Craggy Mountain Wilderness Act of 1991

Craggy Mountain Wilderness Act of 1991 - Designates the Craggy Mountain Wilderness in the Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Provides that the Land and Resource Management Plans and their associated environmental impact statements for National Forests in North Carolina (including such decisions to allocate roadless areas to wilderness or nonwilderness categories) shall not be subject to judicial review. Releases national forest system lands in North Carolina which were reviewed by the Department of Agriculture from further review by such Department prior to the revision of the plans. States that the provisions above shall also apply to national forest system roadless lands in North Carolina which are less than 5,000 acres in size.

 
HR 2471 IH
102d CONGRESS
1st Session
 H. R. 2471
Entitled `Craggy Mountain Wilderness Act of 1991'.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 23, 1991
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred
jointly to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs and Agriculture
A BILL
Entitled `Craggy Mountain Wilderness Act of 1991'.
  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
  States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  This Act may be cited as the `Craggy Mountain Wilderness Act of 1991'.
SEC. 2. DESIGNATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
  (a) DESIGNATION- In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act (16
  U.S.C. 1131-1136), the following lands in the State of North Carolina are
  hereby designated as wilderness and therefore as components of the National
  Wilderness Preservation System certain lands in the Pisgah National Forest,
  which comprise approximately 2,400 acres as generally depicted on a map
  entitled `Craggy Mountain Wilderness--Proposed' dated September 1990,
  which shall be known as the Craggy Mountain Wilderness.
  (b) ADMINISTRATION- Subject to valid existing rights, the wilderness area
  designated under this section shall be administered by the Secretary
  of Agriculture (hereafter in this Act referred to as the `Secretary')
  in accordance with the provisions of the Wilderness Act governing areas
  designated by that Act as wilderness, except that any reference in such
  provisions to the effective date of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to
  be reference to the date of enactment of this Act.
  (c) MAP AND DESCRIPTION- As soon as practicable after enactment of this Act,
  the Secretary shall file a map and a legal description of each wilderness
  study area described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of section 3, and
  of each wilderness area designated under this section with the Committee on
  Interior and Insular Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture of the House
  of Representatives and with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  of the Senate. Each such map and description shall have the same force and
  effect as if included in this Act, except that correction of clerical and
  typographical errors in such legal description and map may be made. Each
  such map and legal description shall be on file and available for public
  inspection in the Office of the Chief of the Forest Service, United States
  Department of Agriculture.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND DETERMINATIONS.
  (a) The Congress finds that--
  (1) the Department of Agriculture has completed the Second Roadless Area
  Review and Evaluation Program (RARE II);
  (2) the Department of Agriculture, with substantial public input, has
  reviewed the wilderness potential of these and other areas through its
  land and resource management plans for the National Forests; and
  (3) the Congress has made its own examination of the National Forest System
  roadless areas in the State of North Carolina and of the environmental
  impacts associated with alternative allocations of such areas.
  (b) On the basis of such review, the Congress determines and directs that--
  (1) without otherwise passing on the question of the legal and factual
  sufficiency of the Land and Resource Management Plans and their associated
  environmental impact statements for National Forests in the State of
  North Carolina completed prior to enactment of this Act, prior to the
  revision of such Plans decisions to allocate roadless areas to wilderness
  or nonwilderness categories and the environmental analysis directly related
  to such allocations shall not be subject to judicial review.
  (2) the wilderness suitability review and evaluation of the Snowbird and
  Overflow Wilderness Study Areas in the State of North Carolina conducted
  by the Department of Agriculture under Public Law 98-324, the unit plans
  that were in effect prior to RARE II, and the Land and Resource Management
  Plans shall be deemed an adequate consideration of the suitability of
  such lands for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System,
  and the Department of Agriculture shall not be required to review the
  wilderness option prior to the revision of the Land Resource Management
  Plans, but shall review the wilderness option when such Plans are revised,
  which revisions will ordinarily occur on a 10-year cycle, or at least every
  15 years, unless prior to that time the Secretary finds that conditions
  in a unit have significantly changed.
  (3) those areas in the State of North Carolina referred to in paragraph (2)
  of this subsection which were not designated wilderness shall be managed
  for multiple use in accordance with land and resource management plans
  pursuant to section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
  Planning Act of 1974, and those areas need not be managed for the purpose
  of protecting their suitability for wilderness designation prior to or
  during revision of the initial Land and Resource Management Plans;
  (4) if revised Land and Resource Management Plans for National Forests
  in the State of North Carolina are implemented pursuant to section 6 of
  the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 and
  other applicable law, areas not recommended for wilderness designation
  need not be managed for the purpose of protecting their suitability
  for wilderness designation prior to or during revision of those Plans,
  and areas recommended for wilderness designation shall be managed for the
  purpose of protecting their suitability for wilderness designation as may
  be required by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act
  of 1974 and other applicable law; and
  (5) unless expressly authorized by Congress, the Department of Agriculture
  shall not conduct any further statewide roadless area review and evaluation
  of National Forest System lands in the State of North Carolina for the
  purpose of determining their suitability for inclusion in the National
  Wilderness Preservation System.
  (c) As used in this section, and as provided in section 6 of the Forest
  and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act, the term `revision' shall
  not include an amendment to a land and resource management plan.
  (d) The provisions of this section shall also apply to those National Forest
  System roadless lands in the State of North Carolina which are less than
  five thousands acres in size.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF BUFFER ZONES.
  Congress does not intend that the designation of wilderness areas in the
  State of North Carolina implies the creation of protective perimeters or
  buffer zones around each wilderness area. The fact that nonwilderness
  activities or uses can be seen or heard from within a wilderness area
  shall not, of itself, preclude such activities or uses up to the boundary
  of the wilderness area.