I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1708 

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 

MARCH 13, 2019 

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Ms. 

JUDY CHU of California, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Ms. HILL of California, 

and Mr. LOWENTHAL) 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: 


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1 (1) The Santa Monica Mountains National 

2 Recreation Area was authorized as a unit of the Na3 tional Park System on November 10, 1978. 

4 (2) The Santa Monica Mountains and the Rim 

5 of the Valley Corridor include— 

6 (A) nationally significant resources— 

7 (i) outstanding examples of geologic 

8 history, including the evolution of the 

9 Transverse Ranges Province; 

10 (ii) a diversity of well-preserved ma11 rine and terrestrial paleontological re12 sources; and 

13 (iii) high biodiversity, including out14 standing examples of native grasslands, 

15 coastal sage scrub, chaparral, dry conif16 erous forests, and alluvial fan sage scrub; 

17 and 

18 (B) nationally significant cultural re19 sources that represent a wide range of themes 

20 related to human use and settlement in the re21 gion— 

22 (i) high concentrations of archeo23 logical resources that provide insight into 

24 more than 10,000 years of Native Amer25 ican history; and 


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1 (ii) landmarks that represent topics 

2 such as architecture, recreation, and space 

3 exploration. 

4 (3) Expanding the Santa Monica Mountains 

5 National Recreation Area would provide new oppor6 tunities for the National Park Service to serve a 

7 broad range of urban communities, including many 

8 that are underrepresented in national parks and un9 derserved by State and local parks. 

10 SEC. 3. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT; LAND ACQUISITION; AD11 MINISTRATION. 

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

13 the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (16 

14 U.S.C. 460kk(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘ ‘Santa 

15 Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Santa 

16 Monica Mountains Zone, California, Boundary Map’, 

17 numbered 80,047–C and dated August 2001’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘ ‘Rim of the Valley UnitlSanta Monica Mountains 

19 National Recreation Area’ and dated October 2017’’. 

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

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

22 460kk) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

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

24 3 years after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

25 the Secretary shall update the general management plan 


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1 for the recreation area to reflect the boundaries designated 

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

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

4 to as the ‘Rim of the Valley Unit’). Subject to valid exist5 ing rights, the Secretary shall administer the Rim of the 

6 Valley Unit and any land or interest in land acquired by 

7 the United States and located within the boundaries of 

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

9 in accordance with the provisions of this section and appli10 cable laws and regulations. 

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

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

13 through exchange, donation, or purchase from a willing 

14 seller. Nothing in this subsection authorizes the use of 

15 eminent domain to acquire land or interests in land. 

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

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

18 be construed to— 

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

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

21 non-Federal land; 

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

23 under any other law, of any private property owner 

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


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1 any person injured on private property or other non2 Federal land; 

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

4 other rights relating to any non-Federal land (in5 cluding any interest in any non-Federal land); 

6 ‘‘(D) require any local government to partici7 pate in any program administered by the Secretary; 

8 ‘‘(E) alter, modify, or diminish any right, re9 sponsibility, power, authority, jurisdiction, or entitle10 ment of the State, any political subdivision of the 

11 State, or any State or local agency under existing 

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

13 ‘‘(F) require the creation of protective perim14 eters or buffer zones and the fact that certain activi15 ties or land can be seen or heard from within the 

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

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

18 Rim of the Valley Unit; 

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

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

21 owned by non-Federal entities, including water re22 source facilities and public utilities, without the writ23 ten consent of the owner; 

24 ‘‘(H) affect the operation, maintenance, modi25 fication, construction, or expansion of any water reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1708.IH H1708

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1 source facility or utility facility located within or ad2 jacent to the Rim of the Valley Unit; 

3 ‘‘(I) terminate the fee title to lands or cus4 tomary operation, maintenance, repair, and replace5 ment activities on or under such lands granted to 

6 public agencies that are authorized pursuant to Fed7 eral or State statute; 

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

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

10 resource facility or other facility or property nec11 essary or useful to access any water right to operate 

12 any public water or utility system; or 

13 ‘‘(K) require initiation or reinitiation of con14 sultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife 

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

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

17 seq.), the National Environmental Policy Act of 

18 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), or division A of sub19 title III of title 54, United States Code, concerning 

20 any action or activity affecting water, water rights 

21 or water management or water resource facilities 

22 within the Rim of the Valley Unit. 

23 ‘‘(4) The activities of a utility facility or water re24 source facility shall be conducted in a manner to reasonVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1708.IH H1708

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1 ably avoid or reduce the impact on the resources of the 

2 Rim of the Valley Unit. 

3 ‘‘(5) For the purposes of paragraphs (4) and (5)— 

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

5 substations, communication facilities, towers, poles, 

6 and lines, ground wires, communications circuits, 

7 and other structures, and related infrastructure; and 

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

9 irrigation and pumping facilities; dams and res10 ervoirs; flood control facilities; water conservation 

11 works, including debris protection facilities, sediment 

12 placement sites, rain gages, and stream gauges; 

13 water quality, recycled water, and pumping facilities; 

14 conveyance distribution systems; water treatment fa15 cilities; aqueducts; canals; ditches; pipelines; wells; 

16 hydropower projects; transmission facilities; and 

17 other ancillary facilities, groundwater recharge facili18 ties, water conservation, water filtration plants, and 

19 other water diversion, conservation, groundwater re20 charge, storage, and carriage structures.’’. 

Æ 


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