[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1628 Reported in House (RH)]
Union Calendar No. 69
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1628
[Report No. 107-124]
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate El Camino Real de
los Tejas as a National Historic Trail.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 26, 2001
Mr. Rodriguez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
July 10, 2001
Additional sponsors: Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Frost, Mr. Turner, Mr. Bonior,
Mr. Udall of Colorado, Mr. Hinojosa, and Mr. Udall of New Mexico
July 10, 2001
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union
and ordered to be printed
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate El Camino Real de
los Tejas as a National Historic Trail.
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 ``El Camino Real de los Tejas National
Historic Trail Act of 2001''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) El Camino Real de los Tejas (the Royal Road to the
Tejas), served as the primary route between the Spanish
viceregal capital of Mexico City and the Spanish provincial
capital of Tejas at Los Adaes (1721-1773) and San Antonio
(1773-1821);
(2) the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth
century rivalries among the European colonial powers of Spain,
France, and England and after their independence, Mexico and
the United States, for dominion over lands fronting the Gulf of
Mexico, were played out along the evolving travel routes in
this immense area;
(3) the future of several American Indian nations, whose
prehistoric trails were later used by the Spaniards for
exploration and colonization, was tied to these larger forces
and events and the nations were fully involved in and affected
by the complex cultural interactions that ensued;
(4) the Old San Antonio Road was a series of routes
established in the early 19th century sharing the same corridor
and some routes of El Camino Real, and carried American
immigrants from the east, contributing to the formation of the
Republic of Texas, and its annexation to the United States;
(5) the exploration, conquest, colonization, settlement,
migration, military occupation, religious conversion, and
cultural exchange that occurred in a large area of the
borderland was facilitated by El Camino Real de los Tejas as it
carried Spanish and Mexican influences northeastward, and by
its successor, the Old San Antonio Road, which carried American
influence westward, during a historic period which extended
from 1689 to 1850; and
(6) the portions of El Camino Real de los Tejas in what is
now the United States extended from the Rio Grande near Eagle
Pass and Laredo, Texas and involved routes that changed through
time, that total almost 2,600 miles in combined length,
generally coursing northeasterly through San Antonio, Bastrop,
Nacogdoches, and San Augustine in Texas to Natchitoches,
Louisiana, a general corridor distance of 550 miles.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
Section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)
is amended as follows:
(1) By designating the paragraph relating to the Ala
Kahakai National Historic Trail as paragraph (21).
(2) By adding at the end the following:
``(23) El camino real de los tejas.--
``(A) In general.--El Camino Real de los Tejas (The
Royal Road to the Tejas) National Historic Trail, a
combination of routes totaling 2,580 miles in length
from the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and Laredo, Texas
to Natchitoches, Louisiana, and including the Old San
Antonio Road, as generally depicted on the maps
entitled `El Camino Real de los Tejas', contained in
the report prepared pursuant to subsection (b) entitled
`National Historic Trail Feasibility Study and
Environmental Assessment: El Camino Real de los Tejas,
Texas-Louisiana', dated July 1998. A map generally
depicting the trail shall be on file and available for
public inspection in the Office of the National Park
Service, Department of the Interior. The trail shall be
administered by the Secretary of the Interior.
``(B) Coordination of activities.--The Secretary of
the Interior may coordinate with United States and
Mexican public and non-governmental organizations,
academic institutions, and, in consultation with the
Secretary of State, the Government of Mexico and its
political subdivisions, for the purpose of exchanging
trail information and research, fostering trail
preservation and educational programs, providing
technical assistance, and working to establish an
international historic trail with complementary
preservation and education programs in each nation.''.
SEC. 4. PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION.
Designation of El Camino Real de los Tejas under this Act does not
itself confer any additional authority to apply other existing Federal
laws and regulations on non-Federal lands along the trail. Laws or
regulations requiring public entities and agencies to take into
consideration a national historic trail shall continue to apply
notwithstanding the foregoing. On non-Federal lands, the national
historic trail shall be established only when landowners voluntarily
request certification of their sites and segments of the trail
consistent with section 3(a)(3) of the National Trails System Act.
Notwithstanding section 7(g) of such Act, the United States is
authorized to acquire privately-owned real property or an interest in
such property for purposes of the trail only with the willing consent
of the owner of such property and shall have no authority to condemn or
otherwise appropriate privately-owned real property or an interest in
such property for the purposes of El Camino Real de los Tejas National
Historic Trail.
Union Calendar No. 69
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1628
[Report No. 107-124]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate El Camino Real de
los Tejas as a National Historic Trail.
_______________________________________________________________________
July 10, 2001
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union
and ordered to be printed