[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 156 (Monday, October 26, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H11745-H11746]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  STEPHEN MATHER WILDERNESS AND NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK BOUNDARY 
                               ADJUSTMENT

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2806) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to adjust 
the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness and the North Cascades 
National Park in order to allow the rebuilding of a road outside of the 
floodplain while ensuring that there is no net loss of acreage to the 
Park or the Wilderness, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2806

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds as follows:
       (1) In 1988, 93 percent of the North Cascades National Park 
     Complex was designated the Stephen Mather Wilderness.
       (2) A road corridor was deliberately excluded from the 
     wilderness designation to provide for the continued use and 
     maintenance of the upper Stehekin Valley Road.
       (3) The upper Stehekin Valley Road provides access to 
     Stephen Mather Wilderness trailheads and North Cascades 
     National Park from the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.
       (4) Record flooding in 1995 and again in 2003 caused severe 
     damage to the upper Stehekin Valley Road and led to the 
     closure of a 9.9-mile section of the road between Car Wash 
     Falls and Cottonwood Camp.
       (5) The National Park Service currently does not have the 
     flexibility to rebuild the upper Stehekin Valley Road away 
     from the Stehekin River due to the current location of the 
     non-wilderness road corridor provided by Congress in 1988.
       (6) It is a high priority that the people of the United 
     States, including families, the disabled, and the elderly, 
     have reasonable access to the National Parks system and their 
     public lands.
       (7) The 1995 Lake Chelan National Recreation Area General 
     Management Plan calls for retaining vehicle access to 
     Cottonwood Camp.
       (8) Tourism associated with the North Cascades National 
     Park Complex is an important part of the economy for rural 
     communities in the area.
       (9) Additional management flexibility would allow the 
     National Park Service to consider retention of the upper 
     Stehekin Valley Road in a manner that provides for no net 
     loss of wilderness.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENTS.

       The Washington Park Wilderness Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-
     668) is amended by inserting after section 206 the following:

     ``SEC. 207. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENTS FOR ROAD.

       ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may adjust the boundaries 
     of the North Cascades National Park and the Stephen Mather 
     Wilderness in order to provide a corridor of not more than 
     100 feet in width along which the Stehekin Valley Road may be 
     rebuilt--
       ``(1) outside of the floodplain between milepost 12.9 and 
     milepost 22.8;
       ``(2) within one mile of the route, on the date of the 
     enactment of this section, of the Stehekin Valley Road;
       ``(3) within the boundaries of the North Cascades National 
     Park; and
       ``(4) outside of the boundaries of the Stephen Mather 
     Wilderness.
       ``(b) No Net Loss of Lands.--
       ``(1) In general.--The boundary adjustments made under this 
     section shall be such that equal amounts of federally owned 
     acreage are exchanged between the Stephen Mather Wilderness 
     and the North Cascades National Park, resulting in no net 
     loss of acreage to either the Stephen Mather Wilderness or 
     the North Cascades National Park.
       ``(2) Stehekin valley road lands.--The newly designated 
     wilderness shall include the lands along the route of the 
     Stehekin Valley Road that are replaced by the reconstruction.
       ``(3) Equalization of land.--If the lands described in 
     paragraph (2) contain fewer acres than the corridor described 
     in subsection (a), the Secretary may designate additional 
     Federal lands in the North Cascades National Park as 
     wilderness, but such designation may not exceed the amount 
     needed to equalize the exchange and these additional lands 
     must be selected from lands that qualify as wilderness under 
     section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131(c)).
       ``(c) No Sale or Acquisition Authorized.--Nothing in this 
     Act authorizes the sale or acquisition of any land or 
     interest in land.

[[Page H11746]]

       ``(d) No Priority Required.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
     construed as requiring the Secretary to give this project 
     precedence over the construction or repair of other similarly 
     damaged roads in units of the National Park System.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Guam (Ms. Bordallo) and the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Guam.


                             General Leave

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Guam?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. BORDALLO. I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2806, sponsored by Natural Resources Committee 
Ranking Member Doc Hastings, would allow the National Park Service to 
adjust the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness, inside North 
Cascades National Park, to provide for a new road corridor.
  Flooding has repeatedly washed out significant portions of a road in 
the park. Today, the road is impassable for vehicles above what used to 
be the halfway point.
  The pending measure would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
redraw the boundaries of the wilderness within prescribed parameters to 
provide a new corridor so that the road could be partially rerouted out 
of the floodplain and rebuilt to its original end. The bill would 
require that any boundary changes made to accommodate the road result 
in no overall loss of acreage to the wilderness area.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, to ensure that a wilderness designation would not block 
public access to historic recreation sites, the 1988 law that 
established the Stephen Mather Wilderness area in the North Cascades 
National Park provided for a 100-foot-wide, non-wilderness corridor to 
the upper Stehekin Valley.
  Unfortunately, flooding in 1995 and again in 2003 washed away parts 
of the road, and it remains impassable today.
  Representative Doc Hastings' bill, H.R. 2806, restores the intent of 
Congress by allowing the relocation of the road to a less flood-prone 
site. This bill does not reduce the amount of wilderness in the park.
  It is strongly supported by local officials and by former Senator Dan 
Evans, who sponsored the 1988 law. When the National Park Service 
solicited public comments on alternatives for the management of the 
area, over 90 percent of those comments favored keeping the road open.
  I urge my colleagues to join ranking Republican Doc Hastings and 
Chairman Nick Rahall in supporting this legislation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I now would like to recognize for 1 minute 
the author of the bill, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee).
  Mr. INSLEE. I am not the author of the bill, but I have worked with 
Mr. Hastings. Thank you for that compliment.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to speak in favor of this bill, and I thank Mr. 
Hastings for his working with us to perfect this bill in a couple of 
ways.
  We have made the bill clear that we have constrained the Park 
Service's definition of where a potential road could be built. Mr. 
Hastings and I both felt that it was important for Congress to retain 
some authority over where the wilderness boundaries are so that we 
would not give unfettered control to the Executive branch. We also make 
clear in the bill that the passage of this bill is not intended, in any 
way shape or form, to instruct the Park Service to change their 
prioritization on what roads to build or not to build in the Park 
Service.
  There are many needs in the Park Service. We know there is a 
constrained budget situation. We know there are many roads that have 
been washed out and that there are trails that have been washed out, 
and we do not intend in this bill to change any priority array as to 
what could be done to the Park Service.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, again, I urge all Members to support this 
piece of legislation. I commend the author, Mr. Hastings from the State 
of Washington, for authoring this, and I ask that all Members support 
this legislation.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2806 is a limited bill 
that allows for continued public access to the North Cascades National 
Park from the community of Stehekin, Washington.
  Stehekin, located at the western end of Lake Chelan, is the gateway 
to the North Cascades National Park and is accessible only by boat, 
floatplane, or a multi-day hike. From the town of Stehekin, the 
Stehekin Valley Road has long allowed residents and visitors to access 
some of the most beautiful scenery in the North Cascades in what is now 
the Park's Stephen Mather Wilderness.
  At the July 30, 2009 hearing before the Subcommittee on National 
Parks, Forests and Public Lands, the Subcommittee heard testimony from 
local officials on how flood damage to the upper Stehekin Valley Road 
has limited public recreational access to the North Cascades National 
Park Complex. This reduced access has been particularly painful for the 
small, tourist-dependent community of Stehekin which serves as the 
gateway to the Park.
  During legislative consideration of the Park's creation in 1988, 
Congress determined that Stehekin Road would remain outside of the 
wilderness boundary to ensure continued public access. Otherwise, no 
cars, mountain bikes, or other mechanized vehicles would have been 
allowed to transport area residents or Park visitors into the 
wilderness areas in the center of the Park north of Stehekin.
  As the Stehekin River has shifted and damaged the road, the Park 
Service has been unable to rebuild the road out of the path of the 
river because of the narrow road corridor in the original Park 
designation. H.R. 2806 would simply allow the Secretary limited 
authority to adjust the road corridor out of the path of the Stehekin 
River, with no net loss of land to either the Park or the Stephen 
Mather Wilderness. These changes and road rebuilding would still be 
subject to review and comment under the National Environmental Policy 
Act.
  This is a limited bill that protects the public access into the Park 
Complex promised at the Park's creation, and I encourage my colleagues 
to give their support to H.R. 2806 and the Stehekin community.
  Ms. BORDALLO. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2806, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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