[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2186 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.2186

                       One Hundred Fifth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-
                                  eight


                                 An Act


 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the 
    National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds and declares the following:
        (1) The City of Casper, Wyoming, is nationally significant as 
    the only geographic location in the western United States where 
    four congressionally recognized historic trails (the Oregon Trail, 
    the Mormon Trail, the California Trail, and the Pony Express 
    Trail), the Bridger Trail, the Bozeman Trail, and many Indian 
    routes converged.
        (2) The historic trails that passed through the Casper area are 
    a distinctive part of the national character and possess important 
    historical and cultural values representing themes of migration, 
    settlement, transportation, and commerce that shaped the landscape 
    of the West.
        (3) The Bureau of Land Management has not yet established a 
    historic trails interpretive center in Wyoming or in any adjacent 
    State to educate and focus national attention on the history of the 
    mid-19th century immigrant trails that crossed public lands in the 
    Intermountain West.
        (4) At the invitation of the Bureau of Land Management, the 
    City of Casper and the National Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. (a 
    nonprofit corporation established under the laws of the State of 
    Wyoming) entered into a memorandum of understanding in 1992, and 
    have since signed an assistance agreement in 1993 and a cooperative 
    agreement in 1997, to create, manage, and sustain a National 
    Historic Trails Interpretive Center to be located in Casper, 
    Wyoming, to professionally interpret the historic trails in the 
    Casper area for the benefit of the public.
        (5) The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center authorized 
    by this Act is consistent with the purposes and objectives of the 
    National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1241 et seq.), which directs 
    the Secretary of the Interior to protect, interpret, and manage the 
    remnants of historic trails on public lands.
        (6) The State of Wyoming effectively joined the partnership to 
    establish the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center through 
    a legislative allocation of supporting funds, and the citizens of 
    the City of Casper have increased local taxes to meet their 
    financial obligations under the assistance agreement and the 
    cooperative agreement referred to in paragraph (4).
        (7) The National Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. has secured 
    most of the $5,000,000 of non-Federal funding pledged by State and 
    local governments and private interests pursuant to the cooperative 
    agreement referred to in paragraph (4).
        (8) The Bureau of Land Management has completed the engineering 
    and design phase of the National Historic Trails Interpretive 
    Center, and the National Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. is ready 
    for Federal financial and technical assistance to construct the 
    Center pursuant to the cooperative agreement referred to in 
    paragraph (4).
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
        (1) To recognize the importance of the historic trails that 
    passed through the Casper, Wyoming, area as a distinctive aspect of 
    American heritage worthy of interpretation and preservation.
        (2) To assist the City of Casper, Wyoming, and the National 
    Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. in establishing the National 
    Historic Trails Interpretive Center to memorialize and interpret 
    the significant role of those historic trails in the history of the 
    United States.
        (3) To highlight and showcase the Bureau of Land Management's 
    stewardship of public lands in Wyoming and the West.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS INTERPRETIVE CENTER.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting through 
the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (in this section referred 
to as the ``Secretary''), shall establish in Casper, Wyoming, a center 
for the interpretation of the historic trails in the vicinity of 
Casper, including the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California 
Trail, and the Pony Express Trail, the Bridger Trail, the Bozeman 
Trail, and various Indian routes. The Center shall be known as the 
National Historic Trails Interpretive Center (in this section referred 
to as the ``Center'').
    (b) Facilities.--The Secretary, subject to the availability of 
appropriations, shall construct, operate, and maintain facilities for 
the Center--
        (1) on land provided by the City of Casper, Wyoming;
        (2) in cooperation with the City of Casper and the National 
    Historic Trails Interpretive Center Foundation, Inc. (a nonprofit 
    corporation established under the laws of the State of Wyoming); 
    and
        (3) in accordance with--
            (A) the Memorandum of Understanding entered into on March 
        4, 1993, by the city, the foundation, and the Wyoming State 
        Director of the Bureau of Land Management; and
            (B) the cooperative agreement between the foundation and 
        the Wyoming State Director of the Bureau of Land Management, 
        numbered K910A970020.
    (c) Donations.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
Secretary may accept, retain, and expend donations of funds, property, 
or services from individuals, foundations, corporations, or public 
entities for the purpose of development and operation of the Center.
    (d) Entrance Fee.--Notwithstanding section 4 of the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-6a), the Secretary may--
        (1) collect an entrance fee from visitors to the Center; and
        (2) use amounts received by the United States from that fee for 
    expenses of operation of the Center.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary $5,000,000 to carry out this section.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.