I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2909
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 
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 Train-
ing Range Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) 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. 
(2) The term ‘‘covered wilderness’’ means the 
wilderness area designated by this Act and wilder-
ness study areas located near lands withdrawn for 
military 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. 
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study areas, are located near lands withdrawn for 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 
special use airspace withdrawn for military uses cre-
ate unique management circumstances for the cov-
ered wilderness in this Act, and it is not the intent 
of Congress that passage of this Act shall be con-
strued as establishing a precedent with respect to 
any future national 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 Wil-
derness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) shall preclude low-
level overflights and operations of military aircraft, heli-
copters, missiles, or unmanned aerial vehicles over the cov-
ered wilderness, including military overflights and oper-
ations that can be seen or heard within the covered wilder-
ness. 
(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 air-
space, the expansion of existing units of special use air-
space, or the use or establishment of military training 
routes over the covered wilderness. 
(d) COMMUNICATIONS AND TRACKING SYSTEMS.—
Nothing in this Act or the Wilderness Act shall prevent 
any required maintenance of existing communications, in-
strumentation, or electronic tracking systems (or infra-
structure supporting such systems) in the covered wilder-
ness or prevent the installation of new communication, in-
strumentation, or other equipment necessary for effective 
testing and training to meet military requirements so long 
as the Secretary of the Interior, after consultation with 
the Secretary of the Air Force, determines that the instal-
lation and maintenance of such systems, when considered 
both individually and collectively—
(1) create a similar or lesser impact on the en-
vironment;
(2) do not expand the size or significantly ex-
pand the number of such systems, as in existence on 
the date of the enactment of this Act; and 
(3) do not require construction of any roads in 
the covered wilderness. 
(e) EMERGENCY ACCESS AND RESPONSE.—Nothing 
in this Act or the Wilderness Act shall preclude the con-
tinuation of the memorandum of understanding in exist-
ence 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 mili-
tary operations to be conducted on the ground in covered 
wilderness in the Utah Test and Training Range. 
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 
develop, maintain, and revise land use plans pursuant to 
section 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 consulta-
tion 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 
readiness and operational impacts of the proposed revision 
within six months of a request from the Secretary of Inte-
rior. 
(b) LIMITATION
ON RIGHTS-OF-WAYS.—The Sec-
retary of the Interior shall not grant or issue any author-
izations pursuant to 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 ‘‘Wil-
derness Inventory, State of Utah’’, 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 January 12, 1990, by the Salt Lake Field Of-
fice 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 llllll 
are hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as a 
component of the National Wilderness Preservation Sys-
tem 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 
Secretary of the Interior shall transmit a map and legal 
description 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 
typographical 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 
accordance with the provisions of the Wilderness Act (16 
U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), 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 Wil-
derness Area acquired by the United States after the date 
of the enactment of this Act shall be added to and admin-
istered as part of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area. 
(f) FISH AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT.—As pro-
vided in section 4(d)(7) of the Wilderness Act, nothing in 
this Act shall be construed as affecting 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 Wilder-
ness Area, the grazing of livestock, where established be-
fore the date of the enactment of this Act, shall be per-
mitted to continue subject to such reasonable regulations, 
policies, and practices as the Secretary of the Interior con-
siders necessary, 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 Pub-
lic 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 nonwilder-
ness activities or uses can be seen or heard within the wil-
derness area shall not, of itself, preclude such activities 
or uses up to the boundary of the wilderness area. 
SEC. 6. RELATION TO OTHER LANDS AND LAWS. 
(a) OTHER LANDS.—Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to affect any Federal lands located outside of 
the covered wilderness or the management of such lands.
(b) OTHER LAWS.—Section 2815(d) of the National 
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Public 
Law 106–65; 113 Stat. 852) shall not apply to the Cedar 
Mountain Wilderness Area.
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