1.This Act may be cited as the
North Country National Scenic Trail
Route Adjustment Act of 2009
.
2.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)The North Country National Scenic Trail,
although only approximately half completed, provides outstanding outdoor
recreation experiences to United States citizens and visitors to the United
States.
(2)The North Country
National Scenic Trail is an outstanding example of the recreation opportunities
that can be provided through a partnership of Federal, State, and local
governments, private nonprofit trail organizations, individual volunteers, and
landowners.
(3)Modern, digital
measuring equipment indicates that when construction is completed on the
currently authorized route, the actual length of the trail will be
approximately 4,200 miles, rather than the 3,200 miles estimated at the time of
authorization in 1980.
(4)The currently
authorized route in Minnesota going westward from the vicinity of Duluth to the
Chippewa National Forest is not feasible because most of the land between these
points is tamarack swamp.
(5)More than 300
miles of existing and planned hiking trails extend northeastward from the
vicinity of Duluth to the vicinity of Grand Portage, and then westward to the
vicinity of Ely. These trails are the Superior Hiking Trail, Border Route
Trail, and Kekekabic Trail.
(6)The Superior Hiking Trail, Border Route
Trail, and Kekekabic Trail would serve as an excellent route for the North
Country National Scenic Trail in northeastern Minnesota, in lieu of the current
route, and would take hikers through outstanding northern scenery that truly
epitomizes the “North Country”.
(7)The length of new
trail construction to connect these routes to the existing authorized trail in
the Chippewa National Forest is approximately the same as the length of trail
construction that would have been required along the currently authorized
route.
(8)Public input
during a route assessment study conducted by the National Park Service
demonstrated that there is broad support among affected public agencies,
private trail organizations, and Minnesota citizens for making this change in
the authorized route.
(9)This new route would increase the length of
the North Country National Scenic Trail by approximately 400 miles, resulting
in a revised estimate of the length of a completed North Country National
Scenic Trail of approximately 4,600 miles.
3.Section
5(a)(8) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended to
read as follows:
(8)The North Country
National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately forty-six hundred miles,
extending from eastern New York State to the vicinity of Lake Sakakawea in
North Dakota, following the approximate route depicted on the map identified as
North Country National Scenic Trail, Authorized Route
, dated
February 16, 2005, and numbered 649/80,002. The map shall be on file and
available for public inspection in the office of the Director, National Park
Service, Washington, District of Columbia. The trail shall be administered by
the Secretary of the
Interior.
.
1.This Act may be cited as the North
Country National Scenic Trail Route Adjustment Act of 2010.
2.Section 5(a)(8) of
the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(8)) is amended in the first
sentence—
(1)by striking
thirty-two hundred
and inserting 4,600
;
and
(2)by striking as
Proposed North Country Trail-Vicinity Map
in
and all
that follows through the period at the end of the sentence and inserting
as North Country National Scenic Trail, Authorized Route
dated February 16, 2005, and numbered 649/80,002.
.
August 5, 2010
Reported with an amendment