IB 
Union Calendar No. 300 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2909 
[Report No. 108–521] 
To ensure the continued availability of the Utah Test and Training Range 
to support the readiness and training needs of the Armed Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2003 
Mr. BISHOP of Utah (for himself, Mr. CANNON, and Mr. MATHESON) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Re-
sources 
JUNE 3, 2004 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 25, 2003] 
A BILL 
To ensure the continued availability of the Utah Test and 
Training Range to support the readiness and training 
needs of the Armed Forces. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utah Test and Training 
Range Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘covered wilderness’’ means the 
wilderness area designated by this Act and wilderness 
study areas located near lands withdrawn for mili-
tary use and beneath special use airspace critical to 
the support of military test and training missions at 
the Utah Test and Training Range, including the 
Deep Creek, Fish Springs, Swasey Mountain, Howell 
Peak, Notch Peak, King Top, Wah Wah Mountain, 
and Conger Mountain units designated by the De-
partment of the Interior. 
(2) The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the Skull Valley 
Band of Goshute Indians. 
(3) The term ‘‘Utah Test and Training Range’’ 
means those portions of the military operating area 
of the Utah Test and Training Area located solely in 
the State of Utah. The term includes the Dugway 
Proving Ground. 
(4) The term ‘‘Wilderness Act’’ means Public 
Law 88–577, approved September 3, 1964 (16 U.S.C. 
1131 et seq.).
SEC. 3. MILITARY OPERATIONS AND OVERFLIGHTS, UTAH 
TEST AND TRAINING RANGE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The testing and development of military 
weapons systems and the training of military forces 
are critical to ensuring the national security of the 
United States. 
(2) The Utah Test and Training Range in the 
State of Utah is a unique and irreplaceable national 
asset at the core of the test and training mission of 
the Department of Defense. 
(3) The Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area des-
ignated by section 5, as well as several wilderness 
study areas, are located near lands withdrawn for 
military use or are beneath special use airspace crit-
ical to the support of military test and training mis-
sions at the Utah Test and Training Range. 
(4) The Utah Test and Training Range and spe-
cial use airspace withdrawn for military uses create 
unique management circumstances for the covered 
wilderness in this Act, and it is not the intent of Con-
gress that passage of this Act shall be construed as es-
tablishing a precedent with respect to any future na-
tional conservation area or wilderness designation. 
(5) Continued access to the special use airspace 
and lands that comprise the Utah Test and Training
Range, under the terms and conditions described in 
this section, is a national security priority and is not 
incompatible with the protection and proper manage-
ment of the natural, environmental, cultural, and 
other resources of such lands. 
(b) OVERFLIGHTS.—Nothing in this Act or the Wilder-
ness Act shall preclude low-level overflights and operations 
of military aircraft, helicopters, missiles, or unmanned aer-
ial vehicles over the covered wilderness, including military 
overflights and operations that can be seen or heard within 
the covered wilderness. 
(c) SPECIAL USE AIRSPACE AND TRAINING ROUTES.— 
Nothing in this Act or the Wilderness Act shall preclude 
the designation of new units of special use airspace, the ex-
pansion of existing units of special use airspace, or the use 
or establishment of military training routes over the covered 
wilderness. 
(d) COMMUNICATIONS
AND TRACKING SYSTEMS.— 
Nothing in this Act shall prevent any required maintenance 
of existing communications, instrumentation, or electronic 
tracking systems (or infrastructure supporting such sys-
tems) or prevent the installation of new communication, in-
strumentation, or other equipment necessary for effective 
testing and training to meet military requirements in wil-
derness study areas located beneath special use airspace
comprising the Utah Test and Training Range, including 
the Deep Creek, Fish Springs, Swasey Mountain, Howell 
Peak, Notch Peak, King Top, Wah Wah Mountain, and 
Conger Mountain units designated by the Department of 
Interior, so long as the Secretary of the Interior, after con-
sultation with the Secretary of the Air Force, determines 
that the installation and maintenance of such systems, 
when considered both individually and collectively, comply 
with section 603 of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782). 
(e) EMERGENCY ACCESS AND RESPONSE.—Nothing in 
this Act or the Wilderness Act shall preclude the continu-
ation of the memorandum of understanding in existence as 
of the date of enactment of this Act between the Department 
of the Interior and the Department of the Air Force with 
respect to emergency access and response. 
(f) PROHIBITION
ON
GROUND
MILITARY
OPER-
ATIONS.—Except as provided in subsections (d) and (e), 
nothing in this section shall be construed to permit a mili-
tary operation to be conducted on the ground in covered 
wilderness in the Utah Test and Training Range unless 
such ground operation is otherwise permissible under Fed-
eral law and consistent with the Wilderness Act.
SEC. 4. PLANNING PROCESS FOR FEDERAL LANDS IN UTAH 
TEST AND TRAINING RANGE. 
(a) ANALYSIS OF MILITARY READINESS AND OPER-
ATIONAL IMPACTS.—The Secretary of the Interior shall de-
velop, maintain, and revise land use plans pursuant to sec-
tion 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976 (43 U.S. C. 1712) for Federal lands located in the 
Utah Test and Training Range in consultation with the 
Secretary of Defense. As part of the required consultation 
in connection with a proposed revision of a land use plan, 
the Secretary of Defense shall prepare and transmit to the 
Secretary of the Interior an analysis of the military readi-
ness and operational impacts of the proposed revision with-
in six months of a request from the Secretary of Interior. 
(b) LIMITATION ON RIGHTS-OF-WAYS.—The Secretary 
of the Interior shall not grant or issue any authorizations 
for rights-of-way under section 501(a)(6) of the Federal 
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
1761(a)(6)) upon Federal lands identified as inventory 
units 
UTU–020–086, 
UTU–020–088, 
UTU–020–095, 
UTU–020–096, UTU–020–100, UTU–020–101, UTU–020– 
103, UTU–020–104, UTU–020–105, and UTU–020–110, as 
generally depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Wilderness Inven-
tory, State of Utah’’ and dated August 1979, until the later 
of the following:
(1) The completion of a full revision of the Pony 
Express Area Resource Management Plan, dated Jan-
uary 12, 1990, by the Salt Lake Field Office of the 
Bureau of Land Management. 
(2) January 1, 2015. 
SEC. 5. DESIGNATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CEDAR MOUN-
TAIN WILDERNESS, UTAH. 
(a) DESIGNATION.—Certain Federal lands in Tooele 
County, Utah, as generally depicted on the map entitled 
‘‘Cedar Mountain Wilderness’’ and dated March 7, 2004, 
are hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as a 
component of the National Wilderness Preservation System 
to be known as the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area. 
(b) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing rights, 
the Federal lands in the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area 
are hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropria-
tion, or disposal under the public land laws, from location, 
entry, and patent under the United States mining laws, 
and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral 
and geothermal leasing, and mineral materials, and all 
amendments to such laws. 
(c) MAP AND DESCRIPTION.—(1) As soon as prac-
ticable after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of the Interior shall transmit a map and legal de-
scription of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area to the
Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 
the Senate. 
(2) The map and legal description shall have the same 
force and effect as if included in this Act, except that the 
Secretary of the Interior may correct clerical and typo-
graphical errors in the map and legal description. 
(3) The map and legal description shall be on file and 
available for public inspection in the office of the Director 
of the Bureau of Land Management and the office of the 
State Director of the Bureau of Land Management in the 
State of Utah. 
(d) ADMINISTRATION.—Subject to valid existing rights 
and this Act, the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area shall 
be administered by the Secretary of the Interior in accord-
ance with the provisions of the Wilderness Act, except that 
any reference in such provisions to the effective date of the 
Wilderness Act (or any similar reference) shall be deemed 
to be a reference to the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(e) LAND ACQUISITION.—Any lands or interest in 
lands within the boundaries of the Cedar Mountain Wilder-
ness Area acquired by the United States after the date of 
the enactment of this Act shall be added to and adminis-
tered as part of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area.
(f) FISH AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT.—As provided 
in section 4(d)(7) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 
1133(d)(7)), nothing in this Act shall be construed as affect-
ing the jurisdiction of the State of Utah with respect to fish 
and wildlife on the Federal lands located in that State. 
(g) GRAZING.—Within the Cedar Mountain Wilderness 
Area, the grazing of livestock, where established before the 
date of the enactment of this Act, shall be permitted to con-
tinue subject to such reasonable regulations, policies, and 
practices as the Secretary of the Interior considers nec-
essary, as long as such regulations, policies, and practices 
fully conform with and implement the intent of Congress 
regarding grazing in such areas, as such intent is expressed 
in the Wilderness Act, section 101(f) of Public Law 101– 
628 (104 Stat. 4473), and appendix A of the Report of the 
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs to accompany 
H.R. 2570 of the 101st Congress (H. Rept. 101–405). 
(h) BUFFER ZONES.—Congress does not intend for the 
designation of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area to lead 
to the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones 
around the wilderness area. The fact that nonwilderness ac-
tivities or uses can be seen or heard within the wilderness 
area shall not, of itself, preclude such activities or uses up 
to the boundary of the wilderness area.
(i) RELEASE FROM WILDERNESS STUDY AREA STA-
TUS.—The lands identified as the Browns Spring 
Cherrystem on the map entitled ‘‘Proposed Browns Spring 
Cherrystem’’ and dated May 11, 2004, are released from 
their status as a wilderness study area, and shall no longer 
be subject to the requirements of section 603(c) of the Fed-
eral Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
1782(c)) pertaining to the management of wilderness study 
areas in a manner that does not impair the suitability of 
those areas for preservation of wilderness. 
SEC. 6. IDENTIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL BUREAU OF LAND 
MANAGEMENT LAND IN UTAH AS TRUST LAND 
FOR SKULL VALLEY BAND OF GOSHUTES. 
(a) IDENTIFICATION OF TRUST LAND.—The Secretary 
of the Interior shall identify approximately 640 additional 
acres of Bureau of Land Management land in the State of 
Utah to be administered in trust for the benefit of the Skull 
Valley Band of Goshutes. 
(b) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS.—In identifying the 
land under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Interior 
shall— 
(1) consult with leaders of the Tribe and the 
Governor of Utah; and 
(2) ensure that the land has ready access to 
State or Federal highways and, in the judgment of
the Secretary, provides the best opportunities for com-
mercial economic development in closest proximity to 
other lands of the Tribe. 
(c) PLACEMENT IN TRUST.—Not later than December 
31, 2005, the Secretary of the Interior shall place the land 
identified pursuant to subsection (a) into trust for the pur-
poses of economic development for the Tribe. At least 30 
days before placing the land in trust for the Tribe, the Sec-
retary shall publish in the Federal Register legal descrip-
tions of the land to be placed in trust. 
(d) MANAGEMENT OF TRUST LAND.—The land placed 
into trust for the Tribe under subsection (c) shall be admin-
istered in accordance with laws generally applicable to 
property held in trust by the United States for Indian 
Tribes, except that the land shall immediately revert to the 
administrative control of the Bureau of Land Management 
if the Tribe sells, or attempts to sell, any part of the land. 
(e) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section— 
(1) affects any valid right-of-way, lease, permit, 
mining claim, grazing permit, water right, or other 
right or interest of any person or entity (other than 
the United States) in or to the trust land that exists 
before the date on which the land is placed in trust 
for the Tribe under subsection (c);
(2) enlarges, impairs, or otherwise affects a right 
or claim of the Tribe to any land or interest in land 
based on Aboriginal or Indian title that exists before 
the date of the enactment of this Act; 
(3) constitutes an express or implied reservation 
of water or water right for any purpose with respect 
to the trust land; or 
(4) affects any water right of the Tribe that ex-
ists before the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 7. RELATION TO OTHER LANDS AND LAWS. 
(a) OTHER LANDS.—Nothing in this Act shall be con-
strued to affect any Federal lands located outside of the cov-
ered wilderness or the management of such lands. 
(b) CONFORMING REPEAL.—Section 2815 of the Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Pub-
lic Law 106–65; 113 Stat. 852) is amended by striking sub-
section (d).
Union Calendar No. 300 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2909 
[Report No. 108–521] 
A BILL 
To ensure the continued availability of the Utah 
Test and Training Range to support the readi-
ness and training needs of the Armed Forces. 
JUNE 3, 2004 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed