S. 3519 

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two 

An Act 

To amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Butterfield Overland 

National Historic Trail, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Butterfield Overland National 

Historic Trail Designation Act’’. 

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF THE BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND NATIONAL 

HISTORIC TRAIL. 

Section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 

1244(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(31) BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Butterfield Overland National 

Historic Trail, a trail of approximately 3,292 miles following 

the route operated by the Butterfield Overland Mail Company, known as the ‘Ox-Bow Route’, to transport mail 

and passengers between the eastern termini of St. Louis, 

Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee, and extending westward through the States of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, 

New Mexico, and Arizona, to the western terminus of San 

Francisco, California, as generally depicted on the maps 

numbered 1 through 15, entitled ‘Study Route Maps’, and 

contained in the report prepared by the National Park 

Service entitled ‘Butterfield Overland Trail National 

Historical Trail Special Resource Study’ and dated May 

2018. 

‘‘(B) MAPS.—The maps described in subparagraph (A) 

shall be on file and available for public inspection in the 

appropriate offices of the National Park Service. 

‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATION.—The trail established by 

subparagraph (A) shall be administered by the Secretary 

of the Interior. 

‘‘(D) LAND ACQUISITION.—The United States shall not 

acquire for the trail established by subparagraph (A) any 

land or interest in land outside of the exterior boundary 

of any federally administered area without the consent 

of the owner of the land or interest in land. 

‘‘(E) NO BUFFER ZONE CREATED.— 

‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this paragraph, the 

acquisition of land or an interest in land authorized 

by this paragraph, or any management plan for the 

Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail creates 
S. 3519—2 

a buffer zone outside of the Butterfield Overland 

National Historic Trail. 

‘‘(ii) OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES.—The fact that an activity 

or use on land outside the Butterfield Overland 

National Historic Trail can be seen, heard, or detected 

from land or an interest in land acquired for the 

Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail shall not 

preclude, limit, control, regulate, or determine the conduct or management of the activity or use. 

‘‘(F) EFFECT ON ENERGY DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, 

OR TRANSMISSION.—Nothing in this paragraph, the acquisition of land or an interest in land authorized by this 

paragraph, or any management plan for the Butterfield 

Overland National Historic Trail shall prohibit, hinder, 

or disrupt the development, production, or transmission 

of energy. 

‘‘(G) NO EMINENT DOMAIN OR CONDEMNATION.—In carrying out this paragraph, the Secretary of the Interior 

may not use eminent domain or condemnation.’’. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.