I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2178

To designate as wilderness certain lands within the Rocky Mountain National

Park in the State of Colorado.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 10, 1999

Mr. UDALL of Colorado introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To designate as wilderness certain lands within the Rocky

Mountain National Park in the State of Colorado.

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 AND PURPOSE.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act of 1999’’.

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to include

7 in the National Wilderness Preservation System certain

8 lands within the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo9 rado, in order to protect the enduring scenic and historic

10 wilderness character and unique wildlife values of the
2

•HR 2178 IH

1 lands as well as the scientific, educational, inspirational,

2 and recreational resources, values, and opportunities of

3 the lands.

4 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL

5 PARK WILDERNESS.

6 (a) DESIGNATION.—In furtherance of the purposes of

7 the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), certain lands

8 within the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado,

9 which comprise approximately 249,562 acres, as generally

10 depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Rocky Mountain National

11 Park, Colorado Recommended Wilderness Boundaries’’,

12 numbered as Map #121–60,403 and dated September

13 1998, are hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore,

14 as components of the National Wilderness Preservation

15 System. The designated lands shall be known as the Rocky

16 Mountain National Park Wilderness.

17 (b) MAP AND DESCRIPTION.—As soon as practicable

18 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of

19 the Interior shall file a map and a boundary description

20 of the lands designated as wilderness by subsection (a)

21 with the Committee on Resources of the House of Rep22 resentatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural

23 Resources of the Senate. The map and description shall

24 have the same force and effect as if included in this Act,

25 except that the Secretary may correct clerical and typo-
3

•HR 2178 IH

1 graphical errors in the map and description. The map and

2 description shall be on file and available for public inspec3 tion in the office of the Director of the National Park

4 Service, Department of the Interior.

5 SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

6 (a) MANAGEMENT GENERALLY.—Subject to valid ex7 isting rights, lands designated as wilderness by section

8 2(a) shall be managed by the Secretary of the Interior

9 in accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131

10 et seq.) and this Act, except that, with respect to the lands

11 designated as wilderness by section 2(a), any reference in

12 the Wilderness Act to the effective date of the Wilderness

13 Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the date of enact14 ment of this Act.

15 (b) POTENTIAL WILDERNESS LANDS.—

16 (1) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term

17 ‘‘potential wilderness lands’’ means—

18 (A) lands that are identified as potential

19 wilderness on the map referred to in section

20 2(a); and

21 (B) lands and interests therein acquired by

22 the United States on or after the date of enact23 ment of this Act that are located within the

24 boundaries of the Rocky Mountain National
4

•HR 2178 IH

1 Park and are contiguous with lands designated

2 as wilderness by this Act.

3 (2) MANAGEMENT.—Potential wilderness lands

4 shall be managed as components of the National

5 Wilderness Preservation System upon publication in

6 the Federal Register of a notice by the Secretary of

7 the Interior that all uses of the lands inconsistent

8 with the Wilderness Act have ceased.

9 (c) WATER RIGHTS.—

10 (1) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

11 (A) according to decisions of the courts of

12 the State of Colorado, the United States has ex13 isting rights to water within the Rocky Moun14 tain National Park;

15 (B) those rights are sufficient for the pur16 poses of the Rocky Mountain National Park

17 Wilderness as designated by section 2(a); and

18 (C) in light of the findings in subpara19 graphs (A) and (B), there is no need for this

20 Act to effect a reservation by the United States

21 of any additional water rights to fulfill the pur22 poses for which the wilderness designation

23 made by section 2(a) are made.

24 (2) NO RESERVATION.—Nothing in this Act or

25 any action taken pursuant to this Act shall con-
5

•HR 2178 IH

1 stitute either an express or implied reservation of

2 water or water rights for any purpose.

3 (d) COLORADO-BIG THOMPSON PROJECT.—

4 (1) CURRENT ACTIVITIES.—Activities on,

5 under, or affecting the lands designated as wilder6 ness by section 2(a) relating to the monitoring, oper7 ation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and use of

8 the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and its facilities

9 which were allowed as of June 1, 1998, shall be al10 lowed to continue and shall not be affected by the

11 designation of the lands as wilderness.

12 (2) NEW ACTIVITIES.—In addition to the activi13 ties described in paragraph (1), any other activities

14 on, under, or affecting the lands designated as wil15 derness by section 2(a) that because of emergencies

16 or catastrophic events become necessary for the op17 eration, maintenance, repair, replacement, and con18 tinue use of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and

19 its facilities shall be allowed, subject only to reason20 able restrictions which are established by the Sec21 retary of the Interior to protect the wilderness val22 ues of the lands. In implementing this paragraph,

23 the Secretary shall not establish any restrictions on

24 the activities that would prevent the occurrence of

25 such necessary activities or that would reduce the
6

•HR 2178 IH

1 water supply provided by the Colorado-Big Thomp2 son Project or the Windy Gap Project.

3 (3) RELATION TO AUTHORITY IN ACT ESTAB4 LISHING PARK.—Nothing in the first section of the

5 Act of January 26, 1915 (16 U.S.C. 191; 38 Stat.

6 798), shall be construed to permit development with7 in the lands designated as wilderness by section 2(a)

8 of any reclamation project not in existence as of the

9 date of enactment of this Act.

10 (e) EXCLUSIONS.—

11 (1) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN LANDS.—Bound12 aries for the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilder13 ness and the potential wilderness lands specifically

14 exclude the following:

15 (A) The Grand Ditch (including both the

16 main canal of the Grand Ditch and a branch

17 thereof known as the specimen Ditch) and its

18 right-of-way as well as associated appur19 tenances, structures, buildings, camps, and

20 work sites in existence as of June 1, 1998.

21 (B) Lands owned by the St. Vrain & Left

22 Hand Water Conservancy District, including

23 Copeland Reservoir and the inlet ditch to such

24 reservoir from the North St. Vrain Creek,

25 amounting to approximately 35.38 acres.
7

•HR 2178 IH

1 (2) RELATION TO LANDS OUTSIDE WILDER2 NESS.—Nothing in this Act shall affect the manage3 ment or use of any lands not included within the

4 boundaries of the Rocky Mountain National Park

5 Wilderness or the potential wilderness lands.

6 (f) NO BUFFER ZONES.—Congress does not intend

7 that the designation by this Act of the Rocky Mountain

8 National Park Wilderness creates or implies the creation

9 of protective perimeters or buffer zones around the wilder10 ness area. The fact that nonwilderness activities or uses

11 can be seen or heard from within the wilderness area shall

12 not, of itself, preclude such activities or uses up to the

13 boundary of the wilderness area.

Æ