I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2339

To amend the National Trails System Act to authorize an additional category

of national trail known as a national discovery trail, to provide special

requirements for the establishment and administration of national discovery trails, and to designate the cross country American Discovery

Trail as the first national discovery trail.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 24, 1999

Mr. BEREUTER (for himself, Mr. VENTO, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. RAHALL, Mr.

CASTLE, Mr. PICKETT, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. SAWYER, Mr.

BOEHLERT, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. GILCHREST, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr.

MCINNIS, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. LEACH, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. EHRLICH, Mr.

ENGLISH, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. EVANS, Mr. STARK, Mr. LANTOS, Mr.

PORTER, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs.

MORELLA, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Ms. NORTON, Mr.

MORAN of Virginia, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. WELLER, Mr. CLAY, Mr. GILMAN,

and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To amend the National Trails System Act to authorize an

additional category of national trail known as a national

discovery trail, to provide special requirements for the

establishment and administration of national discovery

trails, and to designate the cross country American Discovery Trail as the first national discovery trail.
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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’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAILS

7 COMPONENT OF NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM.

8 (a) ADDITIONAL COMPONENT OF SYSTEM.—Section

9 3(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C.

10 1242(a)) is amended—

11 (1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para12 graph (5); and

13 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol14 lowing new paragraph:

15 ‘‘(4) National discovery trails, established as

16 provided in section 5 and subject to the special re17 quirements of section 7A, which will be extended,

18 continuous, interstate trails so located as to—

19 ‘‘(A) provide for outstanding outdoor

20 recreation and travel and the conservation and

21 enjoyment of significant natural, cultural, and

22 historic resources associated with the trail; and

23 ‘‘(B) connect representative examples of

24 America’s trails and metropolitan, urban, rural,

25 and backcountry regions of the Nation.’’.
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1 (b) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR NATIONAL DIS2 COVERY TRAILS.—The National Trails System Act is

3 amended by inserting after section 7 (16 U.S.C. 1246)

4 the following new section:

5 ‘‘SEC. 7A. SPECIAL ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

6 REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO NATIONAL

7 DISCOVERY TRAILS.

8 ‘‘(a) COOPERATIVE ADMINISTRATION.—The appro9 priate Secretary for each national discovery trail shall ad10 minister the trail in cooperation with a competent

11 trailwide volunteer-based organization.

12 ‘‘(b) RELATION TO OTHER TRAILS.—Where national

13 discovery trails are congruent with other local, State, na14 tional scenic, or national historic trails, the designation

15 of the national discovery trail shall not in any way dimin16 ish the values and significance for which these trails were

17 established.’’.

18 (c) CONDITIONS ON CONDUCT OF FEASIBILITY

19 STUDIES.—Section 5(b) of the National Trails System Act

20 (16 U.S.C. 1244(b)) is amended—

21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through

22 (10) as subparagraphs (A) through (J), respectively;

23 (2) by striking ‘‘the’’ at the beginning of each

24 of subparagraphs (A) through (J), as so redesig25 nated, and inserting ‘‘The’’;
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1 (3) by striking the semicolon at the end of each

2 of subparagraphs (A) through (I), as so redesig3 nated, and inserting a period;

4 (4) in subparagraph (J), as so redesignated, by

5 striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a period;

6 (5) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(b)’’ at the begin7 ning of the subsection;

8 (6) by redesignating paragraph (11) as para9 graph (2) and conforming the margins to paragraph

10 (1); and

11 (7) by adding at the end the following new

12 paragraph:

13 ‘‘(3)(A) For purposes of this subsection, a trail shall

14 not be considered feasible and desirable for designation

15 as a national discovery trail unless it meets all of the fol16 lowing criteria:

17 ‘‘(i) The trail must link to one or more areas

18 within the boundaries of a metropolitan area (as

19 those boundaries are determined under section

20 134(c) of title 23, United States Code), and the trail

21 should also join with other trails, thereby tying the

22 National Trails System to significant recreation and

23 resources areas.

24 ‘‘(ii) The trail must be supported by at least

25 one competent trailwide volunteer-based organiza-
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1 tion, and must have extensive local and trailwide

2 support by the public, by user groups, and by af3 fected State and local governments.

4 ‘‘(iii) The trail must be extended and pass

5 through more than one State. At a minimum, it

6 should be a continuous, walkable route.

7 ‘‘(B) National discovery trails are specifically exempt8 ed from the provisions of sections 7(g) of this Act.

9 ‘‘(C) The appropriate Secretary shall obtain written

10 consent from affected landowners prior to entering non11 public lands for the purposes of conducting any surveys

12 or studies of nonpublic lands relating to designating or

13 administering national discovery trails.’’.

14 (d) COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL

15 PLAN.—Section 5 of the National Trails System Act (16

16 U.S.C. 1244) is amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing new subsection:

18 ‘‘(g) COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL

19 PLAN.—

20 ‘‘(1) PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION.—Within

21 three complete fiscal years after the date of enact22 ment of legislation designating a national discovery

23 trail, the responsible Secretary shall submit to the

24 Committee on Resources of the House of Represent25 atives and the Committee on Energy and Natural
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1 Resources of the Senate a comprehensive plan for

2 the protection, management, development, and use

3 of the Federal portions of the trail and for the provi4 sion of technical assistance to States and local units

5 of government and private landowners, as requested,

6 for non-Federal portions of the trail.

7 ‘‘(2) COOPERATION AND CONSULTATION.—In

8 developing a comprehensive management plan for a

9 national discovery trail, the responsible Secretary

10 shall cooperate to the fullest practicable extent with

11 the organizations sponsoring the trail. The respon12 sible Secretary shall ensure that the comprehensive

13 plan does not conflict with existing agency direction

14 and shall consult with the affected land managing

15 agencies, the Governors of the affected States, af16 fected county and local political jurisdictions, and

17 local organizations maintaining components of the

18 trail.

19 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OF PLAN.—Com20 ponents of the comprehensive management plan for

21 a national discovery trail shall include the following:

22 ‘‘(A) Policies, objectives, and practices to

23 be observed in the administration and manage24 ment of the trail, including the identification of

25 all significant natural, historical, and cultural
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1 resources to be preserved, model agreements

2 necessary for joint trail administration among

3 and between interested parties, and an identi4 fied carrying capacity for critical segments of

5 the trail, and procedures for implementation,

6 where appropriate.

7 ‘‘(B) Strategies for trail protection to re8 tain the values for which the trail is being es9 tablished and recognized by the Federal Gov10 ernment.

11 ‘‘(C) General and site-specific trail-related

12 development, including anticipated costs.

13 ‘‘(D) The process to be followed to imple14 ment the trail marking authorities in section

15 7(c) conforming to approved trail logo or em16 blem requirements.’’.

17 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO REFLECT NEW

18 CATEGORY OF NATIONAL TRAIL.—The National Trails

19 System Act is amended—

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

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

22 historic, and discovery’’;

23 (2) in section 5 (16 U.S.C. 1244)—

24 (A) by striking the section heading and

25 ‘‘SEC. 5. (a)’’ and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 5. NATIONAL SCENIC, NATIONAL HISTORIC, AND NA2 TIONAL DISCOVERY TRAILS.

3 ‘‘(a) CONGRESSIONALLY AUTHORIZED TRAILS.—’’;

4 (B) in subsection (a), in the matter pre5 ceding paragraph (1)—

6 (i) by striking ‘‘and national historic’’

7 and inserting ‘‘, national historic, and na8 tional discovery’’; and

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘and National His10 toric’’ and inserting ‘‘, National Historic,

11 and National Discovery’’; and

12 (C) in subsection (b)(1) (as amended by

13 subsection (c) of this section)—

14 (i) in the matter preceding subpara15 graph (A), by striking ‘‘or national his16 toric’’ and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or

17 national discovery’’; and

18 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking

19 ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, na20 tional historic, or national discovery’’; and

21 (3) in section 7 (16 U.S.C. 1246)—

22 (A) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘and

23 national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, national his24 toric, and national discovery’’;

25 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘or na26 tional historic’’ each place such term appears
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1 and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or national

2 discovery’’;

3 (C) in subsection (c)—

4 (i) by striking ‘‘scenic or national his5 toric’’ each place it appears and inserting

6 ‘‘scenic, national historic, or national dis7 covery’’;

8 (ii) in the second proviso, by striking

9 ‘‘scenic, or national historic’’ and inserting

10 ‘‘scenic, national historic, or national dis11 covery’’; and

12 (iii) by striking ‘‘, and national his13 toric’’ and inserting ‘‘, national historic,

14 and national discovery’’;

15 (D) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘or na16 tional historic’’ and inserting ‘‘national historic,

17 or national discovery’’;

18 (E) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘or na19 tional historic’’ each place such term appears

20 and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or national

21 discovery’’;

22 (F) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ‘‘Na23 tional Scenic or Historic Trail’’ and inserting

24 ‘‘national scenic, historic, or discovery trail’’;
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1 (G) in subsection (h)(1), by striking ‘‘or

2 national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘national his3 toric, or national discovery’’; and

4 (H) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘or na5 tional historic’’ and inserting ‘‘national historic,

6 or national discovery’’.

7 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF AMERICAN DISCOVERY TRAIL AS

8 A NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL.

9 (a) DESIGNATION.—Section 5(a) of National Trails

10 System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended by adding

11 at the end the following new paragraph:

12 ‘‘(21) The American Discovery Trail, a trail of ap13 proximately 6,000 miles extending from Cape Henlopen

14 State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes National Seashore

15 in California, extending westward through Delaware,

16 Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Ohio,

17 and Kentucky, where near Cincinnati it splits into two

18 routes. The Northern Midwest route traverses Ohio, Indi19 ana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado, and the

20 Southern Midwest route traverses Indiana, Illinois, Mis21 souri, Kansas, and Colorado. After the two routes rejoin

22 in Denver, Colorado, the route continues through Colo23 rado, Utah, Nevada, and California. The trail is generally

24 described in Volume 2 of the National Park Service feasi25 bility study dated June 1995 which shall be on file and
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1 available for public inspection in the office of the Director

2 of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

3 The American Discovery Trail shall be administered by

4 the Secretary of the Interior in cooperation with at least

5 one competent trailwide volunteer-based organization, af6 fected land managing agencies and State and local govern7 ments as appropriate. No lands or interests outside the

8 exterior boundaries of federally administered areas may

9 be acquired by the Federal Government solely for the

10 American Discovery Trail. The American Discovery Trail

11 is specifically exempted from the provisions of subsection

12 (e), (f), and (g) of section 7.’’.

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—Such section is fur14 ther amended—

15 (1) by designating the paragraph relating to the

16 California National Historic Trail as paragraph

17 (18);

18 (2) by designating the paragraph relating to the

19 Pony Express National Historic Trail as paragraph

20 (19); and

21 (3) by designating the paragraph relating to the

22 Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail as

23 paragraph (20).

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