HR 8403 — Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail Feasibility Study Act of 2024

(a) Establishment and designation; administration National scenic and national historic trails shall be authorized and designated only by Act of Congress. There are hereby established the following National Scenic and National Historic Trails: (1) The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately two thousand miles extending generally along the Appalachian Mountains from Mount Katahdin, Maine, to Springer Mountain, Georgia. Insofar as practicable, the right-of-way for such trail shall comprise the trail depicted on the maps identified as “Nationwide System of Trails, Proposed Appalachian Trail, NST–AT–101–May 1967”, which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the National Park Service. Where practicable, such rights-of-way shall include lands protected for it under agreements in effect as of October 2, 1968, to which Federal agencies and States were parties. The Appalachian Trail shall be administered primarily as a footpath by the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture. (2) The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately two thousand three hundred fifty miles, extending from the Mexican-California border northward generally along the mountain ranges of the west coast States to the Canadian-Washington border near Lake Ross, following the route as generally depicted on the map, identified as “Nationwide System of Trails, Proposed Pacific Crest Trail, NST–PC–103–May 1967” which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Chief of the Forest Service. The Pacific Crest Trail shall be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior. (3) The Oregon National Historic Trail, a route of approximately two thousand miles extending from near Independence, Missouri, to the vicinity of Portland, Oregon, following a route as depicted on maps identified as “Primary Route of the Oregon Trail 1841–1848”, in the Department of the Interior’s Oregon Trail study report dated April 1977, and which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the National Park Service. The trail shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. No land or interest in land outside the exterior boundaries of any federally administered area may be acquired by the Federal Government for the trail except with the consent of the owner of the land or interest in land. The authority of the Federal Government to acquire fee title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more than ¼ mile on either side of the trail. (4) The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, a route of approximately one thousand three hundred miles extending from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Salt Lake City, Utah, following the primary historical route of the Mormon Trail as generally depicted on a map, identified as, “Mormon Trail Vicinity Map, figure 2” in the Department of the Interior Mormon Trail study report dated March 1977, and which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Director, National Park Service, Washington, D.C. The trail shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. No land or interest in land outside the exterior boundaries of any federally administered area may be acquired by the Federal Government for the trail except with the consent of the owner of the land or interest in land. The authority of the Federal Government to acquire fee title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more than ¼ mile on either side of the trail. (5) The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately thirty-one hundred miles, extending from the Montana-Canada border to the New Mexico-Mexico border, following the approximate route depicted on the map, identified as “Proposed Continental Divide National Scenic Trail” in the Department of the Interior Continental Divide Trail ...