I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 734

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 27, 2000

Referred to the Committee on Resources

AN ACT

Entitled ‘‘National Discovery Trails Act of 1999’’.

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 1999’’.
2

S 734 RFH

1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT AMENDMENTS.

2 (a)(1) Section 3(a) of the National Trails System Act

3 (16 U.S.C. 1242(a)) is amended by inserting after para4 graph (4) the following:

5 ‘‘(5) National discovery trails, established as

6 provided in section 5, which will be extended, contin7 uous, interstate trails so located as to provide for

8 outstanding outdoor recreation and travel and to

9 connect representative examples of America’s trails

10 and communities. National discovery trails should

11 provide for the conservation and enjoyment of sig12 nificant natural, cultural, and historic resources as13 sociated with each trail and should be so located as

14 to represent metropolitan, urban, rural, and back

15 country regions of the Nation. Any such trail may

16 be designated on federal lands and, with the consent

17 of the owner thereof, on any non federal lands.’’.

18 (2) FEASIBILITY REQUIREMENTS; COOPERATIVE

19 MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENT.—Section 5(b) of such Act

20 (16 U.S.C. 1244) is amended by adding at the end the

21 following new paragraph:

22 ‘‘(12) For purposes of subsection (b), a trail

23 shall not be considered feasible and desirable for

24 designation as a national discovery trail unless it

25 meets all of the following criteria:
3

S 734 RFH

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

2 within the boundaries of a metropolitan area

3 (as those boundaries are determined under sec4 tion 134(c) of title 23, United States Code). It

5 should also join with other trails, connecting

6 the National Trails System to significant recre7 ation and resources areas.

8 ‘‘(B) The trail must be supported by at

9 least one competent trailwide volunteer-based

10 organization. Each trail should have extensive

11 local and trailwide support by the public, by

12 users groups, and by affected State and local

13 governments.

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

15 through more than one State. At a minimum,

16 it should be a continuous, walkable route.

17 ‘‘(13) The appropriate Secretary for each na18 tional discovery trail shall administer the trail in co19 operation with at least one competent trailwide vol20 unteer-based organization. Where the designation of

21 discovery trail is aligned with other units of the Na22 tional Trails System, or State or local trails, the des23 ignation of a discovery trail shall not affect the pro24 tections or authorities provided for the other trail or

25 trails, nor shall the designation of a discovery trail
4

S 734 RFH

1 diminish the values and significance for which those

2 trails were established.’’.

3 (b) DESIGNATION OF THE AMERICAN DISCOVERY

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

5 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended—

6 (1) by re-designating the paragraph relating to

7 the California National Historic Trail as paragraph

8 (18);

9 (2) by re-designating the paragraph relating to

10 the Pony Express National Historic Trail as para11 graph (19);

12 (3) by re-designating the paragraph relating to

13 the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail as

14 paragraph (20); and

15 (4) by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(21) The American Discovery Trail, a trail of

17 approximately 6,000 miles extending from Cape

18 Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes

19 National Seashore in California, extending westward

20 through Delaware, Maryland, the District of Colum21 bia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, where near

22 Cincinnati it splits into two routes. The Northern

23 Midwest route traverses Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,

24 Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado, and the Southern

25 Midwest route traverses Indiana, Illinois, Missouri,
5

S 734 RFH

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

2 Denver, Colorado, the route continues through Colo3 rado, Utah, Nevada, and California. The trail is gen4 erally described in Volume 2 of the National Park

5 Service feasibility study dated June 1995 which

6 shall be on file and available for public inspection in

7 the office of the Director of the National Park Serv8 ice, Department of the Interior, the District of Co9 lumbia. The American Discovery Trail shall be ad10 ministered by the Secretary of the Interior in co11 operation with at least one competent trailwide vol12 unteer-based organization and other affected federal

13 land managing agencies, and state and local govern14 ments, as appropriate. No lands or interests outside

15 the exterior boundaries of federally administered

16 areas may be acquired by the Federal Government

17 solely for the American Discovery Trail. The provi18 sions of sections 7(e), 7(f), and 7(g) shall not apply

19 to the American Discovery Trail.’’.

20 (c) COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL

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

22 amended by adding at the end the following new sub23 section:

24 ‘‘(g) Within three complete fiscal years after the date

25 of enactment of any law designating a national discovery
6

S 734 RFH

1 trail, the appropriate Secretary shall submit a comprehen2 sive plan for the protection, management, development,

3 and use of the trail, to the Committee on Resources of

4 the United States House of Representatives and the Com5 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United

6 States Senate. The responsible Secretary shall ensure that

7 the comprehensive plan for the entire trail does not con8 flict with existing agency direction and shall consult with

9 the affected land managing agencies, the Governors of the

10 affected States, affected county and local political jurisdic11 tions, and local organizations maintaining components of

12 the trail. Components of the comprehensive plan include—

13 ‘‘(1) policies and practices to be observed in the

14 administration and management of the trail, includ15 ing the identification of all significant natural, his16 torical, and cultural resources to be preserved, model

17 agreements necessary for joint trail administration

18 among and between interested parties, and an iden19 tified carrying capacity for critical segments of the

20 trail and a plan for their implementation where ap21 propriate;

22 ‘‘(2) general and site-specific trail-related devel23 opment including costs; and

24 ‘‘(3) the process to be followed by the volunteer25 based organization, in cooperation with the appro-
7

S 734 RFH

1 priate Secretary, to implement the trail marking au2 thorities in section 7(c) conforming to approved trail

3 logo or emblem requirements.’’. Nothing in this Act

4 may be construed to impose or permit the imposition

5 of any landowner on the use of any non-federal

6 lands without the consent of the owner thereof. Nei7 ther the designation of a National Discovery Trail

8 nor any plan relating thereto shall affect or be con9 sidered in the granting or denial of a right of way

10 or any conditions relating thereto.’’.

11 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

12 The National Trails System Act is amended—

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

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

15 historic, and discovery’’;

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

17 U.S.C. 1244), by striking ‘‘AND NATIONAL

18 HISTORIC’’ and inserting ‘‘, NATIONAL HIS19 TORIC, AND NATIONAL DISCOVERY’’;

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

21 matter preceding paragraph (1)—

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

23 inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national dis24 covery’’; and
8

S 734 RFH

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

2 and inserting ‘‘, National Historic, and Na3 tional Discovery’’;

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

5 matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or na6 tional historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or

7 national discovery’’;

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

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

10 national historic, or national discovery’’;

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

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

13 national historic, and national discovery’’;

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

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

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

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

19 (A) by striking ‘‘scenic or national his20 toric’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘sce21 nic, national historic, or national discovery’’;

22 (B) in the second proviso, by striking ‘‘sce23 nic, or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘scenic,

24 national historic, or national discovery’’; and
9

S 734 RFH

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

2 and inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national

3 discovery’’;

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

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

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

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

9 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na10 tional discovery’’;

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

12 by striking ‘‘National Scenic or Historic’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘national scenic, historic, or discovery trail’’;

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

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

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

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

Passed the Senate November 19, 1999.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.