1.This Act may be cited as the
Wild Sky Wilderness Act of
2007
.
2.Additions to the
National Wilderness Preservation System
(a)The
following Federal lands in the State of Washington are hereby designated as
wilderness and, therefore, as components of the National Wilderness
Preservation System: certain lands which comprise approximately 106,000 acres,
as generally depicted on a map entitled Wild Sky Wilderness
Proposal
and dated February 6, 2007, which shall be known as the
Wild Sky Wilderness
.
(b)Maps and Legal
DescriptionsAs soon as practicable after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall file a map and a legal
description for the wilderness area designated under this Act with the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on
Resources of the House of Representatives. The map and description shall have
the same force and effect as if included in this Act, except that the Secretary
of Agriculture may correct clerical and typographical errors in the legal
description and map. The map and legal description shall be on file and
available for public inspection in the office of the Chief of the Forest
Service, Department of Agriculture.
3.Administration
provisions
(a)
(1)Subject to valid
existing rights, lands designated as wilderness by this Act shall be managed by
the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C.
1131 et seq.) and this Act, except that, with respect to any wilderness areas
designated by this Act, any reference in the Wilderness Act to the effective
date of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the date of
enactment of this Act.
(2)To fulfill the
purposes of this Act and the Wilderness Act and to achieve administrative
efficiencies, the Secretary of Agriculture may manage the area designated by
this Act as a comprehensive part of the larger complex of adjacent and nearby
wilderness areas.
(b)
(1)The Secretary of
Agriculture shall consult with interested parties and shall establish a trail
plan for Forest Service lands in order to develop—
(A)a system of
hiking and equestrian trails within the wilderness designated by this Act in a
manner consistent with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.); and
(B)a system of
trails adjacent to or to provide access to the wilderness designated by this
Act.
(2)Within two years
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall
complete a report on the implementation of the trail plan required under this
Act. This report shall include the identification of priority trails for
development.
(c)Within the Wild Sky Wilderness, the Secretary of Agriculture
is authorized to use helicopter access to construct and maintain a joint Forest
Service and Snohomish County telecommunications repeater site, in compliance
with a Forest Service approved communications site plan, for the purposes of
improving communications for safety, health, and emergency services.
(d)As provided by section 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness Act (16
U.S.C. 1133(d)(1)), the use of floatplanes on Lake Isabel, where such use has
already become established, shall be permitted to continue subject to such
reasonable restrictions as the Secretary of Agriculture determines to be
desirable.
(e)Evergreen
Mountain LookoutThe designation under this Act shall not
preclude the operation and maintenance of the existing Evergreen Mountain
Lookout in the same manner and degree in which the operation and maintenance of
such lookout was occurring as of the date of enactment of this Act.
4.Authorization
for land acquisition
(a)The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to acquire
lands and interests therein, by purchase, donation, or exchange, and shall give
priority consideration to those lands identified as Priority Acquisition
Lands
on the map described in section 2(a). The boundaries of the Mt.
Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the Wild Sky Wilderness shall be adjusted
to encompass any lands acquired pursuant to this section.
(b)Consistent
with section 5(a) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1134(a)), the Secretary of
Agriculture shall ensure adequate access to private inholdings within the Wild
Sky Wilderness.
(c)Valuation
of private lands shall be determined without reference to any restrictions on
access or use which arise out of designation as a wilderness area as a result
of this Act.
5.The Secretary of
Agriculture shall exchange lands and interests in lands, as generally depicted
on a map entitled Chelan County Public Utility District Exchange
and dated May 22, 2002, with the Chelan County Public Utility District in
accordance with the following provisions:
(1)If the Chelan
County Public Utility District, within ninety days after the date of enactment
of this Act, offers to the Secretary of Agriculture approximately 371.8 acres
within the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the State of Washington, the
Secretary shall accept such lands.
(2)Upon acceptance
of title by the Secretary of Agriculture to such lands and interests therein,
the Secretary of Agriculture shall convey to the Chelan County Public Utility
District a permanent easement, including helicopter access, consistent with
such levels as used as of date of enactment, to maintain an existing telemetry
site to monitor snow pack on 1.82 acres on the Wenatchee National Forest in the
State of Washington.
(3)The exchange
directed by this Act shall be consummated if Chelan County Public Utility
District conveys title acceptable to the Secretary and provided there is no
hazardous material on the site, which is objectionable to the Secretary.
(4)In the event
Chelan County Public Utility District determines there is no longer a need to
maintain a telemetry site to monitor the snow pack for calculating expected
runoff into the Lake Chelan hydroelectric project and the hydroelectric
projects in the Columbia River Basin, the Secretary shall be notified in
writing and the easement shall be extinguished and all rights conveyed by this
exchange shall revert to the United States.