[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 974 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 974

 To amend the National Trails System Act to clarify Federal authority 
 relating to land acquisition from willing sellers for the majority of 
           the trails in the System, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 28, 2005

  Mr. Allard introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the National Trails System Act to clarify Federal authority 
 relating to land acquisition from willing sellers for the majority of 
           the trails in the System, 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 ``National Trails System Willing Seller 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE LANDS FROM WILLING SELLERS FOR CERTAIN 
              TRAILS.

    (a) Oregon National Historic Trail.--Section 5(a)(3) of the 
National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(3)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein outside the 
exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may be acquired 
by the Federal government for the trail except with the consent of the 
owner thereof. The authority of the Federal government to acquire fee 
title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more 
than one-quarter mile on either side of the trail.''.
    (b) Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.--Section 5(a)(4) of the 
National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(4)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein outside the 
exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may be acquired 
by the Federal government for the trail except with the consent of the 
owner thereof. The authority of the Federal government to acquire fee 
title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more 
than one-quarter mile on either side of the trail.''.
    (c) Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.--Section 5(a)(5) of 
the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(5)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein 
outside the exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may 
be acquired by the Federal government for the trail except with the 
consent of the owner thereof. The authority of the Federal government 
to acquire fee title under this paragraph shall be limited to an 
average of not more than one-quarter mile on either side of the 
trail.''.
    (d) Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.--Section 5(a)(6) of 
the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(6)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein 
outside the exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may 
be acquired by the Federal government for the trail except with the 
consent of the owner thereof. The authority of the Federal government 
to acquire fee title under this paragraph shall be limited to an 
average of not more than one-quarter mile on either side of the 
trail.''.
    (e) Iditarod National Historic Trail.--Section 5(a)(7) of the 
National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(7)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein outside the 
exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may be acquired 
by the Federal government for the trail except with the consent of the 
owner thereof. The authority of the Federal government to acquire fee 
title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more 
than one-quarter mile on either side of the trail.''.
    (f) North Country National Scenic Trail.--Section 5(a)(8) of the 
National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(8)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein outside the 
exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may be acquired 
by the Federal government for the trail except with the consent of the 
owner thereof.''.
    (g) Ice Age National Scenic Trail.--Section 5(a)(10) of the 
National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(10)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein outside the 
exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may be acquired 
by the Federal government for the trail except with the consent of the 
owner thereof.''.
    (h) Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail.--Section 5(a)(11) of 
the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(11)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein 
outside the exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may 
be acquired by the Federal government for the trail except with the 
consent of the owner thereof.''.
    (i) Nez Perce National Historic Trail.--Section 5(a)(14) of the 
National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(14)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``No lands or interests therein outside the 
exterior boundaries of any Federally administered area may be acquired 
by the Federal government for the trail except with the consent of the 
owner thereof. The authority of the Federal government to acquire fee 
title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more 
than one-quarter mile on either side of the trail.''.

SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

    Section 10(c) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1249(c)) 
is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, there is 
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to 
implement the provisions of this Act relating to the trails designated 
by section 5(a).
    ``(2) Not more than $500,000 may be appropriated for the purposes 
of land acquisition and interests therein for the Natchez Trace 
National Scenic Trail designated by section 5(a)(12) of this Act, and 
not more than $2,000,000 may be appropriated for the purposes of the 
development of such trail. The administering agency for the trail shall 
encourage volunteer trail groups to participate in the development of 
the trail.''.
                                 <all>