HR 481 IHRHCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To revise the authorized route of the North Country National Scenic Trail in northeastern Minnesota to include existing hiking trails along Lake Superior’s north shore and in Superior National Forest and Chippewa National Forest, and for other purposes.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

January 13, 2009CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Mr. OBERSTAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural ResourcesCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To revise the authorized route of the North Country National Scenic Trail in northeastern Minnesota to include existing hiking trails along Lake Superior’s north shore and in Superior National Forest and Chippewa National Forest, and for other purposes.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘North Country National Scenic Trail Route Adjustment Act of 2009’. CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) The North Country National Scenic Trail, although only approximately half completed, provides outstanding outdoor recreation experiences to United States citizens and visitors to the United States.

(2) The North Country National Scenic Trail is an outstanding example of the recreation opportunities that can be provided through a partnership of Federal, State, and local governments, private nonprofit trail organizations, individual volunteers, and landowners.

(3) Modern, digital measuring equipment indicates that when construction is completed on the currently authorized route, the actual length of the trail will be approximately 4,200 miles, rather than the 3,200 miles estimated at the time of authorization in 1980.

(4) The currently authorized route in Minnesota going westward from the vicinity of Duluth to the Chippewa National Forest is not feasible because most of the land between these points is tamarack swamp.

(5) More than 300 miles of existing and planned hiking trails extend northeastward from the vicinity of Duluth to the vicinity of Grand Portage, and then westward to the vicinity of Ely. These trails are the Superior Hiking Trail, Border Route Trail, and Kekekabic Trail.

(6) The Superior Hiking Trail, Border Route Trail, and Kekekabic Trail would serve as an excellent route for the North Country National Scenic Trail in northeastern Minnesota, in lieu of the current route, and would take hikers through outstanding northern scenery that truly epitomizes the ‘North Country’.

(7) The length of new trail construction to connect these routes to the existing authorized trail in the Chippewa National Forest is approximately the same as the length of trail construction that would have been required along the currently authorized route.

(8) Public input during a route assessment study conducted by the National Park Service demonstrated that there is broad support among affected public agencies, private trail organizations, and Minnesota citizens for making this change in the authorized route.

(9) This new route would increase the length of the North Country National Scenic Trail by approximately 400 miles, resulting in a revised estimate of the length of a completed North Country National Scenic Trail of approximately 4,600 miles.

SEC. 3. ROUTE REAUTHORIZATION.

Section 5(a)(8) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)(8)) is amended to read as follows:‘(8) The North Country National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately fo-- CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) by striking ‘thirty-sixtwo hundred miles, extending from eastern New York State to the vicinity of Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota, following the approximate route depicted on the map identified as ‘North Country National Scenic’ and inserting ‘4,600 miles’; and CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) by striking ‘Proposed North Country Trail’ and all that follows through ‘June 1975.’ and inserting ‘North Country National Scenic Trail, Authorized Route’, dated February 16, 2005, and numbered 649/80,002.The map’. CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Nothing in the Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be on file and availableprohibit or hinder the development, production, conveyance, or transmission of energy. CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To revise the authorized route of the North Country National Scenic Trail in northeastern Minnesota to include existing hiking trails along Lake Superior’s north shore and in Superior National Forest and Chippewa National Forest, and for public inspection in the office of the Director, National Park Service, Washington, District of Columbia. The trail shallother purposes.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink