National Trails System Act Amendments of 1980

(Measure passed House, amended)

National Trails System Act Amendments of 1980 - =Title I: Amendments to the National Trails System Act= - Amends the National Trails System Act to declare that it is a purpose of such Act to encourage and assist citizen involvement in the development and management of trails. Specifies that national scenic trails may be located so as to include, but need not be limited to, desert, marsh, grassland, mountain, canyon, river, or forest areas, as well as landforms which exhibit significant characteristics of the physiographic regions into which the Nation is divided. Allows additional trail segments subsequently protected within Federal project boundaries to be established as trail components.

Designates the following as national scenic and historic trails: (1) Santa Fe National Historic Trail; (2) Chisholm, Shawnee, and Western National Historic Trails; (3) Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail; (4) Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail; and (5) Florida National Scenic Trail.

Directs the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, where lands administered by either of such Secretaries are involved, to submit studies concerning the suitability of trail designations to specified congressional committees, and to determine the feasibility of such designations on the basis of an evaluation of whether or not it is physically possible to develop a trail along a route being studied, and, if so, whether the development of the trail would be financially feasible.

Directs the appropriate Secretary, if during the course of such study it is determined that it is not feasible to develop a national scenic or national historic trail along the proposed route and that there is no significant need for such trail, to submit a report containing such determination to specified congressional committees.

Requires the appropriate Secretary, before submitting any such report containing a recommendation against designation of a trail, to examine: (1) whether the route affords an opportunity to commemorate a significant event in the development of the Nation or the region or to memorialize an individual whose activities had a far-reaching effect on the development thereof; and (2) whether any segments of the route have the potential to be developed as national recreation trails.

Directs that the following trails be studied for consideration for designation as national scenic trails: (1) the Goodnight and Goodnight-Loving Trails in the States of New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas, and Colorado; (2) the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail in the State of California; (3) the Trail of Tears in the States of North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma; (4) the Illinois Trail in the State of Illinois; and (5) the Jedediah Smith Trail in the States of Wyoming, California, Utah, Washington, and Oregon.

Requires that a report to specified congressional committees by the appropriate Secretary concerning a comprehensive management plan for a designated national historic trail pursuant to such Act include: (1) a protection plan for any high potential trail routes or high potential historic sites; and (2) general and site-specific development plans, including anticipated costs.

Permits connecting or side trails, when no Federal land acquisition is involved, to be located on privately owned lands with the consent of the landowner.

Directs the Secretary charged with the overall administration of any national scenic or national historic trail, in administering and managing the trail, to consult with the heads of all other affected State and Federal agencies. Permits the Secretary charged with the overall administration of any such trail to transfer management of any specified trail segment of such trail to the other appropriate Secretary pursuant to a joint memorandum of agreement containing such terms and conditions as the Secretaries consider most appropriate to accomplish the purposes of such Act.

Permits the appropriate Secretary to provide for trail interpretation centers, which shall be located at historic sites along the route of any national scenic or national historic trail, in order to present information to the public about the trail, with emphasis on that portion of the trail passing through the State in which the center is located.

Authorizes the appropriate Secretary, when a tract of land lies partly within and partly without a national scenic or national historic trail right-of-way, to acquire the entire tract with the consent of the owner.

Prohibits the United States from utilizing condemnation proceedings or any other form of eminent domain power without the consent of the owner to acquire any lands, or interests in lands, located in Wyoming in connection with the Goodnight, Goodnight-Loving, and Jedediah Smith trails studied or designated under this Act.

Provides that written cooperative agreements with States or their political subdivisions, landowners, private organizations, or individuals to operate, develop, and maintain any portion of a national scenic or national historic trail may include provisions for limited financial assistance to encourage participation in such activities and provisions for providing volunteer in the park or volunteer in the forest status in accordance with the Volunteers in the Parks Act of 1969 and the Volunteers in the Forests Act of 1972.

Permits the Secretary responsible for the administration of any segment of any component of the National Trails System to utilize authorities related to units of the national park system or the national forests in carrying out the administrative responsibilities for such component.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation, the Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Secretary of the Interior to encourage State and local agencies and private interests to establish recreational trails.

Authorizes the establishment of a volunteer action trails demonstration program to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to encourage the planning, development, and management by volunteers of all types of trails throughout the Nation.

Permits each Secretary to make grants of not more than $25,000 to volunteer trail groups which are committed to managing, maintaining, or developing trails, or which agree to conduct such activities. Limits the usage of such grants to: (1) developing or maintaining trails which are components of the National Trails System, or trails which, if so developed and maintained by such groups, could qualify for designation as components of the National Trails System; or (2) operating programs to organize and supervise volunteer trail building efforts with respect to such trails, conducting trail-related research projects, or providing education and training to volunteers on methods of trail planning, construction, and maintenance.

Prohibits any such grant from being made available to a volunteer trail group unless the group submits an application to the appropriate Secretary. Prohibits the Secretary from approving any such application unless: (1) the group agrees to provide funds, or services pertaining to trails, the value of which is equal to the amount of the grant, and agrees to abide by such procedures as the Secretary may establish to ensure accountability for any funds made available to the group; and (2) the application specifies the manner in which the funds would be used.

Amends the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to prohibit the imposition of any Federal fee for entrance or admission to any national recreation area, any unit of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or any unit of the National Trails System. Prohibits, effective June 1, 1981, the imposition of any Federal fee for entrance or admission to any unit of the National Park System at which the receipts collected for entrance fees exceeded the cost of collection of said fees by less than $2,000 in calendar year 1979.

=Title II: Study Committee= - Establishes a study committee to examine methods by which Federal, State, regional, and local governments can cooperate to enhance the recreational opportunities along specified portions of the Mississippi, Minnesota, and Saint Croix Rivers in the State of Minnesota.

Specifies that if a multifunctional regional agency authorized by State law to plan for and coordinate the development of such areas is in existence on the date of enactment of this Act, the Governor of the State of Minnesota shall, if permitted under State law, require such agency to assist in carrying out such study.

Requires the study committee, within two years after the of enactment by Congress of the law providing for the initial appropriation to carry out such study, to provide such regional agency with a written report on the findings and conclusions of such study.