[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1879 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1879

  To modify the boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 28, 1993

Mr. Andrews of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To modify the boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Capitan Reef Management 
Consolidation Act''.

SEC. 2. BOUNDARIES OF CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK.

    (a) Modification of Boundaries.--The boundaries of Carlsbad Caverns 
National Park are hereby modified to include approximately 24,850 acres 
of the Capitan Reef escarpment in the State of New Mexico, as generally 
depicted on the map entitled ``Carlsbad Caverns Boundary Expansion'', 
numbered CACA 80,052, and dated February 1993. Lands and interests in 
lands (including caves) within the boundaries of the Carlsbad Caverns 
National Park, as modified by this subsection, which are administered 
by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service 
are hereby transferred to the administrative jurisdiction of the 
National Park Service and shall be administered as part of the park. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit public recreation, 
including horseback riding, hiking, and camping.
    (b) Publication and Filing.--As soon as possible after the date of 
the enactment of this Act but not later than 6 months, the Secretary of 
the Interior shall publish in the Federal Register a notice containing 
the legal description of the lands added to Carlsbad Caverns National 
Park by subsection (a) and shall file such legal description and a 
detailed map of the lands referred to in such subsection with the 
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
    (c) Technical Corrections.--The map and legal description referred 
to in subsection (b) shall have the same force and effect as if they 
were included in this Act except that the Secretary of the Interior may 
correct clerical and typographical errors in such map and legal 
description.
    (d) Public Inspection.--Copies of the map and legal description 
referred to in subsection (b) shall be available for public inspection 
in the offices of the Director, and of the Director of the Southwest 
Region, of the National Park Service.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF CERTAIN LAWS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to valid existing rights, lands within the 
area included within the Carlsbad Caverns National Park pursuant to 
section 2 are withdrawn from disposition under the public land laws and 
from all forms of entry or appropriation under the mining laws of the 
United States, from the operation of the mineral leasing laws of the 
United States, and from operation of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970.
    (b) Management of Existing Leases.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), 
any person authorized, under a permit or lease in effect on the date of 
the enactment of this Act, to carry out grazing on lands included 
within the Carlsbad Caverns National Park pursuant to section 2 may 
continue such operations pursuant to such permit or lease until the 
expiration of the term of the permit or lease concerned plus one period 
of renewal thereafter.

SEC. 4. TRAIL EASEMENT.

    The Secretary is authorized to acquire an easement to provide trail 
access from the Rattlesnake Springs Unit of the National Park System to 
the Carlsbad Caverns National Park, as generally depicted on the map 
referred to in section 2, except that no such easement may be acquired 
without the consent of the owner thereof.

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