S282-119

What This Bill Does

This bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire additional land from willing sellers to expand the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine, originally established by presidential proclamation in 2016. It sets out rules for managing the expanded monument that explicitly preserve traditional uses -- hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation, fiddlehead fern gathering, and timber access -- while also requiring collaboration with local communities and tribal governments on public education. The bill also authorizes acquisition of up to 10 acres outside the monument for administrative sites and visitor facilities.

Who Benefits and How

• Hunters, anglers, and outdoor recreationists in Maine benefit from statutory guarantees that their existing activities on newly acquired monument land will continue, providing legal certainty beyond the original presidential proclamation.
• Maine tourism industry and local communities benefit from expanded monument access, visitor facilities, and cooperative information centers that increase visitor traffic to the region.
• Willing landowners in the authorized acquisition area gain a potential federal buyer for their property at market value.
• Timber and logging operators benefit from explicit protections for existing rights of access through the monument for timber removal, plus required safety coordination procedures for shared roads.
• Tribal governments benefit from a statutory mandate for the Secretary to collaborate with them on public education about Native community history and land management practices.

Who Bears the Burden and How

• The National Park Service / Department of the Interior takes on the administrative burden and cost of acquiring land, developing visitor facilities, managing expanded monument acreage, coordinating road safety between visitors and logging operations, and collaborating with communities and tribal governments.
• Federal taxpayers bear the cost of land acquisition and monument administration (though no specific appropriations are authorized in this bill).

Key Provisions

• Authorizes voluntary land acquisition (purchase, donation, or exchange) within a mapped authorized acquisition area adjacent to the monument (Section 3)
• Explicitly prohibits use of eminent domain (Section 3)
• Preserves all pre-existing hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation activities on acquired land (Section 4)
• Allows public gathering of fiddlehead ferns for noncommercial personal use, subject to sustainability limits (Section 4)
• Protects existing timber access rights through the monument (Section 4)
• Requires safety education and stakeholder coordination for visitor-logging interactions on shared roads (Section 4)
• Mandates collaboration with tribal governments on public education about the landscape (Section 4)
• Authorizes acquisition of up to 10 acres for administrative sites and visitor facilities outside the monument boundary (Section 5)