H. R. 2186
One Hundred Fifth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight
An Act
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the National
Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds and declares the following:
(1) The City of Casper, Wyoming, is nationally significant
as the only geographic location in the western United States
where four congressionally recognized historic trails (the
Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail, and the
Pony Express Trail), the Bridger Trail, the Bozeman Trail,
and many Indian routes converged.
(2) The historic trails that passed through the Casper area
are a distinctive part of the national character and possess
important historical and cultural values representing themes
of migration, settlement, transportation, and commerce that
shaped the landscape of the West.
(3) The Bureau of Land Management has not yet estab-
lished a historic trails interpretive center in Wyoming or in
any adjacent State to educate and focus national attention
on the history of the mid-19th century immigrant trails that
crossed public lands in the Intermountain West.
(4) At the invitation of the Bureau of Land Management,
the City of Casper and the National Historic Trails Foundation,
Inc. (a nonprofit corporation established under the laws of
the State of Wyoming) entered into a memorandum of under-
standing in 1992, and have since signed an assistance agree-
ment in 1993 and a cooperative agreement in 1997, to create,
manage, and sustain a National Historic Trails Interpretive
Center to be located in Casper, Wyoming, to professionally
interpret the historic trails in the Casper area for the benefit
of the public.
(5) The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center author-
ized by this Act is consistent with the purposes and objectives
of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1241 et seq.),
which directs the Secretary of the Interior to protect, interpret,
and manage the remnants of historic trails on public lands.
(6) The State of Wyoming effectively joined the partnership
to establish the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
through a legislative allocation of supporting funds, and the
citizens of the City of Casper have increased local taxes to
meet their financial obligations under the assistance agreement
and the cooperative agreement referred to in paragraph (4).
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(7) The National Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. has
secured most of the $5,000,000 of non-Federal funding pledged
by State and local governments and private interests pursuant
to the cooperative agreement referred to in paragraph (4).
(8) The Bureau of Land Management has completed the
engineering and design phase of the National Historic Trails
Interpretive Center, and the National Historic Trails Founda-
tion, Inc. is ready for Federal financial and technical assistance
to construct the Center pursuant to the cooperative agreement
referred to in paragraph (4).
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To recognize the importance of the historic trails that
passed through the Casper, Wyoming, area as a distinctive
aspect of American heritage worthy of interpretation and
preservation.
(2) To assist the City of Casper, Wyoming, and the National
Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. in establishing the National
Historic Trails Interpretive Center to memorialize and interpret
the significant role of those historic trails in the history of
the United States.
(3) To highlight and showcase the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment’s stewardship of public lands in Wyoming and the West.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS INTERPRETIVE CENTER.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior, acting
through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (in this
section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall establish in Casper,
Wyoming, a center for the interpretation of the historic trails in
the vicinity of Casper, including the Oregon Trail, the Mormon
Trail, the California Trail, and the Pony Express Trail, the Bridger
Trail, the Bozeman Trail, and various Indian routes. The Center
shall be known as the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
(in this section referred to as the ‘‘Center’’).
(b) FACILITIES.—The Secretary, subject to the availability of
appropriations, shall construct, operate, and maintain facilities for
the Center—
(1) on land provided by the City of Casper, Wyoming;
(2) in cooperation with the City of Casper and the National
Historic Trails Interpretive Center Foundation, Inc. (a nonprofit
corporation established under the laws of the State of
Wyoming); and
(3) in accordance with—
(A) the Memorandum of Understanding entered into
on March 4, 1993, by the city, the foundation, and the
Wyoming State Director of the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment; and
(B) the cooperative agreement between the foundation
and the Wyoming State Director of the Bureau of Land
Management, numbered K910A970020.
(c) DONATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
the Secretary may accept, retain, and expend donations of funds,
property, or services from individuals, foundations, corporations,
or public entities for the purpose of development and operation
of the Center.
(d) ENTRANCE FEE.—Notwithstanding section 4 of the Land
and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–6a),
the Secretary may—
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(1) collect an entrance fee from visitors to the Center;
and
(2) use amounts received by the United States from that
fee for expenses of operation of the Center.
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary $5,000,000 to carry out this
section.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.