Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Boundary Adjustment Act

To adjust the boundary of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park to include the Wallis House and Harriston Hill, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Boundary Adjustment Act 2. Findings The Congress finds the following: (1) Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park was authorized as a unit of the National Park System on June 26, 1935. Prior to 1935, parts of the park had been acquired and protected by Civil War veterans and the War Department. (2) Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park protects Kennesaw Mountain and Kolb’s Farm, which are battle sites along the route of General Sherman’s 1864 campaign to take Atlanta. (3) Most of the park protects Confederate positions and strategy. The Wallis House is one of the few original structures remaining from the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain associated with Union positions and strategy. (4) The Wallis House is strategically located next to a Union signal station at Harriston Hill. 3. Boundary adjustment; land acquisition; administration (a) Boundary adjustment The boundary of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is modified to include the approximately 8 acres identified as Wallis House and Harriston Hill Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Proposed Boundary Adjustment (b) Map The map referred to in subsection (a) shall be on file and available for inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park Service. (c) Land acquisition The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to acquire, from willing owners only, land or interests in land described in subsection (a) by donation or exchange. (d) Administration of acquired lands The Secretary of the Interior shall administer land and interests in land acquired under this section as part of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. (e) Written consent of owner No non-Federal property may be included in the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park without the written consent of the owner. This provision shall apply only to those portions of the Park added under subsection (a). (f) No use of condemnation The Secretary of the Interior may not acquire by condemnation any land or interests in land under this Act or for the purposes of this Act. (g) No buffer zone created Nothing in this Act, the establishment of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, or the management plan for the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park shall be construed to create buffer zones outside of the Park. That activities or uses can be seen, heard, or detected from areas within the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park shall not preclude, limit, control, regulate or determine the conduct or management of activities or uses outside the Park.

Summary: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Boundary Adjustment Act This bill modifies the boundary of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Georgia to include approximately eight acres identified as Wallis House and Harriston Hill. The Department of the Interior may acquire land or interests, by donation or exchange, from willing sellers only. The written consent of property owners is required before the land is included in the park. Interior may not acquire the land by condemnation.