[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 433 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 433

To increase the size of the Big Thicket National Preserve in the State 
   of Texas by adding the Village Creek Corridor unit, the Big Sandy 
Corridor unit, the Canyonlands unit, the Sabine River Blue Elbow unit, 
            and addition to the Lower Neches Corridor unit.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 5, 1993

  Mr. Wilson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To increase the size of the Big Thicket National Preserve in the State 
   of Texas by adding the Village Creek Corridor unit, the Big Sandy 
Corridor unit, the Canyonlands unit, the Sabine River Blue Elbow unit, 
            and addition to the Lower Neches Corridor unit.

    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 ``Big Thicket National Preserve 
Addition Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONS TO THE BIG THICKET NATIONAL PRESERVE.

    (a) Additions.--Subsection (b) of the first section of the Act 
entitled ``An Act to authorize the establishment of the Big Thicket 
National Preserve in the State of Texas, and for other purposes'', 
approved October 11, 1974 (16 U.S.C. 698), hereafter referred to as the 
``Act'', is amended as follows:
            (1) Strike out ``map entitled `Big Thicket National 
        Preserve' '' and all that follows through ``Secretary of the 
        Interior (hereafter referred to as the `Secretary')'' and 
        insert in lieu thereof ``map entitled `Big Thicket National 
        Preserve', dated October 19, 1990, and numbered 20031 C, which 
        shall be on file and available for public inspection in the 
        offices of the National Park Service, Department of the 
        Interior, and offices of the Superintendent of the preserve. 
        After advising the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of 
        the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and 
        Natural Resources of the Senate, in writing, the Secretary of 
        the Interior (hereafter referred to as the `Secretary') may 
        make minor revisions of the boundaries of the preserve when 
        necessary by publication of a revised drawing or other boundary 
        description in the Federal Register. The Secretary''.
            (2) Strike out ``and'' at the end of the penultimate 
        undesignated paragraph relating to Little Pine Island-Pine 
        Island Bayou corridor unit.
            (3) Strike out the period in the ultimate undesignated 
        paragraph relating to Lance Rosier unit and insert in lieu 
        thereof a semicolon.
            (4) Add at the end thereof the following:
            ``Village Creek Corridor unit, Hardin County, Texas, 
        comprising approximately 5,309 acres;
            ``Big Sandy Corridor unit, Hardin, Polk, and Tyler 
        Counties, Texas, comprising approximately 4,818 acres;
            ``Canyonlands unit, Tyler County, Texas, comprising 
        approximately 1,476 acres;
            ``Sabine River Blue Elbow unit, Orange County, Texas, 
        comprising approximately 3,592 acres; and
            ``Addition to the Lower Neches River Corridor unit, Orange 
        and Jasper Counties, Texas, comprising approximately 750 
        acres.''.
    (b) Acquisition.--(1) Subsection (c) of the first section of such 
Act is amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in lieu 
thereof the following: ``The Secretary is authorized to acquire by 
donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, transfer from 
any other Federal agency, or exchange, any lands, waters, or interests 
therein which are located within the boundaries of the preserve: 
Provided, That the Secretary may acquire scenic easements on privately 
owned undeveloped lands located within the boundaries of the Village 
Creek Corridor, Big Sandy Corridor, Canyonlands, Blue Elbow, or Lower 
Neches River unit: Provided further, That privately owned undeveloped 
lands located within any such unit may be acquired only with the 
consent of the owner: Provided further, That the Secretary may acquire 
lands owned by commercial timber companies only by donation or 
exchange: Provided further, That any lands owned by the State of Texas, 
or any of its political subdivisions may be acquired by donation 
only.''.
    (2) Add at the end of the first section the following new 
subsections:
    ``(d) Within 60 days after enactment of this subsection, the 
Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture shall identify lands within 
their jurisdictions located within the vicinity of the preserve which 
may be suitable for exchange for commercial timber lands within the 
preserve. In so doing, the Secretary of Agriculture shall seek to 
identify for exchange national forest lands that are near or adjacent 
to private lands that are already owned by the commercial timber 
companies and are of sufficient size and configuration for commercial 
timber use. Such national forest lands shall be located in the Sabine 
National Forest in Sabine County, Texas, in the Davy Crockett National 
Forest south of Texas State Highway 7, or in other sites deemed 
mutually agreeable. In exercising this exchange authority, the 
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture may utilize 
any authorities or procedures otherwise available to them in connection 
with land exchanges, and which are not inconsistent with the purposes 
of this Act. The values of the properties so exchanges shall be 
approximately equal or, if they are not approximately equal, shall be 
equalized by the payment of cash to the grantor or to the respective 
Secretary as circumstances require. Such exchanges shall be completed 
as soon as possible, but no later than two years after the date of 
enactment of this subsection.
    ``(e) With respect to the 37 acre area owned by the Louisiana-
Pacific Corporation or its subsidiary, Kirby Forest Industries, Inc., 
on Big Sandy Creek in Hardin County, Texas, and now utilized as part of 
the Indian Springs Youth Camp (H.G/ King Abstract 822), the Secretary 
shall not acquire such area without the consent of the owner so long as 
the area is used exclusively as a youth camp.''.
    (c) Publication of Boundary Description.--Not later than 6 months 
after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall 
publish in the Federal Register a detailed description of the boundary 
of the Village Creek Corridor unit, the Big Sandy Corridor unit, the 
Canyonlands unit, the Sabine River Blue Elbow unit, and the addition to 
the Lower Neches River unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 6 of such Act is 
amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new sentence: 
``Effective upon date of enactment of this paragraph, there is 
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry 
out the purposes of subsections 1(c) and 1(d).''.

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