07.10.14

Senate approves national monument expansion, historic park creation bills

E&E News
By Jessica Estepa
July 10, 2014

The Senate yesterday passed a slew of natural resources bills, including measures that would increase the size of an Oregon national monument and create a new national park in Maryland.

Among the 15 bills passed was Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.) S. 354, which would modify the boundary of the Oregon Caves National Monument by adding 4,000 acres of what is currently Forest Service land to the monument. The Interior Department has supported the House version of the bill, Rep. Peter DeFazio's H.R. 2489. While the Forest Service has raised concerns about the boundary changes, it said it would work with Interior to ensure that management of the area would remain efficient.

Another bill approved was S. 247, from Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), to create national historic parks honoring Harriet Tubman in Maryland and New York. The park in Maryland would focus on the activist's early life, while the New York location would commemorate her later years, after she escaped from slavery, helped others find freedom through the Underground Railroad and sought women's suffrage.

The passage of the measures came after being blocked in the past by fiscal conservatives, who said the National Park Service should find a funding solution and address its $11.3 billion maintenance backlog before more land was added to its system (E&E Daily, June 5).

The other measures passed were:

  • H.R. 255, by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), which would enable the transfer of the Provo River Aqueduct from Reclamation to the Provo River Water Users Association.
  • H.R. 291, from Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), which directs the Agriculture secretary to convey certain land parcels contained in the National Forest System and adjacent acres to local South Dakota communities.
  • H.R. 356, from Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), which authorizes the state of Utah to relinquish certain school trust or subsurface mineral lands in order to benefit the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. In exchange, the state would receive federal subsurface mineral lands.
  • H.R. 507, by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), which provides for the conveyance of certain land inholdings owned by the United States to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona.
  • H.R. 697, by Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), which provides for the conveyance of certain federal land in Clark County, Nev., for the environmental remediation and reclamation of the Three Kids Mine Project Site.
  • H.R. 876, by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), which authorizes the continued use of certain water diversions located on National Forest System land in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho and for other purposes.
  • H.R. 1158, by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), which directs the Interior secretary to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.
  • H.R. 2337, by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), which provides for the conveyance of the Forest Service Lake Hill Administrative Site in Summit County, Colo.
  • H.R. 3110, by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), which allows for the harvest of gull eggs by the Huna Tlingit people within Glacier Bay National Park.
  • S. 311, by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), which directs the Interior secretary to complete a special resource study that evaluates the national significance of an area in Plaquemines Parish, La., and to see where it should become a part of the Park Service system.
  • S. 363, also by Wyden, to expand geothermal production on federal land.
  • S. 476, by Cardin, to reauthorize the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park Commission for a 10-year term.
  • S. 609, by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), which directs the Interior secretary to convey certain federal land in San Juan County, N.M.