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United States · Bill · HR

H.R. 8087 (96th)

National Trails System Act Amendments of 1980

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

8 September 1980

Last action

Status

Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Sponsors

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

24 March 2026

Summary

National Trails System Act Amendments of 1980 - 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) Ice Age National Scenic Trail; (2) Santa Fe National Historic Trail; (3) Chisholm, Shawnee, and Western Historic Trails; (4) Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail; (5) Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail; and (6) 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 specified studies concerning the suitability of trail designations not later than two fiscal years from the date of the addition of such trails to the national scenic or historic trails. Directs the 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. 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 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 to include: (1) an acquisition or protection plan, by fiscal year, for any high potential trail routes or high potential historic sites; and (2) general and site-specific development plans, including anticipated costs. Permits 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 in order to avoid the payment of severance costs, with the consent of the owner thereof. Directs each Secretary charged with the administration of any component of the National Trails System, by means of a cooperative agreement or otherwise, to undertake a systematic study of State, local, and private land use practices within the trail rights-of-way. Directs the Secretary of Transportation and the Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission 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 to encourage the planning and management by volunteers of all types of nonmotorized trails throughout the Nation. Allows the Secretary, under such program, to make grants of not more than $25,000 to certified trail groups for specified purposes and to private landowners for the construction or repair of gates, fences, bridges, or similar structures which are desirable to be built or maintained as a result of the location of a national scenic, historic, or recreation trail. Prohibits any such grant from being made to a certified trail group unless the group agrees to provide funds, or services pertaining to trails, the value of which is equal to the amount of the grant.

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Documents

2 official files

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