I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 302
Entitled ‘‘Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act of 1997’’.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 7, 1997
Mr. SKAGGS (for himself and Ms. DEGETTE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
Entitled ‘‘Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act
of 1997’’.
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 ‘‘Rocky Mountain Na-
tion Park Wilderness Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
The Congress finds that—
(1) it is in the national interest to include cer-
tain lands in Rocky Mountain National Park within
the National Wilderness Preservation System so as
to protect those lands’ enduring scenic and historic
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wilderness character and unique wildlife and to pre-
serve the lands’ scientific, educational, recreational,
and inspirational resources and challenges;
(2) to fulfill the purposes of the wilderness des-
ignation of those lands, as expressed in this Act and
the Wilderness Act of 1964 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et
seq.), it is necessary for the United States to have
rights to water within Rocky Mountain National
Park; and
(3) the existing rights of the United States to
water within Rocky Mountain Park for national park
purposes, which are being adjudicated in the courts
of the State of Colorado, may be sufficient to fulfill
the purposes of the wilderness designation of those
lands.
SEC. 3. WILDERNESS DESIGNATION AND MAPS.
(a) DESIGNATION.—(1) In furtherance of the pur-
poses of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), cer-
tain lands in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado,
which comprise approximately 240,700 acres, as generally
depicted on a man entitled ‘‘Rocky Mountain National
Park Wilderness—Proposed’’ and dated April 1996, are
hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as compo-
nents of the National Wilderness Preservation System,
and, together with the lands referred to in paragraph (2),
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SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to valid existing rights,
lands designated as wilderness by this Act shall be man-
aged by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with
the Wilderness Act and this Act, except that, with respect
to the wilderness area designated by this Act, any ref-
erence in the Wilderness Act to the effective date of the
Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) RESERVED WATER RIGHTS.—(1) Within the area
designated as wilderness by section 3(a)(1), there is here-
by reserved a quantity of water sufficient to fulfill the pur-
poses of that wilderness designation.
(2) The priority date of the water rights reserved in
paragraph (1) shall be the date of enactment of this Act.
(3) The Secretary of the Interior and other appro-
priate officers of the United States shall take all steps nec-
essary to protect the rights reserved by paragraph (1), in-
cluding the filing by the Secretary of a claim for the quan-
tification of such right in any present or future appro-
priate stream adjudication in the courts of the State of
Colorado in which the United States has been or is here-
after properly joined in accordance with section 208 of the
Act of July 10, 1952 (43 U.S.C. 666), commonly referred
to as the ‘‘McCarran Amendment’’.
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(4) The water rights reserved by paragraph (1) shall
be in addition to any water rights which may have been
previously reserved or appropriated by the United States
in the State of Colorado before the date of enactment of
this Act.
(5) In the case of any lands designated as wilderness
by section 3(a)(1) for which the United States has re-
served rights for national park purposes to all the water
within those lands that was unappropriated at the time
those lands were included in Rocky Mountain National
Park, those existing rights shall be deemed sufficient to
fulfill the purposes of the wilderness designation of those
lands made by section 3(a)(1).
(c) COLORADO-BIG THOMPSON PROJECT.—This Act
shall not be construed to prevent or impede activities
under the surface of lands designated as wilderness by this
Act to operate, maintain, repair, or replace the Alva B.
Adams Tunnel of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project.
(2) Section 1 of the Act of January 26, 1915 (16
U.S.C. 191; 38 Stat. 798), is amended by striking the last
sentence
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