Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB986 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version Filed 03/04/2025

                            I 
119THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION H. R. 986 
To amend the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Establish-
ment Act to expand the boundary of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Na-
tional Historical Park in the State of Vermont, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY5, 2025 
Ms. B
ALINTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical 
Park Establishment Act to expand the boundary of the 
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in 
the State of Vermont, 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 ‘‘Marsh-Billings-Rocke-4
feller National Historical Park Establishment Act Amend-5
ments Act of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. BOUNDARY EXPANSION. 1
Section 3 of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National 2
Historical Park Establishment Act (16 U.S.C. 410vv–1) 3
is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 4
following: 5
‘‘(b) B
OUNDARIES; MAP.— 6
‘‘(1) B
OUNDARIES.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The boundaries of the 8
park shall be as generally depicted on the map 9
entitled ‘Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National 10
Historical Park, Proposed Boundary Revision’, 11
numbered 456/190,048, and dated August 12
2023. 13
‘‘(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The park shall include 14
the following: 15
‘‘(i) A historic zone, including— 16
‘‘(I) the Marsh-Billings-Rocke-17
feller Mansion; 18
‘‘(II) surrounding buildings; and 19
‘‘(III) a portion of the area 20
known as ‘Mt. Tom’. 21
‘‘(ii) A protection zone, including the 22
area occupied by the Billings Farm and 23
Museum. 24
‘‘(iii) The King Farm, which shall be 25
divided between the historic zone described 26
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in clause (i) and the protection zone de-1
scribed in clause (ii), as determined by the 2
Secretary to be appropriate. 3
‘‘(2) A
VAILABILITY OF MAP .—The map de-4
scribed in paragraph (1)(A) shall be on file and 5
available for public inspection in the appropriate of-6
fices of the National Park Service.’’. 7
SEC. 3. ACQUISITION OF LAND. 8
Section 4 of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National 9
Historical Park Establishment Act (16 U.S.C. 410vv–2) 10
is amended— 11
(1) in subsection (b)— 12
(A) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and 13
inserting the following: 14
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may acquire 15
land or an interest in land within the boundary of 16
the park by— 17
‘‘(A) donation; 18
‘‘(B) purchase from a willing seller with 19
donated or appropriated funds; 20
‘‘(C) transfer from a Federal agency; or 21
‘‘(D) exchange. 22
‘‘(2) K
ING FARM.—Acquisition by the Secretary 23
of the land described in section 3(b)(1)(B)(iii) shall 24
include— 25
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‘‘(A) a right of access from the land ac-1
quired to the park; and 2
‘‘(B) a right of access to the land acquired 3
from the park.’’; and 4
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘(3) The 5
Secretary’’ and inserting the following: 6
‘‘(3) C
OMMERCIAL OPERATION .—The Sec-7
retary’’; and 8
(2) by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘(e) K
INGFARM.—On acquisition by the Secretary 10
of the land described in section 3(b)(1)(B)(iii), the ac-11
quired land may be used for— 12
‘‘(1) agricultural and forestry purposes, includ-13
ing the growing and harvesting of crops and trees, 14
animal husbandry, and other agricultural operations 15
customary in the State of Vermont; 16
‘‘(2) conservation purposes in a manner that 17
preserves the historic character of a working farm 18
and forest; and 19
‘‘(3) educational purposes relating to agri-20
culture, forestry, and conservation activities, includ-21
ing the study of natural history.’’. 22
SEC. 4. SCENIC ZONE. 23
Section 5(a) of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Na-24
tional Historical Park Establishment Act (16 U.S.C. 25
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410vv–3(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘‘Marsh-Billings- 1
Rockefeller National Historical Park Scenic Zone Map’ 2
and dated November 19, 1991’’ and inserting ‘‘‘Marsh- 3
Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Proposed 4
Boundary Revision’, numbered 456/190,048, and dated 5
August 2023’’. 6
SEC. 5. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE STEWARDSHIP INSTI-7
TUTE. 8
The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical 9
Park Establishment Act (16 U.S.C. 410vv et seq.) is 10
amended— 11
(1) by redesignating sections 6 through 10 as 12
sections 7 through 11, respectively; and 13
(2) by inserting after section 5 the following: 14
‘‘SEC. 6. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE STEWARDSHIP INSTI-15
TUTE. 16
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is established at the park 17
the National Park Service Stewardship Institute (referred 18
to in this Act as the ‘Institute’). 19
‘‘(b) P
URPOSES.—The purposes of the Institute 20
are— 21
‘‘(1) to highlight and encourage the advance-22
ment of stewardship practices through workshops, 23
public programs, learning opportunities, and similar 24
programming; 25
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‘‘(2) to create opportunities within the National 1
Park Service to identify and share innovation 2
through research, evaluation, and dialogue; and 3
‘‘(3) to identify and exchange best practices and 4
enhance leadership capacity, partnership develop-5
ment, and community engagement in the fields of 6
conservation and resource stewardship. 7
‘‘(c) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Institute shall be man-8
aged as a program of the park.’’. 9
Æ 
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