[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 690 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 690

  To amend the National Trails System Act to authorize an additional 
  category of national trail known as a national discovery trail, to 
 provide special requirements for the establishment and administration 
   of national discovery trails, and to designate the cross-country 
    American Discovery Trail as the first national discovery trail.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 9, 2005

   Mr. Bartlett of Maryland introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the National Trails System Act to authorize an additional 
  category of national trail known as a national discovery trail, to 
 provide special requirements for the establishment and administration 
   of national discovery trails, and to designate the cross-country 
    American Discovery Trail as the first national discovery 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 ``National Discovery Trails Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAILS COMPONENT OF 
              NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM.

    (a) Additional Component of System.--Section 3(a) of the National 
Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1242(a)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(4) National discovery trails, established as provided in 
        section 5 and subject to the special requirements of section 
        7A, which will be extended, continuous, interstate trails so 
        located as to--
                    ``(A) provide for outstanding outdoor recreation 
                and travel and the conservation and enjoyment of 
                significant natural, cultural, and historic resources 
                associated with the trail; and
                    ``(B) connect representative examples of America's 
                trails and metropolitan, urban, rural, and backcountry 
                regions of the United States.''.
    (b) Special Requirements for National Discovery Trails.--The 
National Trails System Act is amended by inserting after section 7 (16 
U.S.C. 1246) the following new section:

``SEC. 7A. SPECIAL ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS 
              APPLICABLE TO NATIONAL DISCOVERY TRAILS.

    ``(a) Designation Authority.--A national discovery trail may be 
designated on Federal lands and, with the consent of the owner thereof, 
on non-Federal lands. The appropriate Secretary shall obtain the 
consent of the owner of non-Federal lands through the use of a written 
agreement, which shall include such terms and conditions as the parties 
to the agreement consider advisable, and may include provisions 
regarding the discontinuation of the trail designation on the lands 
covered by the agreement.
    ``(b) Notice to Landowners.--As part of a feasibility study or 
environmental assessment concerning a proposed national discovery trail 
designation, the appropriate Secretary conducting the study or 
assessment shall provide notification to owners of nonpublic lands 
where the proposed national discovery trail may cross on or abut 
nonpublic lands.
    ``(c) Protection of Use of Adjacent Lands.--The Congress does not 
intend for the establishment of a national discovery trail to lead to 
the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones adjacent to the 
trail. The fact that there may be activities or uses on lands adjacent 
to the trail that would not be permitted on the trail shall not 
preclude such activities or uses on such lands adjacent to the trail to 
the extent consistent with other applicable law. Nothing in this 
section may be construed to impose, or permit the imposition of, any 
limitations on the use of any non-Federal lands without the consent of 
the owner of the lands.
    ``(d) Prevention of Trespass of Private Lands.--The appropriate 
Secretary shall initiate consultations with affected States and their 
political subdivisions to develop and implement appropriate measures to 
protect nonpublic landowners from trespass resulting from visitor use 
of a national discovery trail and from unreasonable personal liability 
and property damage caused by trail use. After such consultation, the 
appropriate Secretary may provide assistance to such States and their 
political subdivisions under appropriate cooperative agreements in the 
manner provided by this subsection.
    ``(e) Relation to Rights-of-way.--Neither the designation of a 
national discovery trail nor any plan related thereto shall affect, or 
be considered, in the granting or denial of a right-of-way or any 
conditions relating thereto.
    ``(f) Cooperative Administration.--The appropriate Secretary for 
each national discovery trail shall administer the trail in cooperation 
with a competent trailwide volunteer-based organization.
    ``(g) Relation to Other Trails.--Where national discovery trails 
are congruent with other local, State, national scenic, or national 
historic trails, the designation of the national discovery trail shall 
not in any way diminish the values and significance for which these 
trails were established.''.
    (c) Conditions on Conduct of Feasibility Studies.--Section 5(b) of 
the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(b)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (10) as 
        subparagraphs (A) through (J), respectively;
            (2) by striking ``the'' at the beginning of each of 
        subparagraphs (A) through (J), as so redesignated, and 
        inserting ``The'';
            (3) by striking the semicolon at the end of each of 
        subparagraphs (A) through (I), as so redesignated, and 
        inserting a period;
            (4) in subparagraph (J), as so redesignated, by striking 
        ``; and'' and inserting a period;
            (5) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(b)'' at the beginning of 
        the subsection;
            (6) by redesignating paragraph (11) as paragraph (2) and 
        conforming the margins to paragraph (1); and
            (7) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(3)(A) For purposes of this subsection, a trail shall not be 
considered feasible and desirable for designation as a national 
discovery trail unless it meets all of the following criteria:
            ``(i) The trail must link to one or more areas within the 
        boundaries of a metropolitan area (as those boundaries are 
        determined under section 134(c) of title 23, United States 
        Code), and the trail should also join with other trails, 
        thereby tying the National Trails System to significant 
        recreation and resources areas.
            ``(ii) The trail must be supported by at least one 
        competent trailwide volunteer-based organization, and must have 
        extensive local and trailwide support by the public, by user 
        groups, and by affected State and local governments.
            ``(iii) The trail must be extended and pass through more 
        than one State. At a minimum, it should be a continuous, 
        walkable route.
    ``(B) National discovery trails are specifically exempted from the 
provisions of sections 7(g) of this Act.
    ``(C) The appropriate Secretary shall obtain written consent from 
affected landowners prior to entering nonpublic lands for the purposes 
of conducting any surveys or studies of nonpublic lands relating to 
designating or administering national discovery trails.''.
    (d) Conforming Amendments to Reflect New Category of National 
Trail.--The National Trails System Act is amended--
            (1) in section 2(b) (16 U.S.C. 1241(b)), by striking 
        ``scenic and historic'' and inserting ``scenic, historic, and 
        discovery'';
            (2) in section 5 (16 U.S.C. 1244)--
                    (A) by striking the section heading and ``Sec. 5. 
                (a)'' and inserting the following:

``SEC. 5. NATIONAL SCENIC, NATIONAL HISTORIC, AND NATIONAL DISCOVERY 
              TRAILS.

    ``(a) Congressionally Authorized Trails.--'';
                    (B) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 
                paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``and national historic'' 
                        and inserting ``, national historic, and 
                        national discovery''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``and National Historic'' 
                        and inserting ``, National Historic, and 
                        National Discovery''; and
                    (C) in subsection (b)(1) (as amended by subsection 
                (c) of this section)--
                            (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
                        (A), by striking ``or national historic'' and 
                        inserting ``, national historic, or national 
                        discovery''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``or 
                        national historic'' and inserting ``, national 
                        historic, or national discovery''; and
            (3) in section 7 (16 U.S.C. 1246)--
                    (A) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ``and 
                national historic'' and inserting ``, national 
                historic, and national discovery'';
                    (B) in subsection (b), by striking ``or national 
                historic'' each place such term appears and inserting 
                ``, national historic, or national discovery'';
                    (C) in subsection (c)--
                            (i) by striking ``scenic or national 
                        historic'' each place it appears and inserting 
                        ``scenic, national historic, or national 
                        discovery'';
                            (ii) in the second proviso, by striking 
                        ``scenic, or national historic'' and inserting 
                        ``scenic, national historic, or national 
                        discovery''; and
                            (iii) by striking ``, and national 
                        historic'' and inserting ``, national historic, 
                        and national discovery'';
                    (D) in subsection (d), by striking ``or national 
                historic'' and inserting ``national historic, or 
                national discovery'';
                    (E) in subsection (e), by striking ``or national 
                historic'' each place such term appears and inserting 
                ``, national historic, or national discovery'';
                    (F) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ``National 
                Scenic or Historic Trail'' and inserting ``national 
                scenic, historic, or discovery trail'';
                    (G) in subsection (h)(1), by striking ``or national 
                historic'' and inserting ``national historic, or 
                national discovery''; and
                    (H) in subsection (i), by striking ``or national 
                historic'' and inserting ``national historic, or 
                national discovery''.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF AMERICAN DISCOVERY TRAIL AS A NATIONAL DISCOVERY 
              TRAIL.

    Section 5(a) of National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(25) The American Discovery Trail, a trail of approximately 6,000 
miles extending from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point 
Reyes National Seashore in California, extending westward through 
Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Ohio, and 
Kentucky, where near Cincinnati it splits into two routes. The Northern 
Midwest route traverses Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and 
Colorado, and the Southern Midwest route traverses Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado. After the two routes rejoin in Denver, 
Colorado, the route continues through Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and 
California. The trail is generally described in Volume 2 of the 
National Park Service feasibility study dated June 1995 which shall be 
on file and available for public inspection in the office of the 
Director of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The 
American Discovery Trail shall be administered by the Secretary of the 
Interior in cooperation with at least one competent trailwide 
volunteer-based organization, affected land managing agencies and State 
and local governments as appropriate. No lands or interests outside the 
exterior boundaries of federally administered areas may be acquired by 
the Federal Government solely for the American Discovery Trail. The 
American Discovery Trail is specifically exempted from the provisions 
of subsection (e), (f), and (g) of section 7.''.
                                 <all>