The Library of Congress  >  THOMAS Home  >  Committee Reports  >  Search Results

69-006

110TH CONGRESS

REPORT

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

2d Session

110-841

--NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM WILLING SELLER ACT

SEPTEMBER 11, 2008- Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. RAHALL, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted the following

R E P O R T

[To accompany H.R. 1847]

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE LAND FROM WILLING SELLERS FOR CERTAIN TRAILS.

SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 1847 is to amend the National Trails System Act to clarify federal authority relating to land acquisition from willing sellers for the majority of the trails in the System, and for other purposes.

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

H.R. 1847 amends the National Trails System Act to provide authority to purchase lands from willing sellers for nine designated trails that currently lack such authority.

Congress enacted the National Trails System Act in 1968 (16 U.S.C. 1241 et seq.) to provide for increased outdoor recreation needs and `to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nation' by instituting a national system for recreational, scenic, and historic trails.

Section 7(f)(2) of the National Trails System Act addresses land acquisition by stating, `In acquiring lands or interests in lands for a National Scenic or Historic Trail, the appropriate Secretary may, with the consent of a landowner, acquire whole tracts notwithstanding that parts of such tracts may lie outside the area of trail acquisition.'

Section 7(g) of the National Trails System Act gives the appropriate Secretary the authority to `utilize condemnation authority to acquire private lands or interests therein pursuant to this section only in cases where, in his judgment, all reasonable efforts to acquire such lands or interests therein have failed . . .'. However, in the past several years, legislation designating new trails has limited acquisition authority to acquisition from willing sellers only.

Nonetheless, for nine trails that are part of the system--the Oregon National Historic Trail, the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, the Iditarod National Historic Trail, the North Country National Scenic Trail, the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail--the United States has no acquisition authority.

Because these nine trails do not have acquisition authority, federal trail managers are unable to purchase lands or easements to ensure public access or to protect these trails from inappropriate development. Enactment of H.R. 1847 will provide the same authority to these nine trails as that which exists for the rest of the trails in the system.

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 1847 was introduced on March 29, 2007, by Representative Mark Udall (D-CO). The bill was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. On July 10, 2008, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill during which the Administration testified in support of the bill.

On July 23, 2008, the Subcommittee was discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1847 and the full Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. Subcommittee Chairman Grijalva (D-AZ) offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute that made minor technical changes to the bill to conform it to the companion measure reported by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Ranking Member Young (R-AK) then offered an amendment to the substitute that would exclude the Iditarod National Historic Trail from the provisions of H.R. 1847. The Young amendment was adopted by voice vote. Representative Lamborn (R-CO) then offered an amendment to the substitute on behalf of Representative Sali (R-ID) that would make all lands within the designated trails identified in the bill exclusively governed by relevant state and local laws regarding the possession or use of a weapon, including a concealed weapon. The Lamborn amendment was not adopted by a roll call vote of 8 yeas to 15 nays, as follows:

Insert offset folio 5 here HR841.001

The Grijalva amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended, was then adopted by voice vote. The bill, as amended, was then ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by voice vote.

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title

Section 1 provides that the Act may be cited as the `National Trails System Willing Seller Act'.

Section 2. Authority to acquire land from willing sellers for certain trails

Section 2 amends the sections of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244) for the Oregon National Historic Trail, the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, the North Country National Scenic Trail, the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail to require the consent of the owner to acquire private land for these trails.

Section 3. Conforming amendment

Section 3 amends the National Trails System Act to authorize appropriations for the trails designated in section 5(a), authorizes supplemental appropriations for the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail and requires that the agencies administering trails encourage volunteer trail groups to participate in trail development.

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

Article I, section 8 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 amend the National Trails System Act to clarify Federal authority relating to land acquisition from willing sellers for the majority of the trails in the System, 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:

H.R. 1847--National Trails System Willing Seller Act

H.R. 1847 would amend the National Trails System Act to allow the federal government to purchase land from willing sellers for eight of the 25 national trails currently in the system. Under current law, federal agencies are not authorized to spend funds to acquire land or other property interests for eight national trails that are outside of existing federal areas, such as national forests or parks. (An exception to this prohibition is that one site in each state crossed by each trail may be acquired for an interpretive site.)

The costs of implementing H.R. 1847 are uncertain because the federal agencies that administer the national trails have not completed land protection plans for most of the trails that would be affected by the legislation. CBO expects that relatively little land along the 16,000 miles composing the eight trails would be acquired because most land can probably be protected in other ways, as it is for most other trails in the system. Under the bill, total acquisition costs could be significant, however, because some of the longest trails would probably require larger areas to be purchased. For example, land acquisition for multistate trails such as the 3,200-mile North Country National Scenic Trail could cost over $100 million, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. For some of the shorter trails, especially those located primarily on state or federal land, costs would be much lower. In any case, all acquisition funding would be subject to future appropriations and would be spent over a period of several years. This estimate is based on information provided by the National Park Service and the Forest Service, which administer most of the national trails affected by the bill.

Enacting H.R. 1847 would not affect direct spending or revenues. The bill 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 August 3, 2007, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 169, the National Trails System Willing Seller Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on July 25, 2007. S. 169 and H.R. 1847 are very similar. The cost of implementing H.R. 1847 could be less than that of S. 169 because the House bill includes one fewer trail (the Iditarod National Historic Trail in Alaska), but CBO estimates that the difference in costs would be small because the Alaska trail is located primarily on public land that would not need to be purchased.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

EARMARK STATEMENT

H.R. 1847 does not contain any congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(d), 9(e) or 9(f) of rule XXI.

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

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

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT

* * * * * * *

NATIONAL SCENIC AND NATIONAL HISTORICAL TRAILS

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *