 trail and a plan for their implementation where ap11 propriate; 

12 ‘‘(B) general and site-specific trail-related de13 velopment including costs; and 

14 ‘‘(C) the process to be followed by the volun15 teer-based organization, in cooperation with the ap16 propriate Secretary, to implement the trail marking 

17 authorities in subsection (c) conforming to approved 

18 trail logo or emblem requirements. Nothing in this 

19 Act may be construed to impose or permit the impo20 sition on any landowner on the use of any non-Fed21 eral lands without the consent of the owner thereof. 

22 Neither the designation of a national discovery trail 

23 nor any plan relating thereto shall affect or be con24 sidered in the granting or denial of a right of way 

25 or any conditions relating thereto.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

2 The National Trails System Act is amended— 

3 (1) in section 2(b) (16 U.S.C. 1241(b)), by 

4 striking ‘‘scenic and historic’’ and inserting ‘‘scenic, 

5 historic, and discovery’’; 

6 (2) in the section heading to section 5 (16 

7 U.S.C. 1244), by striking ‘‘AND NATIONAL HIS8 TORIC’’ and inserting ‘‘, NATIONAL HISTORIC, AND

9 NATIONAL DISCOVERY’’; 

10 (3) in section 5(a) (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)), in the 

11 matter preceding paragraph (1)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘and national historic’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national dis14 covery’’; and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘and National Historic’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘, National Historic, and Na17 tional Discovery’’; 

18 (4) in section 5(b) (16 U.S.C. 1244(b)), in the 

19 matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or na20 tional historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or 

21 national discovery’’; 

22 (5) in section 5(b)(3) (16 U.S.C. 1244(b)(3)), 

23 by striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

24 national historic, or national discovery’’; 


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1 (6) in section 7(a)(2) (16 U.S.C. 1246(a)(2)), 

2 by striking ‘‘and national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

3 national historic, and national discovery’’; 

4 (7) in section 7(b) (16 U.S.C. 1246(b)), by 

5 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ each place such term 

6 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na7 tional discovery’’; 

8 (8) in section 7(c) (16 U.S.C. 1246(c))— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘scenic or national his10 toric’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘sce11 nic, national historic, or national discovery’’; 

12 (B) in the second proviso, by striking ‘‘sce13 nic, or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘scenic, 

14 national historic, or national discovery’’; and 

15 (C) by striking ‘‘, and national historic’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national 

17 discovery’’; 

18 (9) in section 7(d) (16 U.S.C. 1246(d)), by 

19 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na20 tional historic, or national discovery’’; 

21 (10) in section 7(e) (16 U.S.C. 1246(e)), by 

22 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ each place such term 

23 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na24 tional discovery’’; 


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1 (11) in section 7(f)(2) (16 U.S.C. 1246(f)(2)), 

2 by striking ‘‘National Scenic or Historic Trail’’ and 

3 inserting ‘‘national scenic, historic, or discovery 

4 trail’’; 

5 (12) in section 7(h)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1246(h)(1)), 

6 by striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na7 tional historic, or national discovery’’; and 

8 (13) in section 7(i) (16 U.S.C. 1246(i)), by 

9 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na10 tional historic, or national discovery’’. 

Æ 


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