[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 80 Referred in House (RFH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 80


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 18, 1993

             Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
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, and the Canyonlands 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 referred to 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 1992, and numbered 175-80008, which 
        shall be on file and available for public inspection in the 
        offices of the National Park Service, Department of the 
        Interior, and the offices of the Superintendent of the 
        preserve. After advising the Committee on Energy and Natural 
        Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on 
        Natural Resources of the United States House of 
        Representatives, 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 ``;''.
            (4) Add at the end thereof the following:
            ``Village Creek Corridor unit, Hardin County, Texas, 
        comprising approximately four thousand seven hundred and 
        ninety-three acres;
            ``Big Sandy Corridor unit, Hardin, Polk, and Tyler 
        Counties, Texas, comprising approximately four thousand four 
        hundred and ninety-seven acres; and
            ``Canyonlands unit, Tyler County, Texas, comprising 
        approximately one thousand four hundred and seventy-six 
        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 privately owned lands located within the Village Creek 
Corridor, Big Sandy Corridor, and Canyonlands units 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 political subdivisions thereof may be acquired 
by donation only.''.
    (2) Add at the end of the first section of such Act the following 
new subsections:
    ``(d) Within sixty days after the date of enactment of this 
subsection, the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
identify lands within their jurisdiction 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. 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, and within reasonable distance of the timber 
companies' existing mills. In exercising this exchange authority, the 
Secretary 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. Land exchanges authorized pursuant to this subsection shall be of 
equal value and shall be completed as soon as possible, but no later 
than two years after date of enactment of this subsection.
    ``(e) With respect to the thirty-seven-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 six 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, and 
the Canyonlands unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 6 of such Act is 
amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: 
``Effective upon date of enactment of this sentence, there is 
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry 
out the purposes of subsections (c) and (d) of the first section.''.

            Passed the Senate March 17 (legislative day, March 3), 
      1993.

            Attest:

                                             WALTER J. STEWART,

                                                             Secretary.