I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1075 

To adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation 

Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2021 

Mr. SCHIFF introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains 

National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the 

Valley Corridor, 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 ‘‘Rim of the Valley Cor5 ridor Preservation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) The Santa Monica Mountains National 

9 Recreation Area was authorized as a unit of the Na10 tional Park System on November 10, 1978. 

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1 (2) The Santa Monica Mountains and the Rim 

2 of the Valley Corridor include— 

3 (A) nationally significant resources— 

4 (i) outstanding examples of geologic 

5 history, including the evolution of the 

6 Transverse Ranges Province; 

7 (ii) a diversity of well-preserved ma8 rine and terrestrial paleontological re9 sources; and 

10 (iii) high biodiversity, including out11 standing examples of native grasslands, 

12 coastal sage scrub, chaparral, dry conif13 erous forests, and alluvian fan sage scrub; 

14 and 

15 (B) nationally significant cultural re16 sources that represent a wide range of themes 

17 related to human use and settlement in the re18 gion— 

19 (i) high concentrations of archeo20 logical resources that provide insight into 

21 more than 10,000 years of Native Amer22 ican history; and 

23 (ii) landmarks that represent topics 

24 such as architecture, recreation, and space 

25 exploration. 

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1 (3) Expanding the Santa Monica Mountains 

2 National Recreation Area would provide new oppor3 tunities for the National Park Service to serve a 

4 broad range of urban communities, including many 

5 that are underrepresented in national parks and un6 derserved by State and local parks. 

7 SEC. 3. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT; LAND ACQUISITION; AD8 MINISTRATION. 

9 (a) BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.—Section 507(c)(1) of 

10 the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (16 

11 U.S.C. 460kk(c)(1)) is amended in the first sentence by 

12 striking ‘‘, which shall’’ and inserting ‘‘ and generally de13 picted as ‘Rim of the Valley Unit Proposed Addition’ on 

14 the map entitled ‘Rim of the Valley Unit—Santa Monica 

15 Mountains National Recreation Area’, numbered 638/ 

16 147,723, and dated September 2018. Both maps shall’’. 

17 (b) RIM OF THE VALLEY UNIT.—Section 507 of the 

18 National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 

19 460kk) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(u) RIM OF THE VALLEY UNIT.—(1) Not later than 

21 3 years after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

22 the Secretary shall update the general management plan 

23 for the recreation area to reflect the boundaries designated 

24 on the map referred to in subsection (c)(1) as the ‘Rim 

25 of the Valley Unit’ (hereafter in the subsection referred 

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1 to as the ‘Rim of the Valley Unit’). Subject to valid exist2 ing rights, the Secretary shall administer the Rim of the 

3 Valley Unit, and any land or interest in land acquired by 

4 the United States and located within the boundaries of 

5 the Rim of the Valley Unit, as part of the recreation area 

6 in accordance with the provisions of this section and appli7 cable laws and regulations. 

8 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may acquire non-Federal land 

9 within the boundaries of the Rim of the Valley Unit only 

10 through exchange, donation, or purchase from a willing 

11 seller. Nothing in this subsection authorizes the use of 

12 eminent domain to acquire land or interests in land. 

13 ‘‘(3) Nothing in this subsection or the application of 

14 the management plan for the Rim of the Valley Unit shall 

15 be construed to— 

16 ‘‘(A) modify any provision of Federal, State, or 

17 local law with respect to public access to or use of 

18 non-Federal land; 

19 ‘‘(B) create any liability, or affect any liability 

20 under any other law, of any private property owner 

21 or other owner of non-Federal land with respect to 

22 any person injured on private property or other non23 Federal land; 

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1 ‘‘(C) affect the ownership, management, or 

2 other rights relating to any non-Federal land (in3 cluding any interest in any non-Federal land); 

4 ‘‘(D) require any local government to partici5 pate in any program administered by the Secretary; 

6 ‘‘(E) alter, modify, or diminish any right, re7 sponsibility, power, authority, jurisdiction, or entitle8 ment of the State, any political subdivision of the 

9 State, or any State or local agency under existing 

10 Federal, State, and local law (including regulations); 

11 ‘‘(F) require the creation of protective perim12 eters or buffer zones, and the fact that certain ac13 tivities or land can be seen or heard from within the 

14 Rim of the Valley Unit shall not, of itself, preclude 

15 the activities or land uses up to the boundary of the 

16 Rim of the Valley Unit; 

17 ‘‘(G) require or promote use of, or encourage 

18 trespass on, lands, facilities, and rights-of-way 

19 owned by non-Federal entities, including water re20 source facilities and public utilities, without the writ21 ten consent of the owner; 

22 ‘‘(H) affect the operation, maintenance, modi23 fication, construction, or expansion of any water re24 source facility or utility facility located within or ad25 jacent to the Rim of the Valley Unit; 

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1 ‘‘(I) terminate the fee title to lands or cus2 tomary operation, maintenance, repair, and replace3 ment activities on or under such lands granted to 

4 public agencies that are authorized pursuant to Fed5 eral or State statute; 

6 ‘‘(J) interfere with, obstruct, hinder, or delay 

7 the exercise of any right to, or access to any water 

8 resource facility or other facility or property nec9 essary or useful to access any water right to operate 

10 any public water or utility system; 

11 ‘‘(K) require initiation or reinitiation of con12 sultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife 

13 Service under, or the application of provisions of, the 

14 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 

15 seq.), the National Environmental Policy Act of 

16 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), or division A of sub17 title III of title 54, United States Code, concerning 

18 any action or activity affecting water, water rights 

19 or water management or water resource facilities 

20 within the Rim of the Valley Unit; or 

21 ‘‘(L) limit the Secretary’s ability to update ap22 plicable fire management plans, which may consider 

23 fuels management strategies including managed nat24 ural fire, prescribed fires, non-fire mechanical hazVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075
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1 ardous fuel reduction activities, or post-fire remedi2 ation of damage to natural and cultural resources. 

3 ‘‘(4) The activities of a utility facility or water re4 source facility shall take into consideration ways to rea5 sonably avoid or reduce the impact on the resources of 

6 the Rim of the Valley Unit. 

7 ‘‘(5) For the purpose of paragraph (4)— 

8 ‘‘(A) the term ‘utility facility’ means electric 

9 substations, communication facilities, towers, poles, 

10 and lines, ground wires, communications circuits, 

11 and other structures, and related infrastructure; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘water resource facility’ means 

13 irrigation and pumping facilities; dams and res14 ervoirs; flood control facilities; water conservation 

15 works, including debris protection facilities, sediment 

16 placement sites, rain gauges, and stream gauges; 

17 water quality, recycled water, and pumping facilities; 

18 conveyance distribution systems; water treatment fa19 cilities; aqueducts; canals; ditches; pipelines; wells; 

20 hydropower projects; transmission facilities; and 

21 other ancillary facilities, groundwater recharge facili22 ties, water conservation, water filtration plants, and 

23 other water diversion, conservation, groundwater re24 charge, storage, and carriage structures.’’. 

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