I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 433

To increase the size of the Big Thicket National Preserve in the State

of Texas by adding the Village Creek Corridor unit, the Big Sandy

Corridor unit, the Canyonlands unit, the Sabine River Blue Elbow unit,

and addition to the Lower Neches Corridor unit.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. WILSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Natural Resources

A BILL

To increase the size of the Big Thicket National Preserve

in the State of Texas by adding the Village Creek Corridor unit, the Big Sandy Corridor unit, the Canyonlands

unit, the Sabine River Blue Elbow unit, and addition

to the Lower Neches Corridor unit.

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 ‘‘Big Thicket National

5 Preserve Addition Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ADDITIONS TO THE BIG THICKET NATIONAL PRE2 SERVE.

3 (a) ADDITIONS.—Subsection (b) of the first section

4 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize the establishment

5 of the Big Thicket National Preserve in the State of

6 Texas, and for other purposes’’, approved October 11,

7 1974 (16 U.S.C. 698), hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Act’’,

8 is amended as follows:

9 (1) Strike out ‘‘map entitled ‘Big Thicket Na10 tional Preserve’ ’’ and all that follows through ‘‘Sec11 retary of the Interior (hereafter referred to as the

12 ‘Secretary’)’’ and insert in lieu thereof ‘‘map entitled

13 ‘Big Thicket National Preserve’, dated October 19,

14 1990, and numbered 20031 C, which shall be on file

15 and available for public inspection in the offices of

16 the National Park Service, Department of the Inte17 rior, and offices of the Superintendent of the pre18 serve. After advising the Committee on Interior and

19 Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives and

20 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of

21 the Senate, in writing, the Secretary of the Interior

22 (hereafter referred to as the ‘Secretary’) may make

23 minor revisions of the boundaries of the preserve

24 when necessary by publication of a revised drawing

25 or other boundary description in the Federal Reg26 ister. The Secretary’’.
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1 (2) Strike out ‘‘and’’ at the end of the penul2 timate undesignated paragraph relating to Little

3 Pine Island-Pine Island Bayou corridor unit.

4 (3) Strike out the period in the ultimate undes5 ignated paragraph relating to Lance Rosier unit and

6 insert in lieu thereof a semicolon.

7 (4) Add at the end thereof the following:

8 ‘‘Village Creek Corridor unit, Hardin County,

9 Texas, comprising approximately 5,309 acres;

10 ‘‘Big Sandy Corridor unit, Hardin, Polk, and

11 Tyler Counties, Texas, comprising approximately

12 4,818 acres;

13 ‘‘Canyonlands unit, Tyler County, Texas, com14 prising approximately 1,476 acres;

15 ‘‘Sabine River Blue Elbow unit, Orange Coun16 ty, Texas, comprising approximately 3,592 acres;

17 and

18 ‘‘Addition to the Lower Neches River Corridor

19 unit, Orange and Jasper Counties, Texas, compris20 ing approximately 750 acres.’’.

21 (b) ACQUISITION.—(1) Subsection (c) of the first sec22 tion of such Act is amended by striking out the first sen23 tence and inserting in lieu thereof the following: ‘‘The Sec24 retary is authorized to acquire by donation, purchase with

25 donated or appropriated funds, transfer from any other
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1 Federal agency, or exchange, any lands, waters, or inter2 ests therein which are located within the boundaries of the

3 preserve: Provided, That the Secretary may acquire scenic

4 easements on privately owned undeveloped lands located

5 within the boundaries of the Village Creek Corridor, Big

6 Sandy Corridor, Canyonlands, Blue Elbow, or Lower

7 Neches River unit: Provided further, That privately owned

8 undeveloped lands located within any such unit may be

9 acquired only with the consent of the owner: Provided fur10 ther, That the Secretary may acquire lands owned by com11 mercial timber companies only by donation or exchange:

12 Provided further, That any lands owned by the State of

13 Texas, or any of its political subdivisions may be acquired

14 by donation only.’’.

15 (2) Add at the end of the first section the following

16 new subsections:

17 ‘‘(d) Within 60 days after enactment of this sub18 section, the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture

19 shall identify lands within their jurisdictions located with20 in the vicinity of the preserve which may be suitable for

21 exchange for commercial timber lands within the preserve.

22 In so doing, the Secretary of Agriculture shall seek to

23 identify for exchange national forest lands that are near

24 or adjacent to private lands that are already owned by the

25 commercial timber companies and are of sufficient size
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1 and configuration for commercial timber use. Such na2 tional forest lands shall be located in the Sabine National

3 Forest in Sabine County, Texas, in the Davy Crockett Na4 tional Forest south of Texas State Highway 7, or in other

5 sites deemed mutually agreeable. In exercising this ex6 change authority, the Secretary of the Interior and the

7 Secretary of Agriculture may utilize any authorities or

8 procedures otherwise available to them in connection with

9 land exchanges, and which are not inconsistent with the

10 purposes of this Act. The values of the properties so ex11 changes shall be approximately equal or, if they are not

12 approximately equal, shall be equalized by the payment of

13 cash to the grantor or to the respective Secretary as cir14 cumstances require. Such exchanges shall be completed as

15 soon as possible, but no later than two years after the

16 date of enactment of this subsection.

17 ‘‘(e) With respect to the 37 acre area owned by the

18 Louisiana-Pacific Corporation or its subsidiary, Kirby

19 Forest Industries, Inc., on Big Sandy Creek in Hardin

20 County, Texas, and now utilized as part of the Indian

21 Springs Youth Camp (H.G/ King Abstract 822), the Sec22 retary shall not acquire such area without the consent of

23 the owner so long as the area is used exclusively as a youth

24 camp.’’.
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1 (c) PUBLICATION OF BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION.—

2 Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of

3 this subsection, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal

4 Register a detailed description of the boundary of the Vil5 lage Creek Corridor unit, the Big Sandy Corridor unit,

6 the Canyonlands unit, the Sabine River Blue Elbow unit,

7 and the addition to the Lower Neches River unit of the

8 Big Thicket National Preserve.

9 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

10 6 of such Act is amended by inserting at the end thereof

11 the following new sentence: ‘‘Effective upon date of enact12 ment of this paragraph, there is authorized to be appro13 priated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the

14 purposes of subsections 1(c) and 1(d).’’.

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