[Senate Report 110-15]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 40
110th Congress Report
SENATE
1st Session 110-15
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ICE AGE FLOODS NATIONAL GEOLOGIC TRAIL DESIGNATION ACT
_______
February 15, 2007.--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 S. 268]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 268) to designate the Ice Age Floods
National Geologic Trail, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE
The purpose of S. 268 is to designate the Ice Age Floods
National Geologic Trail, a trail from Missoula, Montana, to the
Pacific Ocean, to provide for the public appreciation,
understanding, and enjoyment of the nationally significant
natural and cultural features of the Ice Age Floods.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
During the Pleistocene Epoch Ice Age, beginning about 1.8
million years ago, North America was repeatedly glaciated by
ice sheets that covered much of Alaska, Canada, and the
northern United States. The most recent glacial event was the
Wisconsin glaciation, which began about 80,000 years ago and
ended around 10,000 years ago.
During the last Ice Age a series of catastrophic floods
ravaged the Pacific Northwest in what are now the States of
Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. A finger of the
Cordilleran ice sheet crept southward into the Idaho Panhandle,
blocking the Clark Fork River and creating Glacial Lake
Missoula. As the waters rose behind this 2,000-foot ice dam,
they flooded the valleys of western Montana. At its greatest
extent, Glacial Lake Missoula stretched eastward a distance of
some 200 miles, essentially creating an inland sea.
Periodically, the ice dam would fail. These failures were often
catastrophic, resulting in a large flood of ice and dirt-filled
water that would rush down the Columbia River drainage, across
northern Idaho and eastern and central Washington, cutting the
path that would become the Columbia River Gorge, and then back
up into Oregon's Willamette Valley, finally pouring into the
Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.
Over thousands of years, the lake filling, dam failure, and
flooding were repeated dozens of times, leaving a lasting mark
on the landscape of the Northwest. Many of the distinguishing
features of the floods remain throughout the region today.
Together, these two interwoven stories of the catastrophic
floods and the formation of Glacial Lake Missoula are referred
to as the ``Ice Age Floods.''
The floods carved out more than 50 cubic miles of earth,
piled mountains of gravel 30 stories high, created giant ripple
marks the height of three-story buildings, and scattered 200-
ton boulders from the Rockies to the Willamette Valley. Grand
Coulee, Dry Falls, and Palouse Falls were all created by these
flood waters, as were the Missoula and Spokane ground-water
resources, numerous wetlands, and the fertile Willamette Valley
and Quincy Basin.
In 2001, the National Park Service completed a major
Special Resource Study which proposed that an Ice Age Floods
National Geologic Trail be established. This trail would
represent the largest, most systematic, and most cooperative
effort yet proposed to bring the dramatic story of the Ice Age
Floods to the public's attention. S. 268 would designate the
Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail consistent with the
recommendations of the 2001 study.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 268 was introduced by Senators Cantwell, Wyden, Craig,
and Murray on January 11, 2007. Senator Smith was added as a
cosponsor on January 31, 2007. During the 109th Congress, the
Committee considered similar legislation, S. 206. The
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on S. 206 on June
28, 2005 (S. Hrg. 109-101). The Committee ordered S. 206 to be
favorably reported with an amendment in the nature of a
substitute on September 28, 2005 (S. Rept. 109-144) and the
bill passed the Senate, by unanimous consent, on November 16,
2005.
Companion legislation, H.R. 383, was introduced in the
House of Representatives during the 109th Congress by
Representative Hastings. H.R. 383 passed the House of
Representatives by a voice vote on September 25, 2006. No
further action occurred with respect to H.R. 383 or S. 206
prior to the sine die adjournment of the 109th Congress.
At its business meeting on January 31, 2007, the Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources ordered S. 268 to be favorably
reported.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open
business session on January 31, 2007, by a voice vote of a
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 268.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 entitles the bill the ``Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Trail Designation Act.''
Section 2 sets forth congressional findings and defines the
purpose of the bill to designate the Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Trail.
Section 3 defines key terms used in the bill.
Section 4(a) designates the Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Trail to be established in order to provide for public
appreciation, understanding, and enjoyment of the nationally
significant natural and cultural features of the Ice Age
floods.
Subsection (b) provides that the trail route shall be
generally depicted on the referenced map.
Subsection (c) requires that the map in subsection (b) be
made available for public inspection at appropriate National
Park Service offices.
Section 5(a) designates the Secretary of the Interior
(Secretary), through the Director of the National Park Service,
as the administrator of the trail.
Subsection (b) clarifies that except for certain
cooperative agreement authority, the trail is not to be
administered as a unit of the National Park System.
Subsection (c) authorizes the Secretary to establish a
trail management office in order to facilitate trail
management.
Subsection (d) allows for development of interpretive
facilities associated with the trail in partnership with State,
local, tribal, or non-profit entities consistent with the plan.
Subsection (e) requires the development of a management
plan to be created in cooperation with State, local, and tribal
governments, the Ice Age Floods Institute, private property
owners, and other interested parties. The plan is to be created
no later than 3 years after funds are available.
Subsection (f) allows the Secretary to enter into
cooperative agreements for management and administration of the
trail with the States of Montana, Idaho, Washington, and
Oregon. For purposes of this subsection only, the Trail shall
be considered a unit of the National Park System.
Subsection (g) allows the Secretary to enter into
cooperative agreements with public or private entities.
Subsection (h) states that nothing in the Act will affect
private property rights.
Subsection (i) clarifies that designation of the trail does
not create any liability for private property owners along the
trail.
Section 6 authorizes to be appropriated such sums as are
necessary to carry out this Act, of which not more than $12
million may be used for development of the trail.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
S. 268--Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Designation Act
S. 268 would establish the Ice Age Floods National Geologic
Trail. Assuming appropriation of the necessary or authorized
amounts, CBO estimates that the National Park Service (NPS)
would spend $14.5 million over the next five years to develop
the new trail and to manage it under cooperative agreements
with nonfederal partners. Enacting S. 268 would not affect
revenues or direct spending.
S. 268 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.
Under S. 268, the proposed Ice Age Floods National Geologic
Trail would be established as an auto route primarily along
existing highways and other public lands in Montana, Idaho,
Washington, and Oregon. The new trail would not become a unit
of the National Park System but would instead be managed in
partnership with state officials and other public and private
entities. Finally, the bill would authorize the appropriation
of $12 million for development of the trail.
Assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO
estimates that the NPS would spend $12 million over the 2007-
2011 period to design and construct a trail management office,
visitor facilities, and interpretive programs. In addition, CBO
estimates that the NPS would spend about $500,000 a year,
assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, to prepare a
general management plan for the trail and to provide assistance
to non federal partners who help to manage trail facilities and
programs.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. This 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 S. 268. The bill is not a regulatory measure in
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or
significant economic 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 S. 268, as ordered reported.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
Because S. 268 is similar to legislation considered during
the 109th Congress, the Committee did not request Executive
Agency views. The testimony provided by the National Park
Service at the Subcommittee hearing on S. 206 in the 109th
Congress follows:
Statement of Donald W. Murphy, Deputy Director, National Park Service,
Department of the Interior
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the
Department of the Interior's views on S. 206, a bill to
designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.
The Department opposes S. 206 in its current form. Although
we recognize the national significance of the geologic features
in the Northwest caused by the Ice Age Floods, we believe that
we can enhance the interpretation of these features, as
described later in this testimony, without establishing a new
entity within the National Park Service or spending Federal
funds on development of interpretive sites or land acquisition.
Devoting limited National Park Service funds to those purposes
would detract from the Administration's priority of reducing
the deferred maintenance backlog in existing units of the
National Park System.
The cataclysmic floods that occurred 12,000 to 17,000 years
ago, at the end of the last ice age, were some of the largest
ever documented by geologists. These floods, which were caused
by the ice and water bursting through ice dams at Glacial Lake
Missoula, left a lasting mark of geologic features on the
landscape of parts of Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon,
and have affected the pattern of human settlement and
development in parts of the Northwest.
In 2001, a study team headed by the National Park Service
and composed of 70 representatives of a broad range of public
and private entities, concluded a two-year special resource
study of the Ice Age floods. The study found that the floods
features met the criteria for national significance and
suitability for addition to the National Park System, but that
the size, breadth, and multitude of ownerships throughout the
study region make the area not feasible to consider for a
traditional national park, monument, or similar designation.
However, the study found that it is feasible to interpret the
floods story across the affected areas. It evaluated four
management alternatives that would each provide a collaborative
and coordinated approach for the interpretation of the Ice Age
floods story to the public. The study's preferred alternative
called for Congressional designation of the floods pathways as
a national geologic trail and authorization of National Park
Service management of the trail in coordination with public and
private entities.
S. 206 would largely implement the study's preferred
alternative. It would designate the Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Trail, to be managed by the National Park Service,
along floods pathways. The trail would be an auto tour route
along public roads and highways linking floods features
starting in the vicinity of Missoula in western Montana, going
across northern Idaho, through eastern and southern sections of
Washington, across northern Oregon in the vicinity of the
Willamette Valley and the Columbia River, to the Pacific Ocean.
While the Department believes that the proposed auto tour
route highlighting floods features is a viable concept, we do
not support establishing a new program within the National Park
Service to lead this effort. Although the study called for
sharing the cost of the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail
among a variety of public and private sources, it estimated
that under the alternative that S. 206 would implement, the
role that National Park Service would play would cost about
$500,000 per year in operating expenses. The study also
suggested that the share ofcapital development costs for the
trail from all Federal sources might run between $8 million and $12
million over a period of several years.
The study assumed that State and local governments would
pay for parcels of land needed for improvements such as
roadside pullouts and wayside exhibits where rights-of-way
proved inadequate, so it did not suggest a Federal contribution
toward land acquisition. However, S. 206 would authorize the
National Park Service to acquire up to 25 acres of land, which
would entail additional Federal expenditures.
Rather than establishing a new entity for the purpose of
interpreting the Ice Age Floods, we recommend amending S. 206
to provide for expansion of interpretation of floods features
at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, an existing unit of
the National Park System located in the State of Washington
about midway along the route of the trail proposed by S. 206.
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area contains the lake
formed by Grand Coulee Dam, built across one of the coulees
formed by the Ice Age Floods. The floods are the primary
natural history interpretive theme at Lake Roosevelt. The
recreation area also assists Washington State Parks in
interpretation at Dry Falls State Park, one of the most
significant floods features along the proposed trail. As part
of an enhanced interpretation program, the park could, for
example, make available to park visitors information about
other floods features in the four-state region covered by the
proposed trail.
The National Park Service is involved in two other efforts,
both in Wisconsin, to preserve and interpret the landscapes
resulting from the last advance of continental glaciers--the
Ice Age National Scientific Reserve and the Ice Age National
Scenic Trail. The national scientific reserve, authorized in
1964, preserves outstanding features of the glacial landscape
that are owned and managed by the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources under a cooperative agreement with the
National Park Service and is an affiliated area of the National
Park System. The Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin,
authorized in 1980 as a part of the National Trails System, is
a 1,200-mile hiking trail that traces glacial landscape
features left by the advance and melting away of the last
continental glaciers during the Wisconsin Glaciation
approximately 15,000 years ago. This scenic trail is a hiking
trail and differs from the auto tour route that is proposed to
be established in this bill as the Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Trail.
In addition to expanding interpretation at Lake Roosevelt,
the National Park Service could devote resources from other
existing programs to promoting education and interpretation of
sites associated with the floods. For example, the National
Park Service's Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance
program could provide technical assistance to State and local
entities that want to enhance interpretation of sites in their
areas. And, the National Park Service's National Register of
Historic Places program could develop Ice Age Floods as one of
its ``Discover Our Shared Heritage'' on-line travel
itineraries. In addition, other National Park Service units in
the vicinity of the proposed trail, such as the new Lewis and
Clark National Historical Park which includes areas along the
lower Columbia River, could be brought into the effort to
promote interpretation of floods features.
As the National Park Service's study suggested,
interpretation of the floods should involve a collaborative and
coordinated approach involving a broad range of public and
private entities. One of the management alternatives considered
by the study was having the state legislatures of Montana,
Idaho, Washington, and Oregon designate representatives to a
four-state commission that would promote the coordinated
interpretation of the floods story at the state and local
level. We think that is an option that merits a second look. In
addition, with or without a state-sponsored commission, tourist
organizations could form a four-state consortium to generate
interest in visiting these sites. The Ice Age Floods Institute,
a non-profit scientific organization devoted to increasing
understanding of the story of the Ice Age Floods, has played
and will continue to play a large role in promoting public
education about the floods.
We would be happy to work with the committee to develop the
appropriate language for amending S. 206 to provide for
expanded interpretation of Ice Age Floods features by Lake
Roosevelt National Recreation Area rather than designation of a
new national entity and establishment of a new program managed
by the National Park Service.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my statement. I would be
pleased to answer any questions that you or other members of
the committee 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 the bill S. 268, as ordered
reported.