I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 236
To establish the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area
in the State of Idaho, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 5, 1993
Mr. LAROCCO introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on Natural Resources, and Merchant Marine and Fisheries
A BILL
To establish the Snake River Birds of Prey National Con-
servation Area in the State of Idaho, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The public lands managed by the Bureau of
Land Management in the State of Idaho within the
Snake River Birds of Prey Area contain one of the
densest known nesting populations of eagles, falcons,
owls, hawks, and other birds of prey (raptors) in
North America.
(2) These public lands constitute a valuable na-
tional biological and educational resource since birds
of prey are important components of the ecosystem
and indicators of environmental quality, and contrib-
ute significantly to the quality of wildlife and human
communities.
(3) These public lands also contain important
historic and cultural resources (including significant
archaeological resources) as well as other resources
and values, all of which should be protected and ap-
propriately managed.
(4) A military training area within the Snake
River Birds of Prey Area, known as the Orchard
Training Area, has been used since 1953 by reserve
components of the Armed Forces. Military use of
this area is currently governed by a Memorandum of
Understanding between the Bureau of Land Man-
agement and the State of Idaho Military Division,
dated May 1985. Operating under this Memoran-
dum of Understanding, the Idaho National Guard
has provided valuable assistance to the Bureau of
Land Management with respect to fire control and
other aspects of management of the Orchard Train-
ing Area and the other lands in the Snake River
Birds of Prey Area. Military use of the lands within
the Orchard Training Area should continue in ac-
cordance with such Memorandum of Understanding
(or extension or renewal thereof), to the extent con-
sistent with section 4(e) of this Act, because this
would be in the best interest of training of the re-
serve components (an important aspect of national
security) and of the local economy.
(5) Protection of the conservation area as a
home for raptors can best and should be accom-
plished by the Secretary of the Interior, acting
through the Bureau of Land Management, under a
management plan that—
(A) emphasizes management, protection,
and rehabilitation of habitat for these raptors
and of other resources and values of the area;
(B) provides for continued military use,
consistent with the requirements of section 4(e)
of this Act, of the Orchard Training Area by re-
serve components of the Armed Forces;
(C) addresses the need for public edu-
cational and interpretive opportunities;
(D) allows for diverse appropriate uses of
lands in the area to the extent consistent with
the maintenance and enhancement of raptor
populations and habitats and protection and
sound management of other resources and val-
ues of the area; and
(E) demonstrates management practices
and techniques that may be useful to other
areas of the public lands and elsewhere.
(6) There exists near the conservation area a
facility, the World Center for Birds of Prey operated
by The Peregrine Fund, Inc., where research, public
education, recovery, and reestablishment operations
exist for endangered raptor species. There also exists
at Boise State University a raptor study program
which attracts national and international graduate
and undergraduate students.
(7) The Bureau of Land Management and
Boise State University, together with other State,
Federal, and private entities, have formed the
Raptor Research and Technical Assistance Center to
be housed at Boise State University, which provides
a unique adjunct to the conservation area for raptor
management, recovery, research, and public visita-
tion, interpretation, and education.
(8) Consistent with requirements of sections
202 and 302 of the Federal Land Policy and Man-
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712 and 1732),
the Secretary has developed a comprehensive man-
agement plan and, based on such plan, has imple-
mented a management program for the public lands
included in the conservation area established by this
Act.
(9) Additional authority and guidance must be
provided to assure that essential raptor habitat re-
mains in public ownership, to facilitate sound and
effective planning and management, to provide for
effective public interpretation and education, to en-
sure continued study of the relationship of humans
and these raptors, to preserve the unique and irre-
placeable habitat of the conservation area, and to
conserve and properly manage the other natural re-
sources of the area in concert with maintenance of
this habitat.
(10) An ongoing research program funded by
the Bureau of Land Management and the National
Guard is intended to provide information to be used
in connection with future decisionmaking concerning
management of all uses, including continued military
use, of public lands within the Snake River Birds of
Prey Area.
(11) Public lands in the Snake River Birds of
Prey Area have been used for domestic livestock
grazing for more than a century, with resultant ben-
efits to community stability and contributions to the
local and State economies. It has not been dem-
onstrated that continuation of this use would be in-
compatible with appropriate protection and sound
management of raptor habitat and the other re-
source values of these lands; therefore, subject to the
determination provided for in section 4(f), it is ex-
pected that such use will continue in accordance
with applicable regulations of the Secretary and the
management plan for the conservation area.
(12) Hydroelectric facilities for the generation
and transmission of electricity exist within the
Snake River Birds of Prey Area pursuant to a
license(s) issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, or its predecessor, the Federal Power
Commission.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(2) The term ‘‘conservation area’’ means the
Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation
Area established by section 3.
(3) The term ‘‘raptor’’ or ‘‘raptors’’ means indi-
viduals or populations of eagles, falcons, owls,
hawks, and other birds of prey.
(4) The term ‘‘raptor habitat’’ includes the
habitat of the raptor prey base as well as the nesting
and hunting habitat of raptors within the conserva-
tion area.
(5) The term ‘‘Memorandum of Understand-
ing’’ means the Memorandum of Understanding
#ID–237, dated May 1985, between the State of
Idaho Military Division and the Bureau of Land
Management.
(6) The term ‘‘Orchard Training Area’’ means
that area generally so depicted on the map referred
to in section 3(b), and as described in the Memoran-
dum of Understanding as well as the air space over
the same.
(7) The term ‘‘Impact Area’’ means that area
which was used for the firing of live artillery projec-
tiles and is used for live fire ranges of all types and,
therefore, poses a danger to public safety and which
is generally so depicted on the map referred to in
section 3(b).
(8) The term ‘‘Artillery Impact Area’’ means
that area within the Impact Area into which live
projectiles are fired, which is generally described as
that area labeled as such on the map referred to in
section 3(b).
(9) The term ‘‘the plan’’ means the comprehen-
sive management plan developed for the conservation
area, dated August 30, 1985, together with such re-
visions thereto as may be required in order to imple-
ment this Act.
(10) The term ‘‘hydroelectric facilities’’ means
all facilities related to the generation, transmission,
and distribution of hydroelectric power and which
are subject to, and authorized by, a license(s), and
any and all amendments thereto, issued by the Fed-
eral Energy Regulatory Commission.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CONSERVATION
AREA.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSES.—(1) There is
hereby established the Snake River Birds of Prey National
Conservation Area (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘conserva-
tion area’’).
(2) The purposes for which the conservation area is
established, and shall be managed, are to provide for the
conservation, protection, and enhancement of raptor popu-
lations and habitats and the natural and environmental
resources and values associated therewith, and of the sci-
entific, cultural, and educational resources and values of
the public lands in the conservation area.
(3) To the extent compatible with the purposes speci-
fied in paragraph (2), uses of the public lands in the con-
servation area existing on the date of enactment of this
Act shall be allowed to continue, subject to the provisions
of this Act.
(b) AREA INCLUDED.—The conservation area shall
consist of approximately 482,457 acres of Federally owned
lands and interests therein managed by the Bureau of
Land Management as generally depicted on the map enti-
tled ‘‘Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation
Area’’, dated November 1991.
(c) MAP AND LEGAL DESCRIPTION.—As soon as is
practicable after enactment of this Act, the map referred
to in subsection (b) and a legal description of the con-
servation area shall be filed by the Secretary with the
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House
of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate. Each such map shall
have the same force and effect as if included in this Act;
except that the Secretary may correct clerical and typo-
graphical errors in such map and legal description. Each
such map shall be on file and available for public inspec-
tion in the office of the Director and the Idaho State Di-
rector of the Bureau of Land Management of the Depart-
ment of the Interior.
(d) WITHDRAWALS.—Subject to valid existing rights,
the Federal lands within the conservation area are hereby
withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, or dis-
posal under the public land laws; and from entry, applica-
tion, and selection under the Act of March 3, 1877 (Ch.
107, 19 Stat. 377, 43 U.S.C. 321 et seq.; commonly re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Desert Lands Act’’), section 4 of the
Act of August 18, 1894 (Ch. 301, 28 Stat. 422; 43 U.S.C.
641; commonly referred to as the ‘‘Carey Act’’), the Act
of July 3, 1890 (Ch. 656, 26 Stat. 215; commonly referred
to as the ‘‘State of Idaho Admissions Act’’), section 2275
of the Revised Statutes, as amended (43 U.S.C. 851), and
section 2276 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (43
U.S.C. 852). The Secretary shall return to the applicants
any such applications pending on the date of enactment
of this Act, without further action. Subject to valid exist-
ing rights, as of the date of enactment of this Act, lands
within the Birds of Prey Conservation Area are withdrawn
from location under the general mining laws, the operation
of the mineral and geothermal leasing laws, and the min-
eral material disposal laws.