[House Report 115-1032]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 115-1032
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TO AMEND THE WILDERNESS ACT TO ENSURE THAT THE USE OF BICYCLES,
WHEELCHAIRS, STROLLERS, AND GAME CARTS IS NOT PROHIBITED IN WILDERNESS
AREAS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
_______
November 16, 2018.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
together with
DISSENTING AND ADDITIONAL VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 1349]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee Natural Resources, to whom was referred the
bill (H.R. 1349) to amend the Wilderness Act to ensure that the
use of bicycles, wheelchairs, strollers, and game carts is not
prohibited in Wilderness Areas, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment
and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. USE OF CERTAIN WHEELED DEVICES NOT PROHIBITED IN WILDERNESS
AREAS.
Section 4 of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133) is amended by adding
at the end of subsection (d) the following:
``(8) Allowable uses.--Each agency administering any area
designated as wilderness may allow the use of motorized
wheelchairs, non-motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized adaptive
cycles, non-motorized bicycles, non-motorized strollers, non-
motorized wheelbarrows, non-motorized survey wheels, non-
motorized measuring wheels, or non-motorized game carts within
any wilderness area. For the purposes of this paragraph, the
term `wheelchair' means a device designed solely for use by a
mobility-impaired person for locomotion, that is suitable for
use in an indoor pedestrian area.''.
Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of H.R. 1349 is to amend the Wilderness Act to
ensure that the use of bicycles, wheelchairs, strollers, and
game carts is not prohibited in Wilderness Areas.
Background and Need for Legislation
The Wilderness Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-577, 16
U.S.C.1131 et seq.) established the National Wilderness
Preservation System (NWPS) and reserved to Congress the
authority to designate federal lands as a part of the NWPS. The
law's enactment initially designated 54 wilderness areas
encompassing 9.1 million acres of national forest lands.
Subsequently, Congress has enacted more than 100 laws
designating new wilderness areas. Today, the NWPS consists of
roughly 110 million acres across 765 units managed by the U.S.
Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management.\1\
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\1\CRS Report R41610, Wilderness: Issues and Legislation, Katie
Hoover.
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The Wilderness Act describes wilderness as areas of
generally undisturbed federal lands and ascribes certain goals
for the management of wilderness, noting the lands should be
``administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people
in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and
enjoyment as wilderness, and so as to provide for the
protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness
character, and for the gathering and dissemination of
information regarding their use and enjoyment as
wilderness.''\2\ Generally, the Wilderness Act prohibits
commercial activities, motorized uses, and the building of
roads, structures and facilities. However, specific management
criteria of wilderness lands can differ between land management
agencies and acreages because of differing statutorily-
prescribed management provisions and administrative land
management regulations.
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\2\16 U.S.C. 1131(a).
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For example, although section 508 of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12207) reaffirms Congress'
intent that nothing in the Wilderness Act should be ``construed
as prohibiting the use of a wheelchair in a wilderness area by
an individual whose disability requires use of a wheelchair,''
a study by the National Council on Disability found differences
across land management agencies in the use of motorized and
non-motorized wheelchairs, and in one case a lack of policies
regarding persons with disabilities in the NWPS.\3\
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\3\``Wilderness Accessibility for People with Disabilities: A
Report to the President and the Congress of the United States on
Section 507(a) of the Americans with Disabilities Act,'' National
Council on Disability, Dec. 1992. ncd.gov/publications/1992/
December1992#8.
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Similarly, although the Wilderness Act allows travel across
NWPS lands on foot and with the use of horses and pack animals,
the use of bicycles in NWPS lands has had a varied history. In
1966, USFS banned the use of ``mechanical transport'' propelled
by a nonliving power source\4\--a definition that made bicycles
an allowable form of transportation in wilderness. In 1977,
USFS issued a new regulation specifically prohibiting the use
of bicycles (and hang gliders) on NWPS lands.\5\ However,
although the USFS regulations broadly ban the use of bicycles
on NWPS lands, the use of bicycles is still allowed in some
wilderness areas.
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\4\36 CFR 251.75 (1966).
\5\36 CFR 261.18.
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In 1980, Congress passed the Rattlesnake National
Recreation Area and Wilderness Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-476),
which identified cycling as ``primitive recreation'' and thus
an allowable use in the Rattlesnake Wilderness of the Lolo
National Forest. In 1981, USFS issued a third regulation
declaring bicycles to be permissible on wilderness lands unless
expressly prohibited.\6\ Finally, in 1986, USFS announced in
the Federal Register that the regulation, which allows for
Wilderness travel by living power sources, should be read as
prohibiting wilderness travel by certain living power sources,
including bicycles.\7\
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\6\36 CFR 261.57(h).
\7\51 FR 13835.
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Annually 40 million Americans participate in mountain
biking activities, making it the second most popular trail
activity in the U.S.\8\ As ordered reported, H.R. 1349 would
amend section 4(c) of the Wilderness Act to clarify that
federal land managers may allow the use of motorized
wheelchairs, non-motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized adaptive
cycles, non-motorized bicycles, non-motorized strollers, non-
motorized wheelbarrows, non-motorized survey wheels, non-
motorized measuring wheels, or non-motorized game carts on NWPS
lands.
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\8\``Demographics of Mountain Biking.'' International Mountain
Bicycling Association, 2005, www.imba.com/resources/research/
demographics-mountain-biking.
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The legislation is supported by the Sustainable Trails
Coalition and the Folsom Auburn Trail Riders Action Coalition.
Committee Action
H.R. 1349 was introduced on March 2, 2017, by Congressman
Tom McClintock (R-CA). The bill was referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the
Subcommittee on Federal Lands. The Subcommittee held a hearing
on the bill on December 7, 2017. On December 12, 2017, the
Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The
Subcommittee was discharged by unanimous consent. Congressman
Tom McClintock (R-CA) offered an amendment designated #1; it
was adopted by voice vote. No additional amendments were
offered. The bill, as amended, was then not ordered favorably
reported to the House of Representatives on December 13, 2017,
by a roll call vote of 15 ayes to 19 noes, as follows:
Later in the same markup, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) moved
to reconsider the vote by which H.R. 1349, as amended, was not
ordered favorably reported; the motion was adopted by a roll
call vote of 22 to 17. Immediately after this vote, on December
13, 2017, the bill, as amended, was adopted and ordered
favorably reported to the House of Representatives by a roll
call vote of 22 ayes to 18 noes, as follows:
Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
Compliance With House Rule XIII and Congressional Budget Act
1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act.
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the following estimate for the
bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, January 11, 2018.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1349, a bill to
amend the Wilderness Act to ensure that the use of bicycles,
wheelchairs, strollers, and game carts is not prohibited in
Wilderness Areas, and for other purposes.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jeff LaFave.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
H.R. 1349--A bill to amend the Wilderness Act to ensure that the use of
bicycles, wheelchairs, strollers, and game carts is not
prohibited in Wilderness Areas, and for other purposes
H.R. 1349 would clarify that certain nonmotorized vehicles,
including bicycles, strollers, and game carts can be used in
wilderness areas administered by the federal government. The
bill also would clarify that the use of motorized and
nonmotorized wheelchairs is allowed in those areas. CBO
estimates that implementing the bill would not affect the
federal budget.
Enacting H.R. 1349 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1349 would not increase
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 1349 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to ensure that the use of bicycles,
wheelchairs, strollers, and game carts is not prohibited in
Wilderness Areas.
Earmark Statement
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
Compliance With Public Law 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
Compliance With H. Res. 5
Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
Preemption of State, Local or Tribal Law
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italics, and existing law in which no
change is proposed is shown in roman):
WILDERNESS ACT
* * * * * * *
use of wilderness areas
Sec. 4. (a) The purposes of this Act are hereby declared to
be within and supplemental to the purposes for which national
forest and units of the national park and national wildlife
refuge systems are established and administered and--
(1) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to be in
interference with the purpose for which national
forests are established as set forth in the Act of June
4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11), and the Multiple-Use Sustained-
Yield Act of June 12, 1960 (74 Stat. 215).
(2) Nothing in this Act shall modify the restrictions
and provisions of the Shipstead-Nolan Act (Public Law
539, Seventy-first Congress, July 10, 1930; 46 Stat.
1020), the Thye-Blatnik Act (Public Law 733, Eightieth
Congress, June 22, 1948; 62 Stat. 568), and the
Humphrey-Thye-Blatnik-Andresen Act (Public Law 607,
Eighty-fourth Congress, June 22, 1956; 70 Stat. 326),
as applying to the Superior National Forest or the
regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture.
(3) Nothing in this Act shall modify the statutory
authority under which units of the national park system
are created. Further, the designation of any area of
any park, monument, or other unit of the national park
system as a wilderness area pursuant to this Act shall
in no manner lower the standards evolved for the use
and preservation of such park, monument, or other unit
of the national park system in accordance with section
100101(b)(1), chapter 1003, and sections100751(a),
100752, 100753, and 102101 of title 54, UnitedStates
Code, the statutory authority under which the area was
created, or any other Act of Congress which might
pertain to or affect such area, including, but not
limited to, section 3(2) of the Federal Power Act (16
U.S.C. 796(2));and chapters 3201 and 3203 of title 54,
United StatesCode.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, each agency
administering any area designated as wilderness shall be
responsible for preserving the wilderness character of the area
and shall so administer such area for such other purposes for
which it may have been established as also to preserve its
wilderness character. Except as otherwise provided in this Act,
wilderness areas shall be devoted to the public purposes of
recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation,
and historical use.
PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN USES
(c) Except as specifically provided for in this Act, and
subject to existing private rights, there shall be no
commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any
wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary
to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area
for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in
emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within
the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor
vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of
aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no
structure or installation within any such area.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
(d) The following special provisions are hereby made:
(1) Within wilderness areas designated by this Act the use of
aircraft or motorboats, where these uses have already become
established, may be permitted to continue subject to such
restrictions as the Secretary of Agriculture deems desirable.
In addition, such measures may be taken as may be necessary in
the control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject to such
conditions as the Secretary deems desirable.
(2) Nothing in this Act shall prevent within national forest
wilderness areas any activity, including prospecting, for the
purpose of gathering information about mineral or other
resources, if such activity is carried on in a manner
compatible with the preservation of the wilderness environment.
Furthermore, in accordance with such program as the Secretary
of the Interior shall develop and conduct in consultation with
the Secretary of Agriculture, such areas shall be surveyed on a
planned, recurring basis consistent with the concept of
wilderness preservation by the Geological Survey and the Bureau
of Mines to determine the mineral values, if any, that may be
present; and the results of such surveys shall be made
available to the public and submitted to the President and
Congress.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, until
midnight December 31, 1983, the United States mining laws and
all laws pertaining to mineral leasing shall, to the same
extent as applicable prior to the effective date of this Act,
extend to those national forest lands designated by this Act as
``wilderness areas''; subject, however, to such reasonable
regulations governing ingress and egress as may be prescribed
by the Secretary of Agriculture consistent with the use of the
land for mineral location and development and exploration,
drilling, and production, and use of land for transmission
lines, waterlines, telephone lines, or facilities necessary in
exploring, drilling, producing, mining, and processing
operations, including where essential the use of mechanized
ground or air equipment and restoration as near as practicable
of the surface of the land disturbed in performing prospecting,
location, and, in oil and gas leasing, discovery work,
exploration, drilling and production, as soon as they have
served their purpose. Mining locations lying within the
boundaries of said wilderness areas shall be held and used
solely for mining or processing operations and uses reasonably
incident thereto; and hereafter, subject to valid existing
rights, all patents issued under the mining laws of the United
States affecting national forest lands designated by this Act
as wilderness areas shall convey title to the mineral deposits
within the claim, together with the right to cut and use so
much of the mature timber therefrom as may be needed in the
extraction, removal, and beneficiation of the mineral deposits,
if needed timber is not otherwise reasonably available, and if
the timber is cut under sound principles of forest management
as defined by the national forest rules and regulations, but
each such patent shall reserve to the United States all title
in or to the surface of the lands and products thereof, and no
use of the surface of the claim or the resources therefrom not
reasonably required for carrying on mining or prospecting shall
be allowed except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act:
Provided, That, unless hereafter specifically authorized, no
patent within wilderness areas designated by this Act shall
issue after December 31, 1983, except for the valid claims
existing on or before December 31, 1983. Mining claims located
after the effective date of this Act within the boundaries of
wilderness areas designated by this Act shall create no rights
in excess of those rights which may be patented under the
provisions of this subsection. Mineral leases, permits, and
licenses covering lands within national forest wilderness areas
designated by this Act shall contain such reasonable
stipulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of
Agriculture for the protection of the wilderness character of
the land consistent with the use of the land for the purposes
for which they are leased, permitted, or licensed. Subject to
valid rights then existing, effective January 1, 1984, the
minerals in lands designated by this Act as wilderness areas
are withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the mining
laws and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral
leasing and all amendments thereto.
(4) Within wilderness areas in the national forest designated
by this Act, (1) the President may, within a specific area and
in accordance with such regulations as he may deem desirable,
authorize prospecting for water resources, the establishment
and maintenance of reservoirs, water-conservation works, power
projects, transmission lines, and other facilities needed in
the public interest, including the road construction and
maintenance essential to development and use thereof, upon his
determination that such use or uses in the specific area will
better serve the interest of the United States and the people
thereof than will its denial; and (2) the grazing of livestock,
where established prior to the effective date of this Act,
shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable
regulations as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of
Agriculture.
(5) Commercial services may be performed within the
wilderness areas designated by this Act to the extent necessary
for activities which are proper for realizing the recreational
or other wilderness purposes of the areas.
(6) Nothing in this Act shall constitute an express or
implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government
as to exemption from State water laws.
(7) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the
jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with
respect to wildlife and fish in the national forests.
(8) Allowable uses.--Each agency administering any
area designated as wilderness may allow the use of
motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized wheelchairs, non-
motorized adaptive cycles, non-motorized bicycles, non-
motorized strollers, non-motorized wheelbarrows, non-
motorized survey wheels, non-motorized measuring
wheels, or non-motorized game carts within any
wilderness area. For the purposes of this paragraph,
the term `wheelchair' means a device designed solely
for use by a mobility-impaired person for locomotion,
that is suitable for use in an indoor pedestrian area.
* * * * * * *
DISSENTING VIEWS
H.R. 1349 is a short bill with a huge impact that cuts
right at the heart of the Wilderness Act, one of our most
unique and successful conservation laws. This bill authorizes
the use of bicycles and other forms of mechanical transport in
wilderness areas--an amendment to the statute that is far from
a simple technical fix.
For over 50 years, the Wilderness Act has helped protect
our most pristine wild places, something that is increasingly
important as open space and intact natural areas continue to
disappear across the country. But the promise of wilderness
goes beyond conservation and land protection--wilderness
provides opportunities for ``quiet recreation'' in areas
``untrammeled by man.'' Bikes are not--and never have been--
part of the wilderness experience.
Unfortunately, proponents of this bill are intent on
spreading misinformation designed to undermine the
congressional intent and history of the Wilderness Act. It is
true that the Forest Service made a mistake and allowed bikes
for a short period of time, but that error was corrected
decades ago and the legislative history clearly supports the
prohibition of bikes.
Congress debated the Wilderness Act for eight years before
it finally became law in 1964. In the Act's legislative
history, there is no mention of exempting bicycles from the
law's prohibition on mechanical transportation. In fact, the
statute is quite clear that ``no form of mechanical transport''
is allowed in designated wilderness areas.
The one clear exemption from this prohibition is for
wheelchairs, which Congress expressly authorized to access
wilderness areas when it passed the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990. Federal land management agency protocols and
guidelines for managing wilderness areas do not place
restrictions on the legitimate use of wheelchairs. In fact, the
definition of mechanical transportation in the Forest Service
manual for Recreation, Wilderness, and Related Resource
Management clearly states that it does not include
``wheelchairs when used as necessary medical appliances''.\1\
Wheelchair access in wilderness is a non-issue and its
inclusion in H.R. 1349 is a red herring meant to distract from
the true purpose of the bill.
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\1\US Forest Service. Forest Service Manual 2300--Recreation,
Wilderness, and Related Resource Management: Amendment No: 2300-2007-1.
Approved by Frederick Norbury, Associate Deputy Chief, NFS, Washington
DC: US Forest Service, December 26, 2006.
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Our opposition to this bill is not about blocking access to
wilderness or any other public lands. Everyone has a right to
experience wilderness. However, this bill is meant to undermine
the history and legacy of the Wilderness Act merely to prove a
political point. There are plenty of opportunities for biking
on federal lands and we should be looking at positive ways to
enhance that access, not rip apart the National Wilderness
Preservation System.
We are not creating wilderness where none exists. Instead,
we are finding the last remaining wilderness areas and trying
to protect them. H.R. 1349 threatens that mission and should be
rejected.
Raul M. Grijalva,
Ranking Member.
Alan Lowenthal.
Colleen Hanabusa.
Grace F. Napolitano.
Niki Tsongas.
Jared Huffman.
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
I wish to clarify my roll call vote on the motion to report
H.R. 1349, as amended, favorably to the House.
Because I do not postpone votes in committee during
markups, at the time of the first motion to report H.R. 1349,
it was clear that many of our colleagues who supported the bill
were not present. Therefore, I changed my vote from ``aye'' to
``no'' so that I could later move to reconsider the vote by
which H.R. 1349, as amended, was ordered reported.
This was a procedural action only, and was not meant to
indicate that my backing of this common-sense measure had
changed. My final vote for the motion to favorably report the
bill to the House of Representatives reflects my strong support
for this measure, which I look forward to having considered by
the House during the 115th Congress.
Rob Bishop.