1.This Act may be cited as the
San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act of
2009
.
2.In this Act:
(1)The term covered
land means—
(A)lands designated as wilderness under
section 3 or section 4; and
(B)lands designated as a special management
area under section 4.
(2)The term nonconforming use
means any
commercial helicopter-assisted skiing or snowboarding activities within the
lands designated as a special management area under section 4 that have been
authorized by the Secretary as of the date of enactment of this Act.
(3)The term Secretary means the
Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as
appropriate.
(4)The
term State means the State of Colorado.
3.Additions to the
Wilderness Preservation System
(a)In accordance with the Wilderness Act (16
U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), the following areas in the State are designated as
wilderness areas and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation
System:
(1)Certain lands in the Grand Mesa,
Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests comprising approximately 3,170
acres, as generally depicted on a map titled Proposed Wilson, Sunshine,
Black Face and San Bernardo Additions to the Lizard Head Wilderness
,
dated May 2009, and which are hereby incorporated into the Lizard Head
Wilderness area.
(2)Certain lands in the Grand Mesa,
Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests comprising approximately 8,375
acres, as generally depicted on a map titled Proposed Liberty Bell and
Last Dollar Additions to the Mt. Sneffels Wilderness
, dated May 2009,
and which are hereby incorporated into the Mt. Sneffels Wilderness area.
(3)Certain lands in the Grand Mesa,
Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests comprising approximately 13,224
acres, as generally depicted on a map titled Proposed Whitehouse
Additions to the Mt. Sneffels Wilderness
, dated May 2009, and which are
hereby incorporated into the Mt. Sneffels Wilderness area.
(4)(A)Certain lands in the San
Juan Resource Area of the Bureau of Land Management comprising approximately
8,614 acres, as generally depicted on a map titled Proposed McKenna Peak
Wilderness
, dated May 2009, and which shall be known as the McKenna
Peak Wilderness.
(B)The lands designated under subparagraph (A)
shall be administered as a component of the National Landscape Conservation
System.
(b)
(1)As soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary shall file a map and a legal description of each
wilderness area designated by this Act with—
(A)the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; and
(B)the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
(2)A map and legal description filed under paragraph (1) shall
have the same force and effect as if included in this Act, except that the
Secretary may correct clerical and typographical errors in the map and legal
description.
(3)Each map and
legal description filed under paragraph (1) shall be filed and made available
for public inspection in the Office of the Director of the Bureau of Land
Management and in the Office of the Chief of the Forest Service, as
appropriate.
4.Sheep Mountain
Special Management Area
(a)Certain lands in the Grand Mesa,
Uncompahgre, and Gunnison and San Juan National Forests comprising
approximately 21,697 acres as generally depicted on a map titled
Proposed Sheep Mountain Special Management Area
and dated May
2009, are hereby designated as the Sheep Mountain Special Management
Area.
(b)
(1)As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary shall file maps and legal descriptions of the Federal
land described in subsection (a) with—
(A)the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and
(B)the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives.
(2)The maps and legal descriptions filed under paragraph (1)
shall have the same force and effect as if included in this Act, except that
the Secretary may correct typographical errors in the maps and legal
descriptions.
(3)Each map and legal description filed under paragraph
(1) shall be on file and available for public inspection in the appropriate
offices of the United States Forest Service.
(c)
(1)Until Congress determines otherwise, activities within
the area designated in subsection (a) shall be managed by the Secretary of
Agriculture so as to maintain the area’s presently existing wilderness
character and potential for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation
System.
(2)The
following shall be prohibited on the Federal land described in subsection
(a):
(A)Permanent
roads.
(B)Except as
necessary to meet the minimum requirements for the administration of the
Federal land and to protect public health and safety—
(i)the
use of motorized or mechanized vehicles, except as described in paragraph (3);
and
(ii)the
establishment of temporary roads.
(3)The Secretary may
allow activities, including helisking, that have been authorized as of the date
of the enactment of this Act to continue within the area designated in
subsection (a). The designation under subsection (a) shall not impact future
permit processes relating to such activities.
(4)Any uses of the Federal land described in subsection (a),
including activities described in paragraph (3), shall be in accordance with
applicable law.
(d)Subject
to valid existing rights, the Federal land described in subsection (a) is
withdrawn from—
(1)all forms of
entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws;
(2)location, entry,
and patent under the mining laws; and
(3)disposition under
all laws relating to mineral and energy leasing.
(e)Designation as
wildernessLands described in subsection (a) shall be designated
as wilderness on the date on which the Secretary publishes in the Federal
Register notice that the nonconforming use has terminated.
(f)Administration
as wildernessUpon its designation as wilderness under subsection
(e), the Sheep Mountain Special Management Area shall be—
(1)known as the Sheep
Mountain Wilderness; and
(2)administered in
accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133 et seq.) and section
3.
5.Administrative
provisions
(a)
(1)Subject to valid rights in existence on the
date of the enactment of this Act, land designated as wilderness under section
3 or section 4 shall be administered by the Secretary in accordance
with—
(A)the Wilderness Act
(16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.); and
(B)this Act.
(2)The Secretary may continue to authorize the
competitive running event permitted since 1992 in the vicinity of the
boundaries of the Sheep Mountain Special Management Area designated by section
4(a) and the Liberty Bell addition to the Mt. Sneffels Wilderness designated by
section 3(a)(2) in a manner compatible with the preservation of such areas as
wilderness.
(b)Effective Date
of the Wilderness ActWith
respect to land designated as wilderness under section 3 or section 4, any
reference in the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) to the effective date
of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the date of the
enactment of this Act or the date of the Secretary designating the land as
wilderness.
(c)Nothing in this Act
shall affect the jurisdiction or responsibility of the State with respect to
wildlife and fish.
(d)
(1)Nothing in this Act shall create a protective perimeter
or buffer zone around covered land.
(2)Activities
outside wildernessThe fact that a nonwilderness activity or use
can be seen or heard from within covered land shall not preclude the conduct of
the activity or use outside the boundary of the covered land.
(e)Subject
to valid rights in existence on the date of the enactment of this Act, covered
land is withdrawn from all forms of—
(1)entry,
appropriation, or disposal under public land laws;
(2)location, entry,
and patent under mining laws; and
(3)disposition under
all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral
materials.
(f)Any land or interest in
land located inside the boundaries of covered land that is acquired by the
United States after the date of the enactment of this Act shall become part of
the relevant wilderness or special management area and shall be managed in
accordance with this Act and other applicable law.
(g)Grazing in covered land shall be
administered in accordance with section 4(d)(4) of the Wilderness Act (16
U.S.C. 1133(d)(4)), as further interpreted by section 108 of Public Law 96–560,
and the guidelines set forth in 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)Ames
Hydroelectric ProjectThe
inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System or designation under
section 4 of this Act as a Special Management Area as described in section 4 of
this Act, shall not be construed to interfere with the operation and
maintenance of the Ames Hydroelectric Project, as currently licensed by the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or as reauthorized in the future,
including reasonable use of National Wilderness Preservation System lands or
Special Management Area for any necessary repair or replacement of existing
facilities, transport of water and aerial or land access. All means of access
to the project that are currently permitted by the Secretary on the date of
enactment of this Act shall be maintained.
6.
(a)Findings,
purpose, and definition
(1)Congress finds that—
(A)the lands
designated as wilderness or a Special Management Area by this Act are located
at the headwaters of the streams and rivers on those lands, with few, if any,
actual or proposed water resource facilities located upstream from such lands
and few, if any, opportunities for diversion, storage, or other uses of water
occurring outside such lands that would adversely affect the wilderness values
of such lands;
(B)the lands designated as wilderness or
Special Management Area by this Act are not suitable for use for development of
new water resource facilities, or for the expansion of existing facilities;
and
(C)therefore, it is possible to provide for
proper management and protection of the wilderness value of such lands in ways
different from those utilized in other legislation designating as wilderness
lands not sharing the attributes of the lands designated as wilderness or
Special Management Area by this Act.
(2)The purpose of this section is to protect
the wilderness values of the lands designated as wilderness or Special
Management Area by this Act by means other than those based on a Federal
reserved water right.
(3)As
used in this section, the term water resource facility means
irrigation and pumping facilities, reservoirs, water conservation works,
aqueducts, canals, ditches, pipelines, wells, hydropower projects, and
transmission and other ancillary facilities, and other water diversion,
storage, and carriage structures.
(b)Restrictions on
rights and disclaimer of effect
(1)Neither the Secretary
of Agriculture nor the Secretary of the Interior, nor any other officer,
employee, representative, or agent of the United States, nor any other person,
shall assert in any court or agency, nor shall any court or agency consider,
any claim to or for water or water rights in the State of Colorado, which is
based on any construction of any portion of this Act, or the designation of any
lands as wilderness or Special Management Area by this Act, as constituting an
express or implied reservation of water or water rights.
(2)No affect on
water rightsNothing in this
Act shall be construed as a creation, recognition, disclaimer, relinquishment,
or reduction of any water rights of the United States in the State of Colorado
existing before the date of enactment of this Act.
(3)No
interpretation or designationExcept as provided in subsection (g),
nothing in this Act shall be construed as constituting an interpretation of any
other Act or any designation made by or pursuant thereto.
(4)Nothing in this
section shall be construed as establishing a precedent with regard to any
future wilderness designations.
(c)Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, on and after the date of enactment of this Act neither
the President nor any other officer, employee, or agent of the United States
shall fund, assist, authorize, or issue a license or permit for the development
of any new water resource facility within the areas described in sections 3 and
4 or the enlargement of any water resource facility within the areas described
in sections 3 and 4.
(d)
(1)Access to water
resource facilitiesSubject
to the provisions of this subsection, the Secretary shall allow reasonable
access to water resource facilities in existence on the date of enactment of
this Act within the areas described in sections 3 and 4, including motorized
access where necessary and customarily employed on routes existing as of the
date of enactment of this Act.
(2)Existing access routes
within such areas customarily employed as of the date of enactment of this Act
may be used, maintained, repaired, and replaced to the extent necessary to
maintain their present function, design, and serviceable operation, so long as
such activities have no increased adverse impacts on the resources and values
of the areas described in sections 3 and 4 than existed as of the date of
enactment of this Act.
(3)Use of water
resource facilitiesSubject
to the provisions of subsections (c) and (d), the Secretary shall allow water
resource facilities existing on the date of enactment of this Act within areas
described in sections 3 and 4 to be used, operated, maintained, repaired, and
replaced to the extent necessary for the continued exercise, in accordance with
Colorado State law, of vested water rights adjudicated for use in connection
with such facilities by a court of competent jurisdiction prior to the date of
enactment of this Act. The impact of an existing facility on the water
resources and values of the area shall not be increased as a result of changes
in the adjudicated type of use of such facility as of the date of enactment of
this Act.
(4)Water resource
facilities, and access routes serving such facilities, existing within the
areas described in sections 3 and 4 on the date of enactment of this Act shall
be maintained and repaired when and to the extent necessary to prevent
increased adverse impacts on the resources and values of the areas described in
sections 3 and 4.
(e)Except as provided
in subsections (c) and (d), the provisions of this Act related to the areas
described in sections 3 and 4, and the inclusion in the National Wilderness
Preservation System of the areas described in section 3 and 4, shall not be
construed to affect or limit the use, operation, maintenance, repair,
modification, or replacement of water resources facilities in existence on the
date of enactment of this Act within the boundaries of the areas described in
sections 3 and 4.
(f)Monitoring and
ImplementationThe
Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior shall monitor the operation of and
access to water resource facilities within the areas described in sections 3
and 4 and take all steps necessary to implement the provisions of this
section.
(g)Nothing in this Act,
and nothing in any previous Act designating any lands as wilderness, shall be
construed as limiting, altering, modifying, or amending any of the interstate
compacts or equitable apportionment decrees that apportion water among and
between the State of Colorado and other States. Except as expressly provided in
this section, nothing in this Act shall affect or limit the development or use
by existing and future holders of vested water rights of Colorado’s full
apportionment of such waters.
7.Naturita Canyon
management provisions
(a)Subject to valid rights in existence on the
date of the enactment of this Act, land described in subsection (b) is
withdrawn from all forms of—
(1)entry,
appropriation, or disposal under public land laws;
(2)location, entry,
and patent under mining laws; and
(3)disposition under
all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral
materials.
(b)The land to be
protected under subsection (a) is the approximately 6,596 acres depicted on the
map titled Naturita Canyon Mineral Withdrawal Area
and dated May
2009.