II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 945
To amend the Smith River National Recreation Area Act to include certain
additions to the Smith River National Recreation Area, to amend the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain wild rivers in the
State of Oregon, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH11 (legislative day, MARCH10), 2025
Mr. M
ERKLEY(for himself, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. PADILLA, and Mr. SCHIFF) in-
troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Smith River National Recreation Area Act
to include certain additions to the Smith River National
Recreation Area, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act to designate certain wild rivers in the State of Or-
egon, 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 ‘‘Smith River National 4
Recreation Area Expansion Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 945 IS
SEC. 2. ADDITIONS TO THE SMITH RIVER NATIONAL 1
RECREATION AREA. 2
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Smith River Na-3
tional Recreation Area Act (16 U.S.C. 460bbb–1) is 4
amended— 5
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘referred to in 6
section 4(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘entitled ‘Proposed 7
Smith River National Recreation Area’ and dated 8
July 1990’’; and 9
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the Six Riv-10
ers National Forest’’ and inserting ‘‘an applicable 11
unit of the National Forest System’’. 12
(b) B
OUNDARIES.—Section 4(b) of the Smith River 13
National Recreation Area Act (16 U.S.C. 460bbb–2(b)) 14
is amended— 15
(1) in paragraph (1)— 16
(A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘and 17
on the map entitled ‘Proposed Additions to the 18
Smith River National Recreation Area’ and 19
dated January 23, 2023’’ after ‘‘1990’’; and 20
(B) in the second sentence, by striking 21
‘‘map’’ and inserting ‘‘maps’’; and 22
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘map’’ and in-23
serting ‘‘maps described in paragraph (1)’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 945 IS
(c) ADMINISTRATION.—Section 5 of the Smith River 1
National Recreation Area Act (16 U.S.C. 460bbb–3) is 2
amended— 3
(1) in subsection (b)— 4
(A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, 5
by striking ‘‘the map’’ and inserting ‘‘the 6
maps’’; and 7
(B) in paragraph (2)— 8
(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 9
‘‘area shall be on’’ and inserting ‘‘area and 10
any portion of the recreation area in the 11
State of Oregon shall be on roadless’’; and 12
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(I) The Kalmiopsis Wilderness shall be 15
managed in accordance with the Wilderness Act 16
(16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.).’’; 17
(2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘by the 18
amendments made by section 10(b) of this Act’’ and 19
inserting ‘‘within the recreation area’’; and 20
(3) by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘(d) S
TUDY; REPORT.— 22
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years 23
after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 24
Secretary shall conduct a study of the area depicted 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 945 IS
on the map entitled ‘Proposed Additions to the 1
Smith River National Recreation Area’ and dated 2
January 23, 2023, that includes inventories and as-3
sessments of streams, fens, wetlands, lakes, other 4
water features, and associated land, plants (includ-5
ing Port-Orford-cedar), animals, fungi, algae, and 6
other values, and unstable and potentially unstable 7
aquatic habitat areas in the study area. 8
‘‘(2) M
ODIFICATION OF MANAGEMENT PLANS ; 9
REPORT.—On completion of the study under para-10
graph (1), the Secretary shall— 11
‘‘(A) modify any applicable management 12
plan to fully protect the inventoried values 13
under the study, including to implement addi-14
tional standards and guidelines; and 15
‘‘(B) submit to Congress a report describ-16
ing the results of the study. 17
‘‘(e) W
ILDFIREMANAGEMENT.—Nothing in this Act 18
affects the authority of the Secretary (in cooperation with 19
other Federal, State, and local agencies, as appropriate) 20
to conduct wildland fire operations within the recreation 21
area, consistent with the purposes of this Act. 22
‘‘(f) V
EGETATIONMANAGEMENT.—Nothing in this 23
Act prohibits the Secretary from conducting vegetation 24
management projects (including wildfire resiliency and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•S 945 IS
forest health projects) within the recreation area, to the 1
extent consistent with the purposes of the recreation area. 2
‘‘(g) A
PPLICATION OFNORTHWESTFORESTPLAN 3
ANDROADLESSRULE TOCERTAINPORTIONS OF THE 4
R
ECREATIONAREA.—Nothing in this Act affects the ap-5
plication of the Northwest Forest Plan or part 294 of title 6
36, Code of Federal Regulations (commonly referred to 7
as the ‘Roadless Rule’) (as in effect on the date of enact-8
ment of this subsection), to portions of the recreation area 9
in the State of Oregon that are subject to the plan and 10
those regulations as of the date of enactment of this sub-11
section. 12
‘‘(h) P
ROTECTION OFTRIBALRIGHTS.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act dimin-14
ishes any right of an Indian Tribe. 15
‘‘(2) M
EMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING .—The 16
Secretary shall seek to enter into a memorandum of 17
understanding with applicable Indian Tribes with re-18
spect to— 19
‘‘(A) providing the Indian Tribes with ac-20
cess to the portions of the recreation area in 21
the State of Oregon to conduct historical and 22
cultural activities, including the procurement of 23
noncommercial forest products and materials 24
for traditional and cultural purposes; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•S 945 IS
‘‘(B) the development of interpretive infor-1
mation to be provided to the public on the his-2
tory of the Indian Tribes and the use of the 3
recreation area by the Indian Tribes.’’. 4
(d) A
CQUISITION.—Section 6(a) of the Smith River 5
National Recreation Area Act (16 U.S.C. 460bbb–4(a)) 6
is amended— 7
(1) in the fourth sentence, by striking ‘‘All 8
lands’’ and inserting the following: 9
‘‘(4) A
PPLICABLE LAW.—All land’’; 10
(2) in the third sentence— 11
(A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and in-12
serting the following: 13
‘‘(3) M
ETHOD OF ACQUISITION .—The Sec-14
retary’’; 15
(B) by striking ‘‘or any of its political sub-16
divisions’’ and inserting ‘‘, the State of Oregon, 17
or any political subdivision of the State of Cali-18
fornia or the State of Oregon’’; and 19
(C) by striking ‘‘donation or’’ and insert-20
ing ‘‘purchase, donation, or’’; 21
(3) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘In exer-22
cising’’ and inserting the following: 23
‘‘(2) C
ONSIDERATION OF OFFERS BY SEC -24
RETARY.—In exercising’’; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•S 945 IS
(4) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The Sec-1
retary’’ and inserting the following: 2
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary’’; and 3
(5) by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(5) A
CQUISITION OF CEDAR CREEK PARCEL .— 5
On the adoption of a resolution by the State Land 6
Board of Oregon and subject to available funding, 7
the Secretary shall acquire all right, title, and inter-8
est in and to the approximately 555 acres of land 9
known as the ‘Cedar Creek Parcel’ located in sec. 10
16, T. 41 S., R. 11 W., Willamette Meridian.’’. 11
(e) F
ISH ANDGAME.—Section 7 of the Smith River 12
National Recreation Area Act (16 U.S.C. 460bbb–5) is 13
amended— 14
(1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or the 15
State of Oregon’’ after ‘‘State of California’’; and 16
(2) in the second sentence, by inserting ‘‘or the 17
State of Oregon, as applicable’’ after ‘‘State of Cali-18
fornia’’. 19
(f) M
ANAGEMENT PLANNING.—Section 9 of the 20
Smith River National Recreation Area Act (16 U.S.C. 21
460bbb–7) is amended— 22
(1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The Sec-23
retary’’ and inserting the following: 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•S 945 IS
‘‘(a) REVISION OFMANAGEMENTPLAN.—The Sec-1
retary’’; and 2
(2) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(b) S
MITHRIVERNATIONALRECREATIONAREA 4
M
ANAGEMENTPLANREVISION.—As soon as practicable 5
after the date of the first revision of the forest plan after 6
the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 7
shall revise the management plan for the recreation 8
area— 9
‘‘(1) to reflect the expansion of the recreation 10
area into the State of Oregon under the Smith River 11
National Recreation Area Expansion Act; and 12
‘‘(2) to include an updated recreation action 13
schedule to identify specific use and development 14
plans for the areas described in the map entitled 15
‘Proposed Additions to the Smith River National 16
Recreation Area’ and dated January 23, 2023.’’. 17
(g) S
TREAMSIDE PROTECTION ZONES.—Section 18
11(b) of the Smith River National Recreation Area Act 19
(16 U.S.C. 460bbb–8(b)) is amended by adding at the end 20
the following: 21
‘‘(24) Each of the river segments described in 22
subparagraph (B) of section 3(a)(92) of the Wild 23
and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)(92)).’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
•S 945 IS
(h) STATE ANDLOCALJURISDICTION ANDASSIST-1
ANCE.—Section 12 of the Smith River National Recre-2
ation Area Act (16 U.S.C. 460bbb–9) is amended— 3
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘California or 4
any political subdivision thereof’’ and inserting 5
‘‘California, the State of Oregon, or a political sub-6
division of the State of California or the State of Or-7
egon’’; 8
(2) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 9
paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘California or its political 10
subdivisions’’ and inserting ‘‘California, the State of 11
Oregon, or a political subdivision of the State of 12
California or the State of Oregon’’; and 13
(3) in subsection (c), in the first sentence— 14
(A) by striking ‘‘California and its political 15
subdivisions’’ and inserting ‘‘California, the 16
State of Oregon, and any political subdivision of 17
the State of California or the State of Oregon’’; 18
and 19
(B) by striking ‘‘State and its political 20
subdivisions’’ and inserting ‘‘State of Cali-21
fornia, the State of Oregon, and any political 22
subdivision of the State of California or the 23
State of Oregon’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
•S 945 IS
SEC. 3. WILD AND SCENIC RIVER DESIGNATIONS. 1
(a) N
ORTHFORKSMITHADDITIONS, OREGON.— 2
(1) F
INDING.—Congress finds that the source 3
tributaries of the North Fork Smith River in the 4
State of Oregon possess outstandingly remarkable 5
wild anadromous fish and prehistoric, cultural, bo-6
tanical, recreational, and water quality values. 7
(2) D
ESIGNATION.—Section 3(a)(92) of the 8
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)(92)) 9
is amended— 10
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sce-11
nic’’ and inserting ‘‘wild’’; 12
(B) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 13
through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec-14
tively, and indenting appropriately; 15
(C) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 16
so redesignated), by striking ‘‘The 13-mile’’ and 17
inserting the following: 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The 13-mile’’; and 19
(D) by adding at the end the following: 20
‘‘(B) A
DDITIONS.—The following segments 21
of the source tributaries of the North Fork 22
Smith River, to be administered by the Sec-23
retary of Agriculture in the following classes: 24
‘‘(i) The 13.26-mile segment of 25
Baldface Creek from its headwaters, in-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11
•S 945 IS
cluding all perennial tributaries, to the 1
confluence with the North Fork Smith in 2
T. 39 S., R 10 W., T. 40 S., R. 10 W., 3
and T. 41 S., R. 11 W., Willamette Merid-4
ian, as a wild river. 5
‘‘(ii) The 3.58-mile segment from the 6
headwaters of Taylor Creek to the con-7
fluence with Baldface Creek, as a wild 8
river. 9
‘‘(iii) The 4.38-mile segment from the 10
headwaters of the unnamed tributary to 11
Biscuit Creek and the headwaters of Bis-12
cuit Creek to the confluence with Baldface 13
Creek, as a wild river. 14
‘‘(iv) The 2.27-mile segment from the 15
headwaters of Spokane Creek to the con-16
fluence with Baldface Creek, as a wild 17
river. 18
‘‘(v) The 1.25-mile segment from the 19
headwaters of Rock Creek to the con-20
fluence with Baldface Creek, flowing south 21
from sec. 19, T. 40 S., R. 10 W., Willam-22
ette Meridian, as a wild river. 23
‘‘(vi) The 1.31-mile segment from the 24
headwaters of the unnamed tributary num-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12
•S 945 IS
ber 2 to the confluence with Baldface 1
Creek, flowing north from sec. 27, T. 40 2
S., R. 10 W., Willamette Meridian, as a 3
wild river. 4
‘‘(vii) The 3.6-mile segment from the 5
2 headwaters of the unnamed tributary 6
number 3 to the confluence with Baldface 7
Creek, flowing south from secs. 9 and 10, 8
T. 40 S., R. 10 W., Willamette Meridian, 9
as a wild river. 10
‘‘(viii) The 1.57-mile segment from 11
the headwaters of the unnamed tributary 12
number 4 to the confluence with Baldface 13
Creek, flowing north from sec. 26, T. 40 14
S., R. 10 W., Willamette Meridian, as a 15
wild river. 16
‘‘(ix) The 0.92-mile segment from the 17
headwaters of the unnamed tributary num-18
ber 5 to the confluence with Baldface 19
Creek, flowing north from sec. 13, T. 40 20
S., R. 10 W., Willamette Meridian, as a 21
wild river. 22
‘‘(x) The 4.90-mile segment from the 23
headwaters of Cedar Creek to the con-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13
•S 945 IS
fluence with North Fork Smith River, as a 1
wild river. 2
‘‘(xi) The 2.38-mile segment from the 3
headwaters of Packsaddle Gulch to the 4
confluence with North Fork Smith River, 5
as a wild river. 6
‘‘(xii) The 2.4-mile segment from the 7
headwaters of Hardtack Creek to the con-8
fluence with North Fork Smith River, as a 9
wild river. 10
‘‘(xiii) The 2.21-mile segment from 11
the headwaters of the unnamed creek to 12
the confluence with North Fork Smith 13
River, flowing east from sec. 29, T. 40 S., 14
R. 11 W., Willamette Meridian, as a wild 15
river. 16
‘‘(xiv) The 3.06-mile segment from 17
the headwaters of Horse Creek to the con-18
fluence with North Fork Smith River, as a 19
wild river. 20
‘‘(xv) The 2.61-mile segment of Fall 21
Creek from the Oregon State border to the 22
confluence with North Fork Smith River, 23
as a wild river. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14
•S 945 IS
‘‘(xvi)(I) Except as provided in sub-1
clause (II), the 4.57-mile segment from the 2
headwaters of North Fork Diamond Creek 3
to the confluence with Diamond Creek, as 4
a wild river. 5
‘‘(II) Notwithstanding subclause (I), 6
the portion of the segment described in 7
that subclause that starts 100 feet above 8
Forest Service Road 4402 and ends 100 9
feet below Forest Service Road 4402 shall 10
be administered as a scenic river. 11
‘‘(xvii) The 1.02-mile segment from 12
the headwaters of Diamond Creek to the 13
Oregon State border in sec. 14, T. 40 S., 14
R. 10 W., Willamette Meridian, as a wild 15
river. 16
‘‘(xviii) The 1.14-mile segment from 17
the headwaters of Acorn Creek to the con-18
fluence with Horse Creek, as a wild river. 19
‘‘(xix) The 8.58-mile segment from 20
the headwaters of Chrome Creek to the 21
confluence with North Fork Smith River, 22
as a wild river. 23
‘‘(xx) The 2.98-mile segment from the 24
headwaters Chrome Creek tributary num-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 15
•S 945 IS
ber 1 to the confluence with Chrome 1
Creek, 0.82 miles upstream from the 2
mouth of Chrome Creek in the Kalmiopsis 3
Wilderness, flowing south from sec. 15, T. 4
40 S., R. 11 W., Willamette Meridian, as 5
a wild river. 6
‘‘(xxi) The 2.19-mile segment from 7
the headwaters of Chrome Creek tributary 8
number 2 to the confluence with Chrome 9
Creek, 3.33 miles upstream from the 10
mouth of Chrome Creek in the Kalmiopsis 11
Wilderness, flowing south from sec. 12, T. 12
40 S., R. 11 W., Willamette Meridian, as 13
a wild river. 14
‘‘(xxii) The 1.27-mile segment from 15
the headwaters of Chrome Creek tributary 16
number 3 to the confluence with Chrome 17
Creek, 4.28 miles upstream from the 18
mouth of Chrome Creek in the Kalmiopsis 19
Wilderness, flowing north from sec. 18, T. 20
40 S., R. 10 W., Willamette Meridian, as 21
a wild river. 22
‘‘(xxiii) The 2.27-mile segment from 23
the headwaters of Chrome Creek tributary 24
number 4 to the confluence with Chrome 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 16
•S 945 IS
Creek, 6.13 miles upstream from the 1
mouth of Chrome Creek, flowing south 2
from Chetco Peak in the Kalmiopsis Wil-3
derness in sec. 36, T. 39 S., R. 11 W., 4
Willamette Meridian, as a wild river. 5
‘‘(xxiv) The 0.6-mile segment from 6
the headwaters of Wimer Creek to the bor-7
der between the States of Oregon and Cali-8
fornia, flowing south from sec. 17, T. 41 9
S., R. 10 W., Willamette Meridian, as a 10
wild river.’’. 11
(b) E
XPANSION OFSMITHRIVER, OREGON.—Section 12
3(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 13
1274(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (111) and in-14
serting the following: 15
‘‘(111) S
MITH RIVER, CALIFORNIA AND OR -16
EGON.—The segment from the confluence of the 17
Middle Fork Smith River and the North Fork Smith 18
River to the Six Rivers National Forest boundary, 19
including the following segments of the mainstem 20
and certain tributaries, to be administered by the 21
Secretary of Agriculture in the following classes: 22
‘‘(A) M
AINSTEM.—The segment from the 23
confluence of the Middle Fork Smith River and 24
the South Fork Smith River to the Six Rivers 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 17
•S 945 IS
National Forest boundary, as a recreational 1
river. 2
‘‘(B) R
OWDY CREEK.— 3
‘‘(i) U
PPER.—The segment from and 4
including the headwaters to the California- 5
Oregon State line, as a wild river. 6
‘‘(ii) L
OWER.—The segment from the 7
California-Oregon State line to the Six 8
Rivers National Forest boundary, as a rec-9
reational river.’’. 10
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S945.IS S945
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB