II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 282
To provide greater regional access to the Katahdin Woods and Waters
National Monument in the State of Maine, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. K
INGintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To provide greater regional access to the Katahdin Woods
and Waters National Monument in the State of Maine,
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 ‘‘Katahdin Woods and 4
Waters National Monument Access Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) A
UTHORIZED ACQUISITION AREA .—The 8
term ‘‘authorized acquisition area’’ means the des-9
ignated area outside the boundary of the National 10
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•S 282 IS
Monument depicted as ‘‘Authorized Acquisition 1
Area’’ on the map entitled ‘‘Katahdin Woods and 2
Waters National Monument Proposed Boundary Ad-3
justment’’, numbered 686/193,181 and dated March 4
2024. 5
(2) N
ATIONAL MONUMENT .—The term ‘‘Na-6
tional Monument’’ means the Katahdin Woods and 7
Waters National Monument in the State of Maine 8
established by the Proclamation. 9
(3) P
ROCLAMATION.—The term ‘‘Proclama-10
tion’’ means Presidential Proclamation Number 11
9476, dated August 24, 2016 (54 U.S.C. 320301 12
note). 13
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 14
the Secretary of the Interior. 15
SEC. 3. ACQUISITION OF ADDITIONAL LAND FOR NATIONAL 16
MONUMENT. 17
(a) B
OUNDARY.—The boundaries of the National 18
Monument shall be the boundaries established by the 19
Proclamation. 20
(b) A
CQUISITION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 22
the Secretary may acquire, by purchase from a will-23
ing seller, donation, or exchange, land or interests in 24
land within the authorized acquisition area. 25
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(2) PROHIBITION ON USE OF EMINENT DO -1
MAIN.—Nothing in this Act authorizes the use of 2
eminent domain to acquire land or an interest in 3
land. 4
(c) T
REATMENT OF ACQUIREDLAND; BOUNDARY 5
A
DJUSTMENT.—On acquisition by the Secretary of any 6
land pursuant to subsection (b)— 7
(1) the land shall be included in the National 8
Monument; and 9
(2) the boundaries of the National Monument 10
shall be adjusted accordingly. 11
SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL MONUMENT. 12
(a) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall admin-13
ister the National Monument (including the land added 14
to the National Monument under this Act) in accordance 15
with— 16
(1) this Act; 17
(2) the Proclamation; and 18
(3) the laws generally applicable to units of the 19
National Park System. 20
(b) H
UNTING, FISHING, ANDOUTDOORRECREATION 21
ONACQUIREDLAND.—The Secretary shall allow hunting, 22
fishing, or any other outdoor recreation activity on land 23
acquired pursuant to section 3(b)— 24
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(1) if that activity was in existence on the day 1
before the date of acquisition of the land; and 2
(2) consistent with the management of that ac-3
tivity under the Proclamation. 4
(c) C
OLLECTION OFFIDDLEHEADFERNS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 6
the Secretary shall allow the gathering by hand of 7
fiddlehead ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) in the 8
National Monument for noncommercial personal use 9
and consumption by the general public. 10
(2) L
IMITATION.—If the Secretary determines 11
that the gathering of fiddlehead ferns (Matteuccia 12
struthiopteris) under paragraph (1) may adversely 13
affect resources of the National Monument, the Sec-14
retary may limit the gathering of fiddlehead ferns 15
(Matteuccia struthiopteris) under that paragraph in 16
accordance with applicable regulations. 17
(d) P
UBLICEDUCATION.—In accordance with the 18
mission of the National Park Service, the Secretary shall 19
collaborate with local communities and Tribal govern-20
ments to educate the public regarding the natural environ-21
ment and history of land management in the National 22
Monument, including the shaping of that landscape by Na-23
tive communities and practices, successive generations of 24
timber management, and other activities. 25
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(e) FORESTRY.—In accordance with the management 1
plan for the National Monument, the Secretary may con-2
duct such noncommercial timber harvests as the Secretary 3
determines to be necessary. 4
(f) P
ROTECTION OFEXISTINGACCESS.—Nothing in 5
this Act affects valid existing rights, including existing 6
rights of access through the National Monument for the 7
removal of timber outside the boundaries of the National 8
Monument. 9
(g) P
UBLICSAFETY.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 11
to the public appropriate safety education and notifi-12
cation materials to ensure safe interactions between 13
visitors and logging trucks, equipment, and oper-14
ations on roads in or adjacent to the National 15
Monument. 16
(2) P
ROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall collabo-17
rate with affected stakeholders to establish proce-18
dures to meet the needs of visitors to the National 19
Monument, logging and trucking operations, and 20
other users of roads in or adjacent to the National 21
Monument to ensure safe interactions between active 22
logging operations and visitors. 23
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SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATIVE SITES AND VISITOR FACILITIES. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—To facilitate the administration of 2
the National Monument, the Secretary may acquire, by 3
purchase from a willing seller, donation, or exchange, not 4
more than 10 acres of land or interests in land, including 5
improvements, for the administration of the National 6
Monument and visitor services outside the boundaries, but 7
within the vicinity, of the National Monument. 8
(b) A
GREEMENTS.—The Secretary may enter into 9
agreements with State of Maine, units of Tribal or local 10
government, or private entities— 11
(1) to carry out this section; and 12
(2) to develop a cooperative information center 13
for the National Monument. 14
Æ
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