National Discovery Trails Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 726 To amend the National Trails System Act to include national discovery trails and to designate the American Discovery Trail, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 23, 2019 Mr. FORTENBERRY (for himself, Mr. HUFFMAN, and Ms. BLUNT ROCH- ESTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the National Trails System Act to include national discovery trails and to designate the American Discovery Trail, 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 ‘‘National Discovery 4 Trails Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT AMENDMENTS. 6 (a) NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAILS.—Section 3(a) of 7 the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1242(a)) is 8 amended by inserting after paragraph (4) the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 726 IH ‘‘(5) National discovery trails, established under 1 section 5, which— 2 ‘‘(A) shall be extended, continuous, inter- 3 state trails so located as to provide for out- 4 standing outdoor recreation and travel and to 5 connect representative examples of America’s 6 trails and communities; 7 ‘‘(B) should provide for the conservation 8 and enjoyment of significant natural, cultural, 9 and historic resources associated with each trail 10 and should be so located as to represent metro- 11 politan, urban, rural, and back country regions 12 of the Nation; 13 ‘‘(C) may be designated on Federal lands 14 and, with the consent of the owner thereof, on 15 any non-Federal lands; and 16 ‘‘(D) shall not be construed to modify, en- 17 large, or diminish any authority of the Federal, 18 State, or local governments to regulate any use 19 of land as provided for by law or regulation.’’. 20 (b) DESIGNATION OF THE AMERICAN DISCOVERY 21 TRAIL AS A NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL.—Section 5(a) 22 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended by adding 23 at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 726 IH ‘‘(ll) The American Discovery Trail, a trail 1 of approximately 6,000 miles extending from Cape 2 Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes 3 National Seashore in California, extending westward 4 through Delaware, Maryland, the District of Colum- 5 bia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, where near 6 Cincinnati it splits into two routes. The Northern 7 Midwest route traverses Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 8 Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado, and the Southern 9 Midwest route traverses Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 10 Kansas, and Colorado. After the two routes rejoin in 11 Denver, Colorado, the route continues through Colo- 12 rado, Utah, Nevada, and California. The trail is gen- 13 erally described in Volume 2 of the National Park 14 Service feasibility study dated June 1995 which 15 shall be on file and available for public inspection in 16 the office of the Director of the National Park Serv- 17 ice, Department of the Interior, the District of Co- 18 lumbia. The American Discovery Trail shall be ad- 19 ministered by the Secretary of the Interior in co- 20 operation with at least one competent trailwide vol- 21 unteer-based organization and other affected Federal 22 land managing agencies, and State and local govern- 23 ments, as appropriate. No lands or interests outside 24 the exterior boundaries of federally administered 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 726 IH areas may be acquired by the Federal Government 1 solely for the American Discovery Trail. The provi- 2 sions of sections 7(e), 7(f), and 7(g) shall not apply 3 to the American Discovery Trail.’’. 4 (c) COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAIL 5 PLAN.—Section 7 of such Act (16 U.S.C. 1246) is further 6 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 7 section: 8 ‘‘(l)(1) For purposes of subsection (5)(b), a trail shall 9 not be considered feasible and desirable for designation 10 as a national discovery trail unless it meets all of the fol- 11 lowing criteria: 12 ‘‘(A) The trail must link one or more areas 13 within the boundaries of a metropolitan area (as 14 those boundaries are determined under section 15 134(c) of title 23, United States Code). It should 16 also join with other trails, connecting the National 17 Trails System to significant recreation and resources 18 areas. 19 ‘‘(B) The trail must be supported by at least 20 one competent trailwide volunteer-based organiza- 21 tion. Each trail should have extensive local and 22 trailwide support by the public, by user groups, and 23 by affected State and local governments. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 726 IH ‘‘(C) The trail must be extended and pass 1 through more than one State. At a minimum, it 2 should be a continuous, walkable route. 3 ‘‘(2) The appropriate Secretary for each national dis- 4 covery trail shall administer the trail in cooperation with 5 at least one competent trailwide volunteer-based organiza- 6 tion. Where the designation of discovery trail is aligned 7 with other units of the National Trails System, or State 8 or local trails, the designation of a discovery trail shall 9 not affect the protections or authorities provided for the 10 other trail or trails, nor shall the designation of a dis- 11 covery trail diminish the values and significance for which 12 those trails were established. Not later than three com- 13 plete fiscal years after the date of the enactment of any 14 law designating a national discovery trail, the appropriate 15 Secretary shall submit a comprehensive plan for the pro- 16 tection, management, development, and use of the trail, 17 to the Committee on Natural Resources of the United 18 States House of Representatives and the Committee on 19 Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Sen- 20 ate. The responsible Secretary shall ensure that the com- 21 prehensive plan for the entire trail does not conflict with 22 existing agency direction and shall consult with the af- 23 fected land managing agencies, the Governors of the af- 24 fected States, affected county and local political jurisdic- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 726 IH tions, and local organizations maintaining components of 1 the trail. Components of the comprehensive plan include— 2 ‘‘(A) policies and practices to be observed in the 3 administration and management of the trail, includ- 4 ing the identification of all significant natural, his- 5 torical, and cultural resources to be preserved, model 6 agreements necessary for joint trail administration 7 among and between interested parties, and an iden- 8 tified carrying capacity for critical segments of the 9 trail and a plan for their implementation where ap- 10 propriate; 11 ‘‘(B) general and site-specific trail-related de- 12 velopment including costs; and 13 ‘‘(C) the process to be followed by the volun- 14 teer-based organization, in cooperation with the ap- 15 propriate Secretary, to implement the trail marking 16 authorities in subsection (c) conforming to approved 17 trail logo or emblem requirements. Nothing in this 18 Act may be construed to impose or permit the impo- 19 sition on any landowner on the use of any non-Fed- 20 eral lands without the consent of the owner thereof. 21 Neither the designation of a national discovery trail 22 nor any plan relating thereto shall affect or be con- 23 sidered in the granting or denial of a right of way 24 or any conditions relating thereto.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 726 IH SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 1 The National Trails System Act is amended— 2 (1) in section 2(b) (16 U.S.C. 1241(b)), by 3 striking ‘‘scenic and historic’’ and inserting ‘‘scenic, 4 historic, and discovery’’; 5 (2) in the section heading to section 5 (16 6 U.S.C. 1244), by striking ‘‘AND NATIONAL HIS- 7 TORIC’’ and inserting ‘‘, NATIONAL HISTORIC, AND 8 NATIONAL DISCOVERY’’; 9 (3) in section 5(a) (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)), in the 10 matter preceding paragraph (1)— 11 (A) by striking ‘‘and national historic’’ and 12 inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national dis- 13 covery’’; and 14 (B) by striking ‘‘and National Historic’’ 15 and inserting ‘‘, National Historic, and Na- 16 tional Discovery’’; 17 (4) in section 5(b) (16 U.S.C. 1244(b)), in the 18 matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or na- 19 tional historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or 20 national discovery’’; 21 (5) in section 5(b)(3) (16 U.S.C. 1244(b)(3)), 22 by striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, 23 national historic, or national discovery’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 726 IH (6) in section 7(a)(2) (16 U.S.C. 1246(a)(2)), 1 by striking ‘‘and national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘, 2 national historic, and national discovery’’; 3 (7) in section 7(b) (16 U.S.C. 1246(b)), by 4 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ each place such term 5 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na- 6 tional discovery’’; 7 (8) in section 7(c) (16 U.S.C. 1246(c))— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘scenic or national his- 9 toric’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘sce- 10 nic, national historic, or national discovery’’; 11 (B) in the second proviso, by striking ‘‘sce- 12 nic, or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘scenic, 13 national historic, or national discovery’’; and 14 (C) by striking ‘‘, and national historic’’ 15 and inserting ‘‘, national historic, and national 16 discovery’’; 17 (9) in section 7(d) (16 U.S.C. 1246(d)), by 18 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na- 19 tional historic, or national discovery’’; 20 (10) in section 7(e) (16 U.S.C. 1246(e)), by 21 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ each place such term 22 appears and inserting ‘‘, national historic, or na- 23 tional discovery’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 726 IH (11) in section 7(f)(2) (16 U.S.C. 1246(f)(2)), 1 by striking ‘‘National Scenic or Historic Trail’’ and 2 inserting ‘‘national scenic, historic, or discovery 3 trail’’; 4 (12) in section 7(h)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1246(h)(1)), 5 by striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na- 6 tional historic, or national discovery’’; and 7 (13) in section 7(i) (16 U.S.C. 1246(i)), by 8 striking ‘‘or national historic’’ and inserting ‘‘na- 9 tional historic, or national discovery’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H726.IH H726 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS