[House Report 109-619]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



109th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                   109-619

======================================================================
 
     ICE AGE FLOODS NATIONAL GEOLOGIC ROUTE DESIGNATION ACT OF 2006

                                _______
                                

 September 6, 2006.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
            the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Pombo, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 383]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 383) to designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic 
Trail, and for other purposes, having considered the same, 
report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the 
bill as amended do pass.
  The amendments are as follows:
  Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

   This Act may be cited as the ``Ice Age Floods National Geologic 
Route Designation Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

  The purpose of this Act is to designate the Ice Age Floods National 
Geologic Route in the States of Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, 
enabling the public to view, experience, and learn about the Ice Age 
Floods' features and story through the collaborative efforts of public 
and private entities.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

   As used in this Act:
          (1) Route.--The term ``Route'' means the Ice Age Floods 
        National Geologic Route designated in section 4.
          (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        the Interior.
          (3) Floods.--The term ``Ice Age Floods'' or ``floods'' means 
        the cataclysmic floods that occurred in what is now the 
        northwestern United States during the last Ice Age primarily 
        from massive, rapid and recurring drainage of Glacial Lake 
        Missoula.

SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF THE ICE AGE FLOODS NATIONAL GEOLOGIC ROUTE.

  (a) Designation.--In order to provide for the public appreciation, 
education, understanding, and enjoyment, through a coordinated 
interpretive program of certain nationally significant natural and 
cultural sites associated with Ice Age Floods that are accessible 
generally by public roads, the Secretary, acting through the Director 
of the National Park Service, with the concurrence of the agency having 
jurisdiction over such roads, is authorized to designate, by 
publication of a map or other description thereof in the Federal 
Register, a vehicular tour route along existing public roads linking 
such natural and cultural sites. Such route shall be known as the ``Ice 
Age Floods National Geologic Route''.
  (b) Location.--The location of the Route shall generally follow 
public roads and highways from the vicinity of Missoula in western 
Montana, across northern Idaho, through eastern and southern sections 
of Washington, and across northern Oregon in the vicinity of the 
Willamette Valley and the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, as 
generally depicted on the map titled ``Ice Age Floods National Geologic 
Trial'', numbered P43/80,000, and dated June 2004.
  (c) Maps.--
          (1) Revisions.--The Secretary may revise the map by 
        publication in the Federal Register of a notice of availability 
        of a new map, as needed, in cooperation with Federal, State, 
        local, or tribal governments, and other public or private 
        entities.
          (2) Availability.--Any map referred to in paragraph (1) shall 
        be on file and available for public inspection in the 
        appropriate offices of the National Park Service.
  (d) Description of Sites; Plan; Interpretive Program.--
          (1) Description of sites; plan.--Not later than 3 years after 
        the date that funds become available for this Act, the 
        Secretary shall prepare a description of sites along the Route 
        and general plan which shall include the location and 
        description of each of the following:
                  (A) Unique geographic or geologic features and 
                significant landforms.
                  (B) Important cultural resources.
          (2) Interpretive program.--The general plan shall include 
        proposals for a comprehensive interpretive program of the 
        Route.
          (3) Transmission to congress.--The Secretary shall transmit 
        the description of sites and general plan to the Committee on 
        Resources of the United States House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States 
        Senate.
          (4) Consultation.--The description of sites and plan shall be 
        prepared in consultation with other Federal agencies, the State 
        of Montana, the State of Idaho, the State of Washington, and 
        the State of Oregon, units of local governments, tribal 
        governments, interested private citizens, and nonprofit 
        organizations, and the Ice Age Floods Institute.

SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION.

  (a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of the 
National Park Service, shall administer a program to interpret the 
Route in accordance with this Act.
  (b) Public Education.--With respect to sites linked by segments of 
the Route which are administered by other Federal, State, tribal, and 
local nonprofit or private entities, the Secretary is authorized to 
provide technical assistance in the development of interpretive devices 
and materials pursuant to cooperative agreements with such entities. 
The Secretary, in cooperation with Federal, State, tribal, or local 
governments or nonprofit or private entities, shall prepare and 
distribute information for the public appreciation of sites along the 
Route.
  (c) Markers.--The Secretary shall ensure that the Route is marked 
with appropriate markers to guide the public. With the concurrence and 
assistance of the State, tribal, or local entity having jurisdiction 
over the roads designated as part of the Route, the Secretary may erect 
thereon signs and other informational devices displaying the Ice Age 
Floods National Geologic Route marker. The Secretary is authorized to 
accept the donation of suitable signs and other informational devices 
for placement at appropriate locations.
  (d) Private Property Rights.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
to require any private property owner to allow public access (including 
Federal, State or local government access) to such private property or 
to modify any provision of Federal, State or local law with regard to 
public access to or use of private lands.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

  There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $250,000 for 
each fiscal year to carry out this Act.

  Amend the title so as to read:

      A bill to designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic 
Route, and for other purposes.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 383, as ordered reported, is to 
designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Route, and for 
other purposes.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    Between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, North America was 
repeatedly glaciated. During the last Ice Age, a series of 
floods in the Pacific Northwest dramatically altered the 
geologic landscape of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. 
Glacial Lake Missoula was created, and when an ice dam failed 
periodically, floods rushed down the Columbia River creating 
the Columbia River Gorge and washing over Oregon's Willamette 
Valley and into the Pacific Ocean. The floods carved out miles 
of earth and created Grand Coulee, Dry Falls, Palouse Falls, 
the Missoula and Spokane ground-water resources, and the 
Willamette Valley and Quincy Basin.
    In 2001, the National Park Service completed a Special 
Resource Study, which proposed that the Ice Age Floods National 
Geologic Trail be established. The bill requires that the 
Geologic Trail be administered by the Secretary of the 
Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park 
Service, but the Trail would not be a unit of the National Park 
System.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 383 was introduced on January 26, 2005, by Congressman 
Doc Hastings (R-WA). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 
National Parks. On July 13, 2006, the Subcommittee held a 
hearing on the bill. On July 19, 2006, the Full Resources 
Committee met to consider the bill, at which time the 
Subcommittee on National Parks was discharged from further 
consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. Congressman 
Stevan Pearce (R-NM) offered an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute to refine the purpose and execution of the bill. The 
amendment clarified that H.R. 383 does not create a new unit, 
or entity, within the National Park System. The Park Service 
will be charged with administering only a program of education 
and interpretation. There will be no authority to acquire or 
manage public and private land. Also, the amendment reduced the 
authorization of appropriations from $500,000 to $250,000 
annually. Finally, the name of the designation will be the 
``Ice Age Floods National Geologic Route'' to conform with a 
similar program that currently exists and is administered by 
the National Park Service. The amendment in the nature of a 
substitute was adopted by unanimous consent. The bill, as 
amended, was ordered favorably reported to the House of 
Representatives by unanimous consent.

                   CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

    Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution of the 
United States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) 
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this 
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or 
objective of this bill is to designate the Ice Age Floods 
National Geologic Trail, and for other purposes.
    4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate 
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

               CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

H.R. 383--Ice Age Floods National Geologic Route Designation Act of 
        2006

    H.R. 383 would establish the Ice Age Floods National 
Geologic Route. The route would be primarily an auto route 
along existing highways and roads between Missoula, Montana, 
and the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Northwest, following the 
path of the Ice Age floods approximately 17,000 years ago. H.R. 
383 would authorize the appropriation of $250,000 annually for 
the National Park Service (NPS) to identify the route with 
signs and markers, develop an interpretive program, and report 
to the Congress.
    Assuming appropriation of the specified amount each year, 
CBO estimates that the NPS would spend $1.25 million over the 
2007-2011 period to develop and maintain the Ice Age Floods 
National Geologic Route. Enacting the bill would not affect 
revenues or direct spending.
    H.R. 383 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 October 5, 2005, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 
206, the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Designation 
Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources on September 28, 2005. Both pieces of 
legislation would establish an auto route along the path of the 
Ice Age floods but have different provisions. The Senate 
version would authorize the appropriation of $12 million for 
developing the trail; the House version would authorize the 
appropriation of $250,000 annually.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew 
Pickford. The estimate was approved by Robert A. Sunshine, 
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    If enacted, this bill would make no changes to existing 
law.

                                  
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