[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 108 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1994

  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 3964) to expand the boundary of the Santa Fe National Forest, and 
for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 3964

       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 ``Santa Fe National Forest 
     Boundary Adjustment Act of 1994''.

     SEC. 2. BOUNDARY MODIFICATION.

       The boundary of the Santa Fe National Forest is hereby 
     modified and expanded as generally depicted on a map entitled 
     ``Santa Fe National Forest Boundary Expansion 1994'', dated 
     July 19, 1994. The map shall be on file and available for 
     public inspection in the office of the Chief, Forest Service, 
     Washington, DC.

     SEC. 3. ATALAYA PEAK EXCHANGES.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior is 
     authorized to exchange public lands and interests in lands 
     managed by the Bureau of Land Management for private lands 
     and interests therein depicted on the map referenced in 
     section 2.
       (b) Withdrawal.--Upon the acquisition of lands under 
     subsection (a) by the Secretary of the Interior, and subject 
     to valid existing rights, such lands are hereby withdrawn 
     from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the 
     public land laws; from location, entry, and patent under the 
     mining laws; and from disposition under all laws pertaining 
     to mineral and geothermal leasing.

     SEC. 4. INTERCHANGE OF FEDERAL LANDS IN NEW MEXICO.

       (a) Identification of Lands.--In conjunction with the land 
     exchange under section 3, the Secretary of Agriculture and 
     the Secretary of the Interior shall identify federally-owned 
     lands and interests in lands currently situated within the 
     Santa Fe National Forest which are suitable for transfer to 
     and administration by the Bureau of Land Management. The 
     identification of National Forest lands available for such 
     transfer shall utilize criteria which are mutually agreeable 
     to both of the Secretaries.
       (b) Lands Acquired for the Bureau of Land Management.--
       (1) Transfer by secretary of agriculture.--The Secretary of 
     Agriculture shall transfer, to the Bureau of Land Management, 
     those lands and interests in lands identified pursuant to 
     sub section (a). The transfer shall be effective upon 
     publication in the Federal Register of notice of such 
     transfer that identifies such lands and interests.
       (2) Boundary modification.--The boundary of the Santa Fe 
     National Forest shall be modified as of the date of notice 
     under paragraph (1) to exclude such lands transferred to the 
     Secretary of the Interior.
       (3) Management.--Lands transferred under paragraph (1) 
     shall be added to and administered by the Bureau of Land 
     Management as part of the public lands (as defined in section 
     103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 
     (43 U.S.C. 1702(e)).
       (c) Lands Acquired for the Forest Service.--
       (1) Addition to sante fe national forest.--Lands or 
     interests in lands--
       (A) acquired by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to 
     section 3, or
       (B) acquired by the Secretary of Agriculture within the 
     areas identified as ``potential acquisition'' on the map 
     referenced in section 2,

     shall, upon acquisition, be added to and administered as part 
     of the Santa Fe National Forest in accordance with the laws 
     relating to the National Forests.
       (2) Management prescription.--The Secretary of Agriculture 
     shall manage the lands and interests in lands referred to in 
     paragraph (1) primarily to preserve open space and scenic 
     values and to preclude development.
       (3) Availability of certain funds.--For purposes of section 
     7(a)(1) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 
     (16 U.S.C. 4601-9(a)(1)), the boundary of the Santa Fe 
     National Forest, as modified pursuant to this Act, shall be 
     treated as if it were the boundary as of January 1, 1965.

     SEC. 5. SAVINGS PROVISION.

       Nothing in this Act shall affect the authorities of the 
     Secretary of Agriculture to acquire lands in New Mexico by 
     purchase or exchange and, notwithstanding the Act of June 15, 
     1926 (16 U.S.C. 471a), all such lands heretofore or hereafter 
     acquired by the exchange of National Forest lands shall be 
     managed as a part of the National Forest System.

     SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION.

       The procedures used in carrying out the land transfers by 
     this Act shall be those procedures agreed to between the 
     Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture.

     SEC. 7. SEARCH AND RESCUE.

       As provided in section 4(c) of the Wilderness Act, 
     mechanical transport, including motor vehicles, motorized 
     equipment, and the landing of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, 
     shall be permitted anywhere within the boundaries of the 
     Santa Fe National Forest with respect to any emergency 
     involving the health or safety to an individual within the 
     national forest.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Minnesota [Mr. Vento] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Doolittle] will be recognized for 20 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Vento].


                             General Leave

  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on H.R. 3964, as amended, the bill before us now.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Minnesota?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3964, introduced by Representative Richardson, 
expands the boundary of the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. It 
authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire the lands within the 
modified boundary by exchange with the Bureau of Land Management.
  The purpose of the bill, is to preserve sections of Atalaya Mountain, 
which serves as a scenic backdrop to the city of Santa Fe and as public 
open space. There are several proposals to develop parts of the 
mountain for homes and this legislation is needed to prevent this. The 
bill would add 1,000 acres of the mountain to the Santa Fe National 
Forest.
  There is broad public support for preserving this area from 
development. Many of the private landowners who own property on the 
mountain are willing to exchange their lands with the Federal 
Government to preserve the mountain's scenic beauty. The rapid growth 
of Santa Fe with the accompanying problems of overcrowding, pollution, 
and lessening quality of life have alarmed many of Santa Fe's citizens. 
This legislation is part of an effort to protect the scenic beauty of 
Santa Fe and its quality of life.
  H.R. 3964 is noncontroversial, and I urge my colleagues to support 
it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation has been fully explained by Chairman 
Vento. I am concerned that H.R. 3964 is basically intended to control 
growth patterns in the Santa Fe area. Since land use planning is 
properly a function of local governments, I do not believe the Federal 
Government should be used to usurp their power. This legislation will 
only encourage other localities to have Congress solve their land use 
planning disputes.
  However, I am strongly supportive of section 7, dealing with search 
and rescue, that was inserted by the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen]. 
This amendment permits motor vehicles, motorized equipment and the 
landing of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft within the Santa Fe National 
Forest to deal with search and rescue emergencies.
  This amendment is intended to prevent the Forest Service from 
repeating its recent actions which forced a 14-year-old Boy Scout, who 
was lost in the Pecos Wilderness Area, to spend 2 nights in the 
wilderness. This situation occurred because the Forest Service did not 
consider this emergency sufficient to allow him to be rescued by 
helicopter until there was a public uproar. Hopefully, this amendment 
can be attached to bills dealing with other national forests throughout 
the Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. 
Schiff].
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to first commend my colleague, the gentleman from 
New Mexico [Mr. Richardson], for his strong work on the Santa Fe 
National Forest as represented in this bill. I particularly want to 
echo what my colleague just stated as a reason for supporting this bill 
in the provision that deals with search and rescue.
  I believe that the amendment of the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen], 
which has been accepted by the committee, was based upon a bill that I 
introduced, H.R. 4826, dealing with search and rescues. The bill itself 
deals with an incident that occurred in a wilderness area, but I 
believe that it could be equally applicable in a national forest area 
that is set aside to be open space and nondeveloped. Apparently the 
Committee on Natural Resources felt that way because they did on a 
unanimous vote put the provision into the bill.
  Specifically this provision and my bill are intended to address a 
problem that occurred in New Mexico several weeks ago. This situation 
was a 14-year-old became separated from his party in a national forest 
in New Mexico. He was located by the New Mexico State Police helicopter 
but when the helicopter asked for permission to land and rescue the 
young man, permission was denied by the Forest Service. The reason that 
the Forest Service denied the right to land is they believed that the 
young man was going to be rescued in the next couple of hours by a 
ground-based search and rescue crew that was already looking for him.
  The ground-based search and rescue crew did not locate the boy. He 
spent another night in the national forest in which he was lost, and 
the next day the State Police helicopter was again called out and this 
time was allowed to pick up the young man.
  Why did the Forest Service deny the helicopter the right to land and 
pick up this lost youth the first time around? The answer to that, Mr. 
Speaker, is that the Forest Service interprets the law on wilderness 
areas to mean that they must decide how much of an emergency really is 
enough of an emergency to allow a motorized vehicle, in this case, a 
helicopter, to be used to make a landing.
  It is my view, and I believe the view of many others as represented 
by the inclusion of this provision in this bill, that when there is a 
lost individual, the Forest Service, or any other agency of government, 
should not be charged with the responsibility of trying to figure out 
how much of a threat to health and safety warrants an immediate rescue 
if that rescue can be done by a motorized vehicle.

                              {time}  1550

  It is the intent of this provision not to put Federal employees in 
that kind of bind through their present interpretation of this law, and 
to directly state in an emergency situation if a motorized vehicle can 
effect a rescue, that rescue should take place. This is not intended to 
violate the intent of the Wilderness Act or of open space or any other 
goal of the U.S. Congress, but to make sure that the protection of 
human life and safety is of paramount concern when there is a threat to 
that life and safety.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding the time.
  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Richardson], and I thank him for his 
work on this legislation.
  (Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, to my colleague the gentleman from New 
Mexico [Mr. Schiff], again my thanks for his support on this 
legislation and for the very constructive issue he has raised. As the 
gentleman knows, Chairman Vento accepted an amendment which in my 
judgment does deal with the issue the gentleman raised. I do again want 
to thank him for his support on this legislation and many other public 
lands issues that he has shown leadership on throughout our State.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to express my strong support for 
H.R. 3964, legislation I introduced earlier this year to protect an 
environmentally sensitive, and visually important mountain east of 
Santa Fe, NM by expanding the boundaries of the Santa Fe National 
Forest.
  As many of our colleagues may know, Santa Fe, which is nestled in the 
mountains about 60 miles from Albuquerque, is one of the most beautiful 
State capitals in the United States. Santa Fe is known all over the 
world for its arts and crafts, Native American and Hispanic cultural 
links, and scenic beauty. However, many of my constituents fear that 
Santa Fe is also becoming a concrete example of the perils of 
commercialism. With its rapid growth, expansion of tourist services and 
new home and business construction, the historic nature of Santa Fe is 
in jeopardy.
  Nowhere has this threat been more apparent than on Atalaya Mountain, 
with its scenic vista to the east of town. A recent controversy about 
development of housing and other new construction on the mountainside 
has driven much of the community to work together to protect the area 
from further development.
  Just last week, the Santa Fe Conservation Trust reached oral 
agreement with all of the individuals owning land in the areas on 
Atalaya which are affected by H.R. 3964 and immediately threatened by 
development. These multiparty agreements involve a complex mix of 
donation and land exchange. However, none of these agreements will move 
forward without passage of this legislation. As Bill deBuys of the 
conservation fund in Santa Fe has written to me, ``Consummation of 
these transactions are entirely contingent upon passage of this bill.''
  Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful to Chairman Vento and Chairman Miller 
for the speed with which this legislation has been considered. Their 
appreciation of the delicate balance of growth and development now in 
place in Santa Fe, and the threat further development places on that 
balance is indicative of their willingness to move forward with this 
legislation. I would like to thank them both for their leadership and 
assistance.
  The American West is increasingly being threatened by battles between 
development and preservation. It is my hope that other situations 
similar to the one we are experiencing in Santa Fe can also be resolved 
in the forthright, positive way in which we have all attempted to deal 
with Atalaya. The exemplary leadership of community leaders and elected 
officials has been the key to getting this legislation to the floor.
  In addition, the important role of Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete 
Domenici in moving this legislation through the Senate is to be 
commended. With their cooperation and the swift passage of this 
legislation today, I am confident that H.R. 3964 can be enacted into 
law promptly.
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Mexico for his comments 
and commend this bill to the Members. We did reaffirm the wilderness 
policy in terms of motorized, fixed wing or helicopters for search and 
rescue operations. Of course, there was a mistake made in this 
particular instance, so I think this is an important point to be made 
insofar as the importance of safety and health purposes here for 
wilderness, and we need to provide that opportunity. I think the bill 
adequately addresses that as well as the major theme, of course, and 
that is the protection of Atalaya Mountain and the expansion of the 
boundary against this backdrop which Santa Fe finds very important for 
its community.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kopetski). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Vento] that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3964, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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