[Senate Report 107-181]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 449
107th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     107-181

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  REDESIGNATING LANDS WITHIN THE CRATERS OF THE MOON NATIONAL MONUMENT

                                _______
                                

                 June 26, 2002.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 601]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 601) to redesignate certain lands within 
the Craters of the Moon National Monument, and for other 
purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
without amendment and recommends that the Act do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of H.R. 601 is to redesignate certain lands 
added to Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho by 
Presidential Proclamation 7373 as Craters of the Moon National 
Preserve.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Craters of the Moon National Monument was established by 
President Coolidge in 1924 under the authority of the 
Antiquities Act. The monument protects the unusual landscape of 
a lava field that was thought to resemble that of the moon. 
President Coolidge's proclamation described the area as a 
``weird and scenic landscape peculiar to itself.'' Craters of 
the Moon includes the most diverse and geologically recent part 
of the lava terrain that covers the southern Snake River Plain 
that last erupted during the past 5 million years.
    Since its creation in 1924, the monument has been expanded 
several times by presidential proclamation. The monument's 
boundary was also modified legislatively by the Omnibus Parks 
and Public Lands Management Act of 1996.
    On November 9, 2000, President Clinton issued Presidential 
Proclamation 7373, which added 661,287 acres to the monument. 
The lands added to monument had previously been administered by 
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The proclamation directed 
that the National Park Service manage approximately two-thirds 
of the lands added, or 410,000 acres. The BLM retained 
management authority over the remaining 251,000 acres.
    H.R. 601 addresses the issue of hunting on certain Federal 
lands within the expanded monument. Prior to their inclusion in 
the monument, the BLM allowed hunting on the Federal lands in 
question. However, the National Park Service does not allow for 
hunting within units of the National Park System--including 
National Monuments--unless specifically mandated by Congress. 
Generally, those units where hunting is permitted are 
designated as National Preserves.
    H.R. 601 would redesignate the 410,000 acres added to the 
monument under National Park Service management as a National 
Preserve where hunting would be authorized. The bill does not 
affect other portions of the monument. Hunting will be allowed 
on the BLM administered lands and hunting will be prohibited 
within the original monument boundaries managed by the National 
Park Service.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    H.R. 601, sponsored by Representative Simpson, passed the 
House of Representatives by a voice vote on May 1, 2001. No 
companion bill has been introduced in the Senate. The 
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on H.R. 601 on 
July 31, 2001. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
ordered H.R. 601 favorably reported at its business meeting on 
June 5, 2002.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on June 5, 2002, by a voice of a quorum 
present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 601.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1(a) redesignates approximately 410,000 acres of 
land added to Craters of the Moon National Monument by 
President Proclamation 7373 as Craters of the Moon National 
Preserve.
    Subsection (b)(1) provides that the preserve shall be 
managed in accordance with the proclamation, the Antiquities 
Act, and other laws generally applicable to units of the 
National Park System, including the National Park Service 
Organic Act of 1916.
    Subsection (b)(2) provides for hunting within the Preserve 
consistent with State and Federal law.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of the costs of this measure has 
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:

H.R. 601--A bill to redesignate certain lands within the Craters of the 
        Moon National Monument, and for other purposes

    CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 601 would not 
significantly affect the federal budget. The bill would not 
affect direct spending or receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go 
procedures would not apply. H.R. 601 contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on 
state, local, or tribal governments.
    The Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho 
comprises more than 700,000 acres of land and is jointly 
administered by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Bureau 
of Land Management (BLM). The bill would redesignate about 
410,000 acres of land within that monument as a national 
preserve. Based on information from the NPS and BLM, we 
estimate that redesignating those lands would not significantly 
affect the agencies' costs. The bill also would direct the 
Secretary of the Interior to allow hunting within the proposed 
preserve. According to the agencies, that change would not 
affect federal spending or receipts.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Megan Carroll. 
This estimate was approved by Robert A. Sunshine, Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out H.R. 601. The bill is not a regulatory measure in 
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or 
significant responsibilities on private individuals and 
businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of H.R. 601.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The testimony provided by the National Park Service at the 
subcommittee hearing follows:

 Statement of Denis P. Galvin, Deputy Director, National Park Service, 
                      Department of the Interior.

    Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the 
opportunity to appear before you today to present the views of 
the Department of the Interior on H.R. 601, a bill to 
redesignate certain lands within Craters of the Moon National 
Monument.
    The Department supports H.R. 601. The House-passed bill 
would redesignate the NPS portion of the monument expansion as 
a national preserve and authorize the Secretary to permit 
hunting on those lands. The effect, therefore, would be to 
restore hunting to lands on which it had been allowed when they 
were under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. 
Designation as a national preserve is appropriate in this case 
because the category was established for units of the National 
Park System that are created primarily for the protection of 
certain resources, while activities such as hunting may still 
be allowed if they do not jeopardize the natural values.
    Craters of the Moon National Monument was established by 
Proclamation of President Calvin Coolidge in 1924 for the 
purpose of protecting the unusual landscape of the Craters of 
the Moon lava field. This unusual landscape was thought to 
resemble the surface of the Moon and the Proclamation stated 
that the area ``contains many curious and unusual phenomena of 
great educational value and has a weird and scenic landscape 
peculiar to itself.'' Between 1924 and 1962, the monument was 
expanded and boundary adjustments were made through four 
presidential proclamations. In 1996, a minor boundary 
adjustment was made by section 205 of the Omnibus Parks and 
Public Lands Management Act of 1996 (110 Stat. 4093; Public Law 
104-333). On November 9, 2000, President Clinton's proclamation 
expanded the 53,440-acres monument by adding approximately 
661,287 acres of federal lands.
    The expanded monument includes almost all the features of 
basaltic volcanism, including the craters, cones, lava flows, 
caves, and fissures of the 65-mile long Great Rift, a 
geological feature that is comparable to the great rift zones 
of Iceland and Hawaii. It comprises the most diverse and 
geologically recent part of the lava terrain that covers the 
southern Snake River Plain, a broad lava plain made up of 
innumerable basalt lava flows that erupted during the past 5 
million years.
    Prior to the recent proclamation, Craters of the Moon 
National Monument was managed solely by the National Park 
Service. The expansion area of the monument, however, consists 
of lands that had been administered by the Bureau of Land 
Management. The proclamation gives both agencies 
responsibilities for administering the monument cooperatively. 
The National Park Service has the primary management 
responsibility for the old monument, plus the approximately 
400,000-acre portion of the expansion area that consists of 
exposed lava flows. The Bureau of Land Management is 
responsible for administering the remaining portion of the 
monument.
    The proclamation specified that the NPS portion of the 
monument expansion is to be managed under the same laws and 
regulations that applied to the original monument. Since 
hunting has not been authorized in the original Craters of the 
Moon National Monument, the effect of the proclamation was to 
prohibit hunting in the NPS portion of the monument expansion. 
However, the Department supports a clarification of this 
language to allow the continued use of the lands in the 
expanded monument area for hunting. Hunting in the portion of 
the monument administered by the Bureau of Land Management is 
not affected.
    Furthermore, although the proclamation specifies that the 
National Park Service has jurisdiction over the exposed lava 
flows, the on-the-ground reality is that there is not a precise 
delineation between areas of vegetation and areas of bare rock, 
making it difficult in many cases to determine the exact 
location of the boundary. For the average visitor or hunter, it 
would be difficult, if not impossible to distinguish whether 
they were on BLM lands or NPS lands, at least in the vicinity 
of the jurisdictional boundaries.
    The Department also recognizes that legislation to provide 
the authority for hunting within the NPS-managed portion of the 
monument expansion would give the Superintendent the ability to 
work cooperatively with the State of Idaho on issues concerning 
adjacent landowners. For example, hunting could be used as a 
tool in mitigation agricultural depredation caused by elk 
grazing on alfalfa crops on privately owned lands outside the 
monument.
    While the Department supports legislation to allow 
continued hunting in the NPS portion of the Craters of the Moon 
expansion area, this does not include support for opening to 
hunting the portion of the monument that existed prior to the 
proclamation of November 9, 2000. That portion of the national 
monument has always been, and should continue to be closed to 
hunting. In addition, I would like to clarify that the 
Department's position on this specific issue does not indicate 
support for opening other areas of the National Park System to 
hunting.
    This concludes my testimony on H.R. 601. I would be glad to 
answer any questions you may have.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by H.R. 601.

                                  
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