[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1503 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1503
To designate certain lands in the Cedar Mountains in the State of Utah
as wilderness, to ensure the compatibility of such wilderness and
wildness study areas with continued access by the Armed Forces to the
special use airspace and lands that comprise the Utah Test and Training
Range, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 6, 2005
Mr. Bishop of Utah (for himself, Mr. Matheson, and Mr. Cannon)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To designate certain lands in the Cedar Mountains in the State of Utah
as wilderness, to ensure the compatibility of such wilderness and
wildness study areas with continued access by the Armed Forces to the
special use airspace and lands that comprise the Utah Test and Training
Range, 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 ``Utah Test and Training Range
Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term ``covered wilderness'' means the wilderness
area designated by this Act and wilderness study areas located
near lands withdrawn for military use and beneath special use
airspace critical to the support of military test and training
missions at the Utah Test and Training Range, including the
Deep Creek, Fish Springs, Swasey Mountain, Howell Peak, Notch
Peak, King Top, Wah Wah Mountain, and Conger Mountain units
designated by the Department of the Interior.
(2) The term ``Tribe'' means the Skull Valley Band of
Goshute Indians.
(3) The term ``Utah Test and Training Range'' means those
portions of the military operating area of the Utah Test and
Training Area located solely in the State of Utah. The term
includes the Dugway Proving Ground.
(4) The term ``Wilderness Act'' means Public Law 88-577,
approved September 3, 1964 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.).
SEC. 3. MILITARY OPERATIONS AND OVERFLIGHTS, UTAH TEST AND TRAINING
RANGE.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
(1) The testing and development of military weapons systems
and the training of military forces are critical to ensuring
the national security of the United States.
(2) The Utah Test and Training Range in the State of Utah
is a unique and irreplaceable national asset at the core of the
test and training mission of the Department of Defense.
(3) The Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area designated by
section 5, as well as several wilderness study areas, are
located near lands withdrawn for military use or are beneath
special use airspace critical to the support of military test
and training missions at the Utah Test and Training Range.
(4) The Utah Test and Training Range and special use
airspace withdrawn for military uses create unique management
circumstances for the covered wilderness in this Act, and it is
not the intent of Congress that passage of this Act shall be
construed as establishing a precedent with respect to any
future national conservation area or wilderness designation.
(5) Continued access to the special use airspace and lands
that comprise the Utah Test and Training Range, under the terms
and conditions described in this section, is a national
security priority and is not incompatible with the protection
and proper management of the natural, environmental, cultural,
and other resources of such lands.
(b) Overflights.--Nothing in this Act or the Wilderness Act shall
preclude low-level overflights and operations of military aircraft,
helicopters, missiles, or unmanned aerial vehicles over the covered
wilderness, including military overflights and operations that can be
seen or heard within the covered wilderness.
(c) Special Use Airspace and Training Routes.--Nothing in this Act
or the Wilderness Act shall preclude the designation of new units of
special use airspace, the expansion of existing units of special use
airspace, or the use or establishment of military training routes over
the covered wilderness.
(d) Communications and Tracking Systems.--Nothing in this Act shall
prevent any required maintenance of existing communications,
instrumentation, or electronic tracking systems (or infrastructure
supporting such systems) or prevent the installation of new
communication, instrumentation, or other equipment necessary for
effective testing and training to meet military requirements in
wilderness study areas located beneath special use airspace comprising
the Utah Test and Training Range, including the Deep Creek, Fish
Springs, Swasey Mountain, Howell Peak, Notch Peak, King Top, Wah Wah
Mountain, and Conger Mountain units designated by the Department of
Interior, so long as the Secretary of the Interior, after consultation
with the Secretary of the Air Force, determines that the installation
and maintenance of such systems, when considered both individually and
collectively, comply with section 603 of the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782).
(e) Emergency Access and Response.--Nothing in this Act or the
Wilderness Act shall preclude the continuation of the memorandum of
understanding in existence as of the date of enactment of this Act
between the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Air
Force with respect to emergency access and response.
(f) Prohibition on Ground Military Operations.--Except as provided
in subsections (d) and (e), nothing in this section shall be construed
to permit a military operation to be conducted on the ground in covered
wilderness in the Utah Test and Training Range unless such ground
operation is otherwise permissible under Federal law and consistent
with the Wilderness Act.
SEC. 4. PLANNING PROCESS FOR FEDERAL LANDS IN UTAH TEST AND TRAINING
RANGE.
(a) Analysis of Military Readiness and Operational Impacts.--The
Secretary of the Interior shall develop, maintain, and revise land use
plans pursuant to section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712) for Federal lands located in the Utah Test
and Training Range in consultation with the Secretary of Defense. As
part of the required consultation in connection with a proposed
revision of a land use plan, the Secretary of Defense shall prepare and
transmit to the Secretary of the Interior an analysis of the military
readiness and operational impacts of the proposed revision within six
months of a request from the Secretary of Interior.
(b) Limitation on Rights-of-Ways.--The Secretary of the Interior
shall not grant or issue any authorizations for rights-of-way under
section 501(a)(6) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976
(43 U.S.C. 1761(a)(6)) upon Federal lands identified as inventory units
UTU-020-086, UTU-020-088, UTU-020-095, UTU-020-096, UTU-020-100, UTU-
020-101, UTU-020-103, UTU-020-104, UTU-020-105, and UTU-020-110, as
generally depicted on the map entitled ``Wilderness Inventory, State of
Utah'' and dated August 1979, until the later of the following:
(1) The completion of a full revision of the Pony Express
Area Resource Management Plan, dated January 12, 1990, by the
Salt Lake Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management.
(2) January 1, 2015.
SEC. 5. DESIGNATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS, UTAH.
(a) Designation.--Certain Federal lands in Tooele County, Utah, as
generally depicted on the map entitled ``Cedar Mountain Wilderness''
and dated March 7, 2004, are hereby designated as wilderness and,
therefore, as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation
System to be known as the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area.
(b) Withdrawal.--Subject to valid existing rights, the Federal
lands in the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area are hereby withdrawn from
all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land
laws, from location, entry, and patent under the United States mining
laws, and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and
geothermal leasing, and mineral materials, and all amendments to such
laws.
(c) Map and Description.--(1) As soon as practicable after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall
transmit a map and legal description of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness
Area to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives and
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
(2) The map and legal description shall have the same force and
effect as if included in this Act, except that the Secretary of the
Interior may correct clerical and typographical errors in the map and
legal description.
(3) The map and legal description shall be on file and available
for public inspection in the office of the Director of the Bureau of
Land Management and the office of the State Director of the Bureau of
Land Management in the State of Utah.
(d) Administration.--Subject to valid existing rights and this Act,
the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area shall be administered by the
Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the provisions of the
Wilderness Act, except that any reference in such provisions to the
effective date of the Wilderness Act (or any similar reference) shall
be deemed to be a reference to the date of the enactment of this Act.
(e) Land Acquisition.--Any lands or interest in lands within the
boundaries of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area acquired by the United
States after the date of the enactment of this Act shall be added to
and administered as part of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area.
(f) Fish and Wildlife Management.--As provided in section 4(d)(7)
of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(7)), nothing in this Act shall
be construed as affecting the jurisdiction of the State of Utah with
respect to fish and wildlife on the Federal lands located in that
State.
(g) Grazing.--Within the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area, the
grazing of livestock, where established before the date of the
enactment of this Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such
reasonable regulations, policies, and practices as the Secretary of the
Interior considers necessary, as long as such regulations, policies,
and practices fully conform with and implement the intent of Congress
regarding grazing in such areas, as such intent is expressed in the
Wilderness Act, section 101(f) of Public Law 101-628 (104 Stat. 4473),
and appendix A of the Report of the Committee on Interior and Insular
Affairs to accompany H.R. 2570 of the 101st Congress (H. Rept. 101-
405).
(h) Buffer Zones.--Congress does not intend for the designation of
the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area to lead to the creation of
protective perimeters or buffer zones around the wilderness area. The
fact that nonwilderness activities or uses can be seen or heard within
the wilderness area shall not, of itself, preclude such activities or
uses up to the boundary of the wilderness area.
(i) Release From Wilderness Study Area Status.--The lands
identified as the Browns Spring Cherrystem on the map entitled
``Proposed Browns Spring Cherrystem'' and dated May 11, 2004, are
released from their status as a wilderness study area, and shall no
longer be subject to the requirements of section 603(c) of the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782(c)) pertaining
to the management of wilderness study areas in a manner that does not
impair the suitability of those areas for preservation of wilderness.
SEC. 6. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT LAND IN UTAH TAKE INTO TRUST FOR
SKULL VALLEY BAND OF GOSHUTES.
(a) Placement in Trust.--Not later than December 31, 2005, the
Secretary of the Interior shall place the land identified on the map
entitled ______ and dated _______ into trust for the purposes of
economic development for the Tribe. At least 30 days before placing the
land in trust for the Tribe, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal
Register legal descriptions of the land to be placed in trust.
(b) Management of Trust Land.--The land placed into trust for the
Tribe under subsection (a) shall be administered in accordance with
laws generally applicable to property held in trust by the United
States for Indian Tribes, except that the land shall immediately revert
to the administrative control of the Bureau of Land Management if the
Tribe--
(1) sells, or attempts to sell, any part of the land; or
(2) attempts to facilitate or allow any commercial activity
to take place on the land that is not in compliance with the
laws of the State of Utah, including section 19-3-315 Utah Code
Annotated.
(c) Effect.--Nothing in this section--
(1) affects any valid right-of-way, lease, permit, mining
claim, grazing permit, water right, or other right or interest
of any person or entity (other than the United States) in or to
the trust land that exists before the date on which the land is
placed in trust for the Tribe under subsection (a);
(2) enlarges, impairs, or otherwise affects a right or
claim of the Tribe to any land or interest in land based on
Aboriginal or Indian title that exists before the date of the
enactment of this Act;
(3) constitutes an express or implied reservation of water
or water right for any purpose with respect to the trust land;
or
(4) affects any water right of the Tribe that exists before
the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 7. RELATION TO OTHER LANDS AND LAWS.
(a) Other Lands.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect
any Federal lands located outside of the covered wilderness or the
management of such lands.
(b) Conforming Repeal.--Section 2815 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Public Law 106-65; 113 Stat.
852) is amended by striking subsection (d).
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