I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3022 

To amend the National Trails System Act to include national discovery 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 2, 2013 

Mr. FORTENBERRY (for himself and Mr. POLIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the National Trails System Act to include national 

discovery trails, and to 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 of 2013’’. 

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 will be extended, continuous, inter3 state trails so located as to provide for outstanding 

4 outdoor recreation and travel and to connect rep5 resentative examples of America’s trails and commu6 nities. National discovery trails should provide for 

7 the conservation and enjoyment of significant nat8 ural, cultural, and historic resources associated with 

9 each trail and should be so located as to represent 

10 metropolitan, urban, rural, and back country regions 

11 of the Nation. Any such trail may be designated on 

12 Federal lands and, with the consent of the owner 

13 thereof, on any non-Federal lands.’’. 

14 (b) DESIGNATION OF THE AMERICAN DISCOVERY

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

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

17 at the end the following: 

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

19 of approximately 6,000 miles extending from Cape 

20 Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes 

21 National Seashore in California, extending westward 

22 through Delaware, Maryland, the District of Colum23 bia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, where near 

24 Cincinnati it splits into two routes. The Northern 

25 Midwest route traverses Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 


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1 Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado, and the Southern 

2 Midwest route traverses Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 

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

4 Denver, Colorado, the route continues through Colo5 rado, Utah, Nevada, and California. The trail is gen6 erally described in Volume 2 of the National Park 

7 Service feasibility study dated June 1995 which 

8 shall be on file and available for public inspection in 

9 the office of the Director of the National Park Serv10 ice, Department of the Interior, the District of Co11 lumbia. The American Discovery Trail shall be ad12 ministered by the Secretary of the Interior in co13 operation with at least one competent trailwide vol14 unteer-based organization and other affected Federal 

15 land managing agencies, and State and local govern16 ments, as appropriate. No lands or interests outside 

17 the exterior boundaries of federally administered 

18 areas may be acquired by the Federal Government 

19 solely for the American Discovery Trail. The provi20 sions of sections 7(e), 7(f), and 7(g) shall not apply 

21 to the American Discovery Trail.’’. 

22 (c) COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL

23 PLAN.—Section 7 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1246) is further 

24 amended by adding at the end the following new sub25 section: 


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

2 not be considered feasible and desirable for designation 

3 as a national discovery trail unless it meets all of the fol4 lowing criteria: 

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

6 within the boundaries of a metropolitan area (as 

7 those boundaries are determined under section 

8 134(c) of title 23, United States Code). It should 

9 also join with other trails, connecting the National 

10 Trails System to significant recreation and resources 

11 areas. 

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

13 one competent trailwide volunteer-based organiza14 tion. Each trail should have extensive local and 

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

16 by affected State and local governments. 

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

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

19 should be a continuous, walkable route. 

20 ‘‘(2) The appropriate Secretary for each national dis21 covery trail shall administer the trail in cooperation with 

22 at least one competent trailwide volunteer-based organiza23 tion. Where the designation of discovery trail is aligned 

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

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


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1 not affect the protections or authorities provided for the 

2 other trail or trails, nor shall the designation of a dis3 covery trail diminish the values and significance for which 

4 those trails were established. Not later than three com5 plete fiscal years after the date of the enactment of any 

6 law designating a national discovery trail, the appropriate 

7 Secretary shall submit a comprehensive plan for the pro8 tection, management, development, and use of the trail, 

9 to the Committee on Natural Resources of the United 

10 States House of Representatives and the Committee on 

11 Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Sen12 ate. The responsible Secretary shall ensure that the com13 prehensive plan for the entire trail does not conflict with 

14 existing agency direction and shall consult with the af15 fected land managing agencies, the Governors of the af16 fected States, affected county and local political jurisdic17 tions, and local organizations maintaining components of 

18 the trail. Components of the comprehensive plan include— 

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

20 administration and management of the trail, includ21 ing the identification of all significant natural, his22 torical, and cultural resources to be preserved, model 

23 agreements necessary for joint trail administration 

24 among and between interested parties, and an iden25 tified carrying capacity for critical segments of the 


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1 trail and a plan for their implementation where ap2 propriate; 

3 ‘‘(B) general and site-specific trail-related de4 velopment including costs; and 

5 ‘‘(C) the process to be followed by the volun6 teer-based organization, in cooperation with the ap7 propriate Secretary, to implement the trail marking 

8 authorities in subsection (c) conforming to approved 

9 trail logo or emblem requirements. Nothing in this 

10 Act may be construed to impose or permit the impo11 sition of any landowner on the use of any non-Fed12 eral lands without the consent of the owner thereof. 

13 Neither the designation of a national discovery trail 

14 nor any plan relating thereto shall affect or be con15 sidered in the granting or denial of a right of way 

16 or any conditions relating thereto.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

18 The National Trails System Act is amended— 

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

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

21 historic, and discovery’’; 

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

23 U.S.C. 1244), by striking ‘‘AND NATIONAL HIS24 TORIC’’ and inserting ‘‘, NATIONAL HISTORIC, AND

25 NATIONAL DISCOVERY’’; 


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

2 matter preceding paragraph (1)— 

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

4 inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national dis5 covery’’; and 

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

7 and inserting ‘‘, National Historic, and Na8 tional Discovery’’; 

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

10 matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or na11 tional historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or 

12 national discovery’’; 

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

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

15 national historic, or national discovery’’; 

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

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

18 national historic, and national discovery’’; 

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

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

21 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na22 tional discovery’’; 

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


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘scenic or national his2 toric’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘sce3 nic, national historic, or national discovery’’; 

4 (B) in the second proviso, by striking ‘‘sce5 nic, or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘scenic, 

6 national historic, or national discovery’’; and 

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

8 and inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national 

9 discovery’’; 

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

11 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na12 tional historic, or national discovery’’; 

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

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

15 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na16 tional discovery’’; 

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

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

19 inserting ‘‘national scenic, historic, or discovery 

20 trail’’; 

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

22 by striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na23 tional historic, or national discovery’’; and 


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

2 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na3 tional historic, or national discovery’’. 

Æ 


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