I

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1069

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 20, 1998

Referred to the Committee on Resources

AN ACT

Entitled the ‘‘National Discovery Trails Act of 1997’’.

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 1998’’.
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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:
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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 nonprofit organi10 zation. Each trail should have extensive local

11 and trailwide support by the public, by user

12 groups, and by affected State and local govern13 ments.

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
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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 redesignating the paragraph relating to

7 the California National Historic Trail as paragraph

8 (18);

9 (2) by redesignating the paragraph relating to

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

12 (3) by redesignating 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,
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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
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1 trail, the administering Federal agency shall, in coopera2 tion with at least one competent trailwide volunteer-based

3 organization, submit a comprehensive plan for the protec4 tion, management, development, and use of the federal

5 portions of the trail, and provide technical assistance to

6 states and local units of government and private land7 owners, as requested, for non-federal portions of the trail,

8 to the Committee on Resources of the United States

9 House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy

10 and Natural Resources of the United States Senate. The

11 responsible Secretary shall ensure that the comprehensive

12 plan for the entire trail does not conflict with existing

13 agency direction and that the volunteer-based organization

14 shall consult with the affected land managing agencies, the

15 Governors of the affected States, affected county and local

16 political jurisdictions, and local organizations maintaining

17 components of the trail. Components of the comprehensive

18 plan include—

19 ‘‘(1) 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 ‘‘(2) general and site-specific trail-related devel4 opment including costs; and

5 ‘‘(3) the process to be followed by the volunteer6 based organization, in cooperation with the appro7 priate Secretary, to implement the trial marking au8 thorities in section 7(c) conforming to approved trail

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

10 may be construed to impose or permit the imposition

11 of any landowner on the use of any non federal

12 lands without the consent of the owner thereof. Nei13 ther 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

24 HISTORIC’’ and inserting ‘‘, NATIONAL HIS25 TORIC, AND 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’’ and insert19 ing ‘‘national scenic, historic, or discovery trail’’;

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

21 by striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na22 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’’.

Passed the Senate July 17, 1998.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.