[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1087 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1087

 To release wilderness study areas administered by the Bureau of Land 
   Management that are not suitable for wilderness designation from 
   continued management as de facto wilderness areas and to release 
 inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System that are 
     not recommended for wilderness designation from the land use 
restrictions of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Final Rule and the 
  2005 State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management Final 
                     Rule, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 26, 2011

 Mr. Barrasso (for himself, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Heller, and 
   Mr. Enzi) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To release wilderness study areas administered by the Bureau of Land 
   Management that are not suitable for wilderness designation from 
   continued management as de facto wilderness areas and to release 
 inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System that are 
     not recommended for wilderness designation from the land use 
restrictions of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Final Rule and the 
  2005 State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management Final 
                     Rule, 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 the ``Wilderness and Roadless Area Release 
Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. RELEASE OF BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS 
              PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED AS NOT SUITABLE FOR WILDERNESS 
              DESIGNATION.

    (a) Release.--Congress finds and directs that the public lands 
described in subsection (b) have been adequately studied for wilderness 
designation pursuant to section 603 of the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782) and are no longer subject to 
the requirement of subsection (c) of such section pertaining to the 
management of wilderness study areas in a manner that does not impair 
the suitability of such areas for preservation as wilderness.
    (b) Covered Public Lands.--Subsection (a) applies to public lands 
administered by the Bureau of Land Management pursuant to the Federal 
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) that--
            (1) have not been designated as wilderness by an Act of 
        Congress before the date of the enactment of this Act; and
            (2) have been identified by the Bureau of Land Management 
        before the date of the enactment of this Act as not suitable 
        for wilderness designation.
    (c) Management.--Public lands released by subsection (a) shall be 
managed by the Bureau of Land Management in accordance with the land 
use plan applicable to the lands developed pursuant to section 202 of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712).
    (d) Prohibition.--The Secretary of the Interior may not promulgate 
or issue any system-wide regulation, directive, or order that would 
direct management of the public lands released by subsection (a) in a 
manner contrary to the applicable land use plan.
    (e) Termination of Applicability of Wildlands Order.--Wildlands 
order 3310 shall not apply with respect to the public lands released by 
subsection (a).

SEC. 3. RELEASE OF INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREAS WITHIN THE NATIONAL 
              FOREST SYSTEM NOT RECOMMENDED FOR WILDERNESS DESIGNATION.

    (a) Release.--Congress finds and directs that the National Forest 
System lands described in subsection (b) have been adequately studied 
for wilderness designation pursuant to the second roadless area review 
and evaluation program (RARE II) and the land and resource management 
plan revision process under section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland 
Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604) and are no 
longer subject to management to maintain the roadless character and 
values of the lands and comply with other land-use restrictions of the 
Roadless Area Conservation Rule contained in part 294 of title 36, Code 
of Federal Regulations, and amended in the final rule and record of 
decision published in the Federal Register on January 12, 2001 (66 Fed. 
Reg. 3244), and the final rule and record of decision published in the 
Federal Register on May 13, 2005 (70 Fed. Reg. 25654).
    (b) Covered National Forest System Lands.--Subsection (a) applies 
to inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System set 
forth in the maps contained in the Forest Service Roadless Area 
Conservation, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 2, dated 
November 2000, that--
            (1) have not been designated as wilderness by an Act of 
        Congress before the date of the enactment of this Act; and
            (2) were not recommended for designation as wilderness as a 
        result of the second roadless area review and evaluation 
        program (RARE II) or the subsequent revision of a land and 
        resource management plan under section 6 of the Forest and 
        Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 
        1604).
    (c) Management.--National Forest System lands released by 
subsection (a) shall be managed by the Forest Service under the 
principles of the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (16 U.S.C. 
528 et seq.) in accordance with the land and resource management plan 
developed for the unit of the National Forest System containing the 
lands.
    (d) Prohibition.--The Secretary of Agriculture may not promulgate 
or issue any system-wide regulation, directive, or order that would 
direct management of the National Forest System lands released by 
subsection (a) in a manner contrary to the applicable land and resource 
management plan.
    (e) Termination of Applicability of Amendments.--The amendments 
made to part 294 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, in the final 
rule and record of decision published in the Federal Register on 
January 12, 2001 (66 Fed. Reg. 3244), and the final rule and record of 
decision published in the Federal Register on May 13, 2005 (70 Fed. 
Reg. 25654), shall not apply with respect to the National Forest System 
lands released by subsection (a).
                                 <all>