[Senate Report 107-184]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 457
107th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 107-184
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LONG WALK NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL STUDY ACT
_______
June 27, 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. 1384]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the Act (H.R. 1384) to amend the National Trails
System Act to designate the route in Arizona and New Mexico
which the Navajo and Mescalero Apache Indian tribes new forced
to walk in 1863 and 1864, for study for potential addition to
the National Trails System, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the Act
do pass.
Purpose
The purpose of H.R. 1384 is to amended the National Trails
System Act to designate the route in Arizona and New Mexico
which the Navajo and Mescalero Apache Indian tribes were forced
to walk in 1863 and 1864, for study for potential addition to
the National Trails System.
Background and Need
In 1862, General James Carleton, commander of the military
in Arizona and New Mexico, planned to force the Navajo people
to live on a reservation under military guard. General
Carleton's plan for the reservation was put into action by
Colonel Christopher (Kit) Carson, who lead the military
campaign against the Navajo people. Beginning in the fall of
1863, approximately 8,000 Navajos and 500 members of the
Mescalero Apaches were forced to march 350 miles from their
land in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico to the
Bosque Redondo, located at Fort Sumner, in the eastern region
of New Mexico.
The site of the reservation on the Pecos River turned into
a prison camp for the Native Americans. As a result of the poor
conditions, thousands died of starvation, malnutrition,
exposure to extreme temperatures, and disease. Some perished en
route to the camp while other died upon arrival.
The Navajos were held in the camp for 4 years before the
U.S. Government allowed them to leave the fort. Ultimately,
President Ulysses Grant issued an Executive Order demanding an
end to the military suppression and the Treaty of 1868 was
signed, which allowed the Navajos to return home and recognized
the Navajo Nation as it exists today.
The Long Walk trail is located within a corridor that
includes National Park System units at Canyon de Chelly
National Monument in Arizona, Fort Union National Monument in
New Mexico, and Bureau of Land Management lands in New Mexico,
including El Malapais National Conservation Area and Kasha-
Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. The route the Army
followed went from Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, to south of
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
H.R. 1384 authorizes the Department of the Interior to
undertake a study of the Long Walk trail to determine its
suitability and feasibility for potential addition to the
National Trails System.
Legislative History
H.R. 1384 was introduced by Representative Tom Udall on
April 3, 2001. It passed the House of Representatives by voice
vote on October 2, 2001. The Subcommittee on National Parks
held a hearing on H.R. 1384 on March 7, 2002. The Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources ordered H.R. 1384 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 vote of a
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 1384.
Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1 entitles the Act the ``Long Walk National
Historic Trail Study Act.''
Section 2 sets forth congressional findings.
Section 3 amends section 5(c) of the National Trails System
Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(c)) by designating the Navajo Long Walk
Trail for study for potential addition to the National Trails
System.
Cost and Budgetary Considerations
The following estimate of the costs of this measure has
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, June 11, 2002.
Hon. Jeff Bingaman,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1384, the Long
Walk National Historic Trail Study Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact for this
estimate is Deborah Reis.
Sincerely,
Steven Lieberman
(For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
Enclosure.
H.R. 1384--Long Walk National Historic Trail Study Act
H.R. 1384 would amend the National Trails System Act (NTSA)
to add the Long Walk Trail to the list of routes to be studied
for possible inclusion in the National Trails System. Under the
NTSA, the Secretary of the Interior would have three years to
conduct a study of the trail, which is composed of several
routes located in Arizona and New Mexico.
Based on information provided by the National Park Service
and assuming appropriation of the necessary amount, CBO
estimates that it would cost of the federal government about
$400,000 over the next three years to conduct the required
study. H.R. 1384 would not affect direct spending or receipts;
therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply. The act
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.
On September 21, 2001, CBO prepared a cost estimate for
H.R. 1384 as ordered reported by the House Committee on
Resources on September 12, 2001. The two versions of the
legislation are identical, as are our cost estimates.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis.
The estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy
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. 1384. 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. 1384.
Executive Communications
The pertinent legislative report received by the Committee
from the Department of the Interior setting forth Executive
agency recommendations relating to H.R. 1384 is set forth
below:
U.S. Department of the Interior,
Office of the Secretary,
Washington, DC, March 11, 2002.
Hon. Jeff Bingaman,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter sets forth the views of the
Department of Interior on H.R. 1384, a bill to amend the
National Trails System Act to designate the route in Arizona
and New Mexico which the Navajo and Mescalero Apache Indian
tribes were forced to walk in 1863 and 1864, for study for
potential additional to the National Trails System.
The Department supports H.R. 1384, as passed by the House.
However, the Department did not request additional funding for
this study in Fiscal Year 2003. We believe that any funding
requested should be directed toward completing previously
authorized studies. Presently, there are 40 studies pending, of
which we hope to transmit 15 to Congress by the end of 2002.
New studies can eventually result in new designations, and we
believe that it is important to focus our resources on working
down the deferred maintenance backlog at existing parks. Of the
studies underway during the ten year period between 1989 and
1998, NPS has transmitted 79 studies to Congress. These 79
studies resulted in 15 new NPS units, 14 heritage areas, and 10
other types of designations or programs. To plan for the future
of our National Parks, the Administration will identify in each
study the costs to establish, operate, and maintain the site
should it result in a future designation.
The Department testified on May 8, 2001, before the
Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands,
of the House Committee on Resources, that we could not support
this bill as originally written. As introduced, H.R. 1384
designated the Navajo Long Walk as a national historic trail.
However, the National Trails System Act, Public Law 90-543,
requires that a desirability and feasibility study by conducted
and submitted to Congress before a trail can be established and
a study has not been completed on this trail. H.R. 1384, as
passed by the House, amends the National Trails System Act by
authorizing a suitability and feasibility study on the series
of routes which Navajo and Mescalero Apache Indian tribes
walked beginning in the fall of 1863 as a result of their
removal by the United States government from their ancestral
lands, generally located within a corridor extending through
portions of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, and Albuquerque, Canyon
Blanco, Anton Chico, Canyon Piedra Pintado, and Fort Sumner,
New Mexico.
The story of the Long Walk came at a time in U.S. history
when the military was called upon to remove Indian people from
their homelands. In the 1850's and 60's more and more Americans
were moving west into New Mexico, home of the Navajo people.
Repeated clashes resulted in the decision to move the Navajo
away from their ancient homeland to a reservation and teach
them farming and Western European standards of self-
sufficiency. The army destroyed crops and orchards, starving
the Navajo into submission. There were several successive
marches of the Navajo through the cold of winter to the heat of
summer. The aged and infirm often died along the way even
though wagons were sometimes provided. Broken and dispirited
after their defeat in their homeland, the Long Walk was
particularly grueling and hard on all of the Navajo people,
even those who survived.
The destination of the Long Walk was a reservation at Fort
Sumner, New Mexico, called Bosque Redondo (Round Grove), which
was shared with Mescalero Apache people. More than 7,000-8,000
Navajo people were eventually placed on the reservation.
Although seeds were provided and the Navajo planted them
immediately, there was never any success in growing crops. Due
to a lack of timber for both shelter and firewood, living
conditions were poor. Additionally, the Navajo and Mescalero
Apache did not get along and by 1866 the Apache had deserted
the reservation. By 1868 conditions were so bad that a
government commission was appointed to investigate the
conditions at Bosque Redondo. General W.T. Sherman, commanding
the Military Division of the Missouri, ordered the Navajo back
to their homelands in June of 1868, after a treaty granting
them their old homelands had been signed.
The Long Walk Trail is located within a corridor that
includes National Park System units at Canyon de Chelly
National Monument in Arizona and Fort Union National Monument
in New Mexico and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed lands
in New Mexico including El Malapais National Conservation Area
and Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. The route the
army followed went from Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, to south of
Albuquerque, New Mexico. From there several routes continued
directly and indirectly to the Bosque Redondo at Fort Sumner on
the Pecos River.
The story of the Long Walk is being told in a number of
ways through the efforts of the State of New Mexico and the
Navajo Nation. For a number of years, the Navajo people have
made pilgrimages to the Bosque Redondo. Plans are currently
underway for a memorial and visitor center at Fort Sumner State
Monument. Legislation that passed in the 106th Congress (Title
II of P.L. 106-511) authorizes funding from the Defense
Department to match state funds for the establishment and
development of the memorial and visitor center. The legislation
also authorizes the National Park Service to work with the
Navajo Nation and the Mescalero Tribe to develop a symposium on
the Long Walk and a curriculum for New Mexico schools.
Any further federal involvement should consider more than
whether or not the Long Walk has sufficient resources and
integrity to meet the standards set for establishing National
Historic Trails. A study should identify other options that
best tell the story as well as identify the critical resources
to that story. But most importantly, any work has to consider
the concerns, values and wishes of the Native Americans
affected by these tragic events. Therefore, while a study to
determine the suitability of national historical trail
designation may be an important part of preserving this story
and sites, any authorized study should include sufficient
latitude to determine if that is indeed the best way to
accomplish the task. To that end, we are ready to work with the
bill's sponsor, the State of New Mexico and the Navajo and
Mescalero to determine the most appropriate action.
The Office of Management and Budget advises that there is
no objection to the presentation of this report from the
standpoint of the Administration's program.
Sincerely,
Harold Craig Manson,
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
Changes in Existing Law
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the Act H.R. 1384, as ordered reported, are shown as follows
(existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black
brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in
which no change is proposed is shown in roman):
Public Law 90-543
AN ACT To establish a national trails system, and for other purposes
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SHORT TITLE
Section 1. This Act may be cited as the ``National Trails
System Act''.
Sec. 5. (a) * * *
* * * * * * *
(c) * * *
(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
(______) The Long Walk Trail, a series of routes which the
Navajo and Mescalero Apache Indian tribes were forced to walk
beginning in the fall of 1863 as a result of their removal by
the United States Government from their ancestral lands,
generally located within a corridor extending through portions
of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, and Albuquerque, Canyon Blanco,
Anton Chico, Canyon Piedra Pintado, and Fort Sumner, New
Mexico.
* * * * * * *