[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 38 (Monday, March 30, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1707-H1709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS INTERPRETIVE CENTER IN
CASPER, WYOMING
Mrs. CUBIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2186) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide
assistance to the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in
Casper, Wyoming.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 2186
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds and declares the
following:
(1) The city of Casper, Wyoming, is nationally significant
as the only geographic location in the western United States
where 4 congressionally recognized historic trails (the
Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail, and the
Pony Express Trail), the Bridger Trail, the Bozeman Trail,
and many Indian routes converged.
(2) The historic trails that passed through the Casper area
are a distinctive part of the national character and possess
important historical and cultural values representing themes
of migration, settlement, transportation, and commerce that
shaped the landscape of the West.
(3) The Bureau of Land Management has not yet established a
historic trails interpretive center in Wyoming or in any
adjacent State to educate and focus national attention on the
history of the mid-19th century immigrant trails that crossed
public lands in the Intermountain West.
(4) At the invitation of the Bureau of Land Management, the
city of Casper and the National Historic Trails Foundation,
Inc. (a nonprofit corporation established under the laws of
the State of Wyoming) entered into a memorandum of
understanding in 1992, and have since signed an assistance
agreement in 1993 and a cooperative agreement in 1997, to
create, manage, and sustain a National Historic Trails
Interpretive Center to be located in Casper, Wyoming, to
professionally interpret the historic trails in the Casper
area for the benefit of the public.
(5) The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
authorized by this Act is consistent with the purposes and
objectives of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1241
et seq.), which directs the Secretary of the Interior to
protect, interpret, and manage the remnants of historic
trails on public lands.
(6) The State of Wyoming effectively joined the partnership
to establish the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
through a legislative allocation of supporting funds, and the
citizens of the city of Casper have increased local taxes to
meet their financial obligations under the assistance
agreement and the cooperative agreement referred to in
paragraph (4).
(7) The National Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. has
secured most of the $5,000,000 of non-Federal funding pledged
by State and local governments and private interests pursuant
to the cooperative agreement referred to in paragraph (4).
(8) The Bureau of Land Management has completed the
engineering and design phase of the National Historic Trails
Interpretive Center, and the National Historic Trails
Foundation, Inc. is ready for Federal financial and technical
assistance to construct the Center pursuant to the
cooperative agreement referred to in paragraph (4).
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To recognize the importance of the historic trails that
passed through the Casper, Wyoming, area as a distinctive
aspect of American heritage worthy of interpretation and
preservation.
(2) To assist the city of Casper, Wyoming, and the National
Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. in establishing the National
Historic Trails Interpretive Center to memorialize and
interpret the significant role of those historic trails in
the history of the United States.
(3) To highlight and showcase the Bureau of Land
Management's stewardship of public lands in Wyoming and the
West.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAILS INTERPRETIVE CENTER.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting
through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (in
this section referred to as the ``Secretary''), shall
establish in Casper, Wyoming, a center for the interpretation
of the historic trails in the vicinity of Casper, including
the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail, and
the Pony Express Trail, the Bridger Trail, the Bozeman Trail,
and various Indian routes. The center shall be known as the
National Historic Trails Interpretive Center (in this section
referred to as the ``Center'').
(b) Facilities.--The Secretary, subject to the availability
of appropriations, shall construct, operate, and maintain
facilities for the Center--
(1) on land provided by the city of Casper, Wyoming;
(2) in cooperation with the city of Casper and the National
Historic Trails Interpretive Center Foundation, Inc. (a
nonprofit corporation established under the laws of the State
of Wyoming); and
(3) in accordance with--
(A) the Memorandum of Understanding entered into on March
4, 1993, by the city, the foundation, and the Wyoming State
Director of the Bureau of Land Management; and
(B) the cooperative agreement between the foundation and
the Wyoming State Director of the Bureau of Land Management,
numbered K910A970020.
(c) Donations.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
the Secretary may accept, retain, and, subject to the
availability of appropriations, expend donations of funds,
property, or services from individuals, foundations,
corporations, or public entities for the purpose of
development and operation of the Center.
(d) Entrance Fee.--Notwithstanding section 4 of the Land
and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-6a),
the Secretary may--
(1) collect an entrance fee from visitors to the Center;
and
(2) subject to appropriations, use amounts received by the
United States from that fee for expenses of operation of the
Center.
(e) Concessions.--The Secretary may--
(1) take actions to encourage and enable private persons to
provide and operate facilities and services at the Center in
the same manner and extent as the Secretary may take such
actions, with respect to areas administered by the National
Park Service, under the Public Law 89-249 (16 U.S.C. 20a et
seq.), popularly known as the National Park System
Concessions Policy Act; and
(2) subject to appropriations, use amounts received by the
United States from such facilities and services for
development and operation of the Center.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary $5,000,000 to carry out
this section.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin) and the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr.
Faleomavaega) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin).
(Mrs. CUBIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. CUBIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this bill would establish the National Historic Trails
Center and Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming.
H.R. 2186 was introduced in an effort to preserve and interpret
several historic trails which crossed western America during the 1800s.
These historic trails represent valuable historic and cultural themes
that help shaped the West. This bill is the result of a cooperative
partnership with Federal and non-Federal interests which will help
fund, construct, operate and maintain the trails center. The
partnership includes the Bureau of Land Management, the City of Casper,
the State of Wyoming and the nonprofit National Historic Trails
Foundation, which have been invaluable in their contribution to this
effort. The non-Federal partners have made a clear commitment to share
approximately one-half of the total cost to construct, maintain and
operate the trails center.
At this point the design work is done, the land is available, and
most of the non-Federal funds have been accrued. Now the actual
interpretive center needs to be constructed. H.R. 2186 authorizes the
appropriation of funds to complete this construction.
This bill really is a showpiece of what can be accomplished as a
result of cooperative partnerships between Federal and non-Federal
interests. This bill is noncontroversial, Mr. Speaker, and is supported
by the administration. I urge my colleagues to voice support for
passage of H.R. 2186.
H.R. 2186, the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
Authorization Act, requests an amount of $5 million be authorized for
use by the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior
to construct the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in
Casper, Wyoming.
Over a century and a half has now passed since the historic overland
migrations of people across America's western frontier began. Their
stories of hardship, perseverance and courage are legendary, and they
figure prominently in the history of the West. The trails they
traveled, especially in Wyoming, still remain a visible testimony to
the great struggles of these early American pioneers.
During the mid-1800's, Casper, Wyoming was the only geographic
location in the western United States where the Oregon, Mormon,
California and Pony Express trails, as well as many Indian trails
converged. A fork of the Bozeman Trail and the beginnings of the
Bridger Trail also originated in Casper. These
[[Page H1708]]
trails are a distinctive part of our nation's past and they possess
important historical and cultural values representing themes of
migration, settlement, transportation, and commerce that shaped the
landscape of the West.
Congress has recognized the historical significance of these trails.
The National Trails Systems Act, as amended in 1978 and 1992,
designates the Oregon, Mormon, California, and Pony Express Trails as
National Historic Trails. The Act also directs the Secretary of the
Interior to protect, interpret and manage the remnants of these trails
on federal lands.
While large segments of these trails, and their associated historic
sites, lie on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Wyoming, no
interpretive center is available in Wyoming, or any adjacent state, to
educate the public on the role of these trails in our nation's history.
In an effort to preserve and interpret this important history, I have
introduced H.R. 2186 to establish the National Historic Trails
Interpretive Center (NHTIC) in Casper, Wyoming. The bill encompasses a
unique partnership of federal and non-federal interests to jointly
construct and operate this Center. These interests include the BLM, the
city of Casper, and the nonprofit National Historic Trails Foundation.
These entities came together in 1992 to build a center to memorialize
and interpret the national historic trails in the West.
The interpretive and educational programs that will be associated
with the Trails Center in Casper will enable visitors to discover and
appreciate the miles of untouched trails that lie on public lands in
the West. The Center will identify and help protect sensitive historic
trail remnants to prevent degradation. The National Historic Trails
Centers will also provide an opportunity for the BLM to showcase public
lands emphasizing the bureau's commitment to preserve lands of
historical value.
Under the cooperative agreement, there is a clear commitment of non-
federal partners to share costs to construct, maintain and operate the
Trails Center. City, state, foundation and private interests will bear
approximately half of the total costs of the project. The City of
Casper provided funds to initiate work on the Center. The city has also
donated more than 10 acres of prime land overlooking the site of the
North Platte River crossings of the historic trails for the Center.
Furthermore, the citizens of Casper increased local sales taxes and
have raised the required 1.5 million of construction dollars to meet
their financial commitment under the cooperative agreement. The State
of Wyoming has joined the partnership by giving $700,000 for the
Center. The cooperative agreement also requires non-Federal entities to
establish a $1 million endowment, the interest thereof to maintain
exhibits for the life of the Center. The overwhelming amount of non-
federal support for the Center is precisely the kind of cooperation
Congress intended in managing and interpreting the historic trails of
the nation.
The BLM, under the cooperative agreement, has an important but
limited role in establishing and operating the National Historic Trails
Interpretive Center. The BLM has already completed a striking design as
well as the engineering blueprints of the Center. With this work
completed, the land available, and most of the non-federal funds in
hand, the Center is now ready for construction This legislation
provides congressional authorization of funds for the BLM to do so.
Once the Center is completed, the BLM will own and operate the
facility. However, with the endowment, the authorization to charge
visitors a modest entrance fee, and commitments for volunteer staffing,
the facility will be largely self-sustaining from a financial
perspective. This is important in view of the present and anticipated
future funding restrictions of the Federal government.
In Wyoming, we are experiencing great interest in the historic trails
that cross the state. In 1992, a year when visitation to Yellowstone
National Park and Grand Teton National Park was down, the Wyoming
Department of Tourism reported an increase in tourism along the Oregon
Trail route during the sesquicentennial of that trail. This year is the
sesquicentennial of the Mormon Pioneer Trail. BLM officials have
estimated that between 200,000 and one million visitors participated in
``trails'' events in Wyoming this year. We expect similar interest in
trails during the sesquicentennials of the California and Pony Express
historic trails. In truth, an increasing number of Americans are
discovering, enjoying, and learning the history of these treks and are
seeking to experience natural settings, landmarks, and physical remains
of the trails.
I am pleased with the broad level of support the National Historic
Trails Interpretive Center enjoys. Wyoming State Representative Dorothy
Perkins, who testified on behalf of the bill before the Resource
Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, along with Executive
Director of the Center, Edna Kennell, have both worked tirelessly to
make this project a reality. As noted earlier, the city of Casper and
the State of Wyoming have provided tremendous assistance to the
effort--for that I thank them. The governor of Wyoming, Jim Geringer,
as well as Wyoming's former governor, Mike Sullivan, have endorsed the
Center from the beginning. Wyoming's U.S. Senators, Mike Enzi and Craig
Thomas, support the project. Especially gratifying has been the support
and encouragement from interests outside of Wyoming, such as the
Oregon-California Trails Association. I deeply appreciate the support
of my respected colleague from Utah, Representative Jim Hansen,
Chairman of the House National Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee.
The establishment of the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
is in the public interest. The project contains the best elements of
private and public cooperation. The construction and operation of this
Trails Center is altogether consistent with the BLM's criteria for
projects of this kind. I urge my colleagues to help advance our efforts
to preserve and interpret a significant chapter of American history by
lending their support for this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2186 directs the Secretary of the
Interior to establish a National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in
Casper, Wyoming, and to carry out this legislation the bill authorizes
an appropriation of $5 million, and I want to certainly commend my good
friend, the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin), who is the chief
sponsor of this piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, the center would encompass 4 designated historic trails,
national historic trails, the Oregon Trail, the California trail, the
Mormon Pioneer Trail and the Pony Express Trail, that pass through the
Casper area. The center would include displays and provide visitor
education on the historical impacts of the trails. Exhibits would
depict the pioneers' travels, and I have been told that that would also
include a focus on Native Americans.
The Bureau of Land Management is currently a partner with the State
of Wyoming, the City of Casper and the National Historic Trails Center
Foundation on this project. The partners are operating under a 1992
memorandum of understanding and a 1997 cooperative agreement.
The Bureau of Land Management has also committed $450,000 for the
engineering and design of the center, and the Wyoming legislature has
appropriated $700,000, and the local county has provided $1.5 million
for the center through local sales taxes. The City of Casper has
donated $700,000 to the foundation and has pledged to provide the land
on which the center will be built. The foundation has raised $3 million
towards the $4.5 million commitment to the project. In addition,
efforts are underway to establish an endowment of at least $1 million
to help with the maintenance and operation costs of the center.
Mr. Speaker, as this statement shows, there has already been a
significant amount of work done to establish a National Historic Trails
Center in Casper, Wyoming, and I add my support to these efforts in the
bill. I believe H.R. 2186 is a noncontroversial measure, it does have
the support of the administration, and I ask my colleagues to support
this piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. CUBIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I wish to thank my colleague from American Samoa for his support and
work on this bill.
I do not have any further speakers, so is the gentleman prepared to
yield back the balance of his time?
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman
from Indiana (Mr. Roemer) to speak on this legislation.
Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding this
time to me, and congratulate him and gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs.
Cubin) for her hard work on this very important noncontroversial bill
on the trails interpretive center. Certainly the engineering design
center that they are discussing is important in a host of different
ways, and the money they have worked to allocate for this legislation
is extremely important too. But I would say, Mr. Speaker, in terms of
[[Page H1709]]
this historic trail that is going to lead somewhere and has been
designed for specific purposes, certainly the campaign trail for
finance reform in this country is leading absolutely nowhere.
Mr. Speaker, we have scheduled it tonight, we have scheduled it at a
time when we are supposed to be debating during the course of today's
calendar, we are debating, I am sure, a very important piece of
legislation here today for this National Historic Trails Interpretive
Center in Casper, Wyoming, and we are giving 20 minutes to this
particular bill and the same amount of time and importance to each one
of the campaign finance bills tonight, 20 minutes apiece.
Then, Mr. Speaker, we are also saying tonight that these bills have
to be on the suspension calendar, which I think is a travesty to the
system, it is unfair to the American people's desire for campaign
finance reform, and it does not do justice to the amount of work that
many Members of Congress have put into this historic campaign finance
reform legislation that they have worked hard on, that they think that
their constituents are very interested in, that they think is important
for the integrity of our system here in America.
And certainly as we look at the calendar for the rest of the day, 20
minutes today on this National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in
Casper, Wyoming, 20 minutes on these particular bills on campaign
finance reform, I am sure that we are going to spend more than 20
minutes on the tobacco legislation that is going to be coming before
Congress. And with the amount of money that big tobacco has put into
the legislation that is going to be before Congress, certainly there
might be some out there, Mr. Speaker, that do not want any kind of
legitimate campaign finance reform going on tonight to talk about the
roles of special interest groups in the system today.
I think the American people, whether they are in Indiana or
California or New Jersey, want to do specific things to try to clean up
the system. They want to have more faith in their people in public
service, they want to see some lids on the amount of money being spent
in campaigns across the country today. They want to see this soft money
or sewer money not being flushed into every particular district in the
country at the last minute and having no accountability to either one
of the candidates, Democrat or Republican. They want to see that we
have a fair system in the campaign finance reform system in the future.
I think more and more, Mr. Speaker, we are seeing the candidates that
are running for different elective office out there more and more
reflective of the higher income groups, and more and more the middle
class and lower income people are not going to be able to run for
office in the future if we are not able to debate and discuss in a
genuine sense, with a lot of integrity and some considerable time,
campaign finance reform.
So to put campaign finance reform on a Monday night, to put campaign
finance reform before the American people at the same time that there
is a very important basketball game taking place tonight, to put
campaign finance reform at 20-minute intervals, the same 20 minutes
that I am sure that this important bill deserves, but I think campaign
finance reform is certainly something the American people are probably
more interested in and affects more of them than this National Historic
Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming.
We need to make sure that we are doing a service to campaign finance
reform, and let the American people know what is in these bills, let
the American people contact our offices and let us know how we should
vote on a particular matter of this kind of importance to the American
people.
I would hope that the Republican leadership, Mr. Speaker, would do a
service to the body, do a service to the people of this country and not
put such an important bill up for debate when Members are traveling
back from the Midwest and back from the West Coast, when many of them
are not even here to partake in the debate or listen to the debate, and
when we only put 20 minutes forward on such an important piece of
legislation.
So, Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this very important bill before
us, and I appreciate my colleagues' patience.
Mrs. CUBIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the fine gentleman from Indiana for his support,
and I congratulate him on his creativity in debate. I would add one
little bit of information. Actually there is 20 minutes of time
allocated to each side, so if it makes my colleague feel any better, it
is 40, but I doubt that is the case.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, so I reserve the balance of
my time.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from California (Mr. Farr).
Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, it is nice to see a speaker from
Nevada, an author from Wyoming and a legislator from California all up
here to support the National Historic Trails Center in Casper, Wyoming.
I am a big supporter of historic trails. In fact, we are going to
authorize to spend $5 million of taxpayers' money, and I think it is
money well spent. But we are going to see probably everybody is voting
for this bill because it is a good thing to do, to support historic
trails.
I wonder if this trail is going to lead us into some meaningful
campaign finance reform. Do my colleagues think that we could sort of
get, in a bipartisan spirit, this idea that we ought to probably limit
the amount of money that goes into campaigns, not expand them, that I
understand is the proposal, kind of limit it down here? I mean, there
was so much money spent in campaigns in the 1996 election, if we
limited it to $5 million like the center would have, we would have
meaningful reform.
{time} 1430
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this, and I hope that when we have similar
type legislation for similar bills in California, that Wyoming supports
us as well. I hope this trail center, when you interpret it, it will be
able to interpret why we have not had meaningful campaign reform here
on the floor of the House in March of 1998.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her tremendous patience, and
I want to commend the gentleman from California for his remarks. I
think that perhaps we should provide a special area in this historic
center we are going to build in Casper, Wyoming, and put all the
memorabilia about campaign finance reform in it. Maybe that might be of
help.
I want to truly thank the gentlewoman for our dialogue this afternoon
and in passage of this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote for passage
of this legislation.
Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I wish to support H.R. 2186, a bill
introduced by my colleague Congresswoman Barbara Cubin from the State
of Wyoming. Mrs. Cubin has worked very hard for the citizens of Wyoming
to help establish the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center.
These historic trails, including four Congressionally designed trails,
form a distinctive part of our Nation's history and represent valuable
historic and cultural themes which helped shaped the West.
This bill is showpiece of a cooperative partnerships between federal
and non-federal interests that will fund, construct, operate, and
maintain the Trails Center.
This bill is non-controversial and is supported by the
Administration, trails groups, and the City of Casper, Wyoming. I urge
my colleagues to support H.R. 2186.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. CUBIN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibbons). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Cubin) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2186.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________