I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6129 
To release the Bodie Wilderness Study Area in Mono County, California. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 
Mr. MCKEON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To release the Bodie Wilderness Study Area in Mono County, 
California. 
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 ‘‘Mono County Eco-
nomic Development Act of 2010’’. 
SEC. 2. RELEASE OF BODIE WILDERNESS STUDY AREA, 
MONO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Bodie Wilderness Study Area, con-
sisting of 16,482 acres of land, is located in north-
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eastern Mono County, California, approximately nine 
miles east of Bridgeport, California. 
(2) In 1990, the Bureau of Land Management 
issued its California Statewide Wilderness Study Re-
port, containing its recommendations concerning the 
Bodie Wilderness Study Area and others, as re-
quired by section 603 of the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782). 
(3) The Bureau of Land Management reviewed 
the environmental impact statements covering the 
Bodie Wilderness Study Area and in its 1990 report 
recommended the Bodie Wilderness Study area as 
nonsuitable for wilderness. 
(4) The Bureau of Land Management reached 
its decision of no wilderness for the Bodie Wilder-
ness Study Area because the area’s potential for 
mineral occurrences and motorized recreation needs 
outweighs the area’s wilderness values, and second-
arily because the area would be difficult to manage 
as wilderness. 
(5) The Bureau of Land Management based its 
recommendation on the following findings contained 
in the environmental impact statement: 
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(A) The area contains several hundred 
mining claims, many of which may be grand-
fathered. 
(B) Most of the area contains moderate to 
high metallic mineral potential for gold, silver, 
or mercury, or for geothermal resources. 
(C) The area sustains and provides oppor-
tunities for motorized recreation. 
(D) The highly irregular configuration of 
the area as well as the existence of two cherry- 
stemmed roads leading to private inholdings 
and mining claims would inhibit complete and 
effective management as wilderness. 
(6) For the purposes of section 603 of the Fed-
eral Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 
U.S.C. 1782), the Bodie Wilderness Study Area has 
been adequately studied for wilderness. 
(7) Approximately 96 percent of the land in 
Mono County, California, is owned or controlled by 
the Federal Government. 
(8) Unemployment in Mono County, California, 
is approximately 10 percent. 
(9) Releasing the Bodie Wilderness Study Area 
and opening the wilderness study area for economic 
development could create hundreds of good-paying 
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jobs and annual tax revenues in the hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars in an economically depressed area. 
(b) RELEASE OF WILDERNESS STUDY AREA.—The 
Bodie Wilderness Study Area is no longer subject to the 
requirements of section 603(c) of the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782(c)) or sec-
tion 2002 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 
of 2009 (Public Law 111–11; 16 U.S.C. 7202). 
(c) EFFECT OF RELEASE.—The lands within the 
Bodie Wilderness Study Area, as released by subsection 
(b), shall return to multiple use management as set forth 
in the applicable resource management plan prepared 
under section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Man-
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712) immediately, with-
out any further action by the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment. 
Æ 
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