IIB
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1628
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
SEPTEMBER 12, 2001
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources
AN ACT
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate El
Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
HR 1628 RFS
Real, and carried American immigrants from the
east, contributing to the formation of the Republic
of Texas, and its annexation to the United States;
(5) the exploration, conquest, colonization, set-
tlement, migration, military occupation, religious
conversion, and cultural exchange that occurred in a
large area of the borderland was facilitated by El
Camino Real de los Tejas as it carried Spanish and
Mexican influences northeastward, and by its suc-
cessor, the Old San Antonio Road, which carried
American influence westward, during a historic pe-
riod which extended from 1689 to 1850; and
(6) the portions of El Camino Real de los Tejas
in what is now the United States extended from the
Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and Laredo, Texas and
involved routes that changed through time, that
total almost 2,600 miles in combined length, gen-
erally coursing northeasterly through San Antonio,
Bastrop, Nacogdoches, and San Augustine in Texas
to Natchitoches, Louisiana, a general corridor dis-
tance of 550 miles.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
Section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16
U.S.C. 1244(a) is amended as follows:
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(1) By designating the paragraph relating to
the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail as para-
graph (21).
(2) By adding at the end the following:
‘‘(23) EL CAMINO REAL DE LOS TEJAS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—El Camino Real de los
Tejas (The Royal Road to the Tejas) National
Historic Trail, a combination of routes totaling
2,580 miles in length from the Rio Grande near
Eagle Pass and Laredo, Texas to Natchitoches,
Louisiana, and including the Old San Antonio
Road, as generally depicted on the maps enti-
tled ‘El Camino Real de los Tejas’, contained in
the report prepared pursuant to subsection (b)
entitled ‘National Historic Trail Feasibility
Study and Environmental Assessment: El Ca-
mino Real de los Tejas, Texas-Louisiana’, dated
July 1998. A map generally depicting the trail
shall be on file and available for public inspec-
tion in the Office of the National Park Service,
Department of the Interior. The trail shall be
administered by the Secretary of the Interior.
‘‘(B) COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES.—The
Secretary of the Interior may coordinate with
United States and Mexican public and non-gov-
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ernmental organizations, academic institutions,
and, in consultation with the Secretary of State,
the Government of Mexico and its political sub-
divisions, for the purpose of exchanging trail in-
formation and research, fostering trail preserva-
tion and educational programs, providing tech-
nical assistance, and working to establish an
international historic trail with complementary
preservation and education programs in each
nation.’’.
SEC. 4. PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION.
Designation of El Camino Real de los Tejas under
this Act does not itself confer any additional authority to
apply other existing Federal laws and regulations on non-
Federal lands along the trail. Laws or regulations requir-
ing public entities and agencies to take into consideration
a national historic trail shall continue to apply notwith-
standing the foregoing. On non-Federal lands, the na-
tional historic trail shall be established only when land-
owners voluntarily request certification of their sites and
segments of the trail consistent with section 3(a)(3) of the
National Trails System Act. Notwithstanding section 7(g)
of such Act, the United States is authorized to acquire
privately-owned real property or an interest in such prop-
erty for purposes of the trail only with the willing consent
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of the owner of such property and shall have no authority
to condemn or otherwise appropriate privately-owned real
property or an interest in such property for the purposes
of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail.
Passed the House of Representatives September 10,
2001.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.