[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 148 (Friday, October 16, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H11031-H11033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK WILDERNESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Skaggs) is recognized for five minutes.

[[Page H11032]]

  Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Rocky Mountain 
National Park Wilderness Act of 1998. This legislation will provide 
important protection and management direction for some truly remarkable 
country, adding nearly 250,000 acres in the park to the National 
Wilderness Preservation System.
  The bill is a revised version of one I introduced last year and 
similar measures I proposed in the 103rd and 104th Congresses. It also 
reflects previous proposals by former Senator Bill Armstrong and 
others.
  Over the last several years, I've worked with the National Park 
Service and others to refine the boundaries of the areas proposed for 
wilderness designation. I've also consulted closely with many 
interested parties in Colorado, including local officials and both the 
Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and the St. Vrain & Left 
Hand Ditch Water Conservancy District. These consultations have 
provided the basis for many of the new bill's provisions, particularly 
regarding the status of existing water facilities.
  I had hoped that the consultations would result in a consensus that 
would make it possible to enact a Rocky Mountain National Park 
wilderness bill this year. Regrettably, complete consensus has not yet 
been achieved, and there's no longer sufficient time for action to be 
completed during this session. But I think it's important to introduce 
this bill today in order to provide a benchmark of the progress already 
made and to lay the foundation for what I hope will be a successful 
effort by others to complete the job in the new Congress that convenes 
next year.
  Covering 94 percent of the park, the new wilderness will include 
Longs Peaks and other major mountains along the Great Continental 
Divide, glacial cirques and snow fields, broad expanses of alpine 
tundra and wet meadows, old-growth forests, and hundreds of lakes and 
streams, all untrammeled by human structures or passage. Indeed, 
examples of all the natural ecosystems that make up the splendor of 
Rocky Mountain National Park are included in this wilderness 
designation.
  The features of these lands and waters that make Rocky Mountain 
National Park a true gem in our national parks system also make it an 
outstanding wilderness candidate.
  As I mentioned, this new bill includes more precise wilderness 
boundaries and acreage numbers, greatly simplified water rights 
language, and provisions to confirm the continued operation of 
important water delivery systems located in, under, and near the park--
including the Grand River Ditch, Long Draw Reservoir, Copeland 
Reservoir, and the portals of the Adams Tunnel, a key component of the 
Colorado-Big Thompson water project.
  The wilderness boundaries are carefully located to also assure 
continued access for use of existing roadways, buildings and developed 
areas, privately owned land, and areas where additional facilities and 
roadwork will improve park management and visitor services.
  This bill is based on National Park Service recommendations, prepared 
24 years ago and presented to Congress by President Nixon. It seems to 
me that, in that time, we have sufficiently studied, considered, and 
refined those recommendations so that Congress can proceed with this 
legislation. I believe that this bill constitutes a fair and complete 
proposal, sufficiently providing for the legitimate needs of the public 
at large and all interested groups, and deserves to be enacted in this 
form.
  It took more than a decade before we in the Colorado delegation were 
finally able, in 1993, to designate additional wilderness in our 
state's national forests. Soon, the potentially more complex question 
of wilderness designations of lands managed by the Bureau of Land 
Management must be addressed. Meanwhile, the time is ripe for finally 
resolving the status of the lands within Rocky Mountain National Park 
that are dealt with in this bill.
  We all know that water rights are often a primary point of contention 
in the congressional debate over designating wilderness areas. The 
question of water rights for Rocky Mountain National Park wilderness is 
entirely different from many considered before, and is far simpler.
  To begin with, it has long been recognized under the law of the 
United States and Colorado, including a decision of the Colorado 
Supreme Court, that Rocky Mountain National Park already has extensive 
federal reserved water rights arising from the creation of the national 
park itself.
  Division One of the Colorado Water Court, which has jurisdiction over 
the portion of the park that is east of the continental divide, has 
already decided how extensive the water rights are in its portion of 
the park. In December, 1993, the court ruled that the park has reserved 
rights to all water within the park that was unappropriated at the time 
the park was created. As a result of this decision, in the eastern half 
of the park there literally is no more water for either the park or 
anybody else to claim. This is not, so favor as I have been able to 
find out, a controversial decision, because there is a widespread 
consensus that there should be no new water projects developed within 
Rocky Mountain National Park. And, since the park sits astride the 
continental divide, there's no higher land around from which streams 
flow in the park, so there is no possibility of any upstream 
diversions.
  As for the western side of the park, the water court has not yet 
ruled on the extent of the park's existing water rights there, although 
it has affirmed that the park does have rights. With all other rights 
to water arising in the park and flowing west already claimed, as a 
practical matter under Colorado water law, this designation will not 
restrict any new water claims.
  And it's important to emphasize that any wilderness water rights 
amount only to guarantees that water will continue to flow through and 
out of the park as it always has. This preserves the natural 
environment of the park, but it doesn't affect downstream water use. 
Once water leaves the park, it will continue to be available for 
diversion and use under Colorado law.
  These legal and practical realities are reflected in the new bill by 
inclusion of a finding that the park already has reserved rights to 
substantial amounts of water, so that there is no need for any 
additional reservation of such right, and an explicit disclaimer that 
the bill effects any such reservation. The bill also includes language 
to confirm that its enactment will not adversely affect any existing 
water facilities.
  Why should we designate wilderness in a national park? Isn't park 
protection the same as wilderness, or at least as good?
  The wilderness designation will give an important additional level of 
protection to most of the park. Our national park system was created, 
in part, to recognize and preserve prime examples of outstanding 
landscape. At Rocky Mountain National Park in particular, good Park 
Service management over the past 83 years has kept most of the park in 
a natural condition. And all the lands that are covered by this bill 
are currently being managed, in essence, to protect their wilderness 
character. Formal wilderness designation will no longer leave this 
question to the discretion of the Park Service, but will make it clear 
that within the designated areas there will never be roads, visitor 
facilities, or other manmade features that interfere with the 
spectacular natural beauty and wildness of the mountains.
  This kind of protection is especially important for a park like Rocky 
Mountain, which is relatively small by western standards. As 
surrounding land development and alteration has accelerated in recent 
years, the pristine nature of the park's backcountry becomes an 
increasingly rare feature of Colorado's landscape.
  Further, Rocky Mountain National Park's popularity demands definitive 
and permanent protection for wild areas against possible pressures for 
development within the park. While only about one tenth the size of 
Yellowstone National Park, Rocky Mountain sees nearly the same number 
of visitors each year as does our first national park.
  On the other hand, Congress' decision to designate these carefully 
selected portions of Rocky Mountain as wilderness will make other 
areas, now restricted under interim wilderness protection management, 
available for overdue improvements to park roads and visitor 
facilities.
  This bill will protect some of our nation's finest wild lands. It 
will protect existing rights. It will not limit any existing 
opportunity for new water development. And it will affirm our 
commitment in Colorado to preserving the very features that make our 
State such a remarkable place to live.
  I am attaching a fact sheet giving more details about the bill.

          Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act of 1998


                         WILDERNESS BOUNDARIES

       The bill will designate the Rocky Mountain National Park 
     Wilderness, which will include 94% of the park. The bill is 
     based on the recommendations of President Nixon, with some 
     revisions in boundaries to reflect acquisitions and other 
     changes since that recommendation was submitted. The National 
     Park Service has been managing lands recommended for 
     wilderness in accordance with that recommendation, so the 
     bill's enactment won't significantly change the management of 
     the park.
       The bill designates about 249,562 acres of new wilderness. 
     In addition, about 1,125 acres would be designated as 
     potential wilderness, to be managed as wilderness, when 
     nonconforming uses end.
       There are currently about 2,917 acres of wilderness (in the 
     Indian Peaks area), that were included in the park in 1980 by 
     Public Law 96-560; prior to that, they were part of the 
     Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and were designated as 
     wilderness in 1978 by Public Law 95-450.
       The wilderness designated by the new bill is in four 
     separate sections:
       Mummy Range Unit, the northernmost section of wilderness, 
     approximately 84,006 acres north of Fall River Road and east 
     of

[[Page H11033]]

     the Grand River ditch, includes large areas of alpine, sub-
     alpine-forest, wet-meadow, and montane-forest ecosystems. 
     Dominant features are the Mummy Range and Specimen Mountain. 
     This portion extends to park's north boundary, adjoining 
     existing Comanche Peak Wilderness on the Roosevelt National 
     Forest.
       Trail Ridge Unit, a relatively small section of the 
     wilderness, lies between Fall River Road and Trail Ridge 
     Road, and includes approximately 6,310 acres. This section 
     includes forested mountainside of lodgepole pine, Englemann 
     spruce and sub-alpine fir, and the park's trademark expanse 
     of alpine tundra and sub-alpine forest.
       Never Summer Unit, another fairly small section west of the 
     Grand River Ditch, which comprises approximately 9,824 acres, 
     is generally above timberline, featuring steep slopes and 
     peaks of the Never Summer Mountains, including 12 peaks 
     reaching 12,000 feet in elevation. This area adjoins the 
     existing Neota Wilderness on the Roosevelt National Forest 
     and Never Summer Wilderness on the Routt National Forest.
       Enos Mills Unit, the largest portion of the wilderness--
     approximately 149,408 acres--is south of Trail Ridge Road and 
     generally bounded on the east, south, and west by the park 
     boundary. This area contains examples of every ecosystem 
     present in the park. The park's dramatic stretch of the 
     Continental Divide, featuring Longs Peak (elevation 14,251 
     feet) and other peaks over 13,000 feet, dominate.
       Former reservoir sites at Blue Bird, Sand Beach, and Pear 
     lakes, previously breached and reclaimed, are included in 
     wilderness as is a portion of the Indian Peaks Wilderness 
     transferred to the park in 1980, when the boundary between 
     the park and the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest was 
     adjusted.
       The bill also includes language to provide that if non-
     federal inholdings within the wilderness boundaries are 
     acquired by the United States, they will become part of the 
     wilderness and managed accordingly and that specified federal 
     lands within the park will be managed as wilderness when 
     current incompatible uses cease.


               areas excluded from wilderness designation

       The following areas are not included in the bill's 
     wilderness designation:
       Trail Ridge and other roads used for motorized travel; 
     water storage and conveyance structures; buildings; and other 
     developed areas are not included in wilderness.
       Parcels of privately owned land or land subject to life 
     estate agreements in the park.
       Water diversion structures (see below).


                                 water

       The new bill would NOT create a new federal reserved water 
     right. Instead, it includes a finding that the park's 
     existing federal reserved rights, as decided by the Colorado 
     courts, are adequate and an explicit statement that the bill 
     does not create any new federal reserved water right.


                       existing water facilities

       Boundaries for the wilderness designated in the bill are 
     drawn to exclude (among other things): existing water storage 
     and water conveyance structures, assuring continued use of 
     Grand River Ditch and its right-of-way; the east and west 
     portals of the Adams Tunnel of the Colorado-Big Thompson 
     Project (CBT); CBT gauging stations; Long Draw Reservoir; and 
     lands owned by the St. Vrain & Left Hand Water Conservancy 
     District, including Copeland Reservoir.
       The bill includes provisions to make clear that its 
     enactment will not impose new restrictions on already-allowed 
     activities for the operation, maintenance, repair, or 
     reconstruction of the Adams Tunnel, which diverts water under 
     Rocky Mountain National Park (including lands that would be 
     designated as wilderness by the bill) or other CBT 
     facilities, and that additional activities for these purposes 
     will be allowed, should they be necessary to respond to 
     emergencies.

                          ____________________