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[Senate Report 109-239]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                       Calendar No. 401
109th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     109-239

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                 TRAIL OF TEARS NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL

                                _______
                                

                 April 20, 2006.--Ordered to be printed

         Filed, under authority of the Senate of April 7, 2006

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1970]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 1970) to amend the National Trails System 
Act to update the feasibility and suitability study originally 
prepared for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and 
provide for the inclusion of new trail segments, land 
components and campgrounds associated with that trail, and for 
other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably 
thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill, as 
amended, do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
    Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu 
thereof the following:

SECTION 1. REVISION OF FEASIBILITY AND SUITABILITY STUDY OF TRAIL OF 
                    TEARS NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL.

  Section 5(a)(16) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 
1244(a)(16)) is amended--
          (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``subsections'' and 
        inserting ``sections''; and
          (2) by adding at the end the following:
          ``(C) Study of additional components.--Not later than 3 
        complete fiscal years after the date of enactment of this 
        subparagraph, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to 
        Congress a study regarding the feasibility and suitability of 
        designating, as additional components of the Trail of Tears 
        National Historic Trail, the following routes and land 
        components by which the Cherokee Nation was removed to 
        Oklahoma:
                  ``(i) The Benge and Bell routes.
                  ``(ii) The land components of the designated water 
                routes in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
                  ``(iii) The routes from the collection forts in 
                Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee to the 
                emigration depots.
                  ``(iv) Related campgrounds located along those routes 
                and in those land components.''.

                         Purpose of the Measure

    The purpose of S. 1970, as ordered reported, is to amend 
the National Trails System Act to update the feasibility study 
for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

                          Background and Need

    S. 1970 authorizes a feasibility study to evaluate whether 
certain sites recently identified by scholars and local trail 
enthusiasts are suitable for inclusion in the Trail of Tears 
National Historic Trail (Trail).
    The Trail commemorates the forcible removal of more than 
16,000 Cherokee, black slaves, and other tribes from their 
homelands (in northwest Georgia and adjacent Tennessee, 
Alabama, and North Carolina) to the Indian Territory (present-
day Oklahoma) in 1838 and 1839. The impact to the Cherokee and 
other travelers was devastating. Hundreds of Cherokee died 
during their trip west, and thousands more perished from the 
consequences of relocation.
    In 1987, when Congress authorized the Trail, it consisted 
of the primary land route and primary water route used by many 
of the Cherokee. Although the original feasibility study 
recognized that other sites and routes existed, at that time 
there was not enough evidence to locate and confirm them.
    In the years since 1987, scholars and trail enthusiasts 
have amassed a significant amount of information that have 
helped to identify these additional routes and sites, and even 
new components of the two designated routes.
    New routes include (1) the Bell Route traveled by John 
Bell's Treaty Party across Tennessee and Arkansas to Ft. 
Gibson, Indian Territory; and (2) the Benge Route, used by 
Cherokee leader John Benge's detachment. Benge's Route started 
in Ft. Payne, Alabama and traversed Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Missouri, and northern Arkansas, before arriving in Oklahoma.
    Recent research has also identified the following sites: 
(1) land sites along a water route (known as the Water Route) 
that traveled the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas 
Rivers through Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and Oklahoma; (2) 
routes from collection and internment forts in Alabama, 
Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee to emigration depots; 
and (3) campgrounds along those routes.

                          Legislative History

    S. 1970 was introduced by Senators Coburn, Frist, and 
Alexander on November 7, 2005. The Subcommittee on National 
Parks held a hearing on S. 1970 on February 16, 2006. At its 
business meeting on March 8, 2006, the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources ordered S. 1970 favorably reported as 
amended.

                        Committee Recommendation

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on March 8, 2006, by unanimous voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 1970, if 
amended as described herein.

                          Committee Amendment

    During consideration of S. 1970, the Committee adopted an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute. The substitute strikes 
authority given to the Secretary to designate trail additions 
after the suitability study is completed and instead requires 
that she report the results to Congress within three years of 
the date the bill is enacted into law. The amendment also 
deleted any reference to appropriations.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

    Section 1 amends section 5(a)(16) of the National Trail 
System Act (which designates the Trail of Tears National 
Historic Trail) to add a new subparagraph, (C).
    Subparagraph (C) requires the Secretary of the Interior to 
submit to Congress a study of the feasibility and suitability 
of additions to the trail within three years of the enactment 
of the bill.
    S. 1970 does not specify an amount to be appropriated.

                   Cost and Budgetary Considerations

    The Congressional Budget Office estimate of the costs of 
this measure has been requested but was not received at the 
time the report was filed. When the report is available, the 
Chairman will request it to be printed in the Congressional 
Record for the advice of the Senate.

                      Regulatory Impact Evaluation

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 1970. The bill is not a regulatory measure in 
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or 
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals 
and businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 1970, as ordered reported.

                        Executive Communications

    The views of the Administration on S. 1970 were included in 
testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on the bill on 
February 16, 2006. This testimony follows:

   Statement of John Parsons, Associate Regional Director, National 
   Capital Region, National Park Service, Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for 
the opportunity to appear before you today to present the 
Department of the Interior's views on S. 1970. The bill would 
amend the National Trails System Act to update the feasibility 
and suitability study of the Trail of Tears National Historic 
Trail (NHT).
    We thank Senators Tom Coburn, Bill Frist, and Lamar 
Alexander for their interest in and support of the 
commemoration of the Trail of Tears NHT. The Department 
supports updating the feasibility and suitability study for the 
Trail of Tears NHT; however, we recommend that S. 1970 be 
amended to remove the automatic designation of any additions to 
the original trail the study determines to be eligible. In a 
time of austere budgets and a refocusing on the core mission of 
the National Park Service (NPS), we believe that available 
funding should be first directed toward taking care of what we 
already own.
    S. 1970 would update the feasibility and suitability study 
for the Trail of Tears NHT through the examination of 
additional routes, land components, and campgrounds associated 
with that trail not included in the initial study. The 
Secretary of the Interior would determine if some or all of 
these components are eligible additions to the trail at the 
completion of the study. Further, it would authorize the 
Secretary to make designations of any of these additional 
routes, land components and campgrounds that she found 
eligible. The National Trails System Act does not provide for 
additions to trails subsequent to their designation by 
Congress.
    A network of 24 scenic and historic trails has been created 
since the enactment of the National Trails System Act in 1968. 
These trails provide for outdoor recreation needs, providing 
enjoyment and appreciation, which in turn, promotes good health 
and well-being. They traverse resources that connect us to 
history and provide an important opportunity for local 
communities to become involved in a national effort by 
encouraging public access and citizen involvement.
    In 1987, Congress designated the Trail of Tears National 
Historic Trail. The trail encompassed the primary water route 
and northern land route used during the forced removal of the 
Cherokee Nation from its homelands in the southeast to Indian 
Territory (present day Oklahoma). The trail is administered by 
the NPS.
    The Indian Removal Act of 1830 mandated the removal of all 
Indian tribes from east of the Mississippi River to lands west 
of Arkansas and Missouri. Of the Five Civilized Tribes, the 
Cherokee were perhaps the most successful at resisting the 
Act's implementation. But their fate was sealed in 1838 when 
the U.S. government was determined to complete the Removal. The 
roundup began in May, as thousands of Cherokee families were 
brought by force to nearby military forts or camps, and 
subsequently marched to the principal emigration depots at 
Ross's Landing or Fort Cass in Tennessee, or Fort Payne in 
Alabama. From there, they either walked overland or rode river 
steamboats, flatboats, and keelboats to Indian Territory. By 
the spring of 1839, nearly the entire Cherokee Nation, 
comprising some 16,000 individuals from all levels of society, 
had been removed west.
    The 1992 Comprehensive Management and Use Plan for the 
Trail of Tears NHT identified the need to study two additional 
major routes of Cherokee Removal, the Bell and Benge Routes in 
the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and 
Oklahoma as possible additions to the existing trail. Both of 
these routes are included in S. 1970. Subsequently, the 
Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the 
Trail of Tears Association, and other trail supporters have 
urged the NPS to include additional important routes of 
Cherokee Removal in Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, 
Tennessee, and Oklahoma. These routes lead from the many 
removal forts established by the military during the roundup of 
the Cherokee to the major embarkation sites from which the 
Cherokee people left on their tragic journey to Indian 
Territory. The roundup of the Cherokee is a major part of the 
story of the Trail of Tears, and it is not adequately 
represented by the current trail.
    The Department recognizes the importance of telling the 
complete story of the Trail of Tears. Updating the feasibility 
and suitability study would cost approximately $175,000. Also, 
the NPS estimates that it would require an additional $295,000 
per year to adequately provide funding for staff, travel, 
supplies, and other costs to administer the new routes.
    Historic trails cross public and private lands, and the 
intent of the National Trails System Act is one of respecting 
private property rights. In so doing, the development of strong 
partnerships is critical to administering and managing the 
historic trails and achieving preservation of trail resources 
and interpretation of the trail to the public. The Trail of 
Tears NHT demonstrates the results of this type of effort.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to comment. 
This concludes my prepared remarks and I will be happy to 
answer any questions you or other committee members might have.

                        Changes in Existing Law

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
S. 1970, as ordered reported, are shown as follows (existing 
law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

                    Public Law 90-543--Oct. 2, 1968

  AN ACT To establish a national trails system, and for other purposes

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

                              SHORT TITLE

    Section 1. This Act may be cited as the ``National Trails 
System Act''.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

             NATIONAL SCENIC AND NATIONAL HISTORICAL TRAILS

    Sec. 5. (a) National scenic and national historic trails 
shall be authorized and designated only by Act of Congress. 
There are hereby established the following National Scenic and 
National Historic Trails:

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    (16)(A) The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, a trail 
consisting of water routes and overland routes traveled by the 
Cherokee Nation during its removal from ancestral lands in the 
East to Oklahoma during 1838 and 1839, generally located within 
the corridor described through portions of Georgia, North 
Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, 
Arkansas, and Oklahoma in the final report of the Secretary of 
the Interior prepared pursuant to subsection (b) of this 
section entitled ``Trail of Tears'' and dated June 1986. Maps 
depicting the corridor shall be on file and available for 
public inspection in the Office of the National Park Service, 
Department of the Interior. The trail shall be administered by 
the Secretary of the Interior. No lands or interests therein 
outside the exterior boundaries of any federally administered 
area may be acquired by the Federal Government for the Trail of 
Tears except with the consent of the owner thereof.
    (B) In carrying out his responsibilities pursuant to 
[subsections]\1\sections 5(f) and 7(c) of this Act, the 
Secretary of the Interior shall give careful consideration to 
the establishment of appropriate interpretive sites for the 
Trail of Tears in the vicinity of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Fort 
Smith, Arkansas, Trail of Tears State Park, Missouri, and 
Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
                  (C) Study of additional components.--Not 
                later than 3 complete fiscal years after the 
                date of enactment of this subparagraph, the 
                Secretary of the Interior shall submit to 
                Congress a study regarding the feasibility and 
                suitability of designating, as additional 
                components of the Trail of Tears National 
                Historic Trail, the following routes and land 
                components by which the Cherokee Nation was 
                removed to Oklahoma:
                          (i) The Benge and Bell routes.
                          (ii) The land components of the 
                        designated water routes in Alabama, 
                        Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
                          (iii) The routes from the collection 
                        forts in Alabama, Georgia, North 
                        Carolina, and Tennessee to the 
                        emigration depots.
                          (iv) Related campgrounds located 
                        along those routes and in those land 
                        components.

                                  
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