Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act

II Calendar No. 524 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 1634 [Report No. 118–231] To provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation manage- ment areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 17, 2023 Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. HICKENLOOPER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 Reported by Mr. MANCHIN, with amendments [Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1634 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act’’. 3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 4 this Act is as follows: 5 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definition of State. TITLE I—CONTINENTAL DIVIDE Sec. 101. Definitions. Sec. 102. Colorado Wilderness additions. Sec. 103. Williams Fork Mountains potential wilderness. Sec. 104. Porcupine Gulch Wildlife Conservation Area. Sec. 105. Williams Fork Mountains Wildlife Conservation Area. Sec. 106. Spraddle Creek Wildlife Conservation Area. Sec. 107. Sandy Treat Overlook. Sec. 108. White River National Forest boundary modification. Sec. 109. Rocky Mountain National Park potential wilderness boundary adjust- ment. Sec. 110. Administrative provisions. TITLE II—SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS Sec. 201. Definitions. Sec. 202. Additions to National Wilderness Preservation System. Sec. 203. Special management areas. Sec. 204. Release of wilderness study areas. Sec. 205. Administrative provisions. TITLE III—THOMPSON DIVIDE Sec. 301. Purposes. Sec. 302. Definitions. Sec. 303. Thompson Divide Withdrawal and Protection Area. Sec. 304. Thompson Divide lease credits. Sec. 305. Greater Thompson Divide Fugitive Coal Mine Methane Use Pilot Program. Sec. 306. Effect. TITLE IV—CURECANTI NATIONAL RECREATION AREA Sec. 401. Definitions. Sec. 402. Curecanti National Recreation Area. Sec. 403. Acquisition of land; boundary management. Sec. 404. General management plan. Sec. 405. Boundary survey. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1634 RS SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF STATE. 1 In this Act, the term ‘‘State’’ means the State of Col- 2 orado. 3 TITLE I—CONTINENTAL DIVIDE 4 SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS. 5 In this title: 6 (1) COVERED AREA.—The term ‘‘covered area’’ 7 means any area designated as wilderness by the 8 amendments to section 2(a) of the Colorado Wilder- 9 ness Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 1132 note; Public Law 10 103–77) made by section 102(a). 11 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12 the Secretary of Agriculture. 13 (3) WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AREA.—The 14 term ‘‘Wildlife Conservation Area’’ means, as appli- 15 cable— 16 (A) the Porcupine Gulch Wildlife Con- 17 servation Area designated by section 104(a); 18 (B) the Williams Fork Mountains Wildlife 19 Conservation Area designated by section 20 105(a); and 21 (C) the Spraddle Creek Wildlife Conserva- 22 tion Area designated by section 106(a). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1634 RS SEC. 102. COLORADO WILDERNESS ADDITIONS. 1 (a) DESIGNATION.—Section 2(a) of the Colorado Wil- 2 derness Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 1132 note; Public Law 3 103–77) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraph (18), by striking ‘‘1993,’’ and 5 inserting ‘‘1993, and certain Federal land within the 6 White River National Forest that comprises approxi- 7 mately 6,896 acres, as generally depicted as ‘Pro- 8 posed Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness Additions’ on the 9 map entitled ‘Proposed Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness 10 Additions’ and dated June 24, 2019,’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(23) HOLY CROSS WILDERNESS ADDITION.— 13 Certain Federal land within the White River Na- 14 tional Forest that comprises approximately 3,866 15 acres, as generally depicted as ‘Proposed Megan 16 Dickie Wilderness Addition’ on the map entitled 17 ‘Holy Cross Wilderness Addition Proposal’ and 18 dated June 24, 2019, which shall be incorporated 19 into, and managed as part of, the Holy Cross Wil- 20 derness designated by section 102(a)(5) of Public 21 Law 96–560 (94 Stat. 3266). 22 ‘‘(24) HOOSIER RIDGE WILDERNESS.—Certain 23 Federal land within the White River National Forest 24 that comprises approximately 5,235 acres, as gen- 25 erally depicted as ‘Proposed Hoosier Ridge Wilder- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1634 RS ness’ on the map entitled ‘Tenmile Proposal’ and 1 dated April 22, 2022 May 1, 2023, which shall be 2 known as the ‘Hoosier Ridge Wilderness’. 3 ‘‘(25) TENMILE WILDERNESS.—Certain Federal 4 land within the White River National Forest that 5 comprises approximately 7,624 acres, as generally 6 depicted as ‘Proposed Tenmile Wilderness’ on the 7 map entitled ‘Tenmile Proposal’ and dated May 1, 8 2023, which shall be known as the ‘Tenmile Wilder- 9 ness’. 10 ‘‘(26) EAGLES NEST WILDERNESS ADDI- 11 TIONS.—Certain Federal land within the White 12 River National Forest that comprises approximately 13 7,634 acres, as generally depicted as ‘Proposed 14 Freeman Creek Wilderness Addition’ and ‘Proposed 15 Spraddle Creek Wilderness Addition’ on the map en- 16 titled ‘Eagles Nest Wilderness Additions Proposal’ 17 and dated April 26, 2022, which shall be incor- 18 porated into, and managed as part of, the Eagles 19 Nest Wilderness designated by Public Law 94–352 20 (90 Stat. 870).’’. 21 (b) APPLICABLE LAW.—Any reference in the Wilder- 22 ness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) to the effective date 23 of that Act shall be considered to be a reference to the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1634 RS date of enactment of this Act for purposes of admin- 1 istering a covered area. 2 (c) FIRE, INSECTS, AND DISEASES.—In accordance 3 with section 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 4 1133(d)(1)), the Secretary may carry out any activity in 5 a covered area that the Secretary determines to be nec- 6 essary for the control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject 7 to such terms and conditions as the Secretary determines 8 to be appropriate. 9 (d) GRAZING.—The grazing of livestock on a covered 10 area, if established before the date of enactment of this 11 Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such reason- 12 able regulations as are considered to be necessary by the 13 Secretary, in accordance with— 14 (1) section 4(d)(4) of the Wilderness Act (16 15 U.S.C. 1133(d)(4)); and 16 (2) the guidelines set forth in the report of the 17 Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the 18 House of Representatives accompanying H.R. 5487 19 of the 96th Congress (H. Rept. 96–617). 20 (e) COORDINATION.—For purposes of administering 21 the Federal land designated as wilderness by paragraph 22 (26) of section 2(a) of the Colorado Wilderness Act of 23 1993 (16 U.S.C. 1132 note; Public Law 103–77) (as 24 added by subsection (a)(2)), the Secretary shall, as deter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1634 RS mined to be appropriate for the protection of watersheds, 1 coordinate the activities of the Secretary in response to 2 fires and flooding events with interested State and local 3 agencies. 4 SEC. 103. WILLIAMS FORK MOUNTAINS POTENTIAL WIL- 5 DERNESS. 6 (a) DESIGNATION.—In furtherance of the purposes of 7 the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), certain Fed- 8 eral land in the White River National Forest in the State, 9 comprising approximately 8,036 acres, as generally de- 10 picted as ‘‘Proposed Williams Fork Mountains Wilder- 11 ness’’ on the map entitled ‘‘Williams Fork Mountains Pro- 12 posal’’ and dated June 24, 2019, is designated as a poten- 13 tial wilderness area. 14 (b) MANAGEMENT.—Subject to valid existing rights 15 and except as provided in subsection (d), the potential wil- 16 derness area designated by subsection (a) shall be man- 17 aged in accordance with— 18 (1) the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et 19 seq.); and 20 (2) this section. 21 (c) LIVESTOCK USE OF VACANT ALLOTMENTS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 23 the date of enactment of this Act, in accordance 24 with applicable laws (including regulations), the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1634 RS retary shall publish a determination regarding 1 whether to authorize livestock grazing or other use 2 by livestock on the vacant allotments known as— 3 (A) the ‘‘Big Hole Allotment’’; and 4 (B) the ‘‘Blue Ridge Allotment’’. 5 (2) MODIFICATION OF ALLOTMENTS.—In pub- 6 lishing a determination pursuant to paragraph (1), 7 the Secretary may modify or combine the vacant al- 8 lotments referred to in that paragraph. 9 (3) PERMIT OR OTHER AUTHORIZATION.—Not 10 later than 1 year after the date on which a deter- 11 mination of the Secretary to authorize livestock 12 grazing or other use by livestock is published under 13 paragraph (1), if applicable, the Secretary shall 14 grant a permit or other authorization for that live- 15 stock grazing or other use in accordance with appli- 16 cable laws (including regulations). 17 (d) RANGE IMPROVEMENTS.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary permits live- 19 stock grazing or other use by livestock on the poten- 20 tial wilderness area under subsection (c), the Sec- 21 retary, or a third party authorized by the Secretary, 22 may use motorized or mechanized transport or 23 equipment for purposes of constructing or rehabili- 24 tating such range improvements as are necessary to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1634 RS obtain appropriate livestock management objectives 1 (including habitat and watershed restoration). 2 (2) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The au- 3 thority provided by this subsection terminates on the 4 date that is 2 years after the date on which the Sec- 5 retary publishes a positive determination under sub- 6 section (c)(3). 7 (e) DESIGNATION AS WILDERNESS.— 8 (1) DESIGNATION.—The potential wilderness 9 area designated by subsection (a) shall be designated 10 as wilderness, to be known as the ‘‘Williams Fork 11 Mountains Wilderness’’— 12 (A) effective not earlier than the date that 13 is 180 days after the date of enactment this 14 Act; and 15 (B) on the earliest of— 16 (i) the date on which the Secretary 17 publishes in the Federal Register a notice 18 that the construction or rehabilitation of 19 range improvements under subsection (d) 20 is complete; 21 (ii) the date described in subsection 22 (d)(2); and 23 (iii) the effective date of a determina- 24 tion of the Secretary not to authorize live- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1634 RS stock grazing or other use by livestock 1 under subsection (c)(1). 2 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—Subject to valid existing 3 rights, the Secretary shall manage the Williams 4 Fork Mountains Wilderness in accordance with the 5 Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 1132 6 note; Public Law 103–77), except that any reference 7 in that Act to the effective date of that Act shall be 8 considered to be a reference to the date on which the 9 Williams Fork Mountains Wilderness is designated 10 in accordance with paragraph (1). 11 SEC. 104. PORCUPINE GULCH WILDLIFE CONSERVATION 12 AREA. 13 (a) DESIGNATION.—Subject to valid existing rights, 14 the approximately 8,287 acres of Federal land located in 15 the White River National Forest, as generally depicted as 16 ‘‘Proposed Porcupine Gulch Wildlife Conservation Area’’ 17 on the map entitled ‘‘Porcupine Gulch Wildlife Conserva- 18 tion Area Proposal’’ and dated June 24, 2019, are des- 19 ignated as the ‘‘Porcupine Gulch Wildlife Conservation 20 Area’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Wildlife Con- 21 servation Area’’). 22 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Wildlife Con- 23 servation Area are— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1634 RS (1) to conserve and protect a wildlife migration 1 corridor over Interstate 70; and 2 (2) to conserve, protect, and enhance for the 3 benefit and enjoyment of present and future genera- 4 tions the wildlife, scenic, roadless, watershed, and 5 ecological resources of the Wildlife Conservation 6 Area. 7 (c) MANAGEMENT.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall manage 9 the Wildlife Conservation Area— 10 (A) in a manner that conserves, protects, 11 and enhances the purposes described in sub- 12 section (b); and 13 (B) in accordance with— 14 (i) the Forest and Rangeland Renew- 15 able Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 16 U.S.C. 1600 et seq.); 17 (ii) any other applicable laws (includ- 18 ing regulations); and 19 (iii) this section. 20 (2) USES.— 21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 22 only allow such uses of the Wildlife Conserva- 23 tion Area as the Secretary determines would 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1634.RS S1634 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1634 RS further the purposes described in subsection 1 (b). 2 (B) RECREATION.—The Secretary may 3 permit such recreational activities in the Wild- 4 life Conservation Area that the Secretary deter- 5 mines are consistent with the purposes de- 6 scribed in subsection (b). 7 (C) MOTORIZED VEHICLES AND MECHA- 8 NIZED TRANSPORT; NEW OR TEMPORARY 9 ROADS.— 10 (i) MOTORIZED VEHICLES AND 11 MECHANIZED TRANSPORT.—Except as pro- 12 vided in clause (iii), the use of motorized 13 vehicles and mechanized transport in t [Text truncated for display. 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