Federal

M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act

Source: Congress.gov · 4,733 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill adds specific river segments in New Mexico to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The bill also moves control of about 440 acres of land from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior in the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument area. --- ##

Who It Affects

- The Secretary of the Interior (a federal official who oversees the Department of the Interior) - The Secretary of Agriculture (a federal official who oversees the Department of Agriculture) - The State of New Mexico - Tribal governments - People who hold grazing permits or water rights in the designated river areas - People with existing mining operations or mineral leases in the river areas --- ##

Key Provisions

- Multiple segments of the Gila River system and related creeks in New Mexico become part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, classified as either "wild," "scenic," or "recreational" rivers based on specific maps dated between March 2020 and October 2021 (Sec. 2(b)) - Federal land within the boundaries of the designated river segments is withdrawn from mining, drilling for minerals, and sale under public land laws (Sec. 2(c)) - The Secretary of the Interior or Agriculture must prepare maps and legal descriptions of all designated river segments, which will be available to the public (Sec. 2(d)) - About 440 acres of federal land moves from the U.S. Forest Service to the National Park Service, and the boundaries of Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument expand to include this land (Sec. 3(a) and (b)) - The Secretary concerned may allow construction of fish habitat restoration projects, including fish barriers, if they help recover threatened or endangered species and do not harm the rivers' natural character (Sec. 2(e)(5)(B)) --- ##

What Changes

If this becomes law, the following river segments in New Mexico will receive federal protection as Wild and Scenic Rivers: Apache Creek, Black Canyon Creek, Diamond Creek, South Diamond Creek, portions of the Gila River and its forks (East Fork, Middle Fork, West Fork, and Lower and Middle Box sections), Gilita Creek, Holden Prong, Indian Creek, Iron Creek, Las Animas Creek, Little Creek, McKnight Canyon, Mineral Creek, Mogollon Creek, West Fork Mogollon Creek, Mule Creek, San Francisco River segments (Devil's Creek, Lower Canyon, and Upper Frisco Box), Sapillo Creek, Spruce Creek, Taylor Creek, Turkey Creek, Whitewater Creek, and Willow Creek. Federal land along these rivers cannot be mined or sold. However, people who already have water rights, grazing permits, or mining leases can continue using them. The State of New Mexico keeps control over water rights management. Tribal hunting, fishing, gathering, and religious rights remain unchanged. About 440 acres near Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument will now be managed by the National Park Service instead of the U.S. Forest Service. --- ##

Important Definitions

**Covered segment:** River segments officially designated by this bill as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (Sec. 2(a)(1)) **Secretary concerned:** Either the Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Agriculture, depending on which department manages the specific river segment (Sec. 2(a)(2)) **Wild river:** A river classification for segments that appear essentially primitive and remote (reference to standard Wild and Scenic Rivers Act categories, though not explicitly defined in this bill) **Recreational river:** A river classification for segments more accessible to people (reference to standard Wild and Scenic Rivers Act categories, though not explicitly defined in this bill) **Scenic river:** A river classification for segments with some development visible but maintaining natural character (reference to standard Wild and Scenic Rivers Act categories, though not explicitly defined in this bill) --- ##

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text

II Calendar No. 141 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 776 [Report No. 118–67] To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments of the Gila River system in the State of New Mexico as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, to provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 14, 2023 Mr. HEINRICH (for himself and Mr. LUJA´N) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources JULY 19, 2023 Reported by Mr. MANCHIN, without amendment A BILL To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments of the Gila River system in the State of New Mexico as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, to provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 776 RS 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 ‘‘M.H. Dutch Salmon 4 Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (1) COVERED SEGMENT.—The term ‘‘covered 8 segment’’ means a river segment designated by para- 9 graph (233) of section 3(a) of the Wild and Scenic 10 Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)) (as added by sub- 11 section (b)). 12 (2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec- 13 retary concerned’’ means— 14 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re- 15 spect to a covered segment under the jurisdic- 16 tion of the Secretary of the Interior; and 17 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re- 18 spect to a covered segment under the jurisdic- 19 tion of the Secretary of Agriculture. 20 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 21 of New Mexico. 22 (b) DESIGNATION OF SEGMENTS.—Section 3(a) of 23 the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)) is 24 amended by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 776 RS ‘‘(233) GILA RIVER SYSTEM, NEW MEXICO.— 1 The following segments of the Gila River system in 2 Las Animas Creek, Holden Prong, and McKnight 3 Canyon in the State of New Mexico, to be adminis- 4 tered by the Secretary concerned (as defined in sec- 5 tion 2(a) of the M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila 6 Wild and Scenic River Act) in the following classi- 7 fications: 8 ‘‘(A) APACHE CREEK.—The approximately 9 10.5-mile segment, as generally depicted on the 10 map entitled ‘Apache Creek’ and dated April 11 30, 2020, as a wild river. 12 ‘‘(B) BLACK CANYON CREEK.— 13 ‘‘(i) The 11.8-mile segment, as gen- 14 erally depicted on the map entitled ‘Black 15 Canyon Creek’ and dated April 30, 2020, 16 as a wild river. 17 ‘‘(ii) The 0.6-mile segment, as gen- 18 erally depicted on the map entitled ‘Black 19 Canyon Creek’ and dated April 30, 2020, 20 as a recreational river. 21 ‘‘(iii) The 1.9-mile segment, as gen- 22 erally depicted on the map entitled ‘Black 23 Canyon Creek’ and dated April 30, 2020, 24 as a recreational river. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 776 RS ‘‘(iv) The 11-mile segment, as gen- 1 erally depicted on the map entitled ‘Black 2 Canyon Creek’ and dated April 30, 2020, 3 as a wild river. 4 ‘‘(C) DIAMOND CREEK.— 5 ‘‘(i) The approximately 13.3-mile seg- 6 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 7 titled ‘Diamond Creek’ and dated March 8 27, 2020, as a wild river. 9 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 4.7-mile seg- 10 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 11 titled ‘Diamond Creek’ and dated March 12 27, 2020, as a wild river. 13 ‘‘(iii) The approximately 3.1-mile seg- 14 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 15 titled ‘Diamond Creek’ and dated March 16 27, 2020, as a recreational river. 17 ‘‘(iv) The approximately 1.6-mile seg- 18 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 19 titled ‘Diamond Creek’ and dated March 20 27, 2020, as a recreational river. 21 ‘‘(v) The approximately 4.1-mile seg- 22 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 23 titled ‘Diamond Creek’ and dated March 24 27, 2020, as a wild river. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 776 RS ‘‘(D) SOUTH DIAMOND CREEK.—The ap- 1 proximately 16.1-mile segment, as generally de- 2 picted on the map entitled ‘South Diamond 3 Creek’ and dated March 27, 2020, as a wild 4 river. 5 ‘‘(E) GILA RIVER.— 6 ‘‘(i) The approximately 34.9-mile seg- 7 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 8 titled ‘Gila River’ and dated April 30, 9 2020, as a wild river. 10 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 2.5-mile seg- 11 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 12 titled ‘Gila River’ and dated April 30, 13 2020, as a recreational river. 14 ‘‘(iii) The approximately 3-mile seg- 15 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 16 titled ‘Gila River’ and dated April 30, 17 2020, as a wild river. 18 ‘‘(F) GILA RIVER, EAST FORK.—The ap- 19 proximately 10.3-mile segment, as generally de- 20 picted on the map entitled ‘East Fork Gila 21 River’ and dated April 30, 2020, as a wild 22 river. 23 ‘‘(G) GILA RIVER, LOWER BOX.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 776 RS ‘‘(i) The approximately 3.1-mile seg- 1 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 2 titled ‘Gila River, Lower Box’ and dated 3 April 21, 2020, as a recreational river. 4 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 6.1-mile seg- 5 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 6 titled ‘Gila River, Lower Box’ and dated 7 April 21, 2020, as a wild river. 8 ‘‘(H) GILA RIVER, MIDDLE BOX.— 9 ‘‘(i) The approximately 0.6-mile seg- 10 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 11 titled ‘Gila River, Middle Box’ and dated 12 April 30, 2020, as a recreational river. 13 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 0.4-mile seg- 14 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 15 titled ‘Gila River, Middle Box’’ and dated 16 April 30, 2020, as a recreational river. 17 ‘‘(iii) The approximately 0.3-mile seg- 18 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 19 titled ‘Gila River, Middle Box’ and dated 20 April 30, 2020, as a recreational river. 21 ‘‘(iv) The approximately 0.3-mile seg- 22 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 23 titled ‘Gila River, Middle Box’ and dated 24 April 30, 2020, as a recreational river. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 776 RS ‘‘(v) The approximately 1.6-mile seg- 1 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 2 titled ‘Gila River, Middle Box’ and dated 3 April 30, 2020, as a recreational river. 4 ‘‘(vi) The approximately 9.8-mile seg- 5 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 6 titled ‘Gila River, Middle Box’ and dated 7 April 30, 2020, as a wild river. 8 ‘‘(I) GILA RIVER, MIDDLE FORK.— 9 ‘‘(i) The approximately 1.2-mile seg- 10 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 11 titled ‘Middle Fork Gila River’ and dated 12 May 1, 2020, as a recreational river. 13 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 35.5-mile seg- 14 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 15 titled ‘Middle Fork Gila River’ and dated 16 May 1, 2020, as a wild river. 17 ‘‘(J) GILA RIVER, WEST FORK.— 18 ‘‘(i) The approximately 30.6-mile seg- 19 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 20 titled ‘West Fork Gila River’ and dated 21 May 1, 2020, as a wild river. 22 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 4-mile seg- 23 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 776 RS titled ‘West Fork Gila River’ and dated 1 May 1, 2020, as a recreational river. 2 ‘‘(K) GILITA CREEK.—The approximately 3 6.4-mile segment, as generally depicted on the 4 map entitled ‘Gilita Creek’ and dated March 4, 5 2020, as a wild river. 6 ‘‘(L) HOLDEN PRONG.—The approximately 7 7.3-mile segment, as generally depicted on the 8 map entitled ‘Holden Prong’ and dated March 9 27, 2020, as a wild river. 10 ‘‘(M) INDIAN CREEK.— 11 ‘‘(i) The approximately 5-mile seg- 12 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 13 titled ‘Indian Creek’ and dated March 27, 14 2020, as a recreational river. 15 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 9.5-mile seg- 16 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 17 titled ‘Indian Creek’ and dated March 27, 18 2020, as a wild river. 19 ‘‘(N) IRON CREEK.—The approximately 20 13.2-mile segment, as generally depicted on the 21 map entitled ‘Iron Creek’ and dated March 4, 22 2020, as a wild river. 23 ‘‘(O) LAS ANIMAS CREEK.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 776 RS ‘‘(i) The approximately 5.3-mile seg- 1 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 2 titled ‘Las Animas Creek’ and dated 3 March 27, 2020, as a wild river. 4 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 2.3-mile seg- 5 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 6 titled ‘Las Animas Creek’ and dated 7 March 27, 2020, as a scenic river. 8 ‘‘(P) LITTLE CREEK.— 9 ‘‘(i) The approximately 0.3-mile seg- 10 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 11 titled ‘Little Creek’ and dated May 1, 12 2020, as a recreational river. 13 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 18.3-mile seg- 14 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 15 titled ‘Little Creek’ and dated May 1, 16 2020, as a wild river. 17 ‘‘(Q) MCKNIGHT CANYON.—The approxi- 18 mately 10.3-mile segment, as generally depicted 19 on the map entitled ‘McKnight Canyon’ and 20 dated March 4, 2020, as a wild river. 21 ‘‘(R) MINERAL CREEK.— 22 ‘‘(i) The approximately 8.3-mile seg- 23 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 776 RS titled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 27, 1 2020, as a wild river. 2 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 0.5-mile seg- 3 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 4 titled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 27, 5 2020, as a recreational river. 6 ‘‘(iii) The approximately 0.5-mile seg- 7 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 8 titled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 27, 9 2020, as a recreational river. 10 ‘‘(iv) The approximately 0.1-mile seg- 11 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 12 titled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 27, 13 2020, as a recreational river. 14 ‘‘(v) The approximately 0.03-mile seg- 15 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 16 titled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 27, 17 2020, as a recreational river. 18 ‘‘(vi) The approximately 0.02-mile 19 segment, as generally depicted on the map 20 entitled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 21 27, 2020, as a recreational river. 22 ‘‘(vii) The approximately 0.6-mile seg- 23 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 776 RS titled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 27, 1 2020, as a recreational river. 2 ‘‘(viii) The approximately 0.1-mile 3 segment, as generally depicted on the map 4 entitled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 5 27, 2020, as a recreational river. 6 ‘‘(ix) The approximately 0.03-mile 7 segment, as generally depicted on the map 8 entitled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 9 27, 2020, as a recreational river. 10 ‘‘(x) The approximately 0.7-mile seg- 11 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 12 titled ‘Mineral Creek’ and dated March 27, 13 2020, as a recreational river. 14 ‘‘(S) MOGOLLON CREEK.—The approxi- 15 mately 15.8-mile segment, as generally depicted 16 on the map entitled ‘Mogollon Creek’ and dated 17 April 2, 2020, as a wild river. 18 ‘‘(T) WEST FORK MOGOLLON CREEK.— 19 The approximately 8.5-mile segment, as gen- 20 erally depicted on the map entitled ‘West Fork 21 Mogollon Creek’ and dated March 4, 2020, as 22 a wild river. 23 ‘‘(U) MULE CREEK.—The approximately 24 4.3-mile segment, as generally depicted on the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 776 RS map entitled ‘Mule Creek’ and dated March 4, 1 2020, as a wild river. 2 ‘‘(V) SAN FRANCISCO RIVER, DEVIL’S 3 CREEK.— 4 ‘‘(i) The approximately 1.8-mile seg- 5 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 6 titled ‘San Francisco River, Devil’s Creek’ 7 and dated October 29, 2021, as a scenic 8 river. 9 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 6.4-mile seg- 10 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 11 titled ‘San Francisco River, Devil’s Creek’ 12 and dated October 29, 2021, as a scenic 13 river. 14 ‘‘(iii) The approximately 6.1-mile seg- 15 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 16 titled ‘San Francisco River, Devil’s Creek’ 17 and dated October 29, 2021, as a scenic 18 river. 19 ‘‘(iv) The approximately 1.2-mile seg- 20 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 21 titled ‘San Francisco River, Devil’s Creek’ 22 and dated October 29, 2021, as a rec- 23 reational river. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S776.RS S776 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 776 RS ‘‘(v) The approximately 5.9-mile seg- 1 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 2 titled ‘San Francisco River, Devil’s Creek’ 3 and dated October 29, 2021, as a rec- 4 reational river. 5 ‘‘(W) SAN FRANCISCO RIVER, LOWER SAN 6 FRANCISCO RIVER CANYON.— 7 ‘‘(i) The approximately 1.8-mile seg- 8 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 9 titled ‘San Francisco River, Lower San 10 Francisco River Canyon’ and dated March 11 27, 2020, as a wild river. 12 ‘‘(ii) The approximately 0.6-mile seg- 13 ment, as generally depicted on the map en- 14 titled ‘San Francisco River, Lower San 15 Francisco River Canyon’ and dated March 16 27, 2020, as a recreational river. 17 ‘‘(iii) The approximately 14.6-mile 18 segment, as generally depicted on the map 19 entitled ‘San Francisco River, Lower San 20 Francisco River Canyon’ and dated March 21 27, 2020, as a wild river. 22 ‘‘(X) SAN FRANCISCO RIVER, UPPER FRIS- 23 CO BOX.—The approximately 6-mile segment, 24 as ge [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]

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