I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3250

To amend the National Trails System Act to create a new category of

long-distance trails to be known as National Discovery Trails, to authorize the American Discovery Trail as the first national trail in that

category, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 16, 1996

Mr. BEREUTER (for himself, Mr. FORD, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr.

PICKETT, Mr. DELLUMS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. STARK, Mr. FAZIO of California, Mr. COSTELLO, Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mr. EHLERS, Mr.

SCHAEFER, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. LEACH, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. VENTO, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. EVANS,

Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. SKAGGS, Ms. MCCARTHY, Mr.

HEFLEY, Mr. WELLER, Mrs. VUCANOVICH, Mr. BUNNING of Kentucky,

Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. BEILENSON, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HASTINGS

of Florida, Mr. HAMILTON, Mr. FROST, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. BARRETT of

Nebraska, Mr. ORTON, Mr. NEY, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. FAWELL, and Mr.

MILLER of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To amend the National Trails System Act to create a new

category of long-distance trails to be known as National

Discovery Trails, to authorize the American Discovery

Trail as the first national trail in that category, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 Trails Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT AMENDMENTS.

5 (a) NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAILS ESTABLISHED.—

6 Section 3(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C.

7 1242(a)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (4) the

8 following:

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

10 section 5, which will be extended, continuous inter11 state trails so located as to provide for outstanding

12 outdoor recreation and travel and to connect rep13 resentative examples of America’s trails and commu14 nities. National discovery trails should provide for

15 the conservation and enjoyment of significant natu16 ral, cultural, and historic resources associated with

17 each trail and should be so located as to represent

18 metropolitan, urban, rural, and back-country regions

19 of the Nation. The appropriate Secretary shall ad20 minister national discovery trails in cooperation with

21 a nonprofit organization.’’.

22 (b) DESIGNATION OF THE AMERICAN DISCOVERY

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

24 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended—
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1 (1) by redesignating the paragraph relating to

2 the California National Historic Trail as paragraph

3 18;

4 (2) by redesignating the paragraph relating to

5 the Pony Express National Historic Trail as para6 graph 19; and

7 (3) by adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘(20) The American Discovery Trail, a trail of ap9 proximately 6,000 miles extending from Cape Henlopen

10 State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes National Seashore

11 in California, traveling through Delaware, Maryland,

12 Washington, DC, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky,

13 where near Cincinnati it splits into 2 routes. The Northern

14 Midwest route winds through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa,

15 Nebraska, and Colorado, and the Southern Midwest route

16 explores Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado.

17 After rejoining in Denver, Colorado, the route continues

18 through Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. The trail

19 is generally described in volume 2 of the National Park

20 Service feasibility study dated June 1995 which shall be

21 on file and available for public inspection in the office of

22 the Director of the National Park Service, Department of

23 the Interior, Washington, DC. The American Discovery

24 Trail shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior

25 in cooperation with a nonprofit organization and other af-
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1 fected land managing agencies. No lands or interests out2 side the exterior boundaries of federally administered

3 areas may be acquired by the United States solely for the

4 American Discovery Trail. This trail is exempted from sec5 tions 5(d), 7(e), 7(f), and 7(g).’’.

6 (c) COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL

7 PLAN.—Section 5(e) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(e)) is

8 amended by striking the first sentence through ‘‘as part

9 of the system,’’ and inserting ‘‘Within two complete fiscal

10 years of the date of enactment of legislation designating

11 a national scenic trail, except for the Continental Divide

12 National Scenic Trail and the North Country National

13 Scenic Trail, or a national discovery trail, except for the

14 American Discovery Trail, as part of the system,’’.

15 (d) COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR AMERICAN DISCOV16 ERY TRAIL.—Section 5 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1244) is

17 amended by adding at the end the following:

18 ‘‘(g) The Secretary of the Interior shall enter into ar19 rangements with a nonprofit organization to submit (with20 in 3 complete fiscal years after the date of the enactment

21 of this subsection) a comprehensive plan for the protec22 tion, management, development, and use of the American

23 Discovery Trail, to the Committee on Resources of the

24 United States House of Representatives and the Commit25 tee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States
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1 Senate. The Secretary shall ensure that the comprehensive

2 plan does not conflict with any existing agency direction

3 and that the nonprofit organization consults with affected

4 Federal land-managing agencies, the Governors of the af5 fected States, county and local political jurisdictions, and

6 local organizations maintaining components of the trail.

7 Mandatory components of the comprehensive plan in8 clude—

9 ‘‘(1) specific objectives and practices to be ob10 served in the administration and management of the

11 trail, including the identification of all significant

12 natural, historical, and cultural resources to be pre13 served, model agreements necessary for joint trail

14 administration among and between interested par15 ties, and an identified carrying capacity of the trail

16 and a plan for its implementation;

17 ‘‘(2) a trail protection plan to preserve the val18 ues for which the trail is being established and rec19 ognized by the Federal Government;

20 ‘‘(3) general and site-specific development

21 plans, including anticipated costs; and

22 ‘‘(4) the process to be followed by the nonprofit

23 organization in partnership with the Secretary of the

24 Interior to mark the trail under section 7(c) of this

25 Act.’’.
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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))—

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

12 inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national dis13 covery’’; and

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

15 and inserting ‘‘, National Historic, and Na16 tional Discovery’’ ;

17 (4) in section 5(b) (16 U.S.C. 1244(b)), by

18 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, na19 tional historic, or national discovery’’;

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

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

22 national historic, or national discovery’’;

23 (6) in section 5(d) (16 U.S.C. 1244(d)), by

24 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, na25 tional historic, or national discovery’’;
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1 (7) 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 (8) 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 (9) in section 7(c) (16 U.S.C. 1246(c))—

9 (A) by striking ‘‘or national historic’’ each

10 place such term appears and inserting ‘‘, na11 tional historic, or national discovery’’; and

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

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

15 (10) in section 7(d) (16 U.S.C. 1246(d)), by

16 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, na17 tional historic, or national discovery’’;

18 (11) in section 7(e) (16 U.S.C. 1246(e)), by

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

20 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na21 tional discovery’’;

22 (12) in section 7(f)(2) (16 U.S.C. 1246(f)(2)),

23 by striking ‘‘or Historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, Historic,

24 or Discovery’’;
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1 (13) in section 7(h)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1246(h)(1)),

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

3 national historic, or national discovery’’; and

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

5 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, na6 tional historic, or national discovery’’.

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