[Senate Report 107-184]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 457
107th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     107-184

======================================================================



 
              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.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                                  
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