[Senate Report 115-108]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      Calendar No. 145
115th Congress    }                                     {       Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session      }                                     {      115-108

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



 
                 JAY S. HAMMOND WILDERNESS ACT OF 2017

                                _______
                                

                 June 14, 2017.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

        Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 
                   Resources, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 213]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 213) to designate the wilderness within 
the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in the State of 
Alaska as the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area, having considered 
the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommends that the bill do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of S. 213 is to designate the wilderness within 
the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in the State of 
Alaska as the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, established by 
Congress in 1980 in the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act (ANILCA, Public Law 96-487), preserves and 
protects some 3,653,000 acres of Southwest Alaska on the 
western shore of Cook Inlet as a national park and preserve.
    Although occupied by Alaska Natives for centuries, the area 
was explored by Russian explorers after 1741. After the United 
States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, Charles Leslie 
McKay became the first Euro-American to explore the area in 
1881, collecting artifacts for the Smithsonian Institution. In 
1891, a party led by explorer Alfred B. Schanz again traveled 
through the area. Included in the Schanz party was John W. 
Clark, a representative of the Alaska Commercial Company. The 
Schanz party renamed the lake from its native Dena'ina name, 
Qiz'jeh Vena--``the lake where many people gather''--to Lake 
Clark to honor John Clark.
    The first permanent non-Native resident, Brown Carlson, a 
trapper, moved to the area in 1903. With the advent of the 
float airplane in 1930, more non-Native residents moved in and 
settled around the Port Alsworth area. One early settler was 
Jay Sterner Hammond. Hammond was a former petroleum engineer 
born in New York, a U.S. Marines Corps fighter pilot who served 
in China and the South Pacific in World War II, and a settler 
to Alaska who arrived when it was a territory in 1947. After 
the war, Hammond studied biological sciences and graduated from 
the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1949. In 1950, the part-
time pilot, trapper, and guide became a biologist and field 
agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was stationed 
in Southwest Alaska. He paddled the entire shoreline of the 45-
mile-long Lake Clark and selected a homestead where he built a 
cabin. This homestead served as his primary residence for 
nearly 55 years until his death in 2005.
    Hammond, besides being a biologist and later a game guide, 
entered politics when Alaska became a State in 1959. He served 
three terms in the State House, two terms in the State Senate, 
and was later elected Mayor of the Bristol Bay Borough in 1972, 
after serving as its manager. He was then elected Governor of 
the State of Alaska in 1974 and was reelected in 1978.
    During his two terms, he opposed oil leasing in the 
Kachemak Bay area of Cook Inlet, opposed construction of a 
proposed Ramparts hydroelectric dam across the Yukon River, 
supported the establishment by Congress of a 200-mile fisheries 
conservation zone, proposed a state limited-entry fisheries 
regime, proposed and oversaw the establishment of the nation's 
largest state park, the 1.6-million-acre Wood Tikchik State 
Park to the southwest of Lake Clark, and was Governor when 
Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
Act in 1980. That Act added 104 million acres of land as 
national parks, preserves, refuges, monuments, wild and scenic 
rivers, and wilderness in Alaska, including creating Lake Clark 
National Park and Preserve of which 2.6 million acres were 
designated as wilderness. Hammond's homestead is located inside 
the boundary of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. S. 213 
would name the 2.6 million-acre existing wilderness area within 
the Park and Preserve in memory of Governor Hammond, in 
recognition of his significant accomplishments related to the 
preservation of natural resources within the State of Alaska.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    Senators Murkowski and Sullivan introduced S. 213 on 
January 24, 2017.
    In the 114th Congress, Senators Murkowski and Sullivan 
introduced a similar bill, S. 873, on March 26, 2015. The 
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on S. 873 on June 
10, 2015. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in 
open business session on July 30, 2015, and ordered S. 873 
favorably reported, as amended (S. Rept. 114-131).
    The measure was included in Amendment No. 3234, which the 
Senate agreed to on April 19, 2016, as an amendment to S. 2012, 
the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, which the Senate 
passed, as amended, on April 20, 2016.
    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open 
business session on March 30, 2017, and ordered S. 213 
favorably reported.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on March 30, 2017, by a majority voice 
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 
213.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 contains the short title, the ``Jay S. Hammond 
Wilderness Act.''
    Section 2 designates the approximately 2,600,000 acres of 
existing wilderness in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve as 
the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area and deems any reference to 
the wilderness area in any law, map, regulation, document, 
paper, or other record to be a reference to the Jay S. Hammond 
Wilderness Area.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of the costs of this measure has 
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
    S. 213 would designate the 2.6 million acres of wilderness 
in the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve as the Jay S. 
Hammond Wilderness in honor of Alaska's fourth governor. The 
wilderness represents about 65 percent of Lake Clark's 4 
million acres.
    Based on information from the National Park Service on the 
cost of changing the name of a wilderness area, CBO estimates 
that S. 213 would have no significant effect on discretionary 
spending because revising federal maps and signs to reflect the 
new name would be done in conjunction with scheduled reprinting 
and other routine maintenance.
    Enacting S. 213 would not affect direct spending or 
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO 
estimates that enacting S. 213 would not increase net direct 
spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 
10-year periods beginning in 2028.
    S. 213 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jon Sperl. The 
estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 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. 213.
    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 provision. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 213, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    S. 213, 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

    Because S. 213 is similar to legislation considered by the 
Committee in the 114th Congress, the Committee did not request 
Executive Agency views. The testimony provided by the National 
Park Service at the hearing before the Subcommittee on National 
Parks on June 10, 2015, follows:

    Facilities and Lands, National Park Service, Department of the 
 Interior, Before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, Committee 
 on Energy and Natural Resources, Concerning S. 873, To Designate the 
  Wilderness Within the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in the 
         State of Alaska as the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the 
Department of the Interior's views on S. 873, a bill to 
designate the wilderness within the Lake Clark National Park 
and Preserve in the State of Alaska as the Jay S. Hammond 
Wilderness Area.
    The Department supports S. 873, which would designate the 
approximately 2.6 million acres of National Wilderness 
Preservation System land located within the Lake Clark National 
Park and Preserve as the ``Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area.'' 
This designation is a fitting and appropriate way to recognize 
Hammond's significant contributions to the Alaska National 
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), the National Park 
System, and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, which was an 
important part of an extraordinary legacy of public service.
    In 1946, following his military service as a fighter pilot 
during World War II, Jay Hammond came to Alaska and became a 
bush pilot, guide and trapper. In 1949, Hammond graduated from 
the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and went to work for the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As a U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service employee, Hammond conducted wildlife surveys of the 
Lake Clark area and located a homestead along Lake Clark. He 
lived with his wife Bella in their lakeside homestead from 
about 1982 until his death on August 2, 2005. Bella still 
resides in the homestead and enjoys the splendid views of the 
wilderness area.
    In 1959, Hammond was elected to the state legislature and 
served several terms before being elected as a state senator in 
1967. From 1972 to 1974, Hammond was the mayor of the Bristol 
Bay Borough. In 1974, he was elected Governor of Alaska, and 
served the state in that role until 1982. During his tenure, he 
oversaw the building and the opening of the Alaska Pipeline and 
preserved a large portion of the oil lease revenues in the form 
of a Permanent Fund which has been in existence for three 
decades. As a governor who sought to balance the development of 
Alaska's energy resources with the conservation of the state's 
vast untouched natural resources, he worked with the Federal 
government to achieve enactment of the legislation that became 
ANILCA.
    ANILCA protected 104 million acres of land. It added more 
than 40 million acres in 10 new units of the National Park 
System, including the 3.86 million-acre Lake Clark National 
Park and Preserve. The law also designated the 2.6 million 
acres of wilderness within Lake Clark National Park and 
Preserve. Governor Hammond later said that what President 
Carter had done with the signing of ANILCA was ``locking Alaska 
open'' for future generations of Americans to enjoy and 
preserve for all time.
    The National Park Service Management Policies 2006 states 
that ``to be permanently commemorated in a national park is a 
high honor, affording a degree of recognition that implies 
national importance.'' The policies support the commemorative 
naming of national park resources only in cases where there is 
a compelling justification for the recognition. In general, a 
compelling justification involves an association between the 
park and the person that is of exceptional importance, as well 
as a lapse of at least five years since the person's death. The 
designation of wilderness within Lake Clark National Park and 
Preserve in honor of Jay S. Hammond meets these criteria.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony, and I would be 
happy to answer any questions you or other members 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 as ordered 
reported.

                                  [all]