I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 640

To designate as wilderness certain lands within the Rocky Mountain National 

Park in the State of Colorado. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2003

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’’. 

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 
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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 a component 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.—

18 (1) PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION.—As soon 

19 as practicable after the date of the enactment of this 

20 Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a 

21 map and a boundary description of the Rocky Moun22 tain National Park Wilderness designated by sub23 section (a) and file the map and boundary descrip24 tion with the Committee on Resources of the House 

25 of Representatives and the Committee on Energy 
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1 and Natural Resources of the Senate. The map and 

2 boundary description shall be on file and available 

3 for public inspection in the office of the Director of 

4 the National Park Service, Department of the Inte5 rior. 

6 (2) TREATMENT.—The map and boundary de7 scription prepared under paragraph (1) shall have 

8 the same force and effect as if included in this Act. 

9 The Secretary of the Interior may correct clerical 

10 and typographical errors in the map and description. 

11 (c) POTENTIAL WILDERNESS LANDS.—

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

13 ‘‘potential wilderness lands’’ means—

14 (A) lands identified as potential wilderness 

15 on the map referred to in subsection (a); and 

16 (B) lands and interests therein acquired by 

17 the United States on or after the date of the 

18 enactment of this Act that are located within 

19 the boundaries of the Rocky Mountain National 

20 Park and are contiguous with lands designated 

21 as wilderness by this Act. 

22 (2) INCLUSION IN WILDERNESS.—Upon publi23 cation in the Federal Register of a notice by the 

24 Secretary of the Interior that all uses of a parcel of 

25 potential wilderness lands inconsistent with the Wil-
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1 derness Act have ceased, the parcel shall be included 

2 in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness 

3 designated by subsection (a) and managed as pro4 vided in section 3. The Secretary of the Interior 

5 shall modify the map and boundary description pre6 pared under subsection (b) to reflect the inclusion of 

7 the parcel in the Rocky Mountain National Park 

8 Wilderness. 

9 (d) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN LANDS.—The bound10 aries of the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness 

11 and the potential wilderness lands specifically exclude the 

12 following: 

13 (1) The Grand Ditch (including both the main 

14 canal of the Grand Ditch and a branch thereof 

15 known as the specimen Ditch) and its right-of-way 

16 as well as associated appurtenances, structures, 

17 buildings, camps, and work sites in existence as of 

18 June 1, 1998. 

19 (2) Lands owned by the St. Vrain & Left Hand 

20 Water Conservancy District, including Copeland 

21 Reservoir and the Inlet Ditch to such reservoir from 

22 the North St. Vrain Creek, amounting to approxi23 mately 35.38 acres. 

24 (3) Lands owned by the Wincentsen-Harms 

25 Trust, amounting to approximately 2.75 acres. 
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1 (e) RELATION TO LANDS OUTSIDE WILDERNESS.—

2 Nothing in this Act shall affect the management or use 

3 of any lands not included within the boundaries of the 

4 Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness or the poten5 tial wilderness lands. 

6 SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL 

7 PARK WILDERNESS. 

8 (a) MANAGEMENT GENERALLY.—Subject to valid ex9 isting rights, lands designated as wilderness by section 

10 2(a) or subsequently included in the Rocky Mountain Na11 tional Park Wilderness by section 2(c) shall be managed 

12 by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the 

13 Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) and this Act. 

14 With respect to the lands designated as wilderness by sec15 tion 2(a), any reference in the Wilderness Act to the effec16 tive date of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a 

17 reference to the date of the enactment of this Act. With 

18 respect to the lands subsequently included in the Rocky 

19 Mountain National Park Wilderness by section 2(c), any 

20 reference in the Wilderness Act to the effective date of 

21 the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to 

22 the date on which the lands were included in the wilder23 ness area.

24 (b) WATER RIGHTS.—
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1 (1) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the fol2 lowing: 

3 (A) According to decisions of the courts of 

4 the State of Colorado, the United States has ex5 isting rights to water within the Rocky Moun6 tain National Park. 

7 (B) Those rights are sufficient for the pur8 poses of the Rocky Mountain National Park 

9 Wilderness as designated by section 2. 

10 (C) In light of the findings in subpara11 graphs (A) and (B), there is no need for this 

12 Act to effect a reservation by the United States 

13 of any additional water rights to fulfill the pur14 poses for which the Rocky Mountain National 

15 Park Wilderness is designated. 

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

17 any action taken pursuant to this Act shall con18 stitute either an express or implied reservation of 

19 water or water rights for any purpose. 

20 (c) COLORADO-BIG THOMPSON PROJECT.—

21 (1) CURRENT ACTIVITIES.—Activities on, 

22 under, or affecting the lands designated as wilder23 ness by section 2 relating to the monitoring, oper24 ation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and use of 

25 the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and its facilities 
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1 which were allowed as of June 1, 1998, shall be al2 lowed to continue and shall not be affected by the 

3 designation of the lands as wilderness. 

4 (2) NEW ACTIVITIES.—In addition to the activi5 ties described in paragraph (1), any other activities 

6 on, under, or affecting the lands designated as wil7 derness by section 2 that because of emergencies or 

8 catastrophic events become necessary for the oper9 ation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and con10 tinue use of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and 

11 its facilities shall be allowed, subject only to reason12 able restrictions which are established by the Sec13 retary of the Interior to protect the wilderness val14 ues of the lands. In implementing this paragraph, 

15 the Secretary shall not establish any restrictions on 

16 the activities that would prevent the occurrence of 

17 such necessary activities or that would reduce the 

18 water supply provided by the Colorado-Big Thomp19 son Project or the Windy Gap Project. 

20 (3) RELATION TO AUTHORITY IN ACT ESTAB21 LISHING PARK.—Nothing in the first section of the 

22 Act of January 26, 1915 (16 U.S.C. 191), shall be 

23 construed to permit development within the lands 

24 designated as wilderness by section 2 of any rec-
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1 lamation project not in existence as of the date of 

2 the enactment of this Act. 

3 (d) NO BUFFER ZONES.—Congress does not intend 

4 that the designation by this Act of the Rocky Mountain 

5 National Park Wilderness creates or implies the creation 

6 of protective perimeters or buffer zones around the wilder7 ness area. The fact that nonwilderness activities or uses 

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

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

10 boundary of the wilderness area.

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