I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 247
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Chisholm National
Historic Trail and the Western National Historic Trail, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY10, 2023
Mr. E
STESintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate the
Chisholm National Historic Trail and the Western Na-
tional Historic Trail, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chisholm National 4
Historic Trail and Western National Historic Trail Des-5
ignation Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF THE CHISHOLM NATIONAL HIS-1
TORIC TRAIL AND THE WESTERN NATIONAL 2
HISTORIC TRAIL. 3
Section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 4
U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘(l) C
HISHOLM NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL ; 7
WESTERN NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL .— 8
‘‘(A) E
STABLISHMENT.— 9
‘‘(i) C
HISHOLM NATIONAL HISTORIC 10
TRAIL.—The Chisholm National Historic 11
Trail, a trail most heavily used by ranchers 12
and drovers to move cattle to market be-13
tween 1867 and 1884, extending along a 14
route of approximately 1,378 miles from 15
Kingsville, Texas, through Cuero and San 16
Antonio, Texas, northward through Okla-17
homa to Abilene, Kansas, as generally de-18
picted on the maps numbered 1 through 6 19
contained in the report prepared by the 20
National Park Service entitled ‘Chisholm 21
and Great Western National Historic Trail 22
Feasibility Study/Environmental Assess-23
ment’ and dated May 2019. 24
‘‘(ii) W
ESTERN NATIONAL HISTORIC 25
TRAIL.—The Western National Historic 26
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Trail, a trail most heavily used by ranchers 1
and drovers to move cattle to market be-2
tween 1874 and 1897, extending along a 3
route of approximately 1,350 miles from 4
Kingsville, Texas, northward through Okla-5
homa and Dodge City, Kansas, to Ogallala, 6
Nebraska, as generally depicted on the 7
maps numbered 1 through 6 contained in 8
the report prepared by the National Park 9
Service entitled ‘Chisholm and Great West-10
ern National Historic Trail Feasibility 11
Study/Environmental Assessment’ and 12
dated May 2019. 13
‘‘(B) A
VAILABILITY OF MAP.—The maps 14
described in subparagraph (A) shall be on file 15
and available for public inspection in the appro-16
priate offices of the Department of the Interior. 17
‘‘(C) A
DMINISTRATION.— 18
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of 19
the Interior shall administer the trails es-20
tablished by subparagraph (A) as a single 21
administrative unit. 22
‘‘(ii) A
DMINISTRATION OF PORTIONS 23
OF TRAIL ON NON-FEDERAL LAND.— 24
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‘‘(I) REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMIN -1
ISTRATION.—The Secretary of the In-2
terior shall administer any portion of 3
a trail established by subparagraph 4
(A) that is located on non-Federal 5
land only— 6
‘‘(aa) with the voluntary 7
consent of the owner of the non- 8
Federal land; and 9
‘‘(bb) if the portion qualifies 10
for certification as a component 11
of the applicable trail, consistent 12
with section 3(a)(3). 13
‘‘(II) C
ERTIFICATION AGREE -14
MENT.— 15
‘‘(aa) I
N GENERAL.—The 16
approval by an owner of applica-17
ble non-Federal land of a certifi-18
cation agreement shall satisfy the 19
consent requirements of sub-20
clause (I)(aa). 21
‘‘(bb) T
ERMINATION.—A 22
certification agreement referred 23
to in item (aa) may be termi-24
nated at any time. 25
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‘‘(iii) ACCESS TO PRIVATE PROP -1
ERTY.—The establishment of a trail by 2
subparagraph (A) does not authorize any 3
person to enter private property without 4
the consent of the owner of the private 5
property. 6
‘‘(iv) R
ECOGNITION OF ALTERNATIVE 7
NAMES FOR TRAILS .—In referring to a 8
trail established by subparagraph (A) in 9
maps and other documents, the Secretary 10
of the Interior may acknowledge and use 11
any alternative name that was historically 12
used to reference the trail, including the 13
‘Great Western Trail’. 14
‘‘(D) L
AND ACQUISITION.— 15
‘‘(i) D
ONATION.—The Secretary of 16
the Interior may accept a donation of land 17
or an interest in land for a trail estab-18
lished by subparagraph (A). 19
‘‘(ii) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary of 20
the Interior may not acquire for a trail es-21
tablished by subparagraph (A) any land or 22
interest in land— 23
‘‘(I) that is located outside the 24
exterior boundary of any federally 25
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managed area without the consent of 1
the owner of the land or interest in 2
land; or 3
‘‘(II) that extends more than an 4
average of
1
∕4of a mile on either side 5
of a trail established by subparagraph 6
(A). 7
‘‘(E) E
FFECT ON ENERGY DEVELOPMENT , 8
PRODUCTION, OR TRANSMISSION.—Nothing in 9
this paragraph, the acquisition of land or an in-10
terest in land authorized by this paragraph, or 11
any management plan for a trail established by 12
subparagraph (A) prohibits, hinders, or dis-13
rupts the development, production, or trans-14
mission of energy. 15
‘‘(F) N
O BUFFER ZONES.— 16
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Nothing in this 17
paragraph, the acquisition of land or an in-18
terest in land authorized by this para-19
graph, or any management plan for a trail 20
established by subparagraph (A) creates a 21
buffer zone. 22
‘‘(ii) O
UTSIDE ACTIVITIES.—The fact 23
that an activity or use on land outside a 24
trail established by subparagraph (A) can 25
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be seen, heard, or detected from the appli-1
cable trail, including from any land or in-2
terest in land acquired for the applicable 3
trail, shall not preclude, limit, control, reg-4
ulate, or determine the conduct or manage-5
ment of the activity or use outside the ap-6
plicable trail. 7
‘‘(G) N
O EMINENT DOMAIN OR CONDEMNA -8
TION.—Land or an interest in land may not be 9
acquired for a trail established by subparagraph 10
(A) by eminent domain or condemnation. 11
‘‘(H) I
NVENTORY OF SITES ; ADMINISTRA-12
TIVE COSTS.—The Secretary of the Interior 13
shall be responsible for— 14
‘‘(i) the costs of any inventory to iden-15
tify and define potential sites and seg-16
ments for inclusion in a trail established by 17
subparagraph (A); and 18
‘‘(ii) any other applicable administra-19
tive costs relating to a trail established by 20
that subparagraph. 21
‘‘(I) N
OT A DESIGNATION OF ‘LANDS IN 22
THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM ’.—Notwith-23
standing any other provision of law, the estab-24
lishment of a trail by subparagraph (A) shall 25
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not have the effect of designating the trail or 1
any land on which the trail is located as ‘lands 2
in the National Park System’ for purposes of 3
section 28(b)(1) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 4
U.S.C. 185(b)(1)). 5
‘‘(J) N
O NEW AUTHORITIES OR PER -6
MITS.— 7
‘‘(i) N
O EFFECT ON AUTHORITY TO 8
GRANT EASEMENTS OR RIGHTS -OF-WAY.— 9
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL .—Notwith-10
standing any other provision of law, 11
the establishment of a trail by sub-12
paragraph (A) shall not alter or affect 13
the existing authority of any Federal, 14
State, or local agency or official to 15
grant easements or rights-of-way over, 16
under, across, or along any portion of 17
the trail. 18
‘‘(II) A
UTHORITY OF HEADS OF 19
FEDERAL AGENCIES TO GRANTS EASE -20
MENTS OR RIGHTS-OF-WAY.—Notwith-21
standing the establishment of a trail 22
by subparagraph (A), the head of any 23
Federal agency having jurisdiction 24
over any Federal land on which the 25
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trail is located (other than land that 1
is considered to be ‘lands in the Na-2
tional Park System’ for purposes of 3
section 28(b)(1) of the Mineral Leas-4
ing Act (30 U.S.C. 185(b)(1)) as a re-5
sult of an establishment under any 6
other law), shall have the authority to 7
grant easements or rights-of-way over, 8
under, across, or along any applicable 9
portion of the trail in accordance with 10
the laws applicable to the Federal 11
land. 12
‘‘(ii) N
O NEW PERMITS REQUIRED .— 13
Notwithstanding any other provision of 14
law, the establishment of a trail by sub-15
paragraph (A) shall not subject the trail or 16
any land on which the trail is located to 17
any other Federal laws (including regula-18
tions) requiring a Federal permit or au-19
thorization that would otherwise be made 20
applicable as a result of the establishment 21
of the trail as a component of the National 22
Trails System.’’. 23
Æ
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