[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21284-21287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  SPANISH PEAKS WILDERNESS ACT OF 1999

  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 898) designating certain land in the San Isabel National 
Forest in the State of Colorado as the ``Spanish Peaks Wilderness.''
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 898

       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 ``Spanish Peaks Wilderness Act 
     of 1999''.

     SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF SPANISH PEAKS WILDERNESS.

       (a) Colorado Wilderness Act.--Section 2(a) of the Colorado 
     Wilderness Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-77; 107 Stat. 756; 16 
     U.S.C. 1132 note) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(20) Spanish peaks wilderness.--Certain land in the San 
     Isabel National Forest that--
       ``(A) comprises approximately 18,000 acres, as generally 
     depicted on a map entitled `Proposed Spanish Peaks 
     Wilderness', dated February 10, 1999; and
       ``(B) shall be known as the `Spanish Peaks Wilderness'.''.
       (b) Map; Boundary Description.--
       (1) Filing.--As soon as practicable after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture (referred 
     to in this Act as the ``Secretary''), shall file a map and 
     boundary description of the area designated under subsection 
     (a) with--
       (A) the Committee on Resources of the House of 
     Representatives; and
       (B) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 
     Senate.
       (2) Force and effect.--The map and boundary description 
     under paragraph (1) shall have the same force and effect as 
     if included in the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 (Public 
     Law 103-77; 107 Stat. 756), except that the Secretary may 
     correct clerical and typographical errors in the map and 
     boundary description.
       (3) Availability.--The map and boundary description under 
     paragraph (1) shall be on file and available for public 
     inspection in the Office of the Chief of the Forest Service.

     SEC. 3. ACCESS.

       Within the Spanish Peaks Wilderness designated under 
     section 2--
       (1) the Secretary shall allow the continuation of historic 
     uses of the Bulls Eye Mine Road established prior to the date 
     of enactment of this Act, subject to such terms and 
     conditions as the Secretary may provide; and
       (2) access to any privately owned land within the 
     wilderness areas designated under section 2 shall be provided 
     in accordance with section 5 of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 
     1134 et seq.).

     SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

       Section 10 of the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 (Public 
     Law 103-77; 107 Stat. 756; 16 U.S.C. 1132 note) is repealed.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Sherwood) and the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. 
Faleomavaega) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sherwood).
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might 
consume.

[[Page 21285]]

  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 898, the Spanish Peaks Wilderness Act of 1999, was 
introduced by the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis), my esteemed 
colleague, and would simply add the Spanish Peaks area to a list of 
areas designated as wilderness by the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993.
  The gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) has worked long and hard to 
protect local interests while trying to preserve an outstanding scenic 
and geological area. I have hunted and hiked through the Spanish Peaks, 
and they rise above the high plains majestically all by themselves and 
are an area certainly worthy of preservation.
  This bill passed through subcommittee and full committee on a voice 
vote, therefore, I would urge my colleagues to support the passage of 
H.R. 898, the Spanish Peaks Wilderness Act of 1999, under suspension of 
the rules.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 898 would designate approximately 18,000 acres of 
land in Colorado, San Isabel National Forest, as wilderness. These 
lands which contain headwaters in two spectacular 13,000 foot peaks 
have been studied and considered for wilderness designation for nearly 
two decades.
  This month marks the 35th anniversary of the law that created a 
national wilderness preservation system. The Wilderness Act has led to 
the protection of more than 104 million acres of Federal lands. In 
light of this anniversary, it is most appropriate, Mr. Speaker, that 
the House is acting on a wilderness bill, an all too infrequent event 
in recent years I would say.
  I do commend the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) and the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall), our Democratic colleague, for 
their sponsorship and hard work on this legislation.
  This is a worthy bill, this legislation. It certainly deserves the 
support of our colleagues, and I ask my colleagues to support this 
bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to engage in a colloquy here with the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis).
  Mr. Speaker, this bill does differ from last year's Skaggs-McInnis 
bill in a few respects, and I want to take a few moments to discuss one 
in particular, namely the exclusion from wilderness of an old road, 
known as the Bulls Eye Mine Road and the inclusion of language related 
to that road.
  Because some questions have been raised about the scope and effect of 
that language, contained in subsection 3(1), I think it appropriate to 
provide a further explanation of how that subsection would or would not 
affect management of this area.
  Accordingly, at the request of the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Udall) I would like to engage the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) 
in a brief colloquy regarding this part of the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the questions that has been raised concerning the 
authority of the Secretary of Agriculture with regard to regulating the 
use of the road. During the subcommittee hearing of the bill, the 
gentleman from Montana (Mr. Hill) asked whether the Secretary would 
continue to limit those uses to hiking and horseback riding and was 
assured that the Secretary could do that under the terms of the bill.
  Would my colleague agree that, under this bill, the Secretary will 
continue to have that authority?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis).
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, to the gentleman's inquiry, the answer to 
that is yes.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, another important question concerns 
the extent to which the bill might be read as requiring the federal 
government to repair or maintain the road. This is important, Mr. 
Speaker, because my colleague will recall that the Forest Service 
testified that they are in no position to make any commitments to keep 
the road open, and because its condition is such as to raise serious 
safety problems and possibly even questions of liability, would the 
gentleman from Colorado agree that nothing in the bill would have the 
effect of requiring the United States to undertake any improvements of 
the road or to maintain any part of the road?
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, to the gentleman from American Samoa, the 
answer is yes.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, some parties have 
raised the question about ownership of the road right-of-way itself. 
Does the gentleman from Colorado agree that nothing in this bill would 
have the effect of lessening any property before the United States of 
that land or of limiting the ability of the Secretary to take legal 
action to assert those interests?
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman repeat the question.

                              {time}  1515

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Does my colleague agree that nothing in this bill 
would have the effect of lessening any of the property interests of the 
United States in that land or of limiting the ability of the Secretary 
to take legal action to assert those interests?
  Mr. McINNIS. The answer to that is yes.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers at this 
time, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis).
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, this is a very exciting day for me and for 
the people of the State of Colorado that the designation of the Spanish 
Peaks as a wilderness area is about to pass the House of 
Representatives. This bill has bipartisan support. This bill does 
something that we should have done a couple of years ago.
  At the very beginning of my comments, I think it is appropriate to 
give credit to my former colleague, our former colleague, David Skaggs, 
who retired from Congress 2 years ago, I think. The gentleman put a lot 
of effort into the Spanish Peaks wilderness. I was privileged to work 
with David Skaggs for a period of several years on this legislation, 
and today I hope he is watching so he gets to see this pass.
  I have got a lot of personal interest in the Spanish Peaks of 
Colorado. First a little description of the Spanish Peaks. There are 
two peaks, the east and west peak. These peaks were often used as 
guidance for the pioneers who settled in Colorado. When we see them 
against the Colorado horizon, they stand out against that beautiful 
blue sky. It really is an asset to the people of this country to have 
the Spanish Peaks. Now to take that movement to put the Spanish Peaks 
into a wilderness area is a designation that is well served.
  Let me point out an issue that I think is very important. Number one, 
it is important for all who are watching today and my colleagues on the 
floor to understand that there are lots of different ways to manage 
public lands. Wilderness is not the only way to manage public lands. We 
have lots of tools out there.
  For example, we have national parks, we have national forests, we 
have special areas. There are lots of different ways to manage public 
lands. The most restrictive and, therefore, the one we should utilize 
with the most caution is the wilderness designation.
  How should we go about naming an area or designating an area as 
``wilderness''? The first thing that I think fundamentally to the 
principle of wilderness is that we have got to have local input. We do 
not have an outside interest come in and dictate to the local people 
what they ought to do in that local community. We had a lot of local 
input.
  This bill did not start with an outside interest. This bill did not 
start with some organization outside of the area. This bill started 
with the local people. I know a lot of those local people.
  My great grandparents homesteaded down in that area in La Veta, 
Colorado, in the 1880s. I know those people down there, and they got 
together several years ago and they said, the Spanish Peaks at the very 
top where, by the

[[Page 21286]]

way, Mr. Speaker, it does not affect water rights, which are absolutely 
crucial in the State of Colorado, the local people got together and 
said these are beautiful peaks. Let us manage a small part of the 
peaks, about 18,000 acres, as wilderness; and let us do it at the very 
top where it does not impact water rights, where it limits impact on 
private property.
  I am a strong advocate of private property rights in this country. 
When this idea first came up, there was some conflict, there was some 
controversy. So did we look outside of the State of Colorado or even 
outside that area for advice or dictate on how we ought to resolve that 
controversy or that conflict? No. We sat down together; we sat down and 
we talked.
  We have had a lot of able leadership through that community to come 
to a resolution that we are now seeing today about ready to pass the 
United States House of Representatives.
  This bill will mark the Spanish Peaks as a wilderness for many, many, 
many centuries to come. And long after we are all gone, people will 
look back and say, the United States Congress, with these conditions 
and this particular area, made the right decision for wilderness.
  A moment to comment about my colleague Wayne Allard. Senator Wayne 
Allard is also carrying this. He has put a lot of time into this 
effort. We have got a good team working. We have also had good support 
from the Colorado delegation. I would be remiss if I did not mention 
the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley), our senior Member from 
Colorado Springs; if I did not mention the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Schaffer), if I did not mention the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Tancredo), and the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette).
  I should also mention the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall) who has 
spent a good deal of time since he has been elected to Congress to work 
specifically with me on making sure that the agreements that we have in 
place are being kept. He has been supportive. I know that that came up 
a little quicker today than we imagined, so he is not in our presence. 
He certainly would be here today, but he does support it. And his 
concerns I think are well protected.
  But back to what I think is something all of us can be proud of, and 
that is, if my colleagues have the opportunity to go to Colorado, my 
district, the third congressional district is the highest district in 
the country in elevation and so on. It has got 56 mountains over 14,000 
feet, and one of those Spanish Peaks goes over that 14,000. If my 
colleagues have an opportunity to go to Colorado, take a look at the 
Spanish Peaks. Understand the history of those mountains and what it 
means to the people of this country, what it means to the people of 
Huerfano County, what it means to the people of every county in the 
State of Colorado.
  Today, a great moment for the State of Colorado. It is a great moment 
for this country. I am proud to be the sponsor of the Spanish Peaks 
Wilderness area.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Colorado for his 
eloquence and certainly for in a more specific way allowing Members of 
our body to understand the specifics of this legislation. I, too, would 
like to commend his former colleague and our good friend, the gentleman 
from Colorado, Mr. David Skaggs, for his cosponsorship originally of 
this legislation with my good friend from Colorado.
  Mr. Speaker, since I do not have any additional speakers, I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, could we have a time check?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Foley). The gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Sherwood) has 12 minutes remaining, and the gentleman from 
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) has yielded back the balance.
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis).
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, to my good colleagues on the other side, I 
would like to make a couple more comments. I do not have any other 
speakers. My colleague, although he has yielded back his time, if he 
would like me to yield time, I would be happy to.
  Again, now that I know I have got a couple more minutes, let me be a 
little more exhaustive in my remarks about, number one, David Skaggs.
  David came to me several years ago. As my colleagues know, David is a 
Democrat. I am a Republican. David and I have known each other for a 
long period of time. We worked together in the Colorado House of 
Representatives. At the time, I was the majority leader and he was the 
minority leader.
  It was kind of fun to come back here in Congress and to be able to 
work on something that we completely agreed on and we had our hearts 
in. I wish David were here today, but I know that David will be at the 
dedication that we have of the Spanish Peaks down in southern Colorado 
when we dedicate that portion of the wilderness.
  I also want to emphasize and talk for just a couple more minutes 
about wilderness and what is important about it. There is a philosophy 
out there or a thought out there that the only way to protect federal 
lands is to put them in wilderness. As I mentioned, earlier in my 
remarks, wilderness is the most restrictive and most inflexible 
management tool we have in our arsenal of tools to manage federal 
lands. Once we put an area into wilderness, it is in essence locked 
into that designation forever.
  Now, it is true that Congress can overturn a wilderness designation, 
but for that politically to occur it would be next to impossible.
  So before we designate wilderness, I think we, one, need to take our 
time and make sure that it meets all of the conditions for wilderness 
designation; number two, that we try to think into the future and try 
to come up with what might be the unintended consequences in putting 
that into wilderness instead of, say, a special area or some type of 
reserve or a conservation area or national park and so on.
  Because the measure is so dramatic, we should manage a wilderness 
designation just like the former Congressman David Skaggs and myself 
and the Colorado delegation and my good colleague on the other side of 
the aisle have done, and that is we sat down and we met with the local 
community, we took the local input; we let most of the controversy be 
resolved at the local level; we put together legislation in a very open 
type of manner. We did not push this as a public relations type of 
campaign, going out and getting billboards for wilderness and things 
like that. This has a lot of substance to it. It has got a lot of study 
and a lot of energy into it. This is the way we ought to name 
wilderness bills that go through this Congress.
  So once again, I thank my colleagues from the Colorado delegation. I 
thank my good colleague from the other side of the aisle. But more than 
anything else, I thank the people of America for allowing us to take 
care of the Spanish Peaks with this designation at the very top.
  Every one of my colleagues, this vote they make today will be a vote 
that generations from now will look back and say, my grandpa and my 
grandma or my great grandpa or my great grandma voted yes for this.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. McINNIS. I yield to the gentleman from American Samoa.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I want to note, for the Record, if 
there is anything as a demonstration of my colleagues in this chamber, 
I would say that the delegation from Colorado, both Republican and 
Democrats, probably has displayed the highest example of what 
bipartisanship should be when it comes to this issue of wilderness 
legislation.
  I want to commend the gentleman for being a part of that ability to 
give and take. Sometimes we get to be a little too extreme in our views 
and not be tolerable to the views of another Member, especially on an 
issue as important as wilderness area. So I commend and thank the 
gentleman for yielding.

[[Page 21287]]

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I too share the comments of the gentleman. 
We did not try to sneak minimum wage or the Republican tax cut in this 
bill. This bill was kept clean through the process. It is purely 
bipartisan, and we can all be very proud when the vote names the 
Spanish Peaks of Colorado as a wilderness.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, as an original cosponsor of H.R. 
898, I rise in support of this important bill to designate the Spanish 
Peaks as wilderness.
  The mountains we call the Spanish Peaks are two volcanic peaks in Las 
Animas and Huerfano Counties. Their Native American name is Wayatoya. 
The eastern peak rises to 12,893 feet above sea level, and the summit 
of the western peak is at 13,626 feet.
  These two peaks were landmarks for Native Americans and for some of 
Colorado's other early settlers and for travelers along the trail 
between Bent's Old Fort on the Arkansas River and Taos, New Mexico.
  This part of the San Isabel National Forest has outstanding scenic, 
geologic, and wilderness values, including a spectacular system of more 
than 250 free-standing dikes and ramps of volcanic materials radiating 
from the peaks. These lands are striking for their beauty and are also 
very valuable for wildlife habitat.
  Since 1977, the Spanish Peaks have been included on the National 
Registry of Natural Landmarks, and the State of Colorado has designated 
them as a natural area. The Forest Service first reviewed them for 
possible wilderness designation as part of its second roadless area 
review and evaluation and first recommended them for wilderness in 
1979. However, the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1980 instead provided for 
their continued management as a wilderness study area--a status that 
was continued on an interim basis by the Colorado Wilderness Act of 
1993.
  In short, Mr. Speaker, the Spanish Peaks are a very special part of 
Colorado. Their inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation 
System has been too long delayed. In fact, I had hoped that designation 
of this area as wilderness would be completed last year. The House did 
pass a Spanish Peaks wilderness bill sponsored by my predecessor, 
Representative David Skaggs, and Representative McInnis after it was 
favorably reported by the Resources Committee. Unfortunately, the 
Senate did not act on that measure.
  So, I am very appreciative of the persistence shown by Representative 
McInnis as well as the good work of Chairman Young and Subcommittee 
Chairman Chenoweth, and the leadership of Representative Miller of 
California and the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Smith. As a new 
Member of the Committee, I am very glad to have been able to work with 
them to bring us to where we are today with this bill.
  This bill does differ from last year's Skaggs-McInnis bill in a few 
respects, and in particular by the exclusion from wilderness of an old 
road, known as the Bulls Eye Mine Road, and the inclusion of language 
related to that road.
  Because some questions have been raised about the scope and effect of 
that language, contained in subsection 3(1), I thought it was important 
to provide a further explanation of how that subsection would or would 
not affect management of this area. Accordingly, I greatly appreciate 
the assistance of the gentleman from American Samoa in engaging my 
colleague from Colorado, Mr. McInnis, in a brief colloquy regarding 
that part of the bill. This colloquy is an important part of the 
legislative history of this bill.
  As was mentioned earlier during debate on this bill, its passage is 
an appropriate step in recognition of the recent 35th anniversary of 
the enactment of the Wilderness Act. As a strong supporter of 
protecting wilderness--and particularly of protecting our wilderness 
areas in Colorado--I hope that this is only the first of several 
Colorado wilderness bills that will come before the House in the months 
ahead.
  Already, the Resources Committee has approved a bill that, among 
other things, would designate additional wilderness in the area of the 
Black Canyon of the Gunnison. And currently pending before the 
Committee are two wilderness bills I have introduced, dealing with the 
James Peak area and with lands within Rocky Mountain National Park, as 
well as a very important bill by our colleague Ms. DeGette that breaks 
important new ground in terms of protecting wilderness areas on public 
lands in Colorado managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In my 
opinion, all these measures deserve priority consideration in our 
Committee and here on the floor of the House.
  Meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, I again thank both the gentleman from 
American Samoa and my colleague, Mr. McInnis, for their cooperation, 
and am glad to join in support of the Spanish Peaks Wilderness Act.
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I have no more requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sherwood) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R.898.
  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.

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