1.This Act may be cited as the
Sangre de Cristo National Heritage
Area Act
.
2.In this Act:
(1)The term Heritage
Area means the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area established by
section 3(a).
(2)The term
management entity means the management entity for the Heritage
Area designated by section 3(d).
(3)The term
management plan means the management plan for the Heritage Area
required under section 5.
(4)The term map means the map
entitled Proposed Sangre De Cristo National Heritage Area
and
dated November 2005.
(5)The term Secretary means the
Secretary of the Interior.
(6)The term State means the State
of Colorado.
3.Sangre de cristo
national heritage area
(a)There is established in the State the
Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area.
(b)The Heritage Area shall consist of—
(1)the counties of Alamosa, Conejos, and
Costilla; and
(2)the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge,
the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, the Great Sand Dunes National Park and
Preserve, and other areas included in the map.
(c)A map of the Heritage Area shall be—
(1)included in the management plan; and
(2)on file and available for public inspection
in the appropriate offices of the National Park Service.
(d)
(1)The management entity
for the Heritage Area shall be the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area
Board of Directors.
(2)Members of the
Board shall include representatives from a broad cross-section of the
individuals, agencies, organizations, and governments that were involved in the
planning and development of the Heritage Area before the date of enactment of
this Act.
4.
(a)For purposes of carrying out the management
plan, the Secretary, acting through the management entity, may use amounts made
available under this Act to—
(1)make grants to the State or a political
subdivision of the State, nonprofit organizations, and other persons;
(2)enter into cooperative agreements with, or
provide technical assistance to, the State or a political subdivision of the
State, nonprofit organizations, and other interested parties;
(3)hire and compensate staff, which shall
include individuals with expertise in natural, cultural, and historical
resources protection, and heritage programming;
(4)obtain money or services from any source
including any that are provided under any other Federal law or program;
(5)contract for goods or services; and
(6)undertake to be a catalyst for any other
activity that furthers the Heritage Area and is consistent with the approved
management plan.
(b)The management entity shall—
(1)in accordance with section 5, prepare and
submit a management plan for the Heritage Area to the Secretary;
(2)assist units of local government, regional
planning organizations, and nonprofit organizations in carrying out the
approved management plan by—
(A)carrying out programs and projects that
recognize, protect, and enhance important resource values in the Heritage
Area;
(B)establishing and maintaining interpretive
exhibits and programs in the Heritage Area;
(C)developing recreational and educational
opportunities in the Heritage Area;
(D)increasing public awareness of, and
appreciation for, natural, historical, scenic, and cultural resources of the
Heritage Area;
(E)protecting and restoring historic sites and
buildings in the Heritage Area that are consistent with Heritage Area
themes;
(F)ensuring that clear, consistent, and
appropriate signs identifying points of public access, and sites of interest
are posted throughout the Heritage Area; and
(G)promoting a wide range of partnerships
among governments, organizations, and individuals to further the Heritage
Area;
(3)consider the interests of diverse units of
government, businesses, organizations, and individuals in the Heritage Area in
the preparation and implementation of the management plan;
(4)conduct meetings open to the public at
least semiannually regarding the development and implementation of the
management plan;
(5)for any year that Federal funds have been
received under this Act—
(A)submit an annual report to the Secretary
that describes the activities, expenses, and income of the management entity
(including grants to any other entities during the year that the report is
made);
(B)make available to the Secretary for audit
all records relating to the expenditure of the funds and any matching
funds;
(C)require, with respect to all agreements
authorizing expenditure of Federal funds by other organizations, that the
organizations receiving the funds make available to the Secretary for audit all
records concerning the expenditure of the funds; and
(6)encourage by appropriate means economic
viability that is consistent with the Heritage Area.
(c)Prohibition
on the Acquisition of Real PropertyThe management entity shall not use Federal
funds made available under this Act to acquire real property or any interest in
real property.
(d)The Federal share of the cost of any activity carried
out using any assistance made available under this Act shall be 50
percent.
5.
(a)Not later than 3
years after the date of enactment of this Act, the management entity shall
submit to the Secretary for approval a proposed management plan for the
Heritage Area.
(b)The management plan shall—
(1)incorporate an integrated and cooperative
approach for the protection, enhancement, and interpretation of the natural,
cultural, historic, scenic, and recreational resources of the Heritage
Area;
(2)take into consideration State and local
plans;
(3)include—
(A)an inventory of—
(i)the resources located in the core area
described in section 3(b); and
(ii)any other property in the core area
that—
(I)is related to the themes of the Heritage
Area; and
(II)should be preserved, restored, managed, or
maintained because of the significance of the property;
(B)comprehensive policies, strategies and
recommendations for conservation, funding, management, and development of the
Heritage Area;
(C)a description of actions that governments,
private organizations, and individuals have agreed to take to protect the
natural, historical and cultural resources of the Heritage Area;
(D)a program of implementation for the
management plan by the management entity that includes a description of—
(i)actions to facilitate ongoing collaboration
among partners to promote plans for resource protection, restoration, and
construction; and
(ii)specific commitments for implementation
that have been made by the management entity or any government, organization,
or individual for the first 5 years of operation;
(E)the identification of sources of funding
for carrying out the management plan;
(F)analysis and recommendations for means by
which local, State, and Federal programs, including the role of the National
Park Service in the Heritage Area, may best be coordinated to carry out this
Act; and
(G)an interpretive plan for the Heritage Area;
and
(4)recommend policies and strategies for
resource management that consider and detail the application of appropriate
land and water management techniques, including the development of
intergovernmental and interagency cooperative agreements to protect the
natural, historical, cultural, educational, scenic, and recreational resources
of the Heritage Area.
(c)If a proposed management plan is not
submitted to the Secretary by the date that is 3 years after the date of
enactment of this Act, the management entity shall be ineligible to receive
additional funding under this Act until the date that the Secretary receives
and approves the management plan.
(d)Approval or
disapproval of management plan
(1)Not later than 180
days after the date of receipt of the management plan under subsection (a), the
Secretary, in consultation with the State, shall approve or disapprove the
management plan.
(2)In determining
whether to approve the management plan, the Secretary shall consider
whether—
(A)the management entity is representative of
the diverse interests of the Heritage Area, including governments, natural and
historic resource protection organizations, educational institutions,
businesses, and recreational organizations;
(B)the management entity has afforded adequate
opportunity, including public hearings, for public and governmental involvement
in the preparation of the management plan; and
(C)the resource protection and interpretation
strategies contained in the management plan, if implemented, would adequately
protect the natural, historical, and cultural resources of the Heritage
Area.
(3)Action
following disapprovalIf the
Secretary disapproves the management plan under paragraph (1), the Secretary
shall—
(A)advise the management entity in writing of
the reasons for the disapproval;
(B)make recommendations for revisions to the
management plan; and
(C)not later than 180 days after the receipt
of any proposed revision of the management plan from the management entity,
approve or disapprove the proposed revision.
(4)
(A)The Secretary shall
approve or disapprove each amendment to the management plan that the Secretary
determines make a substantial change to the management plan.
(B)The management entity
shall not use Federal funds authorized by this Act to carry out any amendments
to the management plan until the Secretary has approved the amendments.
6.Relationship to
other Federal agencies
(a)Nothing in this Act affects the authority of a Federal
agency to provide technical or financial assistance under any other law.
(b)Consultation
and CoordinationThe head of any Federal agency planning to
conduct activities that may have an impact on the Heritage Area is encouraged
to consult and coordinate the activities with the Secretary and the management
entity to the maximum extent practicable.
(c)Nothing in this Act—
(1)modifies, alters,
or amends any law or regulation authorizing a Federal agency to manage Federal
land under the jurisdiction of the Federal agency;
(2)limits the
discretion of a Federal land manager to implement an approved land use plan
within the boundaries of the Heritage Area; or
(3)modifies, alters,
or amends any authorized use of Federal land under the jurisdiction of a
Federal agency.
7.Private property
and regulatory protectionsNothing in this Act—
(1)abridges the
rights of any property owner (whether public or private), including the right
to refrain from participating in any plan, project, program, or activity
conducted within the Heritage Area;
(2)requires any
property owner to permit public access (including access by Federal, State, or
local agencies) to the property of the property owner, or to modify public
access or use of property of the property owner under any other Federal, State,
or local law;
(3)alters any duly
adopted land use regulation, approved land use plan, or other regulatory
authority of any Federal, State or local agency, or conveys any land use or
other regulatory authority to the management entity;
(4)authorizes or
implies the reservation or appropriation of water or water rights;
(5)diminishes the
authority of the State to manage fish and wildlife, including the regulation of
fishing and hunting within the Heritage Area; or
(6)creates any
liability, or affects any liability under any other law, of any private
property owner with respect to any person injured on the private
property.
8.
(a)Not later than 3 years before the date on which authority
for Federal funding terminates for the Heritage Area, the Secretary
shall—
(1)conduct an
evaluation of the accomplishments of the Heritage Area; and
(2)prepare a report
in accordance with subsection (c).
(b)An
evaluation conducted under subsection (a)(1) shall—
(1)assess the
progress of the management entity with respect to—
(A)accomplishing the
purposes of this Act for the Heritage Area; and
(B)achieving the
goals and objectives of the approved management plan for the Heritage
Area;
(2)analyze the
Federal, State, local, and private investments in the Heritage Area to
determine the leverage and impact of the investments; and
(3)review the
management structure, partnership relationships, and funding of the Heritage
Area for purposes of identifying the critical components for sustainability of
the Heritage Area.
(c)
(1)Based on the evaluation conducted under subsection
(a)(1), the Secretary shall prepare a report that includes recommendations for
the future role of the National Park Service, if any, with respect to the
Heritage Area.
(2)If the report prepared under paragraph (1) recommends
that Federal funding for the Heritage Area be reauthorized, the report shall
include an analysis of—
(A)ways in which
Federal funding for the Heritage Area may be reduced or eliminated; and
(B)the appropriate
time period necessary to achieve the recommended reduction or
elimination.
(3)On completion of the report, the Secretary shall submit
the report to—
(A)the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and
(B)the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives.
9.Authorization of
appropriationsThere is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act $10,000,000, of which not
more than $1,000,000 may be made available for any fiscal year.
10.The authority of the
Secretary to provide assistance under this Act terminates on the date that is
15 years after the date of enactment of this Act.