[Senate Report 111-149]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 299
111th Congress  }                                        {       Report
  2d Session    }             SENATE                     {      111-149
                                                      ======================================================================
 
            WACO MAMMOTH NATIONAL MONUMENT ESTABLISHMENT ACT 

                                _______
                                

                 March 2, 2010.--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. 1376]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 1376) to establish the Waco Mammoth 
National Monument in the State of Texas, 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. 1376 is to authorize the Secretary of 
the Interior to establish the Waco Mammoth National Monument in 
the State of Texas as a unit of the National Park System.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Public Law 107-341, enacted in 2002, directed the Secretary 
of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to 
determine the national significance, suitability, and 
feasibility of designating the Waco Mammoth Site as a unit of 
the National Park System. The Waco Mammoth Site is located near 
the confluence of the Brazos River and the Bosque River in 
Central Texas, near the City of Waco. The Mammoth Site includes 
over 109 combined acres owned by the City of Waco and Baylor 
University.
    Baylor University has been studying the site since 1978 and 
has uncovered the bones of Columbian mammoths ranging from 3 to 
55 years of age, which appear to have died around 68,000 years 
ago. The Waco Mammoth Site holds the biggest concentration of 
mammoths in North America and has allowed scientists to study 
and better understand the life history of an extinct species. 
The discoveries have received international attention.
    After completion of the study, the National Park Service 
found that the Waco site met all the criteria for designation 
as a unit of the National Park System, and proposed that the 
site be managed by the Park Service in partnership with the 
City of Waco and Baylor University.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    H.R. 1376, sponsored by Representative Chet Edwards, was 
reported by the Committee on Natural Resources on June 24, 2009 
(H. Rept. 111-229), and passed the House of Representatives on 
July 9, 2009, by voice vote.
    Companion legislation, S. 625, was introduced in the Senate 
by Senators Cornyn and Hutchison on March 17, 2009. The 
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on S. 625 on July 
15, 2009. (S. Hrg. 111-92). At its business meeting on December 
16, 2009, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered 
H.R. 1376 to be reported favorably without amendment.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on December 16, 2009, by a voice vote of 
a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 1376.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 contains the short title for the bill, the ``Waco 
Mammoth National Monument Establishment Act of 2009''.
    Section 2 contains Congressional findings.
    Section 3 defines key terms used in the legislation.
    Section 4 establishes the Waco Mammoth National Monument in 
the State of Texas as a unit of the National Park System as 
depicted on the map.
    Section 5 directs the Secretary of the Interior to 
administer the monument in accordance with all laws applicable 
to the National Park System, including the National Park System 
Organic Act (16 U.S.C. 1-4).
    Subsection (b) authorizes the Secretary to enter into 
cooperative agreements for the management of the national 
monument with Baylor University and the City of Waco, pursuant 
to the National Park Service General Authorities Act (16 U.S.C. 
1a-2(1)).
    Section 6 authorizes the Secretary to acquire from willing 
sellers lands, or interests in lands, within the proposed 
boundary of the national monument necessary for effective 
management.
    Section 7 authorizes the Secretary, subject to the 
appropriation of necessary funds, to construct essential 
administrative or visitor use facilities on non-Federal lands 
within the national monument. Further, the Secretary may use 
donated funds, property, and services to carry out construction 
of facilities on nonfederal lands.
    Section 8 states that not later than three years after the 
date of which funds are made available to carry out this Act, 
the Secretary, in consultation with Baylor University and City 
of Waco, shall prepare a management plan for the national 
monument.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

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

H.R. 1376--Waco Mammoth National Monument Establishment Act of 2009

    H.R. 1376 would establish the Waco Mammoth National 
Monument in Texas. The cost to develop and manage the new 
monument would be shared by the National Park Service (NPS) and 
local partners, such as the city of Waco and Baylor University, 
under cooperative agreements. The legislation would authorize 
the NPS to both acquire land for the monument and construct 
facilities on nonfederal lands within the monument's 
boundaries. Finally, the act would require the NPS to prepare a 
management plan for the monument within three years of 
receiving funding for that purpose.
    Based on information provided by the NPS and assuming the 
availability of appropriated funds, CBO estimates that 
implementing H.R. 1376 would cost about $1 million over the 
next three years and about $400,000 a year thereafter. The $1 
million would be used to develop a management plan for the site 
and construct exhibits and interpretive facilities. Beginning 
in 2013, $400,000 would be needed for the federal share of 
annual operating costs.
    For this estimate, CBO assumes that about 5 acres of land 
owned by Waco or Baylor University would be donated to the NPS 
within the next three years; the rest of the approximately 110-
acre site would remain in nonfederal ownership. We further 
assume that other costs to develop visitor facilities within 
the monument--an estimated $8 million--would be borne by the 
city or other nonfederal participants. If, alternatively, the 
NPS needed to acquire more land for the monument or bear more 
of the costs of financing new facilities, federal costs would 
be higher than $1 million (assuming appropriation of the 
necessary amounts).
    H.R. 1376 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 July 16, 2009, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 
1376, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural 
Resources on July 9, 2009. The two versions of the legislation 
are similar, and our cost estimates are the same.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Deborah Reis 
and Daniel Hoople. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, 
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. 1376.
    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 H.R. 1376.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    H.R. 1376, as ordered reported, does not contain any 
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, 
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The testimony provided by the Department of the Interior 
was included in testimony received by the Committee at a 
hearing on S. 625, on July 15, 2009.

 Statement of Katherine H. Stevenson, Acting Deputy Director--Support 
      Services, National Park Service, Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for 
the opportunity to present the views of the Department of the 
Interior on S. 625, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to establish the Waco Mammoth National Monument in the 
State of Texas.
    The Department supports S. 625, with an amendment to 
provide the map reference in the bill. The Department testified 
in support of H.R. 1376, a similar bill, on April 23, 2009, 
before the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and 
Public Lands.
    S. 625 would establish a new unit of the National Park 
System, the Waco Mammoth National Monument (monument), near the 
city of Waco, Texas. The bill directs the Secretary of the 
Interior (Secretary) to administer the monument in accordance 
with the laws applicable to the National Park System and to 
enter into cooperative agreements with Baylor University and 
the City of Waco to manage the monument. The bill also 
authorizes the Secretary to acquire land for the monument from 
willing sellers with donated or appropriated funds, transfer 
from another federal agency, or exchange. Lands owned by the 
State of Texas, or its political subdivisions, may only be 
acquired by donation or exchange. Finally, the Secretary is 
authorized to construct facilities on non-federal land within 
the boundaries of the monument and to complete a General 
Management Plan for the monument within three years after funds 
are made available.
    The National Park Service (NPS) was directed to complete a 
Special Resource Study (SRS) of the Waco Mammoth site by Public 
Law 107-341. This study evaluated a 109-acre site owned by the 
City of Waco and Baylor University and found that the site 
meets all the criteria for designation as a unit of the 
National Park System.
    The Waco Mammoth Site area is located approximately 4.5 
miles north of the center of Waco, near the confluence of the 
Brazos and the Bosque rivers. Baylor University has been 
investigating the site since 1978 after hearing about bones 
emerging from eroding creek banks that led to the uncovering of 
portions of five mammoths. Since then several additional 
mammoth remains have been uncovered--making this the largest 
known concentration of mammoths dying from the same event.
    The discoveries have received international attention and 
many of the remains have been excavated and are in storage or 
still being researched. The SRS determined that the combination 
of both in situ articulated skeletal remains and the excavated 
specimens from the site represents the nation's first and only 
recorded nursery herd of Pleistocene mammoths. The resource 
possesses exceptional interpretive value and superlative 
opportunities for visitor enjoyment and scientific study.
    From the time the site was discovered until the present, 
the University and the City have managed the site responsibly. 
The SRS examined a range of proposed options for the NPS 
involvement at the site. We believe that NPS joining in 
partnership with the city of Waco, Baylor University, and 
others would offer the most effective and cost-efficient 
management of this unique resource.
    If established based upon the management alternative 
recommended in the SRS, we estimate that the costs to create 
the monument would include $8.1 million from the identified 
partners to develop the facilities at the monument with the NPS 
providing an additional $600,000 for enhanced interpretive 
media. Total operational costs are estimated to be $645,000 
with the NPS contributing approximately $345,000 for NPS 
staffing of four full-time equivalent positions and associated 
supplies, materials, and equipment. All funds are subject to 
NPS priorities and the availability of appropriations.
    We recommend that Section 3 of S. 625 be amended to include 
the map reference for the monument. The map title is ``Proposed 
Boundary Waco-Mammoth National Monument'', the map number is 
``T21/80,000'', and the date is ``April 2009''.
    Mr. Chairman, that concludes my statement. I would be happy 
to answer any questions that you or other members of the 
Subcommittee 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 Act H.R. 1376, as 
ordered reported.

                                  
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