Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1075 To adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 15, 2021 Mr. SCHIFF introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rim of the Valley Cor- 4 ridor Preservation Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds as follows: 7 (1) The Santa Monica Mountains National 8 Recreation Area was authorized as a unit of the Na- 9 tional Park System on November 10, 1978. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075 2 •HR 1075 IH (2) The Santa Monica Mountains and the Rim 1 of the Valley Corridor include— 2 (A) nationally significant resources— 3 (i) outstanding examples of geologic 4 history, including the evolution of the 5 Transverse Ranges Province; 6 (ii) a diversity of well-preserved ma- 7 rine and terrestrial paleontological re- 8 sources; and 9 (iii) high biodiversity, including out- 10 standing examples of native grasslands, 11 coastal sage scrub, chaparral, dry conif- 12 erous forests, and alluvian fan sage scrub; 13 and 14 (B) nationally significant cultural re- 15 sources that represent a wide range of themes 16 related to human use and settlement in the re- 17 gion— 18 (i) high concentrations of archeo- 19 logical resources that provide insight into 20 more than 10,000 years of Native Amer- 21 ican history; and 22 (ii) landmarks that represent topics 23 such as architecture, recreation, and space 24 exploration. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075 3 •HR 1075 IH (3) Expanding the Santa Monica Mountains 1 National Recreation Area would provide new oppor- 2 tunities for the National Park Service to serve a 3 broad range of urban communities, including many 4 that are underrepresented in national parks and un- 5 derserved by State and local parks. 6 SEC. 3. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT; LAND ACQUISITION; AD- 7 MINISTRATION. 8 (a) BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.—Section 507(c)(1) of 9 the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (16 10 U.S.C. 460kk(c)(1)) is amended in the first sentence by 11 striking ‘‘, which shall’’ and inserting ‘‘ and generally de- 12 picted as ‘Rim of the Valley Unit Proposed Addition’ on 13 the map entitled ‘Rim of the Valley Unit—Santa Monica 14 Mountains National Recreation Area’, numbered 638/ 15 147,723, and dated September 2018. Both maps shall’’. 16 (b) RIM OF THE VALLEY UNIT.—Section 507 of the 17 National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 18 460kk) is amended by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(u) RIM OF THE VALLEY UNIT.—(1) Not later than 20 3 years after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 21 the Secretary shall update the general management plan 22 for the recreation area to reflect the boundaries designated 23 on the map referred to in subsection (c)(1) as the ‘Rim 24 of the Valley Unit’ (hereafter in the subsection referred 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075 4 •HR 1075 IH to as the ‘Rim of the Valley Unit’). Subject to valid exist- 1 ing rights, the Secretary shall administer the Rim of the 2 Valley Unit, and any land or interest in land acquired by 3 the United States and located within the boundaries of 4 the Rim of the Valley Unit, as part of the recreation area 5 in accordance with the provisions of this section and appli- 6 cable laws and regulations. 7 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may acquire non-Federal land 8 within the boundaries of the Rim of the Valley Unit only 9 through exchange, donation, or purchase from a willing 10 seller. Nothing in this subsection authorizes the use of 11 eminent domain to acquire land or interests in land. 12 ‘‘(3) Nothing in this subsection or the application of 13 the management plan for the Rim of the Valley Unit shall 14 be construed to— 15 ‘‘(A) modify any provision of Federal, State, or 16 local law with respect to public access to or use of 17 non-Federal land; 18 ‘‘(B) create any liability, or affect any liability 19 under any other law, of any private property owner 20 or other owner of non-Federal land with respect to 21 any person injured on private property or other non- 22 Federal land; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075 5 •HR 1075 IH ‘‘(C) affect the ownership, management, or 1 other rights relating to any non-Federal land (in- 2 cluding any interest in any non-Federal land); 3 ‘‘(D) require any local government to partici- 4 pate in any program administered by the Secretary; 5 ‘‘(E) alter, modify, or diminish any right, re- 6 sponsibility, power, authority, jurisdiction, or entitle- 7 ment of the State, any political subdivision of the 8 State, or any State or local agency under existing 9 Federal, State, and local law (including regulations); 10 ‘‘(F) require the creation of protective perim- 11 eters or buffer zones, and the fact that certain ac- 12 tivities or land can be seen or heard from within the 13 Rim of the Valley Unit shall not, of itself, preclude 14 the activities or land uses up to the boundary of the 15 Rim of the Valley Unit; 16 ‘‘(G) require or promote use of, or encourage 17 trespass on, lands, facilities, and rights-of-way 18 owned by non-Federal entities, including water re- 19 source facilities and public utilities, without the writ- 20 ten consent of the owner; 21 ‘‘(H) affect the operation, maintenance, modi- 22 fication, construction, or expansion of any water re- 23 source facility or utility facility located within or ad- 24 jacent to the Rim of the Valley Unit; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075 6 •HR 1075 IH ‘‘(I) terminate the fee title to lands or cus- 1 tomary operation, maintenance, repair, and replace- 2 ment activities on or under such lands granted to 3 public agencies that are authorized pursuant to Fed- 4 eral or State statute; 5 ‘‘(J) interfere with, obstruct, hinder, or delay 6 the exercise of any right to, or access to any water 7 resource facility or other facility or property nec- 8 essary or useful to access any water right to operate 9 any public water or utility system; 10 ‘‘(K) require initiation or reinitiation of con- 11 sultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife 12 Service under, or the application of provisions of, the 13 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 14 seq.), the National Environmental Policy Act of 15 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), or division A of sub- 16 title III of title 54, United States Code, concerning 17 any action or activity affecting water, water rights 18 or water management or water resource facilities 19 within the Rim of the Valley Unit; or 20 ‘‘(L) limit the Secretary’s ability to update ap- 21 plicable fire management plans, which may consider 22 fuels management strategies including managed nat- 23 ural fire, prescribed fires, non-fire mechanical haz- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075 7 •HR 1075 IH ardous fuel reduction activities, or post-fire remedi- 1 ation of damage to natural and cultural resources. 2 ‘‘(4) The activities of a utility facility or water re- 3 source facility shall take into consideration ways to rea- 4 sonably avoid or reduce the impact on the resources of 5 the Rim of the Valley Unit. 6 ‘‘(5) For the purpose of paragraph (4)— 7 ‘‘(A) the term ‘utility facility’ means electric 8 substations, communication facilities, towers, poles, 9 and lines, ground wires, communications circuits, 10 and other structures, and related infrastructure; and 11 ‘‘(B) the term ‘water resource facility’ means 12 irrigation and pumping facilities; dams and res- 13 ervoirs; flood control facilities; water conservation 14 works, including debris protection facilities, sediment 15 placement sites, rain gauges, and stream gauges; 16 water quality, recycled water, and pumping facilities; 17 conveyance distribution systems; water treatment fa- 18 cilities; aqueducts; canals; ditches; pipelines; wells; 19 hydropower projects; transmission facilities; and 20 other ancillary facilities, groundwater recharge facili- 21 ties, water conservation, water filtration plants, and 22 other water diversion, conservation, groundwater re- 23 charge, storage, and carriage structures.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:12 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1075.IH H1075